Show balkanization FAILS red mill milk green oleo have bad taste trade walls bounce back at states state s by EARL COMPTON released He Ite leased by western newspaper New pape U union aloa CHICAGO tearing down spite fences to reunite 48 jealous balkan kingdoms into the united states esthe job ob facing federal and state officials 0 heeding a nationwide nation wide protest from farmers consumers and business men officials are liquidating a vast system of state trade barriers and cutting miles of legislative leg Isla tive red tape which hems in commerce for trade barrier legislation Is almost universally recognized as a serious r ous blockade on the road to recovery rhode bode R island adopted a law requiring qui ring that out of state milk be colored red wisconsin ruled that oleomargarine must be colored green california assessed a license fee on imports of foreign beer georgia empowered her agricultural commissioner to embargo any farm products when georgia has plenty at home all Boome boomeranged ranged these are but a few samples of the hundreds of state trade ba barrier laws law s that b boost 0 ost uncle sams food bill by hundreds of millions illions m of dollars annually lower returns on an business investments and throttle the channels cha anels for distribution of farm crops a national survey shows all were adopted to help local producers and all have had a boomerang effect when california raised a quarantine against Flo citrus fruit florida replied with a virtual embargo against the west coast state new york excluded ts ice cream and connecticut replied in kind indiana and michigan wag waged 0 d a bitter trade war over beer no state has been neutral in the depression born batt battle e to protect home industries against outside competition now however the trend toward what gov lloyd C stark star of missouri calls balkanize Bal kaniza uon ton seems to have come to a halt and observers see a growing movement toward lowering the barriers latest evidence is a national survey VL y of one of the more widely prevalent types of barrier legislation chain store taxes although more wan than 60 0 bills aimed at chain stores were introduced in 34 state legislatures this year not one new state was added to the anti chain roster the survey shows in three states anti chain taxes were outlawed by the courts in the last six months and a gr growing ow ing movement for repeal of existing antl anti chain store legislation is under way the study showed of 25 states which have tried these COLORADO militia cle ports butof 14 seeking war W california m 0 0 ests go through c u s t inspection X 7 A A taxes only 20 now have them on the statute books the survey showed opposition by farm labor and consumer groups was climaxed recently by a resolution adopted by a conference of the council of state governments which said in part any law that is punitive to any store or other legitimate distributional agency of agricultural products is a harmful trade barrier detrimental ri boboth to both the producer and consumer the abrupt about face in the trend of chain store taxes parallels the trend of 0 other discriminatory state laws only two states added new barrier b airier arrier laws this year and dozens of sam similar ilar bills were rejected states establish customs barriers among the most harmful of the barrier measures advocates of free trade among states believe are those affecting automobiles and trucks fifteen states now have of ports of entry at which ar iving drivers are inspected and taxed some states impose a duty on gas in the tank others charge truck drivers from out of state for the use of their highways heavy registration fees on foreign trucks are assessed by many states and the operator of a five ton vehicle bound from alabama to south carolina is forced to pay fees totaling usually the effect of such legislation was to bring about bitter retaliation tal lation for example kansas passed an automobile port ot of entry law in 1933 and set up 68 66 ports on the state borders the now famous complaint of an oklahoma farmer tells the result 1 I had been taking my produce to market in kansas for years he said one day a man in uniform stopped me and told me I 1 must pay a tax of idt cents a ton mile my truck weighed five tons and I 1 was going to travel miles in kansas so I 1 paid to get in the state with my truck for two days I 1 paid 16 more in gasoline taxes which brought the total to nearly 50 and completely cancelled all the profits of my trip the sequel to the oklahoma farmers story was that his state soon erected 58 ports of entry of its own truckers farmers suffer farmers share with truckers the heaviest burden of interstate trade barriers quarantines and rigid inspection spec tion standards are in force in ma ny states less in the interests of protecting public health than with the design of protecting local producers minnesota passed a law since invalidated that all meat sold in the state must be inspected within 24 hours of the time of slaughter eliminating out of state meat packers pennsylvania ruled that all milk sold in the keystone state must be approved by pennsylvania inspectors spec tors with such laws multiplying at a rapid rate economists a and nd public officials saw that a breakup of free trade was very clo close S e t to 0 being ran an accomplished fact they pointed out that three roads lay ahead first the way toward real balkanization kaniza tion isolation of state from state with roads patio patrolled ed by troops and smugglers shuttling b back ack and forth on dark and lonely trails second the road toward complete federal control of commerce with state governments forced by a long suffering producing and consuming public to give up their rights to united states authorities third the way toward razing these artificial barriers toward a realization on the part of every man that what hurts his neighbor whether across the state line or 2000 miles away also hurts him this third road Is the one selected by the council of state governments and operating cooperating co state and federal agencies which have outlined a def anite long term program to restore free interstate commerce |