of entry to pass them as lithographs between eight one-thousandths and twenty one-thousandths of an inch in thickness at 5 cents per pound.

The majority of colored post cards are lithographs or chromolitho, and pass at the same rate of duty of 5 cents per pound, equal to about 75 cents per 1,000 post cards.

Here exists a flagrant discrimination against the American manufacturer. Compare f. i. the tariff schedule: Lithographic cigar labels in less than eight colors, 20 cents per pound; lithographic cigar labels in eight or more colors, 30 cents per pound.

The German-made colored post cards vary between six and ten colors and pay only 5 cents per pound duty, while they are printed on the same lithographic presses as the cigar labels, with the exception of the great minority of gelatine hand-colored make.

Holiday cards, calendars, booklets, advertising cards, hangers, novelties, and pictures of many kinds share in the same discrimination. Post cards, being of recent growth, have not before come to the attention of the Congress. They are more commercial than educational, are largely used for advertising towns, resorts, real estate, and any kind of mercantile enterprise.

Well might the domestic manufacturer receive his fair share of this trade, instead of four-fifths of post cards being imported.

The unlimited cheapening of the article through foreign competition can not be said to have made it more lucrative to the retail trade, but has tended to depreciate it in the public estimation.

By the official report on the commerce of the United States, there were imported under the head of "Books, music, engravings, etchings, photographs, and other printed matter," in the fiscal years ending June 30, 1905, free, $2.609.181: dutiable, $1.980,677; 1906, free, $3,000,326: dutiable, $2.599.622; 1907, free, $3,379,182; dutiable, $3.072.127.

The European apprentice systems further contribute to the low cost of foreign labor, while here we do not have any unpaid labor. Many smaller importations of post cards, fancy cards, other printed matter, photographs, and engravings come by mail cheaply and quickly, thus further diminishing the chances of the domestic manufacturer.

The photographer, as a rule, can not afford to copyright his scenic views, nor does the law ultimately protect him, according to recent decisions of the United States courts. The photographer's views, therefore, are the prey of the foreigner's agent. Example: We instruct our traveling photographer to photograph for us certain scenes in Oregon or Texas. He does it at great expense. We publish the views in the form of post cards or a souvenir book or a calendar. The foreigner, through his alert helpmate here, buys the finished article for a few cents and sends it to Europe for copying. In a short while our market, local or general, becomes flooded with cheap copies. The domestic manufacturer may then turn his wits to new fields, but the mail offers such easy facilities to the copyists here and abroad that to-day the American lithographers and kindred trades have resigned themselves to the conclusion that post cards and similar articles belong to the foreigner.

THE ALBERTYPE COMPANY.

BROOKLYN, N. Y., November 18, 1908.

I, Walther Hoeschel, married and residing at 179 Thirteenth avenue, Astoria, Queens County, State of New York, and working as a photographic retoucher with the Albertype Company, Brooklyn, N. Y., for the past three years, and previously with Stengel & Co., photogelatin printers, Dresden and Berlin, Germany, two years, testify from my own knowledge that in Germany, in the photogelatin printing line, a first-class photographer earns 20 to 35 marks a week ($5 to $8.75); retoucher earns 18 to 25 marks a week ($4.50 to $6); apprentices, some nothing, others earn 2 to 4 marks a week (50 cents to $1).

In every branch of the business apprentices are engaged, almost one to every workman. Girls feed the power presses. To this statement I subscribe my name,

WALTHER HOESCHEL.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 18th day of November,

DEAR SIR: We have been advised that a hearing regarding tariff schedule covering papers, books, etc., will be held next Saturday, and that the subject of photogelatin printing will be heard in connection with this schedule. As figures and other data pertaining to this subject have undoubtedly been submitted by other parties, we will, in order to avoid repetition, refrain from stating same, but we wish to submit this undeniable fact:

American efforts and American capital have created a demand for gelatin printing in this country, a demand which is constantly increasing through our work, while European establishments, principally German, are getting the results. Large contracts for postal cards, art subjects, etc., are continually placed on the other side and executed, and this is not done for reasons of superior workmanship, but simply on account of our inability of competing with foreign quotations.

Yours, very truly.

CAREY LITHOGRAPH COMPANY.
PETER J. CAREY, President.

DECALCOMANIA, OR LITHOGRAPHIC TRANSFERS.

NEW YORK CITY, November 18, 1908.

The HONORABLE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE,

Washington, D. C.

GENTLEMEN: On behalf of the importers and dealers of decalcomania, or lithographic transfers, we herewith beg to present our views on the rate of duty for the consideration of your committee as

61318-TARIFF-No. 12-08- -10

to the classification for duty purposes under the tariff to be promulgated.

A brief résumé of the tariff history of this merchandise may be instructive in the light of argument, pro and con, which will be advanced on this subject by your committee.

Ever since the decalcomania, or lithographic prints, were introduced into this country for the decoration of china and earthen ware, as well as numerous other materials, these lithographic prints have been properly classified under paragraph 400 of the Dingley tariff and previously under the Wilson tariff as lithographic prints from stone, zinc, alluminum, etc., at the rate of 20 cents per pound, net weight. This rate was the subject of a distinct understanding between foreign and domestic dealers on these goods at the time the present tariff was being framed, as per evidence before the Ways and Means Committee. These decalcomania, or transfer pictures, are known throughout the trade as lithographic prints, and manufacturers of these decalcomania in Europe style their firms as lithographic establishments.

Decalcomania is a form of a lithographic print now used very extensively in the decoration of pottery and other materials the world over. The name decalcomania does not indicate the real difference in any essential feature from the term "lithographic print," and the only difference between decalcomania and the common lithographic prints lies in the fact that a decalcomania is printed on gummed paper, so that it may readily transfer from the sheet on which it is printed to some other object. It may be said right here that this gummed paper is not a surface-coated paper, neither in a technical nor commercial sense, because a surface-coated paper has a permanent surface coating, while the gummed paper which is used for the decalcomania has the gum coating only for the purpose of transferring the lithographic print thereon upon the object, as aforesaid.

Before the adaptation of decalcomania to pottery decoration pottery was decorated with so-called "printed and filled-in" patterns, i. e., the outline of a pattern was engraved on a copper plate and from same, with the aid of printing paper, transferred upon the ware, and colors were then applied to this outline or design by a brush in the hands of a workman. This process has become obsolete since the introduction of decalcomania. The colors are now all printed and the pattern made complete in all colors on the paper, and from this paper the pattern is transferred by one process to the ware. This reduces to a considerable extent the cost of hand labor required in pottery decoration, and since hand labor is and always has been much more expensive, and skilled labor particularly so much harder to obtain in America than in those European countries where pottery has been made for many years, it was decalcomania which has placed the American potter in a position to compete with the imported foreign goods.

From the time when pottery was decorated in this country until 1899 or 1900, the above-described process of printing and filling in by hand with colors was the only method of decorating used by the American potter, and all the materials, as printing paper and ceramic colors, necessary for the decorating, were imported. By adapting decalcomania and importing same from Europe, the potter is practically importing the same materials which he formerly im

ported, eliminating the high cost for skilled labor, and thus enabling him to compete against foreign importers of china, not to speak at all of the higher artistic standard of decalcomania compared with printed and filled-in patterns. At the time the Dingley bill was formulated there were decalcomania transfers imported from Europe, but only for use on other materials, not on pottery. Therefore ceramic decalcomanias are not specifically mentioned in that bill. It was only about 1900 that the use of decalcomania became quite general with the potters, and since then it has become almost a universal process of applied colors in pottery decoration. With the growth and development of the pottery industry, the importations of decalcomania grew readily, and for some years there was no question raised as to the propriety of classifying it as lithographic prints under paragraph 400. When decalcomanias were first used by the potters, there was absolutely no manufacturer in this country, but there were a large number of such establishments in England, France, and Germany employing a large corps of artists in designing their patterns, and the work of these artists was therefore made available for the use of the American potters. Naturally decalcomania took the place of the raw materials the potter had previously imported in the form of pigments, colors, and printing paper.

Now, if this material had been specifically mentioned along with lithographic prints in paragraph 400, no question would or could ever have been raised as to the propriety of that classification; but because decalcomania is nowhere mentioned, the opportunity was given to the American lithographers who later began to manufacture this material, to raise a technical question and to seek the classification of the decalcomania under some schedule paying a higher rate of duty than lithographic prints. Repeated efforts have been made, particularly by one domestic manufacturer of decalcomania, to have these reclassified, first, as cigar labels; second, as manufactures of metal at 45 per cent ad valorem; third, as manufactures of paper at 35 per cent ad valorem; and fourth, as surface-coated paper at 20 per cent ad valorem and 3 cents per pound, and this is the present rate of duty assessed on these goods. The higher rate of duty was sought by the above-mentioned domestic manufacturer in spite of the fact that he has repeatedly and in many cases been able to sell his goods at a lower price than the imported article could be offered. It is a notorious fact, and the leading American pottery manufacturers will offer testimony to the effect, that the American manufacturers of the decalcomania do not and can not obtain as high a price for their decalcomania as the foreign importers on an average, for the reason that the American decalcomanias have been confined almost exclusively to the cheap lines and to copies of the foreign designs. In decalcomania, as in every other line of applied art work, originality commands a price.

While no doubt it would be possible to have produced a limited number of original designs in this country, yet there is by no means available here the great body of artists who are seeking commercial employment in Europe.

In this connection it may be mentioned that in all instances where the domestic manufacturer offers his goods at a lower figure than we have been able to sell them and where his decorations have been copies of our patterns, the importers and dealers in these goods were

subjected to a very severe loss, because the importers had to pay the European manufacturers for all the expense connected with the creation of these decorations.

As above stated, these decalcomanias are lithographic prints and nothing but lithographic prints and can not be considered as anything else, and in support of this contention we beg to refer to the following Treasury and Appraisers' decisions:

Treasury decision 24748; Treasury decision 25312, paragraph 1486: Treasury decision 25385, paragraph 1868; Treasury decision 25482. paragraph 2353; Treasury decision 24827; Treasury decision 1765; General Appraisers 3700; Treasury decision 17669; Treasury decision 17897; Treasury decision 25863; General Appraisers 5873; Treasury decision 25676, paragraph 3723; General Appraisers 5445; Treasury decision 25848; General Appraisers 5459

And therefore claim and maintain that the present reclassification of lithographic transfers as surface-coated paper is erroneous and absolutely misleading.

Surface-coated paper is a material produced from ordinary mill paper and covered with coloring matter intended to remain permanent on the paper, and is used for binding, covering, and general manufacturing purposes, and the term "surface-coated paper" is never used to apply to lithographic work, as the application of color is not obtained by means of a lithographic stone.

This reclassification obtained by the domestic manufacturer was based upon a court decision rendered in the absence of any contesting testimony, in the absence of the importing interests, no evidence having been furnished by the importers. At the hearings before the Board of General Appraisers no witness produced by the Government had other than a "general knowledge" of what a decalcomania was, with one exception-the treasurer of the American Lithographic Company, who stated, speaking from forty years' experience, that decalcomania process is a lithographic process entirely, although the prints are generally known as decalcomanias."

We importers are confident that if we would have had any knowledge of the proceedings before the court in Philadelphia and if we would have offered our testimony, that the decision of the court would have been to the effect that decalcomanias are lithographic prints; however, we are contemplating an appeal to a higher court, but since a new tariff bill appeared imminent, we decided to let the matter stand until we could submit our side of the case to the Ways and Means Committee.

"Surface-coated paper" and "decalcomania," both articles have a well-defined commercial meaning. Decisions of the court have been uniform in holding as a settled rule of construction of revenue laws that the duty to be imposed on an article is according to the designation of such an article as understood and known in the commerce of the United States and not with reference to the materials of which it may be composed or to the use to which it may subsequently be put. As said above, these decalcomanias are lithographic prints from stone. which can be proven beyond doubt by explaining the method of manufacture, the process being identically the same as in the manufacture of lithographic prints provided for in paragraph 400, as the following will illustrate: