Imperial Valley press., 1923-08-13

WELLESLEY HILLS. Mass,
Aug. 13-Roger w. Babson was il
terviewed today on the reason why
certain mills and factories in the
east are shutting down. He at once
replied that our tremendous i'm
ports probably are the cause. An
examination of the situation shows
that these mills which are now shut
ting 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 competition.
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 con
tainers, and an attractive pen knife.
the latter costing only 35c. She
bought these things at good stores
and without any special reference
to prices. That is, she purchased
| what she wanted and did 10 'shop-
ping around. To our great sur
prise when opening the packages,
we found that each towel was label
led with a paper sticker Made in
Germany, that the glass salt con
tainers were labelled 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.
Imports Show Big Gair,
"The imports for the first six
months of 1928 were $2,095, ,663 049
compared withsonly $1,4l9,407768
for the first six months of 1922, and
only 1920 0,476,333 for the first six
months Of 1921. The first sin
months of 1914 (bcfore the great
World War broke out) our imports
were less than $1,000,000,0OO This
means that although our manufac-
turing capacity has been increased
80 per cent in the last 10 years and
consequently our imports should
normally decline, vet they ore 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 i'll most previous years.
that is, people have not increased
their purchases in any such proper
tion as imports have increased. This
therefore means that we are buying
today foreign made goods in place
of American made goods.
"Great imports from abroad
must result in less American made
goods being purchased and conse-
quently in the shutting down, part
time at least, of American mills
and factories. If this continues, it
will ultimately result in Uncmploy-
ment in many lines Of industry and
in many communities. OF course,
if W. were increasing our exports
as our imports increased, this might
solve the problems; but our exports
have shown steady decline during
the past four years. Although we
exported in 1920 goods to the
amount of $S,22S,Ol6,307, our total
exports for the first six months Of
this year were less than two billion
dollars. This means that although
our manufacturing capacity is
greater than ever, we are selling
less abroad and buying more from
abroad than ever before.
Congress Blameless
"There is a tendency among the
farmers to blame the administra-
tion for this situation. Although
the recent congress may be to blame
for many things, it certainly is not
to blame for our present import sit
uation. The recent congress en-
acted one of the highest tariffs ever
enacted in history, and did all it
could to prevent this difficulty
which the country is facing today,
The higher we put the tariff the
harder and longer the workmen Of
Europe work. Moreover, we cannot
blame them while the masses of
this country are living on the fat of
the land, The workmen of Europe
must either sell goods to America
or starye. OF course, we could start