Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-24
CLAUSE RELIEVES
FORCED LABOR BAN
Large Portion of $500, 00O,-
600 Imports to Be Saved by
Tariff Act Provision.

The State Department announced
| yesterday that vital import lanes had
Deen kept open and British monopoly
OF the American rubber market averted
by the use of facts in a memorandum
prepared by the United States Tariff
Commission during the tendency of
the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill in Con-
greSs
The memorandum indicated that the
clause to exclude all products of con-
Wet, forced or indentured labor would
anect United States imports. which in
1873 reached total of nearly $780,
100000.
! The indicated effect was SO impress
slve, the State Department intimated.
mat Congress wrote into the law the
quaIl1ylng clause which nullifies the
restrictions on goods not produced in
tne United States in sufficient guam
titles TO meet the consumptiye demand.
Ihls qualifying clause was construed
today by the State Department as free
ing most of the imports in the S70O,-
100000 list.
British Monopoly Recalled.
With the State Department satisfied
CIaC involuntary labor no longer exists
III BRUSH Malaga, while 1t does prevail
III rubber-producing Sumatra, an out
standing effect of the reservation. as
seen by the State Department. is to
keep the American rubber market open
70 Doth the Dutch and British product.
Dutch rubber would be admitted on the
ground that no rubber was produced
| IN the United States. It was recalled
that the British when in control of the
ruooer market raised the price to
american importers about $500. 600. 900.
The State Departments interpreta-
tlon OF the qualifying clause was that
IL virtually took the teeth out of the
provision which had been written into
the tarin law at the demand of Amer
lean labor for the protection of the
domestic labor market.
The result was to reopen the whole
controversy over excluding the products
OF Involuntary labor at a time when
the treasury Department is faced with
the problem of framing regulations to
carry into effect January l the restric-
lions against products of forced or in
dentured labor
Labor leaders were quick to challenge
the state Department Interpretation
ana ana moicated that they would insist
upon rigid application of the clause bv
the Treasury Department.
AZ was contended that a liberal def
milton OF whether American products
were insufficient" to supply the do
nestle demand would let down the bars
70 RUSSIAN lumber admittedly of con-
Yict production
In the light of the qualifying clause
the State Department was inclined to
minimize the effect of the new ex-
clusion clause. which enforces virtually
the same restrictions against products
OF forced and indentured labor as the
OLD law did against convict-made goods,
Complications Feared.
1t Is on the question of what is
needed by our manufacturing indus
tries" or what is produced or manu-
featured in the United States in sufi-
cient quantities to meet the American
needs" that the agitation before the
Treasury and possibly before the next
session of Congress is expected to hinge.
With organized labor and American
producers demanding protection for the
American market, the situation was
regarded as confronting the adninis
trattcn with delicate problem. Loosely
construed, the qualifying clause was be-
neved to hold possibilities for domestic
trouble; tightly construed, it was be-
lieved to hold possibilities of diplo-
matte complications.