The border vidette., 1931-12-12
WILL RESENT TRlFF
ON COPPER


being waged by Arizona and
other copper producing states
of the union to get q protective
tariff on copper imports is not
meeting with favor among the
foreign countries producing the
red metal. They are watching
every movemant. and it is ap.
parent that should such a tariff
be laid by congress, as it likely
will, the measure will cause deep
resentment in these countries.
Ooe of the arguments of the
the other nations prod ucing cop
per against q protective tariff in
this country on raw copper i'm
ports is that most of the copper
we import is rs-exported in the
form of fabricated copper ma
terlals. It is Claimed that the
import trade in copper has
brought wealth to the United
States in the form of shipping
charges, loading and unloading
charges, and refining and smelt
ing costs. La fact, QUE opponent
asserts that this trade has made
the United States second to none
in the business of refining and
smelling copper and has given
the nation a dominant place in
the copper market of the world.
Granting that some of these
things are true. although we
doubt that it has been the i'm.
ported copper that has caused
our smelters and refineries to
become the finest in the world,
we would have no objection to
the importation of foreign cop
per provided it came into the
country under the same condi.
tions that surround the produc
ton of the domestic metal. The
real reason we are seeking a
tariff is TO remove the unfair
competition to our own mines
that is offered BY the foreign
produced ores.
We have made some very rapid
strides in cheapening the cost of
production of copper ores in this
country without lowering the
wages of the men engaged in
prod duction. We have been proud
of the high standard of living
enjoyed by those who labor at
the mining of copper ores. But
the fact remains that we cannot
further cheaper such production
to meet the import competition
without educing the wage scales
to the low level prevailing in
most of these foreign copper
production areas. 1t is not the
desire of the people of the nation
ton to subject our wage earners
to competition of that character.
It is not a question of how
much copper we export in fabri
Gated materials. but a question
of furnishing the larger part Of
the raw copper from this nation
that is used in the fabrication
instead of importing it. The
manufacturers of copper are
protected by high tariff. Raw
copper comes in duty free and
much of it is laid down on our
seaboard at a cost that our pro
ducers are unable to meet unless
they resort to semi slave labor.
What we want is a tariff high
enough to equalize the importa
ton, and give our producers a
chance in the market.
Of course those countries who
produce copper cheaper than we
can, whose wage scales are pitt.
fully low, will object to tariff
and perhahs resent its imposl
tion. It would only be natural
for them to have those feelings
about the matter. At present
they are permitted the absolute
freedom of our copper market.
They import their raw material,
skim the cream from our milk
and take it back home while we
have difficulty in disposing Of
even a small part of the skim
milk.
o. the other hand we resent
their domination of our raw cop
per market. We have copper OF
our own to sell and it's sale means
the life-blood of many Of our
communities. Its sale means the
bread for a part of our citizens
and the education Of our children.
We want copper tariff in order
to ward off the complete stagna
ton of one of Arizona's largest
industries and the unemDlOVment