The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-06-29

reach, in fact, for all practical pur-
poses it is beyond our direct reach.
What instrument can then be
used to prevent unfair foreign
competition? As Of now we have
at our disposal the tariff, but ou
State Department insists on throw
ing this defensive instrument
away. That Department wants t.
say what industries are to bt
ground to pieces, dislodging tho
workers from their accustomed
and, in many cases, lifelong oc-
cupations.
"They want, in effect, TO say to
workers in particular industries.
"Your future in this industry is
doomed. You just 90 somewhere
else, to some other industry some
where, and look for a place t.
work. Perhaps we will try to hell
you find something and we ma.
in the end have to refrain you
First, however, we want to max
sure that you lose your job. Don
come to US before that happens"
"At the same time that the STATE
Department pursues its policy 0.
reducing the tariff, it condemns
other protective devices. Yet it j.
very clear that in order TO bring
imports from a country such a.
Japan onto a fair competitive leve
with our own products in the
domestic market would require
very high tariff rate. Wage rates
Of 10 cents or Y cents per hour
cannot be offset by moderate rate
Of duty. Our own workers are no
50 much more productive than thC
Japanese that we can have wages
II to Is times as high as thosC
prevailing in Japan and expect t
compete. The difference is entirely
too great. As | have said, we dom
out-produce the japanese by any,
such margin.
'Yet if we set a tariff Of severa
hundred per cent on Japanese pot
terry, such a rate would appear ex-
tremely high and in fact would be
excessive against other countries
from which we import and where
wage and labor standards are con
siderably higher than in Japan.
"Under such circumstances, i'm
port quotas would offer a better
method Of regulating competitive
imports than the tariff. But oul
State Department has made strong
pronouncements against quotas OF
the ground that they represent the
worst form of trade barriers. The!
have condemned all quotas because
quotas in some forms may bt
greatly restrictive Of trade. The
fact is, however, that quotas neeC
not be restrictive at all. Their u.s.
could permit a fair share of the
domestic market to go to imports.
1t might be possible then to main
tain a low tariff.
SIN his way the destructive eff
fects of foreign low-wage cOmpeti
ton on our employment could be
contained. The potential disruption
of the price structure would be
limited by the fact that it would
be known in advance that the guam
tity of imports could not go be
yond a certain portion of ou1
market.
Factory owners could then, sC
far as foreign competition is con
:erned, plan production ahead anc
give steady employment, freeC
from the fears of a flood of cheap
IMPORTS. These fears are often ex
aggerated but so long as they exist
they inflict their damage on en-
ployment and wages, whether the!
materiahze or not. SO long as the
gate is wide open the threat of in
,reased low-priced imports to al
unknown amount is ever present
This acts as a depressor of manu-
featuring activity and therefore o.
employment. This threat could be
removed by setting a ceiling or
total imports that could be brought
n any one year and in any quar-
ter year; and this amount need
aot be less than had been imported
over a representative period o.
time and should be a stated share
Of the market.
"Unless a limit is placed on the
amount of imports, the pottery in
1ustry in this country will be de-
pressed even more than it is nov
for the simple reason that it is not
known how much pottery will be
offered by Japan this year, or next
year, or at any time in the future'
for sale in this country. What Is
known is that imports from japan
nave always been at very low
prices.
Such a combination is hard to
face. The quantity is unknown but
what is known is the fact Of low
priced competition. What is true
of japanese imports is true in q
lesser degree of imports from Ger
many, England, and Italy. Taken
this combination does
not add up to an attractive outlook
for our workers or for the industry |
"Who knows, some of the fears