Tariffs and Reorganization When a tariff of 33i per cent.
was imposed on foreign steel nearly two years ago, the excuse was that it pro- vided a temporary cover for the reorganization of the iron and steel industry. Since then the industry has prospered, at the expense of the consumer, and Great Britain, which in 1932 had sunk to fourth European producer of iron and steel, is now second only to Germany. But the conditions on which aid was extended have not yet been fulfilled. The reorganization of the industry which should centralize buying and marketing, fix output and-prices, and close redundant plants, persistently hangs fire. Manufacturers, it would appear, realize that a tariff is easier to put on than to take off, and they have no apprehensions about the renewal of this one. They are willing to rationalize the industry for export purposes ; otherwise it would have been impossible for them to make the shipbuilding-steel agreement. with . the European cartel last week. That, at any rate, is something. But reorganization on any full scale still looks hopelessly distant. The Tariff Advisory Committee has the oppor- tunity now of showing whether conditions attached to a tariff mean anything.
* * *
Previous page
