Evening star., 1918-06-02
IMPORTS CUTOFF:
| \ AS WAR MEASURE
Deep Cut Into Import Busl-
!, ness Is Designed to Save
kas,1i. Shipping.
BARS 5000 COMMODITIES

England has stripped to the waist
ana We are simply taking OF our
coat
The foregoing In brief II the reason
why, n expressed by one Of the
shipping board ofnoials, tho United
States has been p1t on = Loan import
\ diet. About 5000 commodities. both
essentials and non-essentials. are COM
ing to the country less freely than IN
prs-var days. The lists were pre-
pared BY the War Trade Board. are
= in force and the 'embargo" 10 on.
In promulgating the restricted lists
mind several objects. The United
States will be able to employ hum
dreds OF thousands Of dead weight
tons Of shipping more economically
than at present and supply the sol
less trouble. So great are demands
for shipping for military uses that all
dispensable commodities must be-
eliminated from import trade and
pared down to the very bone OF re-
clared. there still will remain q short
age Of shipping to satisfy the military
needs and essential industries during
the remainder Of the year.
Closes Door to Hun.
Orders Of the War Trade Board In
this regard will shut tho door on
various German schemes and will
make it difncult for the Hun to get
. Tying start In post-wsr trade COM
Restricted commodities Z include
among other thinEH paper. -furs. to-
bacco leaf, cotton and wooilen manu-
factures. baskets, glass and glass
ware: fish. meats. furniturs: and stone
trufies, edible birdE nests and, few
hundred other: edible substances as
non-essentialG - =
Lost motion In shipping will result
and readjustments to new conditions
will have to be made. rejecting in
the mtsarrangement will be Of COM
parative unfmportance. a..
The new plan OF control 10 neither
an embargo nor so sweeping as the
which Americans derided by spelling
the word backward and calling 1t the
O-Grab-Me act Neither Is the plan
80 broad In scope as the English
prohibition lists. which have cut
down imports more than 50 per
action by the United States toward
stripping to the waist.
More restrictions are In sight,
Snough hardly anybody engaged in
their preparation can say how the
lists viii look in their nnal form.
Ships Return in Ballast.
The presence of thousands of
American troops in France and the
rations and obligations to them and
their cobelligerents and industrial
conditions mark the great difference
between the absolute embargo of
Je6erson's time and the present re-
stricted lists. Constantly streams of
vessels go from America torrance
and England and they are returned in
ballast. In reply to the reason why
the ships are not utilized on the re-
turn trip the government has. an
swered:
'Thers is no reason why the ships
o.efui o1r r nrst desire IS to ses food
ana other supplies to our soldiers
and the allies as rapidly as possible
and as plentiful as possible. That
means that we must not only send
the ships over effectively. but we
must have them back here promptly
for other cargoes. If necessary, we'll
have them come back In ballast II we
can save time that way.
!, We prefer. however. to have the
ships bring back things that we need,
y nations. II you will have your
goods ready 1t European ports where
vessels are unloading, and get the
goods aboard with reasonable speed.
the ships win do their part for COM
merce and will serve tho nations at
the same time. We are willing to
.tell you where the ships will unload.
It 10 up to you to be ready with your
goods. We cannot afford to send
ships TO ports for goods, but we
should like to have you send goods
70 ports for ships"