European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 12, 1959, Darmstadt, Hesse To the stars and stripes tog f f Hickok voting shows new trend baseball popularity drops while other sports Boom us. Gun makers up in arms Reading firearms manufacturers in the . Have warned the government that imports of foreign sur plus military rifles has increased to the Point where the National Security is threatened. Six member companies of the sporting arms and am munition manufacturers Institute filed a petition with the office of civil and defense mobilization asking that immediate Steps be taken to limit imports of surplus military rifles to their 1945-1955 historical unless this is done the manufacturers asserted they will soon lose the ability to convert to military Small arms production with minimum Lead time and expense to the government in the event of a National emergency. The petitioners High Standard manufacturing corp. Ithaca gun co. O. F. Mossberg & sons inc. Remington arms co., inc. Savage arms corp., and Winchester Western division of Ohn Mathieson chemical corp. Said that the . Market for american made High powered Hunting rifles has been glutted by military rifles declared surplus by foreign nations and sold on the Domestic Market at fantastically Low prices. As a result the petitioners said sales of Domestic Cente fire or High Power sporting rifles have fallen off severely with consequent impairment of the Industry s skilled manpower resources research activities and Plant capacities that Are essential to the country s National defense. The manufacturers told the ocum department of defense policy regarding Small arms requirements in the event of mobilization places the major responsibility for Quantity production of military rifles and machine guns on the american firearms Industry. It is fundamental therefore that Strong Domestic firearms Industry is essential to the National Security. Increasing surplus military imports have reduced the capability of the firearms Industry to carry out this mobilization assignment Andare threatening to cause still greater injury. These facts Call for an immediate investigation to determine the Steps necessary to remove this threat to National the petitioners stressed that the imported product posing the National Security threat is military rifles that have been sold by foreign governments As surplus and that the scope of their petition does not include imports of new commercial firearms. The petitioners asserted that surplus military rifles Are purchased abroad at prices As Low As 82 cents each and Are sold in the .for As Little As $14.88 a fraction of the Price of american made Cente fire rifles. They said that since 1956 military surplus imports have increased 20 times and Domestic sales of Cente fire rifles have fallen 50 per cent. Profits drop 99 per cent the petitioners profits from the Sale of sporting arms in 1958declined More than 99 per cent from profits in 1956 and 1957. Further More the manufacturer said department of Commerce import reports for the first Quarter of 1959 indicate that the Rise in military surplus imports continues due to the Sharp decline in sales and profits the petitioners said the Industry s armed production manpower had dropped by More than 33 per cent by Jan. 1, 1959, with most Laid off employees joining other industries or moving away to other areas. Research and development programs conducted by the Industry have also been hard hit by the Impact of foreign military surplus according to the petition since such programs Are mainly supported by the Industry s commercial operations. The armed forces depend heavily on private industries activities in these Fields but the manufacturers said research cannot continue at the present level in the face of sharply reduced in fact they add there has already been a decline of 13 per cent in research expenditure and of 6 per cent in research personnel Between 1957 and 1958, the period of greatest import of surplus military addition the manufacturers pointed out since world War ii the Industry has been engaged in extensive Plant modernization programs replacing old and inefficient equipment and streamlining production procedures All of which has proved vital to the -. I times of emergency. Present economic difficulties. They said have forced them to postpone stretch out or abandon their modernization programs unless the situation is improved we May be forced to scrap or dispose of arms making the petitioners said in 1959 the Industry faces a crisis. Imports of surplus military rifles continue to Rise. The first Quarter import of 41,000 surplus military rifles was 670 per cent greater than the number imported in the same period in 1958. The surplus imports in april 1959, were 1,090 per cent greater than in april 1958. Information from official sources confirms that a continued increase should be surplus imports make no contribution to International Trade. They do not contribute to the economies of the countries involved because they do not provide employment abroad and do not earn any significant amount of foreign Exchange for the exporting by Oscar fka1ev new York up baseball despite the close Pennant races apparently is suffering from a sea son of individual mediocrity and there Are storm signals today that it will have to do something dras tic to hold its own against the in roads of other brings this to mind is the balloting in the annual $10,000 Hickock Belt award which in the first half of the year finds Only one monthly Winner from the ranks of baseball. It in t possible to shrug off the trend in the think ing of the 250 sportswriters and sportscasters who have the Hickock Belt now in its 10th year has become to the professional athlete what the Sulli Van award is to the Amateur mus Cleman. Will be finalists in the ultimate balloting for the Belt Iron Man Ingemar is a head and shoulders Dickout. Nothing Short of a fantastic surge by some baseball Man would give him a Chance to win the 14-Karat Belt buckle with its Dia monds and rubies. And it does t appear to be in the cards. Because baseball s most talented stars Are fading into limbo under the attack of time and the younger men who were supposed to take Over see to be going backwards too. When it loses the Williams and the musicals baseball conceivably could become a game of average players. Hurting too is the Ove commercialization. The men Whone time praised and wrote a i broadcast the game to the ski Are looking elsewhere when h comes time to Mark prestige Mettet like the Hickock ballots. Ever since Phil Rizzuto the mighty mite of the Yankees stepped Forward to take the Gold Bauble which weighs almost Smuch As he Doles baseball has been a frequent Winner. Other recipients were Allie Reynolds the Yankee super chief Willie Mays of the giants Mickey Mantle and last year Bob were such professional men of the year As Rocky Marciano Ben Hogan Otto Graham and Carmen Basilio overshadowing such baseball feats As Rocky colavito hitting four homers in one game and Elroy face winning 15 straight games in Relief have been som really astounding feats in other phases of sports. Second game Hurt right now the front runner forthe Hickock award to be presented at a Charity dinner drawing6,500 persons at Rochester n.y., Jan. 23, is no one else but Ingemar Johansson. When he fetched Floyd Patterson a clout on the whiskers at Yankee stadium to win the heavyweight championship of the world and him a 5-1 underdog it settled More than the question Asto which was the better Man. But the monthly balloting hints at a new interest trend. Baseball damaged itself tremendously by running that second All stargaze. Its leaders tossed tradition to the wind in favor of Money after piously declaring for years that this was a showed that it had arrived As a major sport when Eddie Lubanski won the february Vot ing. That put him in Between Bob pet tit of the St. Louis Hawks Andelin Baylor of the Minneapolis lakers the january and Marc winners. It revealed More than Bowling s new claim to attention also solidifying pro basketball s claim to Fame As a television Wall off his masters win took the april vote followed by hard Luck Harvey Hac Dix of the pirates who was a Winner in re verse after losing that Long Dis Tance perfect game. Of those who have won the monthly awards and countries a Strong Domestic sporting arms Industry is essential to the National defense. The Domestic firearms Industry cannot maintain its economic strength in the face of the present level of imports of surplus military rifles. The defense capability of the Domestic Industry can be restored without any Burden on the budget of the United states by a invitation of imports of military rifles to reasonable historical Wininger quits pro Golf circuit Cleveland a to win Inger Odessa tex., has announced he was retiring from the professional golfing tour to become a Public relations Man with the Rod Man Supply co of Odessa. Retakes Over his new duties next , a 36-year-old graduate of Oklahoma am has been a regular on the tour since 1953. Year ago he picked up $21,000 in purses and his earnings this Yea rare Over $13,000 despite a two month absence due to said he would play in some of the National tournaments in the future. Phil Rizzuto. Stated swing to Diamond scorpions set for 72d arty As playoff starts Darmstadt Germany a the 72d arty up canno neers Mai league champions travel to Kirdch Goens wednesday to test the 3darmd div Cha scorpions North Ern league tit lists in the open of the Usa eur baseball playoff the game is scheduled for 2 pin at Wainwright manager Earl Lake will be relying on enter fielder Pete Parrish and second baseman Ray Mcdonald to Lead the 72d at tack. Parrish is batting at a .430 clip and has three Home runs to i credit while Mcdonald boasts i 406 canno neers have lost the services of enter fielder Bob Wil Liams and third baseman Lou Pia Rulli who rotated to the . Re starting Pitcher has been announced but Jesse Ingram 7-2 May get the nod for the lid lifter. Dick Conrad who has a 12-1 rec Ord this year will probably be on the Hill for Frank Moss scorpions. Conrad is currently one of the to contenders in the stars and stripes map addition to Conrad s pitching he will lend added support at the plate. He Home run and shitting .391. Big hitters for the scorpions Fig ure to be Mike Garland who has five Home runs so far this season and 39 Bis. His average is .33ft teammate Jim Cobbin also Haa blasted five homers driven in 37 runs and has an average of .2891the Overall season record for the scorpions is 43 victories against six losses. Following wednesday s contest the teams move saturday to can no neers Field at Peden Barracks in Wertheim for the second game of the Best of three series. Game time will be 2 a third game is necessary it. Will be held sunday afternoon a an As yet unnamed site. Ingemar Johansson. 1959 favorite Buffalo drops Easton Buffalo up outfielder John Easton benched by Buffal manager Kerby Farrell for failure to hit International league pitch ing has been sent Back to Williamsport of the Eastern league where he starred As 1958 batting Champion. Packers hold 1st intr squad game Green Bay wis. A the Green Bay packers belted each other around in bruising mid season fashion in their first Intra squad clash of the year. A crowd of 11,566 football hungry fans turned out to cheer their National football league favourites. Five touchdowns were scored As Vince Lombard new head coach and general manager divided his squad into offensive and defensive units. Wall leads in pea statistics Dunedin Fla. Up Atwall was the Leader in three of the four major departments in the latest statistics released by the professional golfers association the 35-year-old golfer fro Honesdale pa., led the Money win ners the Vardon trophy standings and the Ryder cup Point stand Ford took the Lead in the pea s top tournament to Divi Sion with 1,577.50 Points. Gene lit Tler was second with 1,446, Fol Lowed by Wall with 1,360.50. Wall was far out front in the Dollar Derby with $46,240.94. Uttler was second with a seven month total of $28,111.43. Wall and Littler Are the Only four tournament winners on this year s tour third in Money winnings was Mike Souchak with $25,147.69, Fol Lowed by the 1958 leading , Arnold Palmer with $24,. 970.47
