1014 . GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



desirous of creating a domestic source of supply. A leading part in 

 the development of this industry was taken as far back as 1912, 37 

 years ago, by the paint and varnish manufacturers of this country in 

 establishing tung oil cultivation projects in the United States. 



Dr. Fairchild, head of the Farm Plant Introduction Bureau of the 

 Department of Agriculture, who planted the first tung seeds in Cali- 

 fornia, delivered addresses before the Paint Manufacturers Associa- 

 tion and the National Varnish Manufacturers .Association in 1912 

 to, as Concannon reports, "invite their friendly interest and coop- 

 eration in domestic tung oil projects." 



Favorably impressed by Dr. Fairchild's addresses. Dr. Henry A. 

 Gardner, representing the two associations mentioned, visited the 

 Southern Galf States to investigate commercial possibilities of tung 

 culture. Gardner made a favorable report on this work in 1921, and, 

 again we quote Concannon: 



It resulted in more active efforts on the part of these associations to stimulate 

 planting in the United States. 



In 1923, the report continues, the American Tung Oil Corp. was 

 formed as a subsidiary of the American Paint and Varnish Associa- 

 tion, primarily to demonstrate the possibilities of producing tung oil 

 in the United States. 



This company — 



Concannon writes — • 



financed exclusively by leading domestic paint and varnish manufacturers, was 

 designed and operated as a non-profit-making venture to encourage the groAvth 

 of tung trees on a commercial scale in this country, and thereby ultimately to 

 develop a domestic supply of the oil. 



Several paint companies have interested themselves, directly or 

 indirectly, in the operation of American tung mills. The first tung 

 mill established in this country in 1928 was directed by an American 

 paint manufacturer. A number of paint and varnish manufacturers 

 have planted tung acreages. The "honeymoon" of the paint and 

 varnish industry, which consumes about 80 percent of all tung oil 

 used in this country, ended abruptly in 1948, with the dumping of 

 Chinese tung oil on the American market after the supply had been 

 cut oft' for 8 years. The change of attitude was marked by the filing 

 of a brief with the Secretary of the Treasury opposing the invoke- 

 ment of the Anti-Dumping Act of 1921 by the American Tung Oil 

 Association in an effort to halt the flooding of the American tung oil 

 market with vast quantities of Chinese tung oil sold in this country 

 at a price below the foreign market value and cost of production. 

 This brief was filed in March 1948, by an organization calling itself 

 the Bureau of Raw Alaterials for American Vegetable Oil and Fats 

 Industries, "on behalf of the consumers and importers of tung oil." 



It is highlj^ significant, we think, that the "honeymoon" of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture and the American tung 

 industry ended a few short weeks later when the Department flatly 

 refused to grant the American industry a support price of an}^ kind. 



Why does the American paint and varnish industry now consider 

 that the American tung-oil industry is not worth further help or 

 development? 



Why does the United States Department of Agriculture, after 

 encouraging the growth and expansion of the American tung industry 



