Statement by the Vice President of the United States on Textile and Garment Manufacturing Industries, Charlotte, NC

My meeting here in Charlotte with a representative group of leaders of the textile and garment manufacturing industries has been most useful. It has given me an opportunity to discuss with highly informed people, at firsthand, the problems threatening the future of hundreds of thousands of workers of these industries, and of the industries themselves.

Not only have these industries historically been a fundamental element in the American economy, but they are also regarded by the Department of Defense as second only to the steel industry in their essentiality to our military defenses.

Our discussion today related principally to the impact of imports and to the dramatic penetration of various segments of the industry by shipments from abroad.

This pressure from competing textile industries in countries where wage scales and other economic standards are far below ours is a matter of concern, not only to an important industry, but also to the health of our economy as a whole.

It is my conviction, and I have stated it many times, that we must have strong trade relations with other free world nations. We cannot be isolated in the economic world any more than we can be isolated in the world of the intercontinental ballistic missile. America's trade policy must recognize that we are the world's largest importer and exporter, trading with countries whose dependence on foreign commerce is greater than our own.

But I emphatically do not believe that this national trade policy means marking certain industries, such as the textile and garment industries, as expendable. It doesn't make sense to me to require one or a few industries to bear the whole burden that foreign policy decisions may require. Nor does it make sense to me that an industry like cotton textiles bear an inequitable burden as a result of efforts to adjust wartime agricultural policies to peacetime needs.

To the end of assisting the textile and garment industries and their workers to meet the problems ahead, I am determined to explore every constructive line of action.

(1) I strongly support the platform of my party which calls for "effective administration" of the escape clause and peril point provisions of our trade legislation "to safeguard American jobs and domestic industries against serious injury." To me that pledge means exactly what it says. I find little for an industry like cotton textiles in the so-called trade adjustment proposal of my opponent's platform except to put it on the dole or "adjust" it out of the textile business.

(2) I favor more vigorous and imaginative efforts through diplomatic channels to make greater and more effective use of voluntary limitation of shipments by other countries whose penetration of American markets is proceeding at a pace which threatens orderly development of those markets by domestic producers.

(3) The subsidy being paid on cotton exports has been a major help in bringing order and stability to our cotton production and marketing activity, but it has intensified the problems of domestic textile producers. This is inequitable for American mills and workers. Various solutions for this problem have been proposed and I pledge my best efforts to find one that is fair and sound.

(4) Our diplomatic resources should be used unreservedly to remove remaining roadblocks to increasing our exports abroad, to create wider opportunities among other nations for imports from low-wage countries, and to encourage the development of fair labor standards in exporting countries in the interest of fair competition in international trade.

(5) In order to make sure that the developments in the cotton textile industry are under adequate review, I shall direct the appropriate departments of the Government to equip themselves with proper special assistance.

These and other approaches to the problems of the vitally important textile and garment industries can help protect the jobs of many American wage earners and contribute to the general health of the economy. I regard the plight of these industries as a special situation requiring high priority attention. With determination and imagination, I am confident that their future can be made bright.