Evening star., 1937-06-19
NJ FRANCIS P. CARAVAN.

BY FRANCIS p. CARAVAN.
NEW YORK, June 10 (N.AN.A.).-
The State Department, through Its
administration Of the reciprocal trade
agreement act. is exercising A life
and-deAth control over American in.
dustry. First, indirectly. by making it
possible for foreign producers to dump
their goods In our markets and with
their receipts purchase vast quantities
Of our securities; second, directly, by
the power 1t wields over the tari1
There is not an established industry
that the secretary cannot whip into
line. There is not a new enterprise
that he cannot castigate as in
eficient" and bludgeon out of ex-
istence by introducing ruinous foreign
competition. There Is not a piece OF
research looking to new uses of our
surplus crops which he cannot in
stantly halt by reducing up to so per
cent the duty on the imported article
or material.
The Secretary OF State not only can
do these things, but he has done them
Aims at Trade Expansion.
The reciprocal trade agreement act
was passed in 1884, "for the purpose
OF expanding foreign markets for the
products Of the United States (as a
means OF assisting In the present
emergency in restoring the American
standard of living, in overcoming
domestic unemployment and the pres
IN In iy,r si nj
the purchasing power Of the American
public and In establishing and main
tanning a better relationship among
various branches of American agri-
culture, industry. mining and COM
merce) by regulating the admission Of
goods into the United States.
The act has been renewed. despite
the protests OF American business,
for period of three years, effective
June H.
Not one of the laudable aims of the
act has been attained, and it oan be
shown statistically that the State
Department so administered the act
as to produce results precisely op-
posite to those anticipated.
The trade agreements make the
Secretary Of State supreme auto
to his own peculiar theories Of political
economy, Cordell Hull has used these
international agreements to compel
reductions in domestic wages, profits
and prices.
The Case Of Matches.
In August, 1885, the State Depart
ment announced openly that 1t deemed
the profits paid to executives Of an
American match manufacturing con-
Germ Enormously high" Therefore,
in the agreement with Sweden. it re-
duced the duty on matches. But this
Russia and Japan Is we'll In Japan.
adult workers In the match industry
receive ; cents an hour; children,
two-fifths Of q cent. We were asked
to meet that kind Of competition.
How long can We maintain the Ameri-
can standard of living under such
handicape?
+ Declaring that domestic building
materials were too high, the State
Department reduced all tariffs on
cement, plate glass, tonnage iron and
steel products. American steel work.
ers, then receiving IS cents an hour
must eventually compete with Euro
pean workers receiving not more than
Is cents an hour, with japanese at
10 cents an hour and with those Of
India at less than 8 cents an hour.
In every agreement the State De-
partment has made, it has given away
valuable concessions: in not one has
1t gained more than the mereSt shadow
Of an advantage. In many cases, we
have actually sacrificed as much as
81 In possible revenue for every 81
we have gained through exports.
Hampers U. S. Research.
In the agreement with the Neither
lands. the State Department reduced
the duty on starch made from tapioca
and saso. Thereby. it handicapped
its own experimental plant At Laurel,
Miss, which had demonstrated the
possibility Of making white starch
from the yellow sweet potato and so
opening up . vast and wholly new
market for the crops Of the South.
In the same agreement, it reduced
the duty on Sumatra cigar-wrapper
tobacco, although growers in the
Connecticut Valley, with 5000 acres
under cultivation, pleaded for pro-
lection but little longer till quantity
production enabled them to meet
Dutch colonial prices. They said that
they were using 35,0O0,O0O square
yards Of American cotton cloth to
shade their plants. 100 900 pounds of
American-made cotton string and $500
tons Of cottonseed fertilizer annually.
Did they get continued protection?
They did not.
For our concessions to the Neither
lands. they promised to buy from us
3 per cent Of their milling wheat-a
euantity to supply not over 100000
persons with bread-provided our
price WAS competitive with the world
prjce." II it was a fraction OF q cent
more, the Netherlands was released
from its part OF the agreement!
Hits Cotton Outlet.
IN the same way. the State Depart
ment ruined the fiourishing new in
dustry based on the manufacture Of
beautiful and durable Oriental rug
limitations from American cotton,
ptomsing the possible consumption of
l.000, 900 bales. With a stroke OF the
pen, It reduced profits from the
domestic manufacture Of vegetable
parchments, resulting in wage cuts and
longer hours for American workers
Under such conditions, how can
American capital be induced to invest
tnnew enterprises which will utilize
our farm products and insure greater
economic independence?
Manganese Is essential to the manu-
facture of steel We have low-grade
ores in the continental United States
ana a surface outcrop. easily and
chEaply mined, in Cuba. An American
syndicate spent $500, 900 developing the
Cuban ore. They were shipping 1t to
fhA TTritAA Cto<An IN $~>~s