{"id":163,"date":"2018-07-19T13:50:32","date_gmt":"2018-07-19T20:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/?page_id=163"},"modified":"2025-07-20T12:21:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T19:21:44","slug":"the-fight-over-scrap-steel-to-japan-1998","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/the-fight-over-scrap-steel-to-japan-1998\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fight Over Scrap Steel to Japan (1998)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis photograph of Chinese Americans picketing at the Port of Astoria appeared in the\u00a0Oregon Journal\u00a0on March 3, 1939.<\/span><\/em>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 As a P-I business columnist, I had written a number of pieces critical of trade sanctions. I argued that sanctions rarely force the hands of a foreign government, but that they often hurt the people there and always interfere with the freedom of Americans. Sanctions are hostile actions \u2014 acts of war, really. I was against them in regard to South Africa, Vietnam and Cuba. When historian Lorraine McConaghy urged me to look up the fight over scrap steel exports to Japan in the 1930s, I discovered an exception. If a country is threatening to attack you, which Japan eventually did, the scrap steel you sell it could come back as bullets.<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My column on scrap steel to Japan ran in the business section of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on July 29, 1998.<\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trade sanctions are not only an issue of the 1990s. Lorraine McConaghy, historian of Seattle\u2019s Museum of History and Industry, led me to a tale from a far different time: the sale of scrap steel to Japan in the 1930s.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The trade was reported in the Post-Intelligencer<\/i> in December 1934. Japan makes the symbolic move of buying shells from the old arsenal at Fort Stevens on the Columbia River. The exporter assures Americans that the shells are \u201cnot being converted into war materiel.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In December 1934, war is already on people\u2019s minds. That month, Japan renounces a treaty restricting the size of its navy. But Japan is also a longtime trading partner, and shipments of steel continue.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In July 1937, Japan invades China. The same month, a Japanese group offers to landscape Seattle\u2019s Foster Island with five acres of cherry trees. The offer is not accepted; the public\u2019s sympathy is with China. But U.S. exports are five times higher to Japan than to China.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In August 1937, Seattle\u2019s young congressman, Warren Magnuson, says, \u201cWe should permit Americans to trade with either belligerent at their own risk.\u201d It is a common view.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Left-wing groups like the Washington Commonwealth Federation push for an embargo on fascist Japan. Few listen. Many an American out of work gets pocket money by scrounging old metal.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The year 1938 begins with the Rape of Nanjing. Hitler seizes Austria. Steel shipments to Japan continue.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On Feb. 24, 1939, 20 Chinese children, whose parents are mainly cannery workers, begin picketing a Japanese ship at Astoria. Japan\u2019s consul in Portland demands that the children be in school. When the school board so orders, the children are replaced by their mothers. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union honors the pickets and refuses to load 21 railcars of scrap onto the ship.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The ship owners turn to a federal arbitrator, who rules that the workers are in violation of their contract. The workers ignore him. On March 3, 1939, Port of Astoria commissioners voe to ban shipments of scrap to Japan.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On March 5, a picket is thrown around a Greek ship at Portland. Again, the longshoremen ignore a federal arbitrator. The employers\u2019 association threatens to close the port. On March 15, Oregon\u2019s governor says the matter will be handled by the State Department and asks the pickets to stop.<\/p>

They do, and the ship is loaded. That day, German troops march into Prague.<\/p>

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0On March 22, about 75 picketers stake out a Japanese ship in Seattle. Work stops. The employers\u2019 association calls this \u201ca pure breach of contract.\u201d On March 28, after an appeal by Seattle Mayor Arthur Langlie to load the ship, and an imminent ruling by a federal arbitrator, the longshoremen load the ship.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In Astoria, employers sue the port, saying it has no authority to stop foreign trade. The Port of Seattle\u2019s attorney agrees with them.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On June 28, 1939, deputy U.S. marshals serve more than 50 restraining orders on picketers at Pier 91. The orders are on the petition of Bogle, Bogle & Gates, attorneys for the United British Steamship Co. On July 2, longshoremen begin loading a British and a Danish freighter.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Europe is now on the edge of war. Rep. Magnuson has long since changed his mind about the sale of steel scrap. He supports an embargo bill. Japan threatens to stop buying U.S. cotton if the bill passes. President Roosevelt opposes the bill, and on July 20, 1939, it dies in the Senate.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invades Poland, and World War II begins in Europe. In April 1940, Germany invades Norway and Denmark; in May it invades Holland, Belgium and France. Between January and August, 1940, Washington ports ship 70,898 tons of scrap steel to Japan.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On Sept. 26, 1940, in response to Japanese actions in Indochina, Roosevelt declares an embargo on sales of scrap steel to Japan, effective Oct. 15.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On Oct. 11, the\u00a0Post-Intelligencer<\/i>\u00a0reports that rails from Seattle\u2019s streetcar lines are being loaded on the\u00a0Hie Maru<\/i>. Mayor Langlie, who is running for governor as a Republican, asks Customs to stop the ship. Magnuson, a Democrat, jeers and Langlie\u2019s negligence. The Seattle City Council asks for federal intervention. The ship sails.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Roosevelt\u2019s embargo does not include melted scrap. Three days before Christmas 1939, a Japanese ship loads at least 10 cars of steel ingots at Pier 91. It is a sale from Colorado Fuel & Iron Corp. to Mitsui & Co.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is the end. A year later, America is attacked at Pearl Harbor. Schoolchildren are soon encouraged to collect scrap metal for the American war effort.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now\u00a0there\u2019s<\/i>\u00a0a case for sanctions. Not many make the cut, but that one does.<\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a9 1998,\u00a0The<\/i>\u00a0Seattle Post-Intelligencer<\/i><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For a long time, the above column was posted on the web page of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.<\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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This photograph of Chinese Americans picketing at the Port of Astoria appeared in the\u00a0Oregon Journal\u00a0on March 3, 1939. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 As a P-I business columnist, I had written a number of pieces critical of trade sanctions. I argued that sanctions rarely force the hands of a foreign government, but that they often hurt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-163","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1494,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163\/revisions\/1494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}