Opposition to Russian Lumber Growing

A rising tide of widespread objection to permitting the importation of convict-produced. Russian lumber into the United States is reflected in advices received from various sources by the West Coast Lumbermen's Association.

The United States Senate has adopted a resolution by Senator M,cNary of Oregon directing the Tariff Commission to investigate the costs at home and abroad of various species of lumber involved in the Russian .competition.

A brief protesting against the recent ruling of M. Seymour Lowman, assistant secretary of the treasury, in permitting the entry into the United States of six shiploads of lumber from Russia, has been filed by the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association. Two boats had been held at East Coast ports by customs authorities on suspicion that lum,ber was produced wholly or in part by Russian convict labor but were ordered released be,cause of lack of proof that enforced labor had been used in produ,cing the particular shipments of lumber.

The protest of the National Lumber 1\{anufacturers' Association declared that the evidence considered by the Department of the Treasury, did not support the conclusion by Mr. Lowman that convi,ct labor had not been employed in producing the lum,ber. To insist on proof that every board of a shipment was produced by forced labor, the brief contended, would nullify by administrative regulation the specific act of Congress. Evidence in the hands of the treasury department indicated that 100,000 prisoners were employed in logging and sawmill operations in the area from which lumber is being shipped to the United States, the brief stated. The evidence, lhe lumber association contelded, included numerous affidavits frbm escaped political prisoners and communications submitted by Ameriian officials at Helsingfors, Finland and Riga, Lat-avia.

Emphatic protest also has been made to the treasury department by the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen. In a communication to Assistant Secretary Lowman. W. C. Ruegnitz, president of the 4L organizaiion, stated i"At the request of thousands of employes organized in the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen of the Pacific Northwest, f. am protesting against your recent ruling as to entry of soviet convict-made lumber.

"These employes, as well as many thousands of others who aro not organized in the 4-L, are faced with insufficient woik and income due to short-time operation of camps and mills, and they feel that your ruling witt but add to their diffi'culties and to increased unemployment.

W. H. ENLOW AT SAMOA

"We have reports that some large cargoes of lumber are now on the Pacific ocean, and are consigned to the port of Seattle. We urge that you reconsider your rdcent ruling before this lumber is allowed entry. American employes and employers cannot 'compete with convict or serf labor, nor should they be obliged to make the attempt."

At the time the two shiploads of Russian lumber already in port were being detained by the customs officials, the West Coast Lumbermen's Association sent a telegram to Assistant Secretary Lowman asking that the cargoes be refused entry, pointing out the urgent need for protecting the American lumber industry workers from convict labor competition. In response to the telegram the Association received the following statement from the Bureau of Customs:

"shipments of lumber have recently arrived from Soviet Russia and been detained by the Custorns offi,cials on the ground of suspicion that it was manufactured or produced wholly or in part by convict labor. Other shipments are reported to be on the way to this country.

"section'3O7 of. the Tarifi Act of 1930 provides_in part that all articles mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part in any foreign country by convi'ct labor shall not be entitled to entry at dny of the ports of the United States and the importation thereof is prohibited.

"In the absence of evidence that the particular shipments so detained were produced or manufactured wholly or in part by convict labor, and as the evidence at hand that lurn-ber generally is so produced or manufactured in Soviet Russia is conflicting and inconclusive, the Treasury Department has instru,cted the Collector of Customs that the detained shipments may be released; also that shiprnents on the seas enroute to this country may likewise be released on their arrival in the a,bsence of anv instruction to the contrary in the meantime.

"For use in the administration of Section 307 of the Tariff Act, the Department has been endeavoring for some time to ascertain with certainty the ,circumstances of the production of lumber in Soviet Russia and will continue its efforts in that direction. It has been much hampered in its investigation because in the absence of diplomatic relations with Russia official investigators cannot be serlt into that country. The Department is now assured, however, by the Amtorg Trading Corporation and other importers of lumber from Russia of their cooperation and asslstance in continuing its investigation."

Happy Event

Mr. and Mrs. Howard Chadbourne, of Salinas, are receiving congratulations on the birth.of a baby girl June 29. Mr. Chadbourne is manager of the Salinas Lumber Co.

Finer, better dry- ing at low temperature witJr no loss of time.