Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1919-10-16
AN AMERICA FIRST MEASURE


1.-THE Smoot bill levying prohibi-
| tive tariffs on foreign merchandise
| dumped in the United States is a
| step in the right direction with the
| food firmly planted" is the assertion
made by Hon. Jonathan Bourne, jr.
Senator Smoot is a republican
who knows how to put a wallop in
| legislation. There is no quibbling
or lodging issues or academic wrist
slapping about his measure. Any
competing nation which attempts
crooked merchandising in the mar
kets of the United States goes up
against tariff rate that will put it
| to sleep in the first round. And
dumping is crooked MERCHANDISING
when it is practiced as it has been
in the past by certain European
governments, particularly Germany.
There is a wide distinction be-
tween dumping and marketing in
foreign countries a surplus at prices
| less than those exacted for given
commodities in the country of their
origin. Take shoes for example,
| whose styles are changing from year
to year. The manufacturers find
that they have over estimated the do
nestle market and surplus remains
on hand which they must dispose of,
| so they market them abroad at what
they can get, usually at prices below
those secured in the home market.
But the home people are not hurt
by that. Or a surplus of hosiery
may be marketed abroad at reduced
prices with a view to establishing a
trade in that market Or, if the
manufacturers deliberately produce
surplus for foreign trade the home
folks are not injured, but on the
contrary, they are benefited, for this
means the operation of the mills at
maximum capacity, which insures
minimum unit cost; more jobs for
the workmen; greater consumption
of raw materials. Lower unit cost,
under a system of fair dealing. OF
course means a decrease in the price
to the home consumer.
But the. German system of
dumping which has also been
practiced considerably by the British
in the past, is to manufacture for
the express purpose of stunning in
FAINT industries in foreign countries
in the cradle. For example, when
our textile industries were started
years ago, the Manchester textile
manufacturers inaugurated cam
paign of price cutting in the United
States calculated to kill the indus
try here. They raised a huge sum
of money for that purpose. They
sold cloths at prices far under those
demanded of English buyers at
home, and, more than that, the
| 40 ion
were recouped by adding to the
home prices to the English consum-
ers. And the Germans have done
/ the same thing in chemicals and ma
| chinery. A year or so before the
war American sewing machines
were finding foothold in Latin Am
erican countries which greatly per-
| turbed the German makers. They
sent their statesmen into those coun-
| tries with instructions to give away,
| If necessary, the German machines
until the American machines were
| driven out of the field. The ex-
penses of that campaign were recov-
cred by increasing the home prices.
And when the American business
had been driven out of the Latin
| American countries, the price of
| the German machines was raised to
point which would cover all past
losses. This is crooked merchan-
| dising and an offense against eco
| nomic law. Those who engaged in
| it have no standing in equity and
are not entitled TO any sympathy
when they find themselves red
| from our market by prohibitiye
tariff"