The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-13
U. S. POLICY ON
RUSSIAN TRADE
HIT AS RU|NOUS
Foes of Soviet Deal Heavy
Blow to American Labor
and Business.

BIZ Scripps-HOtoGrd Newspaper Alliance
CLEVELAND, April ID. For
every dollar American labor and
industry may lose by Russian i'm
ports, they gain S. by producing
goods for the Societs, s. D. Wright
vice-president and general manager
Of the Atlas Car and Manufactur-
ing Company, said today.
This concern has supplied hun
dreds Of thousands Of dollars
worth of blast furnace equipment
scale and transfer cars to the So
Wet steel industry, its latest Rus
sian contract having been COM
pleted March /.
Russian trade has been the bal
ance wheel of our business for four
years" declared Mr.. Wright. IF it
had not been for Soviet contracts in
1881, we should have had to close
our plant and throw hundreds out
Of employment.
Terrific Blow at Labor
Thousands of men have been
kept employed in American industry
in the last few years only through
making machinery. tools and tech
nical equipment for Russia. Should
Senator Oddie of Nevada succeed
in putting an embargo on all Soviet
imports therefore, it would be a
terrific blow to American industry
and labor.
"One great trouble at Washing
ton is that some Of the politicians
do not consider what is best for the
country as a whole. Because a dol
lars worth of business in one sec
ton appears to be hit by Soviet i'm
ports, they do their utmost to kill
five dollars worth of business in
another.
Russians are not trying to COM
munize America. They are partial
to our goods and come to this coun-
try to buy them. Then handful
OF AmericanS-who know nothing
whatever about Russia, or how vital
Russian business at this time is to
American industry and labor as a
whole-try TO stop them.
Our business with Russia has
been above bubble. When money
was due, it was paid. And that is
better than we have learned to ex-
pect from many American Gus
toners.
Far Behind America
Il was in Russia last November.
If you could see how far they have
to go to produce an industrial ma
ton, you would realize what a ire
mendous market there is for Amer
lean goods. And so it will continue
for years to come.
1T will take the Soviets fifty wears
to catch up with where we are to-
day All that time they would be
buying much more from us than we
would be buying from them. AS we.
too, will be making progress, you can
Judge for yourself how little danger
to us there is from Russian competi-
ton.
One Of the biggest mistakes made
by the well-meaning agitators in
this country is to think that Rus
slams compete with our manufac-
turerS and workers. The fact is
Russia offers less competition prob
ably than any other country from
which We receive imports.
Russian anthracite is sold for $40
a ton in this country. This is more
than the native product brings. It
is of a higher quality. A Pittsburgh
business man told me this.
Dupes for Germany
Steel men say the same thing
about Russian manganese, which is
OF better quality and which brings
higher price. Wood pulp sells for
about the same as the Canadian,
so naturally there is complaint from
some American concerns with Can
adian pulp lands.
If the group in Washington was
informed, it would realize all this.
Opponents would see that the adj
vantage is tremendously in our IA
vor, and would drop the fight.
When was in Berlin last fall,
a Berlin banker told me: You
Americans are saps. You put your
money in German industry and
German industry sells to Russia.
American industry is done out of
orders and American workers are
done out of Jobs
And a Russian engineer there
said: why go to Russia looking
for orders
60 back to Washington and tell
them to lay off cutting the throat
of Russian trade. Then the orders