In the finely ground condition bone char is used as a cheap black pigment and sells for approximately the same price as the coarse product.

Blood char, as its name indicates, is made from blood. Practically no blood char is used at the present time, as far as we know.

DECOLORIZING CARBONS

Decolorizing carbons are made by chemically treating raw materials such as wood, peat, lignite, black ash from paper mills, rice hulls, kelp, etc., and heating in nickel alloy retorts to temperatures of approximately 2,000° F. (1,100° C.). After cooling the charred material, it is ground and then given a further chemical treatment. The ordinary process of roasting at lower temperatures, and without chemical treatment, will not give a carbon of high decolorizing efficiency. The process employed in making decolorizing carbon is called activation, and the carbons so produced are referred to as activated carbons. They have superior decolorizing, deodorizing, and adsorptive properties to bone char.

Decolorizing carbons are fine powders that all pass a 60-mesh screen and 50 to 90 per cent pass a 300-mesh screen. For this reason decolorizing carbons can not be used in cisterns now used for bone char in sugar refineries.

Decolorizing carbons are agitated with the solution to be decolorized and then separated from it by filtration through cloth.

Decolorizing carbons contain from 65 to 99 per cent of carbon and 35 to 1 per cent of ash insoluble in ordinary acids. In general, 1 pound of commercial decolorizing carbon will do the work of 10 to 25 pounds of bone char.

Decolorizing carbons sell in this country for approximately 12 to 15 cents a pound. Because of the greater cost of producing activated decolorizing carbons we do not think that they should be classified with bone char and assessed at the same rate of duty, and we respectfully request your committee to recommend the action suggested above-i. e., insertion of a separate paragraph covering activated decolorizing and deodorizing carbons, and assessing a duty of 50 per cent ad valorem.

IMPORTANCE OF THE INDUSTRY

Decolorizing carbons are used in the manufacture of cottonseed, linseed, coconut, peanut, and other vegetable oils, glucose sirups, corn and cane sugar, beet sugar, fruit pectins, dyes, photographic and general chemicals, pharmaceuticals, animal fats, milk sugar, the recovery of dry cleaners' solvent, and in general, for the removal of colloidal substances which are the source of color or odor. In many industries decolorizing carbons are the only means of improving the quality of the product. Decolorization with carbons has become a definite chemical engineering unit in many industries.

Activated decolorizing carbon is one of the products resulting from the extensive research work done during the World War to develop an active carbon suitable for use in gas masks as an adsorbent for poisonous gases. Activated carbons for gas masks are made by a process and from a raw material designed to increase the gas adsorption property of the carbon, while activated carbons for decolorizing and deodorizing liquids are made by a process and from a raw material designed to increase to the utmost, the property of removing colored bodies from liquids. The carbons can not be used interchangeably.

Shortly after the war, the Darco Corporation erected a small experimental plant at Houma, La., for producing decolorizing carbons and in 1922 built the present plant at Marshall, Tex. Cheap fuel in the form of natural gas, and lignite, are available in this locality and as far as the writer is aware, the Marshall plant is the only one in the United States using lignite for purposes other than as a fuel. If the industry can be sustained, it will offer encouragement to others to utilize the tremendous potential wealth of the lignite deposits of the West as a raw material for chemical products.

The future of the industry will depend upon what tariff protection is given against the carbons produced in Europe by cheap labor and from cheap raw materials. As has been demonstrated in the past in other industries, if the domestic industry is destroyed, the American consumer will pay higher prices for imported decolorizing carbons.

With proper protection against the cheaper European product, the industry will be able to grow in a healthy manner, and with increasing production will come lower prices. The industry is only six years old and the art of using decolorizing carbons is not fully developed. With full development of the art will come an established and important industry, not large as regards the dollar value of the annual production, or the number of men employed, but nevertheless an important key industry.

As an industrial unit closely allied with the plans for national defense, the decolorizing carbon industry is very important, as activated carbons suitable for use in gas masks can be readily made with the installed equipment. Those qualified to testify state that future wars will be carried out largely with gases as the main weapons, and the rapid development of aviation affords easy means of transporting these gases for use against large centers of population. The problem of furnishing the civilian population with protection against these poisonous gases is very great and every means of meeting the emergency should be considered. Factories capable of producing activated carbon for gas masks should be available in case of emergency and we respectfully suggest that your ommittee weigh the importance of this point.

DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN COSTS-DUMPING

As this brief is presented by one of the two American companies engaged in the production of decolorizing carbons, it is considered compatible with good public policy, not to include herein details of domestic costs of production. Your committee is respectfully referred to a very comprehensive and detailed statement prepared for the United States Tariff Commission in connection with "Cost of production investigation No. 83" now being conducted by that body on the subject of decolorizing carbons.

Accurate foreign costs of production are difficult to obtain, but comparative wages paid in Europe and this country will allow reasonably accurate deductions to be drawn.

The comparative maximum and minimum weekly wages paid in the United States and in European countries, and the per cent which the European wages are of the domestic, are shown in the following table:

Comparative domestic and European weekly wages

The Monthly Labor Review of the United States Department of Labor, April, 1928, pages 126-127, comments on European wages as follows:

"On the whole, American wages are about three and one-half times as high in gold as the German and about two and one-half times as high when relative cost of living is considered. The average German skilled mechanic earns from 15 to 222 cents an hour, depending upon the district and the shop. Unskilled labor receives from 122 to 172 cents an hour. Women and girls are employed at $4.50 a week and up. In considering wages it must not be forgotten that the living requirements of the German workman are relatively simple."

These extremely low wages indicate clearly that Europeans have a decided advantage not only in the cost of producing raw materials, but also in converting them into finished products. American standards of living could not be maintained on such low wages.

The United States Department of Commerce reports that "lignite costs 75 cents per ton on the spot" in Germany, or about a third of the cost in this country.

A quotation made by a large European manufacturer of 4 cents per pound f. a. s. Rotterdam, or about 4.56 cents c. i. f. New York, to an American con sumer indicates one of two things, either that the cost of manufacture abroad is very low or that dumping was contemplated.

It is difficult to obtain the selling prices of decolorizing carbons abroad, but a few are listed below. Quotations from Holland were 8.2, 8.7, and 9.1 cent per pound f. o. b. Amsterdam. In Germany a quotation of 18.5 cents wa obtained.

These prices are above the declared invoice value of imports to this country the average declared value for 1927 being 7.54 cents per pound. As the declare

invoice value should be that of the average wholesale price prevailing in the country of origin, it is reasonable to assume that dumping or undervaluation is being resorted to.

FOREIGN COMPETITION AND IMPORTS

The production and sale of decolorizing carbons in Europe is in the hands of very powerful cartels which can be placed in three groups as follows:

GROUP I. GERMAN-NETHERLANDS ACTIVATED CARBON CARTEL

This group is composed of: Verein fur Chemische Industrie A. G. of Frankfort-on-Main, Germany; Holzverkohlungsindustrie A. G. of Constance, Germany; Algeemene Norit Maatschappij of Amsterdam, Holland.

This group controls factories in Germany and Holland, and most of the carbon entering this country comes from this source. There is one selling agency.

GROUP II.-GERMAN-FRENCH ACTIVATED CARBON CARTEL

The members of this group are: I. G. Farbenindustrie or Chemical Trust of Frankfort, Germany; Metallbank of Frankfort, Germany; Verein fur Chemische und Metallurgische Produktion, Aussig, Czechoslovakia; Societe Anonyme des Charbons Actifs Urbains of Paris, France.

The activities of this group are handled on the continent by the Urbain Co. of France. This group has factories in Germany and France.

GROUP III. THE BRITISH CARBO-UNION (LTD.)

The members of this group are: Verein fur Chemische und Metallurgische Produktion, Carlsbad, Czechoslovakia; Metallbank und Metallurgische Gesellschaft, Frankfort, Germany; I. G. Farbenindustrie A. G. Germany; S. A. des Charbons Actifs et Procedes Edouard Urbain, Paris.

This group was organized to handle carbons in the British Empire as is identical with Group II.

Group I is connected with Group II through the friendly relations existing between the Verein fur Chemische Industrie and the "I. G." on the sale of methanol and acetone, while Group II is identical with Group HI.

It is obvious, from a study of the above affiliations, that the entire European activated carbon industry is practically a unit and that it can offer formidable competition to American manufacturers.

Imports of decolorizing carbons in recent years have been as follows:

ACTIVATED CARBON IMPORTATIONS

Nineteen hundred twenty-four, 389,829 pounds; 1925, 532,198 pounds; 1926, 1,275,827 pounds (these figures also include any bone char importations-Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter); 1927, 1,126,446 pounds (United States Department of Commerce); 1928, 2,018,274 pounds (Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter).

The declared value of importations for 1927 was 7.54 cents per pound and for 1928 was 8 cents.

In four years importations have increased over 300 per cent. Shipments are cleared principally from Rotterdam, Holland, and Hamburg, Germany with an occasional shipment from France.

Foreign carbons have been offered for sale at prices as low as 4.56 cents f. a. s. New York for a very large contract, while sales have been made at 734, 8, and 9 cents delivered at customer's factory. These prices are lower in all cases, with one exception, than quotations obtained abroad, and show that surplus production of European factories is being disposed of here by dumping.

If your committee will respectfully refer to the confidential information on domestic costs furnished the Tariff Commission, it will, we confidently believe, come to the conclusion that greater protection should be given the domestic industry if it is to survive.

It can not long resist the united sales offense made by the powerful cartels which are permitted to be formed by European governments for the purpose of capturing American business.

SUMMARY

Our reasons for requesting a change in classification and increase in duty to 50 per cent ad valorem on activated decolorizing and deodorizing carbons, or other activated materials, may be summarized as follows:

1. Differences in use, properties, and cost of production justify the suggested change in classification.

2. The domestic industry is using domestic raw materials and is developing the potential wealth of the country locked up in the vast deposits of lignite. 3. The domestic industry is very necessary to food production.

4. The plant facilities can be used for the production of gas-mask carbon in the event of war.

5. European costs are lower.

6. European production and selling is in the hands of what is essentailly one gigantic cartel organized to capture American business.

7. Declared import values for activated carbon appear lower than selling prices abroad and indicate dumping. DARCO CORPORATION, J. F. VAN LEAR,

Vice President.

SUPPLEMENTARY BRIEF OF THE DARCO CORPORATION

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Committee on Ways and Means, this supplementary brief is presented by the Darco Corporation for your consideration in connection with the brief presented by our Mr. James T. Power before your committee on January 9, 1929.

In the brief presented on January 9, 1929, not enough emphasis was placed on the inadequacy of the present duty of 20 per cent ad valorem to protect domestic manufacturers. At the time that the tariff act of 1922 went into effect there were four manufacturers of activated decolorizing and deodorizing carbons in the United States, to wit:

Industrial Chemical Co., factory at Tyrone, Pa.

Melite Corporation, factory at Roaring Springs, Pa.

Carbrox Co., New Orleans, La.

Darco Corporation, factory at Marshall, Tex.

At the present time there are only two manufacturers of activated decolorizing and deodorizing carbon, viz:

Industrial Chemical Co., Tyrone, Pa.

Darco Corporation, Marshall, Tex.

The reason for these companies going out of existence is apparent in the import figures cited in the brief presented January 9.

In 1927 importations were 300 per cent of the 1924 importations, and the 1928 importations were 500 per cent of the 1924 figures. These imports are estimated to be from 30 to 50 per cent of the domestic production.

The prices at which the European made carbons are sold in the United States have made it impossible for domestic manufacturers to sell at a profit. Since beginning operations in 1922, the Darco Corporation has not shown a profit in any year, and at the present time there is a large deficit.

Cost data, selling prices and profit and loss statements covering this period have been placed in the hands of the United States Tariff Commission in connection with "The cost-of-production investigation No. 83" now being undertaken by that body.

If the industry is to survive in this country it will have to be protected from the large quantities of decolorizing carbons imported from Europe and your committee is respectfully requested to recommend a duty of 50 per cent. The duty of 50 per cent is requested because it would approximately equalize the difference in cost of production between Europe and the United States. Accurate data on the cost of production abroad is not available, but our best estimate is that a 50 per cent increase in the duty would equalize the difference in cost. We do not believe our figures are in error more than 5 per cent.

It has occurred to us that the suggestion made in the brief presented on January 9, of creating a new paragraph covering activated decolorizing and deodorizing carbons, would be undesirable because it would add to the large number of paragraphs already existing in the present law, and would increase the cost of administration.

As an alternative, we suggest that the words, "and decolorizing and deodorizing chars or carbons," be eliminated from paragraph 71. By so doing activated decolorizing and deodorizing carbons would automatically be classified under paragraph 216 of Schedule 2 as "articles or wares composed wholly or in part of carbon or graphite, wholly or partly manufactured, not specially provided for, 45 per cent ad valorem."

DARCO CORPORATION,

LELAND LYON, President.

BRIEF OF L. A. SALOMON & BRO., NEW YORK CITY, AND THE GLIDDEN FOOD PRODUCTS CO., CHICAGO, ILL.

The COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.:

This brief is submitted by L. A. Salomon & Bro., of 216 Pearl Street, New York, and the Glidden Food Products Co., of 2670 Elston Avenue, Chicago, Ill., importers of, respectively, Norit and Purit decolorizing carbons. These carbons are manufactured in Holland and shipped from Rotterdam, and constitute about 90 per cent of all decolorizing carbons imported.

The Tariff Commission has for some time had under investigation the production of decolorizing carbons and all data as to the manufacture and application of decolorizing carbon will no doubt be made available to your committee by the Tariff Commission.

Decolorizing carbons vary greatly in purity and efficiency, the latter based on decolorizing action, speed of filtration, uniformity, etc., and it is therefore manifestly unfair to generalize and treat all decolorizing carbons alike. They can be judged only by comparing corresponding qualities, and then preference is a big factor, as manufacturers get better results for their particular work from some carbons than others. Our principals produce a large number of different grades, while American manufacturers aim at mass production and have standardized themselves to as few grades as possible. The largest American producer makes only one or two grades. By catering to individual needs our principals are, therefore, in a position in many instances to, and do, perform a distinct service to American consumers who get better results from these special types.

As prices of our carbons vary widely, the cheapest quality selling at materially higher prices than the lowest-priced American carbons, and range up to 20 cents f. o. b. New York, it is naturally easy for American decolorizing carbon producers to make wrong inferences by selecting for comparison those grades of imported carbons which show up most favorably for them. One of the largest American producers has for a number of years sold certain grades of decolorizing carbons at 5 to 6 cents f. o. b. Pennsylvania shipping point, prices which we have never been able to meet. Probably 75 per cent or more of the business is done in carbons selling between 5 and 9% cents. We have no definite data available as to the production costs in Holland. We are informed, however, that, while wages in Holland are somewhat lower than the average American wage, this difference is offset by the fact that the plants are not as modern and not equipped with labor-saving machinery and a larger amount of labor is therefore required. The production of decolorizing carbon is almost entirely mechanical and no large amount of labor, mostly unskilled, is necessary. We understand that the largest American producer does not employ more than 50 people (largely low-priced, colored help), so that the total labor employed in the production of decolorizing carbons in this country is well below 100 people and, even if the production were greatly increased, very few additional men would be required due to the automatic nature of the work.

The largest American producer is using lignite, which they obtain at very low cost, due to the proximity of their plant to the Texas lignite fields. They also have a very low fuel cost, as they use natural gas. The fact that the largest American decolorizing carbon producer is using lignite is, however, no indication of large possibilities in the exploitation of lignite as a raw material for making decolorizing carbons, as a great variety of materials is suitable for this purpose. Our principals use wood charcoal and other raw materials.

This

We doubt very much that on comparable grades there is any considerable difference between foreign and domestic costs of production. Therefore, the American decolorizing carbon manufacturers have the advantage of the ocean freight of $9 per short ton ($10 per 1,000 kilos) and the import duty, varying from $23 to $44 per short ton, on the principal grades imported by us. advantage amounts to almost 14 cents per pound on our cheapest quality. American decolorizing carbon producers are in fact exporting considerable quantities of their product to various parts of the world, and they do not seem to have any difficulty in competing with the largest European producers. They have for a long time carried on an extensive advertising campaign in English trade papers. If American decolorizing carbon manufacturers can compete on an even basis in a free-trade country like Great Britain, it seems