Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-23
CONVICT IMPORTS
NEAR S7OO,O)D,ODO
Tariff Commission Survey
Shows British Rubber
Among Articles involved.

A survey made by the Tariff Com
mission at the request of the State De-
partment indicates that nearly $780,
000, 900 Of United States imports may be
affected by the exclusion of products OF
forced or indentured labor under pro-
visions of the Smoot- Hawley tariff act
which becomes operative January /
This would be in addition to imports OF
about sI6,o00,0o0 which, it is estimated
would be excluded by rigid application
of the restrictions against convict-made
goods, already in effect.
The observations of the Tariff Com
mission are made in an exhaustive
memorandum. which has become avail
able to few members Of Congress
With the United States Government or
the point OF its first attempt to shut
out the products of involuntary labor,
the memorandum is said TO represent
the first comprehensive investigation
of the kind on record. The commits
sion studied labor conditions in virtu-
ally all parts of the world in its effort
to list every possible commodity which
might come under the sweeping ban
which Congress wrote into the tariff
bill largely at the inSistence OF organ.
lied labor.
SI3S,OOO,OOO Rubber Products.
Rubber imports from British Malaga.
which reached a total of $l38 ,000, 900
in 1923, are among the principal COM
modities which might be excluded by
the United States. depending upon the
G,.to nf L.
ury Department in making it's regula-
lions. This Is because British Malaga
is reported employing contract labor
with penal sanctions. Similar imports
from Java, Madura and other East In
dies Islands and from certain colonies
of the United Kingdom also are listed
as possibly affected by the new pro-
hibitions.
1t is further announced by the Tariff
Commission that the American expert
ment with this system of restrictions
in protection of the American labor
market almost certainly will involve
serious administrative difficulties in de-
termining where to draw the line, and
possibly some international exchanges
If 1t should be charged, as is held Dos
sible, that the United States would be
violating the international convention
on export and import prohibitions and
restrictions, signed November 8, 1927.
No Prejudice Involved.
While all possible complications are
pointed out in the memorandum, it is
apparently done without prejudice by
the Tariff Commission, which appears
to have been acting in response to a
direct inquiry by the State Depart
ment. The survey was made while the
NAKaC eft -.
Congress, and the estimates of effect
on trade we're based on the 1928 oficial
figures on foreign trade. In that year
United States imports reached a total
of SO, 95l, l8l ,000 or almost seven times
the maximum value of trade which, It
is estimated, might be affected, directly
or indirectly, by the injunctions to 60
into operation on January /, 1882.
The legislation upon which the sur
vey was based subsequently became
law. but the memorandum was not
made public. This dispatch probably
Is the first public mention Of it, al
though there was announcement in the
New York Herald Tribune several
months ago that the State Department
had uueried consuls throughout the
world TO report what involuntary labor
was employed in the territory to which
they were assigned.
The State department was moved 70
make It's request Of the Tariff Commits
! sion largely by a dispatch from the
American consul at Batavia concerning
| the effect on American trade with the
! Dutch East Indies of the exclusion
| from the United States of goods pro-
! duced by indentured labor, or. more
accurately, indentured labor under pc
nal sanctions.
What difficulties may be stirred over
| the shutting out OF imports of the
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