Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-04
SOVIET BUYING BAN
IN j. S. HELD AL|B|.
Unofficial View Here of Plan
TO CurtaiI Its Purchases
Called Political Move.

The Soviet governments action IN
formally adopting a policy to buy no
goods in the United States which it
can obtain elsewhere Is viewed by some
students of the situation in Washing
ton as meaning little or nothing, so ia"
as actual trade between the nations Is
concerned. It's chief significance, as
these cb3ervers analysed it, was its in
dication that Soviet officials facing inn
pending failure in parts OF their po-
litically important flve-year industriali-
cation program, were laying the foun-
dationS for a political alibi to impress
the workers at home.
That view is unofficial, but is re-
garded as authoritative. Government
officials declined to comment. 1t was
recalled however, that Russian pur-
chases in the United States have been
confined for many months virtually to
commodities which can be had. for one
reason or another, nowhere else. If
such purchases are reduced in future
months. the real reason. Il is thought,
will be that current needs have been
met or the projects of the five-year
plan for which they might have been
desired have had to be curtailed.
Machinery Bought in U. S.
Soviet agencies bought about sl40.-
900 900 of American goods in 1880 and
sold about S30,000.000 of Russian prod
ucts in this country. The purchases
were chiefly of manufactured articles
required to carry out the flve-year plan.
They included especially such Ameri-
can products as tractors. machine tools
and other industrial equipment Trac-
tors in the quantities desired and of the
needed size can be had nowhere else.
These particular purchases have de-
clined this year. but that was to be ex-
pected as the Russian requirements
were more and more nearly met. Much
of the industrial development contem-
plated in the f1ve-year plan is based on
plans drawn by American engineers.
Those plans require American equip
ment.
Citing Of U. S. Tariff Noted.
The Russian policy for years has
made it necessary to buy as much as
possible in countries where the market
for Soviet products is best, and where
credits can be obtained at the most
favorable terms TIE United States
has been neither a large market for
Russian goods it is pointed out, nor
has the Soviet government been able
to obtain very favorable credit terms
either as to amount or time, in this
country.
The citing of unfavorable credit con-
ditionS in the United States and of the
application of the forced-labor clause
in the tariff act by the Treasury De-
partment. which threatens to bar Rus
sian products, were pointed to by OBJ
servers here as clear evidence of the
political intent of the enunciation of
the Russian policy. Very little of the
Russian products sold in this country,
it was remarked, has been affected by
that clause.
European Credits Near End.
Meanwhile. as evidence of the i'm
pending failure of parts of the five
year plan in Russia, on the success OF
which the Soviet government has
placed a large stake of its prestige, 1t
has been observed that the unfavor-
able balance of its trade reached about
SIS 100000 in the first half OF this
year and that it had large unfavor-
able balance for 1880. 1t has been
overcoming that difficulty with large
credits in Great Britain, Germany and
Italy. Those credits, however must be
nearing exhaustion and 1t is thought
here that the Soviet government will
find it difficult, if not impossible. under
present conditions to obtain extensions
and increases. in Great Britain and
Germany at least, with which TO go
on with its projects. incidentally. it
has been noticed that Russia has had
to ship gold out of the country re-
Gently.
In view of those circumstances and
the growing difficulties along the same
lines, the observers here have been ex-
pecting the Soviet authorities to begin
preparing the Russian people not to
expect all that had been predicted for
the f1ve-year plan. An effort to con-
vince the Russian people that Ameri-
can policy has made the fulflllment OF
various projects impossible, it was
pointed out might very well be aimed
in that direction