Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-09-06
BUY too MUCH
FROM EUROPE
Roger W. Babson Says That
is the Reason for Closing
of Factories

WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass, Sept
6:-Mr. Babson was interviewed or
the reason why certain mills and
factories in the east are shutting
} down. He at once replied that oui
tremendous imports are probably
the cause, An examination of the
( situation shows that these Anills
which are now shutting down for
one or two days a week are those
mills which have the keenest compe-
J tition from Europe. There has been
! no shut downs of mills and factories
which are not subject to European
competition. Mr.. Babson's statement
is as follows:
THE other day my wife returned
from Boston where she had been to
do some shopping. She had made
three purchases: two dozen linen
towels, some individual salt contain
ers, and an attractive pen knife, the
latter costing but IS cents. She
bought these things at good stores
and without any special reference to
prices. That is, she purchased what
she wanted and did no shopping
around. To our great surprise when
opening the packages, we found that
each towel vas labeled with a paper
sticker made in Germany. that the
glass salt containers we're labeled
Made in Czecho-Slovakia'. and that
the knife came from England. At
first thought one would conclude
that this was largely accidental, but
on studying the import figures the
reason for this is very evident.
1.-The imports for the first six
months of 1923 were $2,095, $685. 49
compared with only $1,419,407,76S
for the first six months of 1922, and
only $1,320,476,S3 for the first six
months of 1921. The first six months
of 1914 (before the great World War
broke out) our imports were less
than one billion dollars. This
that although our manufacturing
capacity has been increased 80 per
cent in the last ten years and con-
sequently our imports should nor
mally decline, yet they are over
double what they were before the
war and almost treble what they
were at times during the war. With
the exception of automobiles and
new building, purchases are not any
greater today than they have been in
most previous years;-that is, people
have not increased their purchases
in any such proportion as imports
have increased. This therefore
that we are buying today for
eign made goods in place of Ameri-
can made goods.
Great imports from abroad must
result in less American made goods
being purchased and consequently
in the shutting down, part time at
least, of American mills and facto-
II this continues it will ulti-
mately result in unemployment in
many lines of industry and in many
communities. OF course, if we were
increasing our exports as our i'm
ports increased, this might solve the
problem; but our exports have
shown a steady decline during the
past four years. Although we eX-
ported in 1920 goods to the amount
of $8,228, 016,307, our total exports
for the first six months of this year
were less than two billion dollars.
This means that although u man.
ufacturing capacity is greater than
ever before.
"There is a tendency among the
farmers to blame the administra-
ton for this situation. Although
the recent congress may be to blame
for many things, 1t certainly is not
to blame for our present import
situation. The recent congress
enacted one of the highest tariffs
ever enacted in history, and did all
could to prevent this difficulty
the country is facing today.
The higher we put the tariff the
harder and longer the workmen of
.-.- .,A-T- ATA.aaW~nys ,T-a nnnnnf
blame them while the masses of this
country are living on the fat of the
The workmen of Europe must
sell goods to America or
OF course we could start
a campaign over here to buy all
American goods, but such a cam
paign would be very difficult to put
across. The only answer to the
problem is that our people must
work harder and be more efficient
in order to balance up the situa-
ton. When two jars of water are
connected by a tube, the water in
the two Jars ultimately must level.
1t happens today hat the water IN
the American Jar is the higher, and
the question before us is whether
we will let the water in u W jar
fall 10 the European level, or raise
Ile tCNtA IL AiAGtL Jul o.
The probable result will be that our
level will come down some and
their level will come up to meet us.
We must improve u efficiency
they must increase their pur-
power.
The fact that the business index of
the Babsonchart has dropped to six
per cent below normal is largely due
to this import situation, which is
resulting in the gradual shutting
down OF our mills and factories.
or course the condition of the
American farmer and the in%eficiency
of labor are also factors in bring
ing down this index figure. Con-
sidering the fact that business was
per cent above normal IN
March of this year, the figure of six
per cent below normal today is a.
very abrupt and serious decline"
HOPELAWN