The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1921-11-04
REP. FORDNEY
REPLIES TO
MARSHALL FIELD
Discusses American Val
uatiOn

The activities of Mr.. John G.
Shedd, president of Marshall Field
and company, in attacking the pro-
posal in the pending tariff bill to as
sess ad valorem duties on American
values were criticised by Mr.. Ford
ney, chairman of the Ways and
Means committee, in a speech on the
floor of the House October 18. Mr..
Fordney's remarks brought forth a
very emphatic denial from Mr.. Shedd,
which appeared in several Chicago
papers. On being requested to COM
ment on Mr.. Shedd's reply Mr.. Ford
ney made the following statement 4:
"My criticism of Marshall Field
and company" said Mr.. Fordney, "is
that they purport to speak the views
of manufacturers, when in reality
they are expressing the views of i'm
porters. Manufacturers from all
over the country are urging the
adoption of American valuation as a
means of affording a reasonable de-
gree of protection against those
countries whose wages and costs of
production are abnormally low -
much lower than any fair-minded
American would care to see exist in
the United States. Mr.. Shedd, how
ever, is the most active opponent to
the American valuation proposal,
and his propaganda is being assidu-
ously distributed throughout the
country. His pretext of working in
the interest of American labor and
domestic industry is the thing which
to me is most distasteful.
"Importations by Marshall Field
and company are on a tremendously
large scale, and in denying that they
take the entire production from fac
tories abroad, it appears to me that
Mr.. Shedd is making play in the
use of words. He states that they
feel they have a right to express
their opinion to Congress. agree
that they have the right, but con-
denim the ethics of his evident at
tempts to conceal their foreign con-
nections and their mercenary inter-
est in promoting the sale of the pro-
duct of foreign labor in the Amer
lean markets. l want them to play
fair and lay their cards on the table.
I am convinced that Mr.. Shedd is
very much more interested in extend
ing his company's import business
than he is in manufacturing in the
United States or in dealing in Amer
ican-made goods. 1t is probable for
them to buy cheap products abroad,
for by advertising these foreign
goods as superior to American-made
goods, they exact high prices and
realize a wide margin of gain. Mr..
Shedd's views are the views Of other
importers and are quite the converse
of sentiments expressed by Ameri-
can manufacturers. Mr.. Shedd
would be justified in telling what he
believes would increase his import
ing business, but why should it not
be more or less offensive to those
chiefly interested in producing goods
in America or in selling American
made products to have Mr.. Shedd
volunteer to speak for them?
"Mr. Shedd states that in the year
1920 they paid for goods made in
Germany less than one-half of one
percent of their volume of business.
The question l would now like to ask
Mr.. Shedd is, What did they sell
these goods for to the American con-
sumer? Why does he compare the
payments made for German goods
with the volume of business?' He
could have gone back to 1918 and
stated that they paid for no imports
from Germany. How about the cur
rent sales of foreign goods in the
American market and what are his
expectations for the coming year?
"Only yesterday my attention was
called to an invoice of bentwood
chairs made in Czecho-Slovakia. The
price paid for the chairs, according
to the invoice, was $500 Polish
marks per dozen, but yesterday the
mark Of Poland could be purchased
at the rate of 4,400 for 81. The
importer stated that the price paid
was really nothing it was so in
significant. At yesterdays rate Of
exchange the foreign cost Of those
chairs would have been about 80
cents dozen, or little less than 7
cents per chair. It is conceivable
that an American retailer dealing
solely and exclusively in chairs pur-
chased in Czecho-Slovakia might be
in a position to truthfully say that
the price paid by him for chairs in
Czecho-Slovakia amounted to but 1
narcant Of his total business MANY