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lis. WOOL TAX
OUTED IN
SENATE
Compromise
Sought
The Herald Special Service and Australian Associated Press,
WASHINGTON, Monday. — The U.S. Senate
today threw out. the vital clauses in the Wool
Bill which would impose a 50 per cent, import
fee on foreign wool.
Delegates from both Houses of Congress are
conierring m an effort to reach a compromise.
Because of the uncompromising stand by the
House of Representatives, agreement to elimin
ate the import tax provisions from the Bill is
regarded as most doubtful.
The importance of United States decisions on the
wool tariff is shown by the fact that America will buy
about £26 million worth of Australian wool for the
current season ending June 30. This represents
about one quarter of the Australian clip, paid for at
higher-than-average prices.
TRADE WARNING
It. is expected that the Under-
Secretary of State (Mr William
Clayton) will take the unusual step
of meeting the delegates person
ally In conference to warn them
that the Import tax would wreck
the Geneva Trade Conference and
the International Trade Organisa
tion. and undermine American
economic foreign policy.
Republican leaders In the House
of Representatives were definite
today that they would refuse to
agree to elimination of the tax
The Agriculture Department,
which wants .to obtain Congres
sional approval jf the price sup
port features of the Bill, contends
that the Import tax provision can
be revised to make It acceptable
to the Administration, perhaps by
inclusion of a provision ' to ban
the use of the tax In cases In
vhich.lt. might be fteemesLtO-Conrl
travene any existing or contem
plated treaty to which the United
States is party.
Such a provision, however, was
rejected by the House of Repre
sentatives last week.
CYNICAL GRAB
The Baltimore Sun In an edi
torial on the Bill said: "The wool
tariff vote in the House on Fri
day was a cynical grab, which the
President or Congress, nfter re
flection. will be expected to slap
down
"This Bill would pick the
tickets of American consumers by
oosting the price of woollen cloth
ing
It would yank the rug out from
under American bargainers seek
ing tariff concessions from other
nations at Geneva in the interest
of revived world trade.
"It would shoot holes in the
country's economic foreign policy
. , 'A1' this is accomplished bv a
bill which hangs wool on the hat-
rack of special privilege, high above
most other commodities.
"Many commodities have tariff
protection, but this bill would give
domestic wool a super tariff over
and above the normal extremely
high tariff of 34 cents a lb.
"MUST VETO"
'.sent laws provide ..import
fees and import quotas oh crops
like foreign cotton, but the Ameri
can market is not as Important
1 tor "fbrelgfr: cottoti- people- 5jjs ' ;to
foreign wool people. That' is be
cause America raises more than
enough cotton for her own needs,
but less than enough wool.
"To sum up, the House Wool
BUI Is a screaming example of
that kind of economic gouge which
its farm-state backers howl at
most eloquently when business or
labor groups seek to perpetrate
them.
"It is i squeeze which Congress
must reconsider in conference, or.
failing that, the President must
veto.
"In the veto message, none of
the words must be more than four
letters long."'
CALLED "SHAME"
The Boston Herald describes
the Bill as "a steal" which "not
only threatens to add to the price
of the clothes- all of us wear, but
its principle of placing an arbit
rary tariff on top of a support
price files In the face of our
country's foreign policy.
"Right- now our negotiators are
virtually deadlocked at the Gen
eva trade conference because Aus
tralia and the United Kingdom
got the jitters from watching
Congress act on wool."
The editorial noted Under-Sec
retary of State Clayton's charge
that' enactment of the bill would
convict America of Insincerity.
"Most of the wool we wear comes
from Australia, and it would be
much cheaper If it were not for the
tariff protection we afford our own
producers:
is tnis Kina or siaxe worui Lilt:
wrecking of our vital foreign
policy? We hope the Joint con
ference will save us from this
shame."
YORKSHIRE VIEW
LONDON, Monday. — If America,
vhich already imposes one of the
highest tariffs in the world on
mported wool apparel, Increased
'he tariff at this stage it would
make a mockery of her plea for
greater freedom of Internationa!
trade," writes the Yorkshire
Post's wool correspondent,
He adds, "Briefly, the wool tariff
question becomes the test of the
genuineness of American ap
proaches for greater freedom of
world trade, and the success of the
Geneva talks will hinge, to n large
measure, on the American de
cision.
"America, in attempting to sus
tain the present high prices for
domestic wool, faces the apparent
alternatives ot a direct subsidy for
local wool, or still higher duties
on Imported wools.
"She Is aware that there could
be no commercial Issue calculated
to find Britain and the Dominion!-
more closely in accord than that
of wool, in which they share a
vast partnership, which virtually
controls three-quarters of the
world s exportable supply.
"The view of the wool trade In
Britain ls that If America faced
the problem on the lines of the
programme which President Tru
man announced some months ago
and in which he urged the United
States' co-operation with inter
ested foreign countries in seeking
more unified world wool market
ing and price policies, she would
obtain helpful collaboration from
Britain and the Dominions.-'
World Demand for Our
Wool — Page 4.
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