The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-05-14
Tariff Blocks Traffic

cf the MANY factors which contributed to build
ino I'M Americas postwar prosperity one usually Is
given the major place That is our method OF mass
production.
True We are richer in raw materials than most
nations Also we have a larger home market 70 aO-
sorb our goods. There are other elements sucn as
or adeorate labor supply But these factors in them
selves could not have pushed us forward as an M
diyidual nation so far and so fast
Our crowning achievement has been mass proouc-
ton. That is the thing which draw industriasts
and engineers from other countries to dy the secret
of our success
TODAY mr. mass production is in jeopardy Some
thing more than an efficient system is at stake The
larger scale employment and the cheaper goods pro-
duced bv that system also are threatened.
The threat comes from the Grundy bllion-dollar
tariff bill. which is causing many other nations 10
retalate by cutting their purchases from us ana
virtually closing their markets to us by raising as
criminatory tariffs of their own
Under anv circumstances that would be serious.
Bu II IS doubly serious the United States Just be-
cause practically entire postwar lnouSrla SyS
tenn has been geared to mass production Inc asset
of our system is that it produces more than we neeo
or can consume thus leaving surplus to sell abroad
at profit
But that same asset becomes at once liability the
moment We can find no outlet for the surplus.
Take the automobile industry. The name of Ford
-tvpifes everywhere the mass production idea He
discovered that the more he could sell the better
he could make the quality and the lower he could
reduce the cost.
So he tapped large American market, which was
not open to expensive cars Presently, however other
manufacturers learned and utilized his secret The
American market soon approached the saturation
point; it became a replacement market.
Then Ford and others turned abroad for an out
let Automobile shipments grew until they became
our largest manufactured export That meant not
only larger profits but more employment and higher
wages The export surplus made possible also the low
price which Americans paid for their cars
So in many ways our national prosperity and COM
fort we're tied up with the automobile industry with
the market it created for the steel and other raw ma
terial and manufacturing industries, with the wide
employment it provided for our producers and the
inexpensive product it furnished our consumers
Other nations, unable 10 compete even in their
own market with our superior mass production IN
dustry raised sundy trade barriers against American
automobiles But most of those barriers have been
nvercome bv Yankee manufacturers in one way or an
other The proof is that during the first quarter OF
last year our automobile exports were valued at more
than S18l00000O
Now. under the threat of the Grundy tariff and
foreign reprisas. that huge export value is melting
away During the first three months OF this year the
total was only $97OOOOOO reduction almost OF one
half How rapid the decline will be after the Grumpy
-tiH is passed no dares predict
The automobile industry in the main does not want
a tariff for itself, and it objects to the Grundy tax
on $50 separate materials which go into making an
automobile The automobile industry has demonstrated
that the success of American business depends upon
mass production surplus export trade and not on
higher tariffs.
But despite its remarkable success in the past and
its large contribution to American prosperity, the au
tomobiIe industrys future is menaced by congress
intent upon the worst tariff grab in our history.