| Show British Stop Helping China But Bit Let Not Americans Be Thou Than About It By Frederick C. C Othman V So WASHINGTON So the bottom bottom bottom bot bot- tom has fallen out of the international international international inter inter- national rubber market markel Looks as if well we'll be begetting begetting begetting getting spare tires on our autos soon soona a again g a i n. n And plenty of garden garden garden gar gar- den hose i t This is because because because be be- cause the British British British Brit Brit- ish at long last have decided to quit selling rubber to t the Mr 11 Othman Chinese Commies About time too There can be no doubt of that Lately Ive I've been listening to our own lawgivers th the British for selling the sinews of war to our Asian enemies They deserve the lam lam- basting But Id I'd be pleased if our orators kindly would skip the thou than attitude Up until last October we ourselves ourselves ourselves our our- selves were peddling the stuff from which bullets arc are made to the Chinese so they could shoot them back at us Some of our patriots ably still would be in the business business busi busl ness were it not for the efforts of the mild-mannered mild pink- pink cheeked checked and ever polite Democratic Democratic Democratic Demo Demo- cratic gentleman from Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore Balti Balti- more Senator Herbert R. R He lie was the fellow who personally clomped down downin in the holds of freighters atthe atthe at atthe the docks of his home town I and elsewhere to find despite our laws tons of oC copper steel and no telling what all else consigned to A number of the business-as- business usual boys actually were shipping shipping ship ship- I ping electrolytic copper the purest grade there is all the way around the world to sell it at triple prices to the Oriental Reds It was a weird deal and for forthe forthe forthe the benefit of our speechmakers ers I think maybe Id I'd better jot down some facts Clever System The Commerce department had tightened up the rules against shipping China any of our own war goods There was wasa a large copper refinery ref in Japan only an overnight ship ride from China but that was covered by the regulations too So the wily operators bought loads of this Jap copper for export export export ex ex- port to the United States and goodness knows we needed it While the ship was plowing across the Pacific the owners of the copper would sell it to somebody else Sometimes the ship would dock in New York or Baltimore where the copper would be transferred to another another another an an- other freighter bound for China But more often the same ship that left Japan would circle the globe to deliver the metal to the Chinese Perfectly legal That wasn't all Some Sonic of our traders used similar schemes to buy Belgian steel and French transformers which were sold to the Chinese before they ever reached our shores Some Defiant A number of the gentlemen in the trade appeared to toN defend defend defend de de- fend themselves before the senator from Maryland l Some of them said if the government wanted to stop their trade it had better pass a law Some were defiant said they were violating no statute One of these international dealers I remember almost had tears in his eyes he said he didn't want to lose the Chinese Chinese Chinese Chi Chi- nese customers with whom hed he'd been doing business for 20 years Senator raised so much cain in a polite and di dignified dignified dig dig- way that this loophole too was closed and since last fall weve we've shipped nothing to China China- Now the British belatedly belatedly belatedly belat belat- edly seeing arc things our way too Too loo bad it took em so long but in view of or Senator troubles Im I'm inclined inclined inclined in in- to give them a muted cheer I The spare tires and the garden garden garden gar gar- den hose are only incidental j r. r |
