Evening star., 1923-08-11

WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass. Au-
gust 11-Mr Babson was interviewed
today on the reason why certain mills
and factories in the east are shutting
down. He at once replied that our
tremendous imports are probably the
cause. An examination of the situa-
tion shows that these mills which are
now shutting down for one or two
days week are those mills which
have the keenest competition from
Europe. There has been no shut
downs of mills and factories which
are not subject to European competi-
stion. MIR. 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 containers and
an attractive penknife. the latter
costing but 35 cents. She bought
these things a good stores and with
out 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 was labeled with a paper
sticker Made in Germany that the
glass salt containers We're labeled
Made in echoslovakia. 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 rea-
son for this is very evident
Big Volume of Imports.
The imports for the first six
months of 1923 We're $2.095. 663, ,049
compared with only sl.419. 4O7,76S for
< - Of nd lyy
Sl.320. .476.333 for the first six months
of 1921. The first six months of 1914
3before the great world war broke
Qut) our imports were less than one
billion dollars. This means that al
Though our manufacturing capacity
has been increased 80 per cent in the
last ten years and consequently our
imports should normally decline. yet
they are over double what they We're
before the war and almost treble
what they were at times during the
war. With the exception of automo-
bileS and new building. purchases are
not any greater today than they have
been in most previous years; that is
people have not increased their pur-
chases In any such proportion as i'm
ports have increased. This therefore.
means 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
thte shutting down. part time at least.
OF American mills and factories. If
this continues. it will ultimately re-
suit in unemployment in many lines
Of industry and in many communities.
Or course. If we were increasing our
exports as our imports Increased. this
might solve the problem; but our ex-
ports have shown a steady decline
during the past four years. Although
we exported in 1920 goods to the
amount OF sS,22S.016.307. our total ex-
ports for the first six months of this
year were less than two billion dol
lars. This means that although our
manufacturing capacity is greater
than ever, we are selling less abroad
and buying more from abroad than
ever before
There is tendency among the
farmers to blame the administration
for this situation. Although the re-
cent Congress may be to blame for
many things. il certainly is not to
blame for our present import situa-
tion.
The recent Congress enacted one
of the highest tariffs ever enacted in
history, and did all 1t could TO pre-
vent this difficulty, which the country
is facing today. The higher we put
the tariff the harder and longer the