7BB
New Text New Text INDUSTRIAL and ENGINEERING Vol. 3D, Consecutive N o . 31 Published
EDITION
HARRISON E . HOWE,
O t t o W i l s o n , 3025 F i f t e e n t h S t . , N . W., W a s h i n g t o n , D . C.
Concenssions M a d e by Ecuador On 15 items in her tariff Ecuador grants duty reductions on imports from the United States and in the case of 18 items she binds existing rates against increase during the life of the agreement. About 200 separate commodities are affected. The agreement also provides for a continuance of most-favored-nation treatment of United States goods which they have enjoyed since the provisional agreement was signed in June, 1936, affecting a long list of articles and granting duty reductions from the general tariff rates ranging up to 30 per cent. In addition to the regular duties, all imports into Ecuador, including those on the free list, pay a number of ad valorem surtaxes and charges, amounting to either 8 or 12 per cent ad valorem. These are not changed by the agreement. Only about half a dozen articles of chemical interest are included in the schedule of concessions by Ecuador. These include lubricating oils and greases, on which a 30 per cent reduction in duty is granted, and exports of which from the United States to Ecuador in 1937 amounted to $105,000, as compared with $93,000 in 1929; hog lard, 50 per cent reduction, $37,000 exports in 1937 and $566,000 in 1929; liquid prepared paints, enamels, and lacquers, 25 per cent reduction, exports $27,000 in 1937 and $25,000 in 1929; dentifrices, 30 per cent reduction, exports $3000 in 1937 and $6000 in 1929; and pharmaceutical products and preparations, 29 per cent reduction, exports $71,000 in 1937 and $109,000 in 1929. C o n c e s s i o n s by t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s Tariff concessions made to Ecuador by the United States consist in» binding a number of tropical products, such as coffee, cacao, and bananas, on the free
Editor NUMBER 17
Trade Agreement with Ecuador Announced
the last two years, was signed August 6, 1938, the State Department has announced. It will become effective 30 days after being proclaimed by the heads of the two states and will continue indefinitely, subject to 6 months' notice of a wish to discontinue it on the part of either signatory. Eighteenth in the list of compacts signed by the United States under the Trade Agreements Act, the Ecuador agreement in its general provisions follows the lines of its predecessors. Specific duty reductions and other concessions are set forth in two schedules, those in Schedule I relating to imports into Ecuador from the United States and those in Schedule II to imports into this country from Ecuador.
the
SEPTEMBER 10,1938
V O L U M E 16
FORMAL trade agreement between the A t i n t e d States and Ecuador, superseding an informal agreement in effect for
by
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
list; binding one item, sawed balsa lumber, against increase of the existing import tax; and granting duty reductions on a few other articles, chief of which are the famous "Panama" hats. Only two chemical products are affected by the concessions. Annatto, an orange-yellow dye used chiefly for coloring cheese and butter, imports of which from Ecuador were valued at $17,000 in 1937, is bound on the free list. Cinchona barks and other barks from which quinine i« made, imported from Ecuador last vear to a value of $2536, arc also hound tree.
Commercial Agreement with Soviet Russia Renewed O t t o Wilson, 3025 F i f t e e n t h S t . , N . W., W a s h i n g t o n , D. C . 1
HE COMMKRCIAL agreement between United States and Soviet Russia, by which this country extends to the Soviet Republic most-favored-nation treatment on its shipments here and the Soviets undertake to purchase at least $40,000,000 worth of American goods, wa< renewed for another twelve months on August 6. The agreement was effected b y an exchange of notes in Moscow between American Chargé d'Affaires Alexander C. Kirk and the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Maxim Litvinoff. An agreement of this kind was first made in 1935 for one year, and was renewed in 1936 and again in 1937. Under this series of understandings trade in both directions has steadily expanded. In the first nine months of the 1937-38 agreement year, ending in August, 1938, the Soviet Union had already purchased more than the $40,000,000 worth of American goods which it had engaged to take during the full year, and in the same period our imports from the Soviet Union reached $17,561,000, about the same as for the full year 1935. In the calendar year 1937 our imports from that country reached a record total of $27,000,000. Both the outgoing and the incoming trade of the Soviet Union is entirely controlled by the government, which buys and sells in world markets wherever it can do so to its best advantage. Traffic in chemical commodities has been very
l t the i
limited. Our exports of chemicals and related products to Soviet Russia were valued at $219,000 in 1936 and $424,000 in 1937, sodium compounds making u p $80,000 and $206,000 in the two years, respectively. Imports have been slightly more varied, the leading items being as presented in the table.
Suppressed Patents (?) To the Members of the American Ctemicnl Society: \ T THE recent hearings on the Λ . McFarlane Bill for the Com pulsory Licensing of Patents, I, as your representative, was asked more than once as to the rumor that is so extant throughout the country that patents worthy of development are being unethically held to prevent business development by others, or pigeonholed by the owners to pro tect investments under obsolete procedure. Although, of course, I had heard these rumors, since they frequently apiicar in the public press, I stated that I knew of no such ca**es. This matter of the suppression of patents is one of great im|M»rtance to the American people, and if the rumors are true, they should he in formed thereof. By suggestion of the Chairman of the Board of Direc tors and with the approval of the President of the SOCIETY, I am pub lishing this notice with a request to every member of the SOCIETY, among whom there are hundreds of inventors and thousands of em ployees engaged in research leading to invention, to inform our Com mittee on Patents through me, or direct to the Chairman thereof, of any such suppression of patented invention or discovery of which they have actual knowledge. Such information, to be effective, must of course be accompanied by defi nite statement in sufficient detail for presentation to any congressional committee on patents before whom a representative of this organization may appear. It is suggested that, if possible, the number of the patent should be given, and that the reason for the alleged suppression be stated in detail. We regard this notice of such im portance that we plan to reprint it in our issues of October 20 and December 10. CHARLES L. PARSON»,
Secretary
ssssssssssss ssasssPï—=s——s^sssssssssssss CHEMICAL IMPORTS INTO THE U N I T E D STATES FROM SOVIET RUSSIA ARTICLE 1937 1936 Tr agaçant h gum. pounds Naphthalene solidifying at 79 degrees Glycerol, crude Ammonium sulfate, long tons Other chemical* and related products Total
473
QUANTITY
VALUE
QUANTITY
VALUE
302.000 5.145.000 2.018.000 9.033
$ 38.000 98.000 222.000 189.000 72.000 619.000
836.000 7.054.000 1.634.000 4.400
S 209.000 146.000 254.000 96.000 342.000 1.047.000
