U.S. TO SUBSIDISE WOOL INDUSTRY

Chronicle (Levin), 26 July 1947, Page 5

U.S. TO SUBSIDISE WOOL INDUSTRY

^ . NEW YORK, July 25. ' A fommst that an cxecutive order will be issiicil making a 25 [>er eent cut in tlie woi.il iinport dutv is soon as tlie now Wool Bill is cleared tli rough legislii1i\c i-hauni'ls is m;ub* by tlie Journal of ( 'ommen e 's Boston correspondent. 'J'lie wool Bill did not as expected come up in the House today because of the pressure of other business in the last week of tlie session. The Bill would guarantee American growers a Government purchase price averaging 42.3 cents per lb during the reuiuinder of H!47 and for all of 1948. Tt would also permit the Oommoditv Credit Uorporation to sell 480,000,006 lbs. of ihe low-grade wool stockpile owned bv the Government at prices in compet ition with comparable grades 01 imported wool. The Senate on June 2(5 approved tne present Bill which omits the controversial provision empowering tlie Pre.side.11t to impose iinport quotas or feos additional to the existing dutv. This was included in the original legislalion which President Truman vetoed. Mr. ('. J. Fawcett, general manager of the National Wool Marketing Gor j poration rejiresenting over 50,000 grow ! ers in 22 States, told the Australian Associated T'ress's Boston coirespoinl out that the predicted 25 per eent cut in the dutv on imported wool would sound ihe death knell of the doniesrnwool industry. "The domostic wool m dnstry has declined 35 per eent in the past five years and the number 01 lambs has decreased bv 8,600,000. The present dutv of 35 cents per clean con tent pound does not offset the difference in the cust of production in Austra ha and the United States. " Until recentiy s5 per eent of all the wool used by American manufacturers was of foreign origin, so why reduce the import (luty? Further, the United States is probably the best nuirket the British Einpire can lind to sell shopworn stoeks accumulatcd during tlie war. ' '