The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-11-11
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC ,. HAsKIN. Dfre0eSE,
Waahington, ID. O
TARIFF BEGETs REPRIsAIS

washington, d. c., Nov. THE
reprisals against the United States be-
cause OF the protective tariff act re-
Gently passed by congress, which were
predicted during its tendency, have
begun. Great Britain has struck the
first blow and aimed it at the Amer1-
can rubber industry.
1t will be recalled that during the
months when the tariff act was pend
ing, British interests protested against
the high rates which would keep Brit
ish products out of the American mar
ket- Delegations of business men
from England appeared before the
ways and means and the finance COM
nittees asking lower rates. Their APP
peals fell on deaf ears. This amounted
TO q declaration Of economic war. me
United States erected a tariff wall to
keep British goods out. Now Great
Britain, in retaliation, is striking back
at a very tender spot in the American
industry.
The British have well advanced a
plan to make the United States pay a
Der. Not a pound of rubber grows on
American soil. We must import all
the rubber we need for the hundreds
of thousands of automobile tires, for
electrical apparatus and for the nun
dred and one other uses to which TINS
product is put.
The method being employed by
Great Britain is to lay an export TAX
on the export of rubber from her pos
sessions which produce this valuable
commodity. Such possessions include
the Island of Ceylon, the Straits Set
Elements and the Federated Malay
states. These are the principal rub
Der producing areas Of the Worlo:
Brazil produces rubber but because OF
a difference in quality and especially
because of the manner OF condltlohinS
for export, the American rubber IN
dustry uses chiefly the product from
a. Dit V1TndHrlnl regions.
The United States consumes as
much cru lie rubber as all The rest OF
the world put together so any govern
mental action by Great Britain tend
ing to increase its price is a direct
blow at the United States.
The tax must be paid to the gov
eminent before the crude rubber can
be exported, so the price of rubber
laid down in the United States will
be substantially higher. 1t is too early
to make any definite estimates, but
the rubber industry admits that the
action of Great Britain will add mill
lions of dollars year to the American
public's bill for tires as well as for the
numerous other rubber articles OF
every day consumption.
5 The American rubber Industry is
protesting Vigorously against the
action of Great Britain, but there is
no reason to believe that Great Britain
will pay any more attention to Amer
lean protests the n we paid to the Brit
ish protests against the tariff. Eng
land protested against an American
import tax; now the United States pro-
tests against a British export tax.
Both protests are doomed to the same
reception.
We Must Pay the Price.
The economic result is that Eng
land will sell less goods in our market
and that If we want British rubber We
must pay the price, whatever it is.
The proverbial American spirit OF fair
play must say: That's fair enough"
but it is hard to smile when the fliv-
YER needs new tires all around and
when the blowoutS come. In such n
situation a ipuncture teaches more
about practical politics than a text
book.
Great Britain feels reasonably sure
that the United States must have rub
Der no matter what it costs and she is
well Jua&fied in such an assumption.
Rubber IS essential in so many manu-
features and is so common an article
of daily use that the people can not
price must be paid and England will
collect.
England feels particularly COM
Portable about the rubber export tax
because OF the debt situation. 1t is
an economic axiom that foreign bal
ances can be paid only in three ways:
in gold, in goods and in services. Eng
land IS willing to pay us all the gold
S50,000,000 of the yellow metal, More
is coming. But she has not enough to
meet the indebtedness. The next form
is goods. She would be very glad to
ship great quantities of goods to the
American market and was prepared
to do so when the congress put up
the tariff barrier and declared that We
would not accept goods Payment in
services Is going on constantly; that is,
British ships are carrying American
goods, British hotels are entertaining
American tourists, and American ships
are obtaining British insurance. This
is a tedious process
Now while this situation obtains the
American people at the same time are
pressing for payment of the debt
which Great Britain owes. She hasn't
the gold; We won't take her goods;
payment in services is slow: therefore,
some other plan must be found.
. There are some commodities which
the United States does not produce but
which the British empire does. Ac-
cordingly, the obvious thing TO do is
to raise the prices of such commodi-
ties The United States must buy from
Great Britain and pay handsomely.
This is a way of meeting the debt,
This is precisely what is happening
in the case of the rubber tax We
must have rubber. That is something
the tariff does not keep out. There
fore Great Britain will pay US in rub
Der. She will not pay US a great deal
"a AN4 q 6AfOAA sum O0N q A1SA~
rubber for a given sum. In this way
the debt will be cut down.
Similar Reprisals Expected.
The officials at Washington expect
the plan to be extended. There are
other commodities which Great Brit
ain produces but of which we produce
very little or none at all. Tin is one
of these. 1t would not surprise Of
fetal Washington TO see Great Britain
raise the price of her tin. To some
extent. the price OF tea could be raised
altho there the production of Japan
and China would cut down the British
monopoly.
The American protective tariff is
built on the theory that the United
States produces practically all the raw
material she needs. That was espe-
cially true until rubber became so inn