PARAGRAPH 536-COAL-TAR PRODUCTS. a delivered price of about 25 per cent higher than a few years ago. There is an actual shortage of creosote in the European market, so that prices will likely go still higher, and if in addition a duty is imposed it will not only work a hardship on the woodpreserving industry, but actually result in the discontinuation of much wood-preserving work. As a further consideration, it is clearly recognized that preservative treatment of timber is a strong factor in the conservation of our forests. Creosoted crossties, piling, trestle timbers, and other material will last from two to four times longer than untreated material and thereby to exactly that extent reduce the drain on our diminishing forest resources. Since the Government is expending millions of dollars in purchasing and conserving forest lands, it hardly seems consistent to put a premium, in the form of an import duty, on the preservative material which figures very largely in the work of timber conservation. It is perhaps unnecessary to explain that the coal-tar creosote in which wood preservers are interested is not a manufactured product, but is a by-product of a byproduct (coal tar) and is produced only when tar is distilled to recover other products. I understand that the hearings on the chemical schedule in which creosote is included have already been held, so I should be glad to be advised of the proper procedure in order to have the matter fully explained and considered by the Ways and Means Committee. Yours, respectfully, E. A. S., President. BRIEF OF THE DODGE & OLCOTT CO., NEW YORK, N. Y. Hon. O. W. UNDERWOOD, Chairman Ways and Means Committee, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. NEW YORK, January 2, 1913. SIR: We respectfully request and urge the consideration by your committee of the status under the chemical schedule of the tariff on the material known as nitrobenzol or oil of mirbane, which we understand it is proposed to assess at 10 per cent ad valorem. Nitrobenzol is an extremely crude and rough product which is used almost exclusively for its coarse odor suggesting bitter almond. This odor is found useful to cover or disguise the obnoxious odors which are ordinarily inseparable from cheap soaps and disinfecting compounds and the use of the nitrobenzol is chiefly in these inexpensive laundry soaps and in disinfectants. The article is a very cheap one, the importation value being only about 5 cents per pound, so that the amount of revenue to be obtained from it will be trifling. On the other hand, the products in which it is used, namely, the cheap soaps and common disinfectants, are sold at such low prices and narrow margins of profit that such an increase in the cost of any of their ingredients as would be involved in this duty would be a hardship which these industries, already sorely pressed, could not support and which they would necessarily have to shoulder off upon a class of consumers who are probably the least able of any in the country to bear it. We sincerely trust that your committee will be able to see its way clear to continue the nitrobenzol on the free list where it has always been. Respectfully, DODGE & OLCOTT Co., BRIEF OF READ HOLLIDAY & SONS (LTD). With reference to the proposed revision of the present tariff, we would respectfully request that the following articles which are now on the free list be allowed to remain on said list: Paragraph 639, aniline oil; paragraph 491, aniline salts; paragraph 536, all products now covered by this paragraph, including toluidine, xylidine, binitro, benzole, binitro toluole, nitrobenzole, nitrotoluole, dimethylaniline. These products are used extensively by the textile mills throughout the United States, who have to depend upon foreign manufacturers for their supplies, as also the quality of the goods, and therefore, in the event of any duty being imposed, it would mean an advance in price on all products into which these goods enter. A tariff will increase the cost of the goods to the manufacturers and converters; this very naturally means an advance to the consumer. This is an injustice to the consumer, because any duty falls on the poorer class, least able to support it, as example: PARAGRAPH 536-COAL-TAR PRODUCTS. Analine oil and salts used principally on cotton yarn, cotton cloth, and cotton hosiery, "cheap goods" bought by the poorer classes. Silk, wool, union goods, and such grades are dyed with more expensive material. Nitrobenzole or mirbane oil.-This is a crude product which is used almost exclusively for its coarse odor, suggesting bitter almond. This odor is found useful to cover or disguise the obnoxious odors which are ordinarily inseparable from cheap soaps and disinfecting compounds, and the use of this article is chiefly in these inexpensive laundry soaps and disinfectants. The fact of manufacturers and converters having to increase their prices for goods treated with these chemicals brings their selling prices up to a possible standard of European manufacture of these cheap goods, therefore enabling them to import, so any duty assessed is very liable to be far reaching in effect, and it is reasonable to suppose will hit at manufacturing which it is not intended to reach. All the above articles are sold at low prices, so that the amount of revenue to be obtained from any duty assessed would be very trifling. Respectfully submitted. READ HOLLIDAY & SONS (LTD.), BRIEF OF HERMANN VON SCHRENK, ST. LOUIS, MO. Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, Chairman Ways and Means Committee, ST. LOUIS, February 25, 1913. Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: It is my understanding that a suggestion has been made to your honorable body that a duty be placed on coal-tar creosote. In view of the fact that the study of increasing the length of service of wood in its various forms has been my specialty for 20 years, I have very considerable interest in this matter and venture to call your attention to some views with respect to such a proposed duty. I have been engaged for a good many years in prosecuting investigations on the preservative treatment of timber. For 10 years I was in charge of such work for the United States Department of Agriculture as Chief of Division of Forest Products and Forest Service, and in charge of Investigation of Diseases of Trees and Structural Timber for the Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, and was practically the first one to urge upon the timber consumers of this country the chemical preservation of ties, telephone poles, building lumber, and other forms of wooden material. With the decreasing supply of timber, I have long felt, and feel so more strongly to-day than ever, that unless the people of the United States become thoroughly aware of the rapidly decreasing supply and take vigorous steps to get the best possible service out of the wood, there would be before long an appreciation in price, due to the decreasing supply, just as this has taken place in most of the European countries. One of the best methods for making the supply last is to get the maximum service out of wood, and in view of the fact that one of the chief reasons for increased consumption is due to the rapidity with which many classes of wood decay, there is no method which will conserve as rapidly as will the artificial preservation of wood. At first the chemical preservation was confined largely to railway companies, telegraph companies, and the other large users of wood. During recent years, however, the chemical preservation of wood has rapidly spread among our farmers and the smaller users. As chairman of the Forest Commission of Missouri for several years, I have been endeavoring to introduce the use of creosoted lumber, fence posts, etc., among the farmers, and endeavoring to show them that by preserving their fence posts and their farm timbers with creosote, it would pay them to raise young trees. Rapidly growing trees, that is, the kind which it would pay to grow, usually make poor lumber, because such lumber decays so rapidly. The treatment of such lumber with creosote, therefore, I hold as one of the greatest incentives to our farmers and others toward encouraging the growth of trees, that is, to practice practical forestry. The work which I started in the Forest Service and in the Bureau of Plant Industry has been vigorously advanced by my successors, and similar educational agitation urging the adoption of creosoting lumber wherever possible, is being carried on in many of our universities and agricultural experiment stations. I have endeavored to introduce among the small users similar widespread use of creosoted timber to that which is found in England, Germany, and other countries whose timber supply has grown very small. In PARAGRAPH 536-COAL-TAR PRODUCTS. other words, I consider the use of creosote in its application to the preservation of wood as the most vital factor in promulgating forestry among the people at large, and as one of the most important economic steps in advance which could possibly be taken in regard to the utilization of wood. I should regret the placing of any obstacle, such as an import duty, on creosote as almost calamitous. The increasing demand has already forced the price to points where it is expensive enough, and I feel perfectly sure that if any import duty were placed on coal-tar creosote, it would make its application on a wider scale, which I referred to, practically impossible. Personally, I should feel that I could no longer recommend that farmers' institutes and other similar meetings, with small creosoting plants, be built in different communities. I should also fear that many of the already established plants would probably have to be abandoned. I sincerely trust, therefore, that you will give this matter your very earnest consideration, and will urge as strongly as I can that all possible steps be taken to encourage the importation of creosote, so as to make it more readily available, which would mean, of course, that coal-tar creosote be admitted duty-free, as at present. Very respectfully, yours, HERMANN VON SCHRENK. BRIEF OF W. K. STALCUP, ALAMOGORDO, N. MEX. Hon. H. B. FERGUSSON, M. C., ALAMOGORDO, N. MEX., February 15, 1913. Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: A citizen of our town has just handed me a copy of a resolution passed by the American Wood Preservers' Association, at Baltimore, January 21, 22, and 23, 1913, and no doubt you are in possession of or have seen a copy of the same. It appears that there is a resolution pending before Congress providing for levying an import duty on dead oil of coal tar, otherwise known as creosote oil. I am convinced that the levying of an import duty on the above product would increase the expense of treating railroad ties 2 cents or more per tie. If I am correct then the increased cost must ultimately fall upon the backs of the common people, because the increased cost of treated ties would be used by the railroad companies in their arguments before the corporation commission in fixing the general freight rates over the road, and this increased cost of ties would most likely receive favorable consideration by the commission. The natural consequences arising therefrom would be a comparatively increased freight rate. It appears from the resolution above referred to that we are importers of the above product in large quantities. For example, in 1912, 60,000,000 gallons were used of the imported article, all of which was used in treating timber, such as railroad ties, bridge and construction timbers, telegraph and telephone poles, paving blocks, etc., amounting in the total to about 750,000,000 board feet of timber. If the amount imported in the future be equal to or greater than the above amount per annum, which in all probability it will, then the farmer, the merchant, the laborer, and all who make the masses must "pay the freight." I would also call your attention to the fact that we have here in Alamogordo a tietreating plant in operation, which has been in operation for years, which is one of our permanent assets, and a great benefit to our town and community and gives employment to a great many men, and to place this import duty on this article, which is so extensively used in this industry, would have a tendency to increase instead of lower freight rates, and could not under any circumstances have a tendency to raise the wages of the employees, nor result in any possible benefit to the masses of people. I believe you also have a tie-treating plant in Albuquerque, which, of course, would be affected in the same manner, if my position is correct. I would call your attention to the fact that, in my opinion, the only ones that would be benefited by the passage of a bill levying an import duty on creosote would be such concerns as the Barrett Manufacturing Co. and its allied interests. To make a long story short, it looks to me like the Standard Oil Co., its subsidiaries and "relatives," would be the only real beneficiaries of such a law, should it be passed. Very truly, yours, W. K. STALCup. PARAGRAPH 536-COAL-TAR PRODUCTS. BRIEF OF C. LEMBCKE & CO. (INC.), NEW YORK, N. Y. NEW YORK, January 13, 1913. The TARIFF REFORM COMMITTEE OF THE REFORM CLUB, New York City. DEAR SIRS: Referring to the issue of The Journal of Commerce, January 11, 1913, in which you request arguments in favor of increasing the free list for presentation to the Ways and Means Committee, we take the liberty of placing before you the following facts relative to a proposed duty on the importations of creosote oil or dead oil of coal tar from Europe to the United States: Dead oil of coal tar, or creosote oil, is used for the preservation of timber, and while heretofore free of duty it is now proposed to levy a duty on this article for the purpose, as we understand, of revenue only. It is a well-known fact that the Forestry Department is bending every effort for the preservation of our natural timber resources, and for this end they strongly advocate the preservation of timber by means of impregnation. Large users of timber, such as railroads and construction companies, not only have been forced to adopt the preservation of timber, as they found it harder and harder to get supplies of ties and bridge timber, but also have found it expedient to adopt preservation on account of the ever-increasing cost of the raw material, caused by the decrease in visible supplies. The natural consequence has been that the art of timber preservation has progressed steadily in this country, and while in the year 1848 there existed only one plant, there were built in the years This development only clearly shows that the users of timber more and more recognized the necessity of preservation and that a healthy and rapid development took place, all tending toward the preservation of our resources. The two main preservatives used for this purpose are chloride of zinc and coal-tar creosote. The statistics of the Federal Government show us that while preservation by zinc chloride did not increase the use of creosote oil, it being recognized that it is by far the most efficient preservative, has become more and more adopted. The following table shows that the following number of ties were treated: These figures go to prove that while the art of timber preservation has constantly been on the increase, dead oil of coal tar has become more and more recognized as being the best preservative to be employed. In view of the foregoing statements we would respectfully submit that a duty on creosote oil would tend to decrease the use of this preservative, as the present prices at which this article must be held on account of the large demand compared to the supply, are such that an ad valorem duty would of necessity curtail its employment and that such curtailment would counteract all the efforts of the present administration for the preservation of our natural timber resources. We have been given to understand that the sum which the Government pays annually for the work done toward the preservation of our timbers is at least five tiraes as big as would be a possible revenue derived from a duty on creosote oil. It therefore hardly seems consistent to PARAGRAPH 541-COFFEE. put a premium, in the form of an import duty, on the preservative material which figures very largely in the work of timber conservation. The domestic output of creosote oil is only about one-third of the total annual consumption, and as the domestic manufacturer can sell at competitive prices and make a handsome profit, the domestic industry does not need nor does it request protection; therefore, from the standpoint of protection a duty on dead oil of coal tar likewise is not necessary nor recommended. We would appreciate your efforts in placing this matter before the Committee on Ways and Means in the proper light, and to that end we respectfully place our services at your disposal. Thanking you for any attention you may give these lines, we remain, dear sirs, PARAGRAPH 537. Cobalt and cobalt ore. PARAGRAPH 538. Cocculus indicus. PARAGRAPH 539. Cochineal. PARAGRAPH 540. C. LEMBCKE & Co. (Inc.), G. N. LEMBCKE, Treasurer. Cocoa, or cacao, crude, and fiber, leaves, and shells of. PARAGRAPH 541. Coffee. COFFEE. STATEMENT OF HON. LUIS MUÑOZ RIVERA, RESIDENT COMMISSIONER FROM PORTO RICO. WASHINGTON, January 20, 1913. It is an obvious fact that all products of American industry and agriculture are protected against competition with similar foreign products by the duty imposed upon the latter. The Porto Rican coffee is the only exception made. Porto Rico imported from the United States in 1911 merchandise as follows: Merchandise brought into Porto Rico from the United States during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1911. [NOTE.-Ad valorem rates computed on basis of total imports of the United States for the fiscal year 1910. Specific rates used where available.] |