INCREASED TARIFFS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22389, 30 April 1938, Page 20

INCREASED TARIFFS

«0. TUB BDITOB Of TBB PBCIS. Sir^-After the successful stampeding of the Minister for Industries and Commerce by the boot manufacturers to come y> their aid by increasing tariffs on boots and shoes, it has become the fashion for other manufacturers to follow wit. Anyone who has had business experience knows that some trades • are seasonable, the clothing trades in particular. These are subject to trade fluctuations at different seasons of the year. Slack times and busy times have always been the rule, and always will be. There have been periodic discharges of hands, and at other times an unsatisfied demand for employees. If their present demands for protection are granted it will in no way solve this problem. This is what will happen if protection such as they de-. sire is granted. Production will be increased, not by the employment of more hands, but by the introduction of more machinery. Profits will soar, and the finished product will be to the consumer, dearer. I would advise both the Minister for Labour, and the Minister for Industries and Commerce to take a census to-day of the. number of employees, the value of production for 1937, and 12 months hence, take a similar census and compare the figures. I am inclined to believe that what I suggest now will take place, and instead of increasing employment it will actually decrease, though production has in the meantime considerably increased. Tariffs have never had the remedial effects their advocates have claimed for their imposition. It. has always-increased the cost to the consumer, and profits to the manufacturer. In this case it will, in addition, increase the use of machinery and cause more unemployment.—Yours, etc., DIX. April 29, 1938.