Imports from Italy

Gourmets were disappointed last week when the largest imports from Italy since the war arrived in New York Harbor. Instead of anchovies, olive oil and cheeses, the stevedores trundled out 96,000 Ibs. of red squill, 224,000 Ibs. of argols, 90,000 Ibs. of bergamot oil, 74,000 Ibs. of lemon oil, 1,000 Ibs. of orange oil, 20,000 Ibs. of onion seed, 5,500 bags of briarwood, 66.000 gals, of wine.

These were staples of prewar Mediterranean imports. Red squill, a plant that resembles the onion, is dried and processed into rat poison. Argols, scales that form on the lining of old wine vats, are a crude form of potassium bitartrate. Bergamot oils are used in perfumes and soaps.

The Italian goods were purchased by the Allied Control Commission and shipped to the United States Commercial Co.--a subsidiary of the Foreign Economic Administration. USCC will set the prices and prorate the merchandise among U.S. importers on a prewar quota basis. As long as such joint military-political control of trade by USCC is necessary, the importer is only a broker for a state monopoly of international commerce.

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