FREE LIST AND MISCELLANEOUS. ROSINS. [Paragraph 548]. HON. W. G. BRANTLEY, M. C., THINKS THAT IT WOULD BE WISE TO PUT A REVENUE DUTY ON ALL ROSINS. Hon. SERENO E. PAYNE, WASHINGTON, D. C., March 10, 1909. Chairman Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: My attention has been called to the wisdom and as well the desirability of placing a revenue duty on rosins, and I beg to submit for consideration in the framing of the tariff bill, to be reported at the extra session of Congress, soon to convene, the following statement: Under paragraph 548 of the present law, rosins are admitted free of duty, and during the calendar year of 1908, there was imported from France rosins as follows: At New York, 4,745,800 pounds, equaling 16,949 barrels of 280 pounds each, of the value of $107,478. At Philadelphia, 6,191,677 pounds, equaling 22,113 barrels of 280 pounds each, of the value of $153,389, making total importations New York and Philadelphia from France for last year of $260,867. On the other hand the French tariff on rosins is as follows: 115 buds and resins, raw; colophany pitch, cakes of resin, and other indigenous resinous products, per 100 kil. gross 10 francs, general tariff which tariff is reported to me to be prohibitory. The result is that while rosin importations from France are growing rapidly, our exportations into that country, formerly a good market for American rosins, have practically closed. If these are the facts, as I have reason to believe they are, there could not be any question, it seems to me, as to the wisdom of our Government removing rosins from the free list and placing a proper duty on them. This should be done in justice not only to our rosin manufacturers, but to our Government as well. I have been advised that another very large shipment of French rosins is now on the way to this country. These importations are of comparatively recent date, and consequently the reasons heretofore prevailing for keeping rosin on the free list do not now exist. I beg to attach hereto copy of resolutions adopted by the Savannah (Ga.) Board of Trade, urging a rosin duty, and would call your attention to the fact that Savannah is the recognized market of the United States for rosins and spirits of turpentine, generally known as naval stores. I would beg to advise you also that the naval-stores industry is quite an important one in at least 8 States. It is fairly estimated that there is invested in this industry not less than $50,000,000. The output last year, according to a late report by the Forestry Bureau, was 4,288,283 barrels of rosin of the value of $17,783,509.61, and 36,589,000 gallons of spirits turpentine of the value of $14,112,377.32. In this connection I would also call your attention to the fact that spirits turpentine is also on the free list, and that there was imported during the fiscal year 1908 141,825 gallons of it, valued at $33,748, as against an importation in 1901 of only 12,697 gallons, valued at $4,485.50. It may be well, therefore, to consider the question of imposing a duty on spirits turpentine. Both rosin and spirits turpentine are mainly used in manufacturing and would seem to be legitimate articles for taxation. Thanking you for your attention, I am, very truly yours, W. G. BRANTLEY. EXHIBIT A. RESOLUTIONS PASSED BY THE SAVANNAH BOARD OF TRADE IN RE DUTY ON FOREIGN NAVAL STORES. Whereas the United States custom-house records show that during the calendar year 1908 the imports of French rosin amounted to the equivalent of 25,000 barrels American basis, of a value of upward of a quarter of a million dollars on which no duty was paid, and that this is practically the first import of importance from France; and Whereas it is known to us that further imports of French rosin are contemplated on a large scale, which are calculated to impair the value of the American article to a serious degree; and Whereas there at present exists, and has existed for some fifteen years, a French tariff on American rosin and turpentine, commonly known as "naval stores," sufficiently high to absolutely exclude the markets of France to American exporters of naval stores: therefore be it Resolved, That the Savannah Board of Trade is heartily in favor of the passage of a national law imposing a duty of 25 per cent ad valorem on all products of the pine tree, consisting of rosin, spirits of turpentine, or other articles commonly known as "naval stores," produced in France, Spain, Mexico, or any other country outside of the United States and its possessions; and be it further Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the two United States Senators and all Congressmen representing the State of Georgia, with the request that immediate action be taken to introduce such a bill and have it passed as expeditiously as possible. OLIVE-OIL FOOTS. [Paragraph 626.] JAMES S. KIRK & CO., CHICAGO, ILL., SUBMIT COPY OF PETITION FORWARDED TO TREASURY DEPARTMENT RELATIVE TO SULPHUR-OIL AND OLIVE-OIL FOOTS. Hon. SERENO E. PAYNE, CHICAGO, March 3, 1909. Washington, D. C. Chairman Ways and Means Committee, DEAR SIR: At the suggestion of Assistant Secretary Reynolds, of the Treasury Department, I beg leave to hand you herewith copy of petition which the department has taken under advisement. This petition is submitted to you with a view that in that section of the new tariff which will take the place of section 568 of the present tariff provision may be made for the unrestricted free entry of so-called "olive-oil foots," which are used in soap making and which, as will be seen from the petition, contain in reality no olive oil and are not edible. Very respectfully, yours, GEORGE SCHROEDER, Chairman of the Tariff Committee of Soap Manufacturers of the United States. To the honorable the SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, NEW YORK, February 2, 1909. Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: We, the undersigned, representing a large per cent of the manufacturers of textile and so-called “ green castile soaps (not medicinal) in the United States, apprehending the immediate ruin of our industry due to the uncertainty which the present application of the tariff act of July 24, 1897, has created in the market for what are commonly but erroneously known as "olive-oil foots," respectfully submit to you, Mr. Secretary, the following memorandum of facts with which we join a prayer for such relief as is in your power to afford us, to the end that we may secure speedy relief from the hardships that now shackle and threaten to exterminate our industry. First. Usage only has sanctioned the term "olive-foots," as in reality this product contains absolutely no olive oil. Its base is a dry mass, which is the residue of ripe olives from which every atom and single particle of olive oil has been pressed. Second. In further proof of our contention we cite the commercial nomenclature for this article in vogue in the principal producing countries of the world. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and in the British crown colonies the article known as "olive-oil foots" in the United States is called "sulphur oil." In France and Italy, the two principal countries of production, the commercial scientific and governmental terms for the American "olive-oil foots" are "huile au sulphure," respectively, "oleo al sulfuro," both being literal translations of sulphur oil. Olive oil is an article which is subject to a 100 per cent custom-house examination, whereas olive-oil foots are so easily recognized by their characteristics and disagreeable odor as well as the cheap containers in which they are imported because of the close margin of profit on and the comparatively low value of the article itself that it is not found necessary to examine more than a fraction of containers in each shipment. Third. The present value of "olive-oil foots," which term, despite its technical falsity, we shall have to retain for the present, so as to avoid worse confusion, is 56 cents f. o. b. the leading European ports of export. As the result of the unprecedented scarcity of the principal raw material used in their manufacture, which in turn is due to the complete failure of the 1908 olive crop, we must needs figure with the possibility of further advances in prevailing quotations, and a rise of but 6 to 7 per cent would cause "olive-oil foots' to cost more than 60 cents in primary markets; and if American importers are compelled to enter their imports under section 626, after a primary marketprice level of 60 cents or over has been established, they will, if the present theory is adhered to, be compelled to pay duty as olive oil on an article which has absolutely nothing in common with this product. How critical the situation is may be inferred from the fact that, due to the failure of the crop, which has brought about the scarcity of the raw material used in the manufacture of this article, the Italian Government has suspended the duty on sulphur oil, though its citizens are ordinarily among the largest producers of this article; and this enables Italian soap manufacturers to obtain their sulphur oil at a figure which will make it possible for them to flood the American market with their soaps in case we are obliged to pay duty on "olive-oil foots." Efforts in this direction have and are now being made by foreign soap manufacturers. Intrusting the above facts to your careful consideration, Mr. Secretary, we respectfully urge you to cause to be issued a Treasury decision which will clearly set forth that hereafter collectors of customs are to levy duty on imports of "olive-oil foots" under section 568 of the tariff act of July 24, 1897, as "grease and oils (except fish oil), such as are commonly used in soap making," because such "olive-oil foots" are in fact sulphur oil, used in soap making, and for no other purpose. In our humble judgment, it will be patent to you, Mr. Secretary, that in asking you to cause such a decision to be promulgated we are asking nothing more than justice and a logical interpretation of the existing tariff act. In view of the great peril which besets our industry we ask you that if in your ripe and sound judgment of the law it will be impossible for the Treasury Department to afford us instant relief by such a decision to give us your answer without delay, so that we may not have abridged our rights to appear instanter before Congress with a view of securing that relief which we believe the framers of the tariff act of July 24, 1897, intended to afford us, but which, perhaps, unfortunately, was lost to us by the letter, not the spirit, of the law. We, however, humbly beg that if, in your wisdom, it be compatible with the letter of the law to afford us the relief which we beseech you to extend to us, to do so ere our plants shall have been forced into idleness, our workingmen into starvation, and ourselves into ruin. M. M. Eavenson (J. Eavenson & Son, Camden, N. J.), chairman; PETROLEUM. [Paragraph 626.] THE MIDCONTINENT OIL AND GAS PRODUCERS' ASSOCIATION, TULSA, OKLA., URGES RETENTION OF COUNTERVAILING DUTY ON PETROLEUM AND ITS PRODUCTS. TULSA, OKLA., February 27, 1909. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: The Midcontinent Oil and Gas Producers' Association embraces in its membership the owners of 87 per cent of the 13,000 producing oil wells in the States of Oklahoma and Kansas, the total daily production from which wells is 180,000 barrels, which is 60 per cent of all the high-grade refining crude oil produced in the United States. The Oklahoma oil fields are situated in the interior, remote from seaboard transportation, which isolated location makes it difficult to market the product of the wells, to the great embarrass |