prosperity. The petroleum industry accounts for over 90 percent of all Venezuelan exports and 95 percent of foreign exchange receipts. The United States purchases about 38 percent of total Venezuelan oil exports, as well as nearly all the iron ore output and varying amounts of coffee and cocoa.

3. Fluorspar

America's largest producer of ceramic-grade fluorspar is a St. Louis firm which operates several mines and mills in nearby Illinois. Fluorspar is an essential ingredient in several basic industries; the metallurgical grade is used in steel, the ceramic grade in glass and enamel, and acid grade in production of hydrofluoric acid, and used among other purposes in aluminum. There are several centers of fluorspar mining in this country, and the locally-owned Illinois-Kentucky area is one of the most important.

United States imports of acid grade fluorspar (206,000 short tons) were 25 percent greater than the domestic output (165,000 tons) in 1953. Imports come 37 percent from Mexico, 23 percent from Italy, 16 percent from Spain, 15 percent from Germany, and 9 percent from Newfoundland. Three-fourths of our imports of the non-acid grade come from Mexico, which has high grade surface deposits in abundance and is the most competitive with United States production. The high quality of the Mexican mineral reduces both mining and milling operation and costs. In the past several years the imports from Mexico have been a source of such concern to the domestic producers of fluorspar that they have appealed to the Tariff Commission for relief; the case is still pending.

The tariff on fluorspar is established at $7.50 per short ton or $8.40 per ton. Under a GATT concession, this was reduced on high grade fluorspar to $1.87, with the other grades remaining under the higher tariff. According to local spokesmen for the industry, American users of fluorspar have increased their imports of the high grade fluorspar to satisfy their industrial needs. The imported fluorspar is mixed with low grade domestic fluorspar before it is used. Industry spokesmen contend this arrangement has resulted in the closing of many domestic mines and mills.

One industry spokesman, in response to the preliminary survey questionnaire, sent a letter, part of which is quoted below; (entire letter on file in St. Louis League of Women Voters headquarters)—

"The Eldorado (Illinois) area produces over 50 percent of the fluorspar (natural calcium fluoride mineral) in the United States, and it is deemed as one of the 31 critical minerals by the AEC. It is also an important producer of zinc, coal, and petroleum. All of these items are suffering from lack of an adequate protective tariff, particularly fluorspar. Over 67 percent of the fluorspar consumed in the United States in 1954 was imported, most of it at a tariff that amounted to only 5 percent of value. It resulted in closure of 60 percent of domestic Illinois and Kentucky mines, and those areas are now suffering severly from unemployment, in spite of new highs in consumption of fluorspar by United States Industries.". 4. Lead

According to the 1954 Statistical Abstract of the United States, Missouri is the leading lead mining state in this country. In 1952 Missouri produced 129,245 short tons of lead, or about of the United States total. Most of this was mined in St. Francois County, Washington, and Jefferson Counties, all of which are outside the geographic scope of this survey. Lead smelters are in Herculaneum, Mo., and Alton, Ill., the latter in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. Large imports of lead concentrates come into the Port of St. Louis from Central America, Peru, Mexico, Canada and Australia. These amounted last year to 21 million pounds worth $2,175,000.

5. Zinc

No zinc is mined in the Metropolitan area, but local zinc interests own mines elsewhere in the United States and have plants at Fairmont City and Monsanto, Ill., where zinc ores are roasted and reduced to metal, and sulphuric acid is manufactured. The Monsanto, Ill., plant employs about 300 workers and the nonsmelting operations at Fairmont City about 350 at present. The smelter at Fairmont City was closed in November 1953, putting 420 employees out of work. These men are still unemployed or have found employment in other fields. Industry spokesmen attribute this shutdown to increased imports.

According to St. Louis industry representatives, the domestic industry has been seriously injured by imports. Before the Korean War, the United States imported about one-third of its zinc requirements, mainly from Canada and Mexico. During this war a ceiling price of 191⁄2 cents a pound was set for prime western

grade metal, so that much of the foreign metal was diverted to Europe for a higher price. Beginning in mid-1952, however, imports from all parts of the world poured into the United States, forcing the price down to 94 cents, a reduction of more than 52 percent between June 2, 1952, and February 15, 1954. This forced many United States mines to close down. Domestic zinc output for 1954 was only about 465,000 tons of recoverable metal, the lowest since 1934.

In 1930 the tariff rate was 234 cents a pound on slab zinc and 11⁄2 cents a pound on zinc contained in ores, when the average price on prime western slab zinc at East St. Louis was 5.52 cents per pound. The tariff has since been reduced through successive trade agreements and during World War II and in early 1952 was temporarily suspended. It is now 0.7 cent a pound on slab zinc and 0.6 cent a pound on the metal content of ores. On an ad valorem basis, the present duty on slab zinc is about 6 percent compared with nearly 32 percent in 1930.

Representatives of the local industry maintain that oversupply, resulting from imports, was responsible for the sharp price decline and consequent plight of the domestic industry. They do not believe that reduced consumption during and after the 2-month steel strike in the summer of 1952 was responsible.

The United States Tariff Commission made a thorough investigation under the escape clause provision of the Trade Agreements Act, and in April 1954 recommended to the President an increase in the tariff rate of 50 percent over 1945, to 2.1 cents a pound for slab zinc. President Eisenhower rejected this recommendation in August 1954, saying he doubted that increasing the tariff would result in a substantial domestic price increase or in the reopening of mines. He feared such action might depress zinc prices in other countries and have adverse consequences on our relations with them. But since zinc is a necessity for defense, he ordered the resumption of stockpiling, which has resulted in a temporary rise of the price of slab zinc from 94 cents to 11.5 cents a pound. The industry considers this too low to justify reopening any appreciable number of closed mines. United States imports of zinc for the years 1951-54 were (in tons):

Two hundred and thirteen thousand tons of zinc concentrates cleared through the port of St. Louis customs district in 1954, a big fraction of the 448,624 tons for the entire Nation. These imports come from Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Chile. About 75,000 tons were reduced to metal in this metropolitan area, at Monsanto, Ill. The rest was sent direct to smelters located elsewhere.

Exports of zinc are not high. Under the Marshall plan and ECA, exports of the metal were considerably higher than now; today the United Kingdom is our primary export market, with 7 South American countries, 7 in Europe, Israel, Korea, and India receiving small shipments.

While no copper is mined in this area, one St. Louis sales firm interviewed exports fabricated copper articles to South America. In the past, this company has exported copper cables to Mexico and on one occasion provided parts for an underground power system in Mexico City. Recently Mexico City has been importing for its power projects from England, France, Germany, and Italy. While the St. Louis firm believes these European products are inferior in quality to the American, they do meet the Mexican specifications and cost less than the American products.

The St. Louis firm handles products made in part of imported ingot copper which supplements the American supply. Some ingot copper was formerly imported from the Chilean properties owned by Anaconda Copper, but at present it is not available to the United States for reasons of price. Domestic ingot copper now sells at 33 cent per pound; Chilean copper would be 37.5 cents per pound to American buyers. But because West Europeans are willing to pay 42 cents for Chile's copper, all shipments are presently sent to West Europe.

There is now a tariff on copper, but because the domestic demand for copper has been so great since 1940, that tariff is suspended. It can, of course, be reapplied at any time the demand falls and the domestic producers are threatened. During 1948 and 1949, resumption of the tariff was considered, but with the outbreak of the Korean war such consideration was dropped.

This St. Louis sales firm believes that in light of the vast wage differential here and abroad, an available tariff is a necessary safeguard for the American copper mines located in Utah, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, and Arizona.

7. Sand

While it is not an important part of the import-export picture, mention of the sand industry does round out the local mining picture, particularly since local sand is used in the manufacture of glass. The Post-Dispatch, March 20, 1955,

said:

"Enough sand to make a good-sized play pile for every child in the United States is taken annually from the Mississippi, Missouri, and Meramec Rivers in the St. Louis area ***. Almost all of the 5 million tons removed from the rivers here each year are used in construction, most of it locally. Production and distribution of the material is a highly mechanized business that grosses several million dollars annually.

"Most of the sand is produced by dredging, a relatively simple operation in which it is pumped from the riverbeds in enormous quantities ***. More than 2 million tons of sand are taken each year from the Mississippi by 3 dredging companies; almost a million tons are removed from the Missouri by 1 company that dredges near St. Charles; and about 2 million tons come from the Meramec, where 7 sand companies operate."

B. Engineering and construction

Five engineering and construction companies, thought to be doing work abroad, were contacted, of whom 3 said they are engaged in foreign work at the present time and the other 2 said they are planning expansion into that field. Within the past 12 years, 1 St. Louis firm of engineers has designed a variety of projects in numerous foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Australia, Venezuela, Hawaii, Thailand, and Lebanon. Projects include cargo piers, oil production and transportation facilities, a machine shop for an oil company, airfields, bomb shelters, and highways.

Within the past 3 years another company has designed bank buildings in Mexico, Honduras, Ecquador, and Cuba, and is now planning one in Peru. This company

plans to extend its foreign operations to include building construction.

From 1941 through 1953, 1 company constructed 11 packing plants in Mexico Bolivia, Dominican Republic, and Turkey, handling them from the drawing board through the construction, installation of equipment, and, in some cases, the staffing of the plant.

An interesting related export is the sale of used construction and farm machinery. One St. Louis firm sells over a million dollars' worth a year to European and South American countries and to Japan, handling the sales and shipping most of the equipment from here.

C. Wholesale and retail trade

While it is not possible in this survey to give even a partial picture of the amount of imported goods involved in retail trade in St. Louis, it was felt that some indication of the kind of imported goods sold in our retail stores would be of interest. There are three large department stores in St. Louis, and all sell imported goods purchased from independent importers as well as domestic products made of imported materials. There is no way to estimate the quantity of such purchases. In addition, each buys imports which are purchased directly from foreign manufacturers.

One of these department stores, which sends buyers abroad for all direct purchasing, noted the retail value of 1954 orders placed directly abroad by general S. I. C. classification numbers as follows:

Pruning and hedge shears, hair clippers and miscellaneous scissors

Bathing caps

Petit point items

Mesh bags

Leather handbags, boxes, eyeglass cases, address books, etc.

Plastic toys and rabbit hair animals

Colored pencils

Manicure sets

Castile soaps

Copper chafing dishes and household ware

$2,500 154, 500 98,000 42, 000

26, 000

21, 600 234,000

96, 700 25,000 59, 000 759, 500

Cotton Matelasse

Aluminum ice buckets and tumblers

Aluminum and chrome cooking utensils

Ladies' wool sweaters

From Japan:

Bamboo blinds

China, and dinner sets and salad plates, tea and toast sets
Cherrywood and other wooden bowls and Bar-B-Q sets
Hamburger presses

Aluminum teapots

Stainless steel flatware
Shaving mirrors

Rush squares and coasters
Cotton hooked rugs

Christmas tree ornaments
Men's cashmere sweaters

Chrome cooking utensils

From Switzerland:

Embroidered curtains and linen drapery fabrics

Cotton and rayon damask sets

From Sweden: Pottery

From Jugoslavia: Glassware

The wholesale and retail liquor business accounts for a considerable amount of the dollar volume of imports sold in the St. Louis Metropolitan area and is estimated at over 21⁄2 million dollars. The largest local retail liquor chain estimates approximately 2 percent of the total sales are of imported beverages, with Scotch whiskey accounting for three-fourths of this, and Vermouth, Irish whiskey and wines most of the balance.

While no bicycles are manufactured in this area, it should be mentioned that the local representatives of domestic bicycle firms are among those in the United States who are claiming that their business is threatened by imports to such an extent that it faces extinction. The fact that bicycle sale profits last year dropped to minus 1.5 percent is attributed by them, primarily, to imports. Most of these imports come from Great Britain, and have jumped from 66,000 five years ago to 900,000 last year, absorbing more than one-third of the American bicycle market. A plea has gone to President Eisenhower for tariff relief, after a favorable recommendation by the Tariff Commission. Opponents of the recommendation claim that American manufacturers are losing out to English bicycle manufacturers mainly because they have failed to keep up with the public demand for light-weight racing bicycles.

An interesting new venture has been started recently in St. Louis. In April a textile firm from Wutpertal-Oberbarmen, Germany, opened a sales office here. The company expects to sell woven and nonwoven textile products to the shoe, automotive, electrical and radio industries, as well as some apparel accessories to retail organizations. This is the first sales office to be established anywhere in the middle west by a foreign manufacturer.

D. Agriculture

Agriculture provides employment to but a small part (11,700 workers) of the total employment in the St. Louis Metropolitan area, and is not very significant in terms of the economy of the area as a whole so far as foreign trade is concerned. The greater part of the local agricultural production is sold in the immediate vicinity.

Total farms listed in the area in the 1950 census of Agriculture include:

Most of the farms are family farms, with very little outside the family labor. Approximately sixty percent of the farmers own the land which they operate.