Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-11-10

ton of Great Britain, but there IS
no reason to believe thai Great Brit
ain will pay n more 10
American protests than we paid TO
the British protests against the
tariff. England protested against an
American import tax; now the
United States protests against a
British export tax Both protests
are doomed to the same reception.
We Must Pay the Price.
The economic result is hat Eng
land will sell less goods in u mar
| ket and that if we want British rub
| Der we must pay the price whatever
it is. The ~proverbial American spirit
of fair play must say: "IhatS Iair
enough" but it is hard to smile
when the fiivver needs new tires all
around and when the blowouts
come. In such a situation a pune
lure teaches more about practical
politics than a textbook.
Great Britain feels reasonably
sure hat the United States must
have rubber no matter what it costs
and she is we'll justified in such an
assumption. Rubber is essential in
so many manufactures and is so
common an article of daily use that
the people cannot get along without
il. Therefore. the price must be
pau dIlI IlI5 LIZ wall SOAlSSh'
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 SER
| vices. England is willing to pay us
all the gold she can spare and re-
Gently sent over $50, 900, 900 of the
yellow metal. More is coming. But
she has not enough to meet her in
debtedness. The next form is goods.
She would be very glad to ship great
quantities of goods to the American
market and "a prepared to do so
when the congress put up the tariff
barrier and declared that we would
not accept goods. Payment in SER
vices is going on constantly; that is,
British ships are carrying American
goods, British hotels are entertain
ing American tourists, and Ameri-
can ships are obtaining British in
surance. 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 EN-
rire does. Accordingly, tho obvious
thing to do is to raise the prices OF
such commodities. The United
States must buy from Great Britain
and pay handsomely. This is a way
Of meeting the debt.
This is precisely what is happen
ing is the case of the rubber tax,
We nus have rubber. That is some
thing the tariff does not keep out
Therefore Great Britain will pay us
u in rubber. She will not pay us q
great deal of rubber for a given sun
but a little rubber for a given sum
IN this way the debt will be cUt
down.
7 Similar Reprisals Expected.
The officials at Washington expect
the plan to be extended. There are
other commodities which Great
Britain produces but of which we
produce very little or none at all
Tin is one of these. 1t would SUI
prise official Washington to SCI
Great Britain raise the price of hel
TIN. To some extent, the price o.
tea could be raised although there
The production of japan ana China
would cut down the British
monopiy.
The American protective tariff il
built on the theory that the United
States produces practically all thu
raw material she needs. That wa
especially true until rubber became
so important an element in modern
life. Rubber is the most vulner
able point of attack. and that is tn
spot Great Britain picked out. Their,
are not many others to find bu
whatever there is a commodity o
which Great Britain has anythin;
like a monopoly and the Unite,
States has a lack, the America PEG
pie can make ur their minds to pa,
heavy toll.
What other nations will do in tn
way of reprisals against the Ameri
can tariff las not been divulged a
yet, but there is no doubt that an
weakness in the American source
of supply will be taken full advan
tage of. Reprisals may be expecte
only from manufacturing nations, o
the situation would be more uncom
Portable for this country. For in
stance, if Brazil and the Contra
American countries did much manu-
featuring and felt themselves in
jured by the American tariff o
manufactured goods, they would, !
all probability, lay an export tax o