Office of the Historian

611.943 Gloves/10

Memorandum by Mr. Roy Veatch of the Office of the Economic Adviser of a Conversation With the Counselor of the Japanese Embassy (Yoshizawa)

[Washington,] February 13, 1936.

Mr. Yoshizawa said that the Embassy had just been informed that the exporters of wool knit gloves to the United States had met on Wednesday and had decided that it was technically impossible to comply with the request of the United States Government. Among the reasons for this decision were the following:

1.
There were shipped from Japan to the United States during December, 90,000 dozen pairs of wool knit gloves and mittens.
2.
Shipments of 60,000 dozen pairs were made in January and further shipments during the early part of February.
3.
Consequently, there would be little of the proposed quota left for the Japanese exporters to exercise control over during the rest of the year. By the time control could actually be set up in Japan it is probable that no further shipments could be made this year. It would be necessary to secure from each manufacturer the facts regarding the amount produced last year, the amount shipped since the first of January, the amount contracted for for the current year, and the amount on which work had already been started. Only after this information had been secured could quotas be allotted to the different manufacturers.
4.
If there were in fact any quota left to be allotted to the Japanese exporters they would have to meet unreasonable difficulties. For instance, they now have under manufacture many more gloves than could be delivered, probably they would have to meet damage claims because of the broken contracts and the exporters or the Government would have to take steps to bring all exporters into the association.

The Japanese Government agrees with the exporters that it would be impossible to carry out exactly the suggestion made by the United States. Although it recognizes that the American offer was in the form of an ultimatum, the Japanese Government hopes that the American Government will understand the unusual difficulties which would be created. In order to save time the Japanese Government offers an alternative to which the Japanese exporters would be willing to agree—the Japanese Government has made every effort to make this offer as liberal as possible and feels that the exporters would be [Page 838] making considerable sacrifices in agreeing to such an arrangement. This offer follows:

1.
The Japanese exporters should be given sufficient time to set up their controls, therefore, the period of limitation of arrivals in the United States should begin on March 1, 1936.
2.
The agreement should cover the 12 months from March 1, 1936.
3.
Arrivals in the United States should be limited to 225,000 dozen pairs for this period (arrivals before this time, presumably the 150,000 dozen pairs shipped from Japan during December and January, would not be included in the quota).

In support of this proposal the Japanese Government calls attention to the following points:

1.
That the 225,000 dozen pairs would be only one-fourth of the total production in the United States in 1935 (the figures of the Department of Commerce showing some 990,000 dozen are used by the Japanese).
2.
It is understood that the Japanese gloves have developed to a large extent a new market in the United States in which Japanese gloves are not competitive with American wool knit gloves.
3.
Japanese exporters will be sacrificing nearly three-fourths of the orders for which they have already signed contracts.

It was agreed that from the standpoint of both Governments a final disposition of this matter was desirable as quickly as possible. Mr. Veatch said that he would bring the matter before the appropriate officials immediately and call Mr. Yoshizawa later in the evening, if possible. At least he would report upon the matter later in the evening and try to get final word to Mr. Yoshizawa by the afternoon of Friday the 14th.