The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-09

OF the BELOW metal. More V i ~
ing. But she has not enopvS !
meet her Indebtedness. IN. ~. -
form 10 goods. She would no ~
glad to ship great QUANTITIES. !.
goods to the American markef "a
was prepared to do so when ~
congress put up the tariff har,,..
and declared that we would nos ~
cept goods. Payment In seryios !.
going on constantly; that is. Briti.s
ships are carrying American soos.
British hotels are entertaini,.
American tourists, and Americ,e
ships are obtaining British iuspr.
ance. This is tedious process
Now while this situation ohts,,.
the American people at the M.
time are pressing for payment ~
the debt which Great Britain ovss
She hasn't the gold; We won't tais
her. goods; payment in services Il
slow: therefore, some other Dian
must be found.
There are some commoditje,
which the United States does mi
produce but which the British en-.
pire does. Accordingly, the obyioua
thing to do is to raise the prices Of
SUCH commodities. The United
States must buy from Great Britain
and pay handsomely. This is way
of meeting the debt.
This is precisely what is happ<n-
ing in the case Of the rubber tar
We must have rubber. That Is
something the tariff does not keep
out. Therefore Great Britain will
pay US in rubber. She wilfh6t nav
us a great deal of rubber for a
given sum but a little rubber for
given sum. In this way the debt
will be cut down.
Similar Reprisals Expected
The officials at Washington e.
pect 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 not
surprise official Washington to see
Great Britain, raise the brice Of her
tin. To some extent. thet price Of
tea could be raised although there
the production of Japan and China
would cut down the British monop-
oily. &
The American protective tariff is
built on the theory that the United
States produces practically all the
raw material she needs. That was
especially true until rubber became
so important an element IN modern
life. Rubber is the most vulnerable
point of attack and that is the spot
Great Britain picked out There
are not many others to find, but
! wherever there is commodity Of
which Great Britain has anything
/ like a monopoly and the United
States has a lack, the American
people can make up their minds to
pay heavy toll.
What other nations will do In the
way of reprisals against the Amerl-
can tariff has not been divulged as
yet, but there is no doubt that any
weakness in the American sources
of supply will be taken full adrant,
age of. Reprisals may be expected
only from the manufacturing ma
lions. or the situation would De
more uncomfortable for this coun-
try, For instance, if Brazil and the
Central American countries dc
much manufacturing and felt them
selves injured by the American
tariff on manufactured goods. they
would in all probability, lay an ei.
port tax on coffee. This would
| bother the United States as we
raise no coffee. This, however, Is
not likely to occur. ;.
| 1t would not be surprising II
Italy and Spain should raise D!
means of an export tax. the Price
of olive oil. Those countries prac,
tically monopolize that trade anu
the United States is great con
sumner. Italy. France and Japan
should they see fit, could toiio"
the same tactics as to SILK.
! One element which restricts tne
reprisals which the other countries
can afford to make is the general
consumption of most OF their pro-
ducts. Under the most favored ma
ton treaties. no country couio .aA
exports to the United States ~ith-
out taxing exports to all othel
countries. The problem. thee i
to find something of which 'he
United States is the principal con-
sumer. Rubber is the most COZ.
spicuous example, Rubber can Us
taxed and the United States VIII pe
~. .nIv country seriously iD1urea