Vol. 23, KO,2
An Antidumping Episode HEIdemand for butyl acetate having developed to iniT pressive proportions, thanks largely to the activities of those American workers engaged in the development of protective coatings, certain foreign producers apparently decided they should have a piece of the pie. Consequently, in due course increasing volumes of butyl acetate were imported by Kuttroff, Pickhardt & Company, Inc., who chose as a n effective way to obtain the business a cut in prices. A t the time there vere some fifteen producers of butyl acetate ol)taining their liutyl alcohol from the Commercial Solvents Corporation, v h o were pleabed to have their butanol so used niid refrained from manufacturing the acetate. These manufacturers became growingly suspicious of dumping, and evoked the antidumping provisions of the tariff act After thorough investigation and hearings, an order was issued. Before the antidumping provisions can be exercised, two tliings must be shown. First, it must be proved berond n doubt t h a t tlie prices at which the product is offered in thi, country are lower than home prices. S e x t , it must also be c+tabliJied t h a t injury is being done domestic producer. It \$-as not difficult to show t h a t the prices in America vere lower than in Germany, but the attorney for the defense held that the importation of butyl acetate was not rrsponsible for tlie lorn prices in this country, but that they had resultetl from the entrance of the Commercial Solvents Corporation itself upon the production of butyl acetate. However, tlic facts were that it was not until eight or ten manufacturers of Iiutyl acetate had discontinued operations because of the competition resulting from the dumped butyl acetate that Comniercial Solvents, as a manufacturer of one of the basic raw niaterials, found it necessary to enter the field t o save the situation. Therefore in the end the case was completely proved, the order issued, and the primary purpose of the antitluuiping legi4ation achieved-dumping Tvas stopped. Tlie next part of the episode is secondary to the niaiii purpose of the legislation. We refer to the assessment of dutieb and fines based upon an appraisal of the butyl acetate that had been imported. After due investigation Kuttroff, Pickhardt & Company, Inc., nere called upon to pay in round iuimbcrs t h e e million dollars. Instead, approximately one iiundred aiid fifty thouband mere offered in conipromise, ha\ e heen declined, and the defendants have appealed from the assessments. Tliis appeal has been taken but lately. and it Jiould be clearly understood t h a t the Government does not liar-e a n enforceable claim against the defendants until the courts have sustained the appraisal. hleaiiwliile it is a mattcr of litigation which may be prolonged for some years. I n others 1%ords, regardless of the decision that 1~111be handed d o m i in S e w York, either side iiiight then appeal to the Court of Custonis Appeals in Kashington. If, after two or three years, a decision is handed down, it is barely possible t h a t the case could then go to the Supreme Court. I n tlie meantime Kuttroff-Pickhardt have uiidertskcn a dissolution of their business, distributing their assets to the
February 1, 1931 stockholders. It mould appear fortunate that the collection of fines and duties is a consideration secondary to the effective stopping of dumping. This interesting case is typical of the effectiveness of our antidumping legislation. The investigation required not only meticulous care in ascertaining the status of the American industry, but extensive investigations abroad, which were made b y a n expert of the Bureau of Customs who journeyed to Germany for the purpose. The case is not a n exception, but is typical of the work quietly going forward in the Treasury Department under the present laws which, ivhen final action is taken, effectively protect our industry. Sucli instances may a t least serve fully to convince any who may have entertained doubts as to the wisdom and efficacy of tlic steps which the law provides.
Blow Your Horn H E R E are many men who have attended every exposition of the chemical industries, and they easily remember when the most interest'ing and instructive booths Tvcrc those in which the products of the industry were displayed. To be sure, the equipment being developed in the early daj,q of the exposit,ion was just as important, and it was one of tlic objects of the project to let it be known that here in America were to be found those special devices and pieces of niacliiiiery essential to chemical production. No one passed these booths by, but after all it was a n exposition of the chemical industries. I n those days n.e were inordinately proud, perhaps, of the chemical compounds which first came into the exposition in small numbers, t'hen showed rapid increase, only practically to disappear from tlie later expositions. This change in the character of the shows has called forth comment in t,he technical press and elsewhere critical of those industries which, though definitely identified n43i chemistry and chemical products, have latterly been conspicuous by their absence. Just mhy should all this occur? For our part, TYC see no sound reason for it. It is t'rue that a small handful of d > ~ stuffs has grown to a large tonnage of great variety, accouiiting for some 95 per cent by weight of our domestic requirements. XOlonger are vie dependent on other than our own resources for a long list of coal-t,ar synthetics, nor for a nu111ber of other products Tvhicli our industry has developetl. Even this progress and any strength it may indicate affortl no adequate reason n h y the products of the chemical industry should not be continuously displayed a t these bicnnial exhibits. Every progressive chemical industxy lins added some distinct product to its line (luring the past' fivr years. Even since t,lie last exposition some ten or tv-elveperhaps fifteen-thousands of young men have been graduated into cliemical careers. They shtiuld be effectively reached through the medium of t,he exhibit. The public has become more interested in chemical products, and the esliibit offers tlic opl~ortiinityt o rcacli la laity. Today the layinan is the purcliaser of cliemical stocks,
