Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-03
TARIFF ON COPPER /
IMPORTS IS URGED
Protection for U. S. Industry.
Asked by Armstrong in.
Philadelphia Speech.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.

DIX SANNLhIhs
Cheap money has not stemmed the
stock market decline. In the total
sales Of nearly 100000 shares yester-
day. the natural gas stocks suffered the
most, although the whole market had ,
a bad drop in the final hour.
United States Steel moved down ga
points to 176; General Electric down
AZ points to 8oA; Eastman Kodak
dropped 1915 points to 2So34, Radio
Corporation went off 67s points, clos
ing at 551a. Standard Oil of New
Jersey was hit hard and dropped As
points to 1873.
The utility stocks were also hard
hit. American Power g. Light dropped
Power & Light dropper 915 points to
43a, while United Carbon dropped
1Oh points to 63-in the most pre-
cipitous decline this year
Money was plentiful and cheap, but
the market did not respond to it.
Why is copper the only metal of any
| Importance that the United States Gov
eminent does not protect by an i'm
port duty?
This question was asked and answered
| by Frank G. Armstrong, New York cop.
pei HAL, Ill dIl dQuISSS Adob ll4SllI
Philadelphia before the American
Academy of Political and Social Science.
| It is only recently that copper de-
| posts have been found elsewhere than
IN the United States--in such places
| as Canada, South America and Africa.
And this does change radically the
traditional American point of view. ,.-
Laid down in New York in 1928,
Chile's production cost was 5.084 cents
per pound; Nevada's production cost
for the same year was 9197 cents.
So copper produced by the Nevada
Consolidated Copper Co., was 80 per
| cent higher than that produced by the
Chile Copper Co. of Chile. --s
Question: Should the United States
allow foreign copper, owned largely by
American interests and produced under
slave labor conditions" to enter the
| United States markets duty free to COM
| pete with copper produced in American
mines at a much higher cost for free
| labor2
Mr.. Armstrong says that it should
| not be allowed. He asked in his address
| for duty Of not less than per cent
| pound to protect American copper mines
and American labor in the same way
that the Government protects every
| other metal but copper
THE copper situation" said Mr.. Arm
| strong, presents what Is the first out
standing illustration Of the results of
| the exploration of capital from the
United States for the particular purpose
! OF building up In foreign countries a
/ basic industry whose low cost product is
| shipped back to the United States, there
to compete with and ultimately destroy.
one OF its own most important indus
tries"
The Armstrong statement is a strong
indictment against the present copper
nClfrv Of fho TTI1itnd Sfotoe
The bankers committee meeting in
Brussels, under the leadership of Leon
Fraser, Boston lawyer, is believed to
| have fixed up a 5ia per cent rate on
the new $300,000,000 German repara-
ton bond issue, as contrasted with the
per cent rate talked about last Fall
| France, with the lowest discount rate
now in the world, is expected to take
one-third Of the issue, the United States
| possibly another third, and the rest of
the world the balance.
| One private firm, Kreuger & Toll of
| Sweden, has already agreed to under
write So, 100000 of the new issue.
Leon Fraser, Al, the American banker,
| after graduating from Columbia Univer-
| sity, became first newspaper reporter, =
then lawyer. 7
| During the war he was major in
the judge advocates Office, and was 9
honored by the governments of Belgium, +.
France and Italy. ac~
Since that time, he has practiced in :
ternational law in Paris, was general
counsel of the Dawes plan, and Paris :
| representative of the reparations COM
mission from 1924 to 1927. +" ?
Within two weeks, it is expected that
an announcement will be made Of the
details of this first issue of 5000, 900 900 "
| out of total of $4,000 000, 900 repara- !.
tons bonds, which ultimately can be
| issued. e.
Is a tariff war between Canada and
the United States probable? The bud /,
| get introduced this week into the Can
adam Parliament by Finance Minister
G. A. Dunning appears to point that
! way. :
Although the Liberal party has al
ways been favorable to American busi-
| ness development, the Dunning budget
is the most comprehensive measure on
tariff revision introduced in the
Canadian Parliament since William
Fielding introduced his famous Brit
ish preference" principle in 1897
Out of total of 1,188 schedules :
mentioned, 500 of them are drawn di-
rectly to encourage a diversion of !
trade away from the United States, and
to Canadian and British interests.
The business implications of this new
budget are far-reaching and serious,
The budget includes a system Of
countervailing tariff schedules which
will make the Canadian duty on COM
modities in respective trade between
Canada and the United States equal to
the United States tariff. Wheat, four
rye, oats, livestock, eggs, butter,
meats, potatoes. soups. cut flowers and
cast iron pipe are products included.
"Those who raise prohibitive barriers
against our products entering their
markets must expect that we will ex-
tend favor to our own good customers
rather than to them" said the finance
minister. IT would rather extend
lower tariff favors to those who ex-
tend them to us than to adopt prohibit
tive tariffs in return for like treat
ment"
A British economic union, combining
the British Isles with all of the British
dominions, may yet work out to be
more than an idle dream. But Ameri-
can business men had better watch
their steps-for Canada is Americas
best customer
(Copyright, 1880, by North American News
paper Alliance0