New Britain herald., 1916-08-12
OUR ".fENACING" IarPoRTss
@A' ga -------- Epw American Manufacturers mud ' People Have Been Helped, Not
 e..,s HindegsayBy Low Tariff.
.,~J NAWk York Tim mes)

~s(NaWs I York Times) Those supporters of MT. Hughes 1 who arc drawing dreadful pictures of impending Industrial ruin here, to be,i caused by a deluge of imports from Europe after the.war, also are shocked and filled with alarm because our inn ' ports now are large and growing. In his letter of acceptance MT Hughes did not speak of these with xdisap- proval although he gave rning about the coming "severe. ghpeti- tion' of an "energized" (sSnah sw ould say enfeebled) Europe; but thege sup pOrters whom we have i11 maIId see in the steady advance of imports from $155, 1000 in Novem Der to $245,- 000,0 in June something that means ruin for our manufacturing industries. They would have Us believe that it foreshadows and is leading up to a coming flood of goods from abroad which will stop the maehsnery in all our factories, and from which sweafan be saved only by new protective tariff. .s ". xs
 Let us see what this growth of inn ports really means. Imports in the fiscal year that ended with" June, i $2197,9S4, ,000, exceeded those of the ! year immediately preceding by $h23 3ss 1 764,O0O, and those of 1914 by $303sS S15,0 While $523, ,000,00o was adde ed to our imports, however, the in crease of exports was three times as much, or $1,565, 5000, And this in crease of our sales to foreign buyers was, in part, made possible by the growth of our purchases from abroad We were buying more and more raw material to be used in manufacturing the goods which we were sending | across the ocean. sE
 This accounts for more than S360,- OO0,O00 of the additional s523,000,0 900. Tn twelve months the increase of i'm ! ported "crude materials for use in manufacturing" was $36s, o00,o00. And $120,O0O,OOO more measures the in l crease of what may be- called semi raw material. classified as "manu- l factures for further use in manufac- turing" While many pf o1Sts p1@
 ducers-and the whole country-rwere benefited by the receipt of this nlf4 terial, we do not heax that any of our manufacturers Were harmed by it.. Mills in which certain kinds of ma terial included in the list are made have been working at full capacity. A glance at some of the leading articles imported shows how utterly absurd and without warrant are the
 complaints and warnings we have mentioned There was an increase of the receipts of rubber from $S7,- 100000 to S159, 900, ,oO0. Have we any domestic producers of rubber who were injured by this~y@food ?" This raw material was needed for automo- bile tires and it should be noted that our exports of autom obiles rose to $97,OOO,0O0 from $60,000,000 In tho preceding year. The rubber was used also, of course, in motor Cars manu- factured for home consumption. Jour output is growing. More than 75O,O0O 1 cars were made in the six months 1 ended with June, and their value eX- ! ceeded s45O,0OO, GOO. Are the American
 people in danger of a devastating de- luge of foreign products on aceebpt 1 of the years gain or S'|'V'o'poo lii imports of rubber?
 Was industrial ruin indicated by the voar's rains of. S32,O00,000 for raw sugar, S17.OOO, 900 for tin, $22,OOO,ooO worth of raw flores, an addition of $41,OOO 900 for raw silk, and S43,OoV,- 900 more for hides? Our sugar grow CTS were not harmed by the great inn ports of the raw product, which was rafined here to satisfy an exceptional
 
 demand from England, Italy and France. Hides were needed for the millions of shoes we have sold to the hel1igerents Of all the imports 6s per cent. or more than .tWo-thirds, were on our free list Ought we to annoy and restrain our manufacturers by placing tariff duties on rubber and other raw materials not produced khere? The truth is that this increase of imports has been distinctly beneficial I to our country and tho American peo- pie. It has been due mainly to re- ceipts'f of raw materials for use in making the finished goods included in the extraordinary exports which are so much to the advantage of the United States. To attack and de- nounce it is virtually. to confess that those who do this are sorely in need of effective political arguments and issues. ....ru