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Show Permanent Aid for Utah Mines Sought by Senator Watkins Approval of the U.S. Tariff Commission's Com-mission's recommendations for u 50 hike in lead-zinc tariffs would be a big step toward a "permanent and sustaining remedy ' to the plight of the domestic lead-zinc industry. Sen. Arthur V. Watkins (R., Utah) recently told President Dw.'ght 1). Eisenhower. In a letter addressed to the president presi-dent a few days ufter the government's gov-ernment's new lead-zinc stockpiling program backfired and weakened the market, Sen. Watkins referred to a Tariff Commission report on the effects of foreign imports on the domestic lead-zinc industry. The industry had appealed in lDu.i or relief under the escape clause of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Agree-ments Act. Mentioning the Simpson bill introduced in the last session of Congress to provide a sliding scale, flexible tariff to give permanent protection to the industry, Sen. Watkins wrote: "The flexible import im-port levies of the 1953 bill were, in my estimation, a good solution to the lead zinc problem, but one the reasons the proposal failed was that remedial action had not been taken under the escape clause of the prevailing tariff act." "Now," the Senator continued, "more than a year later, such escape clause action has been taken, and a tariff commission report is in your office, awuitmg ! administrative action. Furthermore, Further-more, ait earlier, voluminous report also has been submitted by the Tariff Commission, fully documenting docu-menting the plight of the lead-zinc lead-zinc industry and plainly showing that the mine shutdowns in the producing pro-ducing states were caused chiefly by the competition from low-cost, low-pay foreign producers." The letter added, should the Commission's recommendations be ignored in the clear cut case presented pre-sented by the lead-zinc industry, "it will be apparent that the escape clause is empty of meaning and that there is no last-ditch protection protec-tion in this measure for American workers and domestic industries." |