America’s billion-dollar im-port trade could be cut to just six
vitally necessary articles.
Out of the myriad types of goods that flow into this country,
only a half dozen are absolute necessities that have no substitute produced at
home, which could not be produced here or which are not already produced in this
country.
The six articles are platinum, tin, manila, sisal, kapok and
rubber. In 1931, they made up only six percent of Uncle Sam’s total bill for
imports. If importations were suddenly reduced to those six, cotton, the most
important export, could pay for them all twice over.
Another nine articles, listed as semi-necessities, that cannot
be produced here or for which no substitute can be produced, are coffee, tea,
cocoa, camphor, cinchona bark, cork, opium, cloves and pepper.
Commerce experts have sorted out not only the products which
America must have, but also those now being imported which could be produced
domestically under favorable price conditions, which could be replaced by
American substitutes and which are partially produced at home already.
These categories, which embrace only 60 articles, are half of
the skeleton of American foreign trade.
The other half of the skeleton is the 10 leading American
exports: cotton, petroleum, auto-mobiles, industrial machinery, tobacco, fruits
and nuts, grains, non-ferrous and non-precious metals, and coal and related
fuels. They are the goods bringing the most money, in the order named, into this
country.
None of the six irreplaceable imports have been produced in this
country; however, they play a very small part in America’s actual import
business.
The Calhoun County board of
education has decided that due to overcrowded
conditions that exist in Grantsville Graded School,
it will be necessary to add two new classrooms.
The rooms will be built over the cafeteria, and will include
cloak rooms and restrooms to take care of the students using the added space.
The board has been aware of the overcrowded condition and has
been waiting until finances were available for construction. In the next school
year, there will be a class of 65 sixth graders for one sixth grade teacher to
instruct in a room which has space for 45 pupils.
Logan McDonald of Grantsville will be employed to make plans and
specifications for the building program. He is an accredited civil engineer.
Con-struction will be done by the board’s own labor force.
Ken Townsend, instructor at
Calhoun-Gilmer Career Center, has had an article
published in
School Shop magazine, a national publication
that serves industrial, vocational, and technical
education. Its articles are related to developments
in industry, shop tips, how-to articles, etc.
Townsend’s article deals with making a set of bolt-shaped salt
and pepper shakers out of aluminum stock. The project gives the shop student
experience in 11 aspects of machine operation that are covered in the center’s
Industrial Mechanics Lab. The project sharpens a student’s skills at a low cost
(under $1.75), while producing something attractive and useful.