Limestones susceptible of polish and usable for decorative purposes. Under the present tariff (par. 117) limestone unmanufactured is dutiable at 12 cents per cubic foot-less than one-fifth the marble rate. Under this paragraph the right is claimed to import Istrian, Hauteville, Botticino, and other fancy stores which are sold and used in direct competition with regular high-grade marbles. The commercial and ordinary or popular meaning of marble is either any limestone which is capable of taking a polish or else any limestone which is suitable for being used for decorative or ornamental purposes. (See Century Dictionary, New American Encyclopedia, New International Encyclopedia.) Accordingly, the Board of General Appraisers have held that Istrian (decision 3803) and Hauteville (decision 6398) should, under the present tariff, be classed as marbles and pay the marble rate. The decision in the latter case was affirmed by the United States circuit court, but on appeal was reversed by the United States court of appeals, which followed the more technical and limited definition that only that limestone is marble which is of a crystalline structure. The whole subject of the proper classification of these stones under the present tariff now remains much confused and is still in litigation. Without reference to what may be their proper classification under the wording of the present tariff, they should in the new act be classsed according to the purposes for which they are capable of being used, and in fact are used (in conformity with the similitude clause of the present tariff act, sec. 7), and on an equality with the stone with which they directly compete. They are capable both of being polished and of being used for interior decorative purposes of a high order, and, in fact, are so used in many important buildings in direct competition with regular marbles, both American and foreign. We therefore respectfully request that limestones, when susceptible of taking a polish and suitable for interior decorative purposes, be specifically classed with marble and take the marble rate. Limestone of low grade, used as a building stone and not for higher decorative purposes, should continue to be classed with freestone, sandstone, and other building stone. Breccia. Under the present tariff (paragraph 508) breccia is admitted free. It is a conglomerate marble susceptible of taking a polish and used in direct competition with regular marble for interior decorative purposes in many public and other large buildings. In the statistics of the Department of Commerce and Labor, " Importations entered for consumption," breccia is now included in the statistics of marble, being classed as free marble as distinguished from other marbles which are dutiable. We respectfully request that it be specifically included with marble and take the marble rate. Respectfully submitted. VERMONT MARBLE COMPANY, RUTLAND-FLORENCE MARBLE COMPANY, NORCROSS-WEST MARBLE COMPANY, THE KNOXVILLE MARBLE COMPANY, JNO. J. CRAIG COMPANY, EMPIRE MARBLE COMPANY, AMERICAN MARBLE COMPANY, THE UNITED STATES MARBLE COMPANY, THE VICTORIA MARBLE COMPANY, TENNESSEE PRODUCERS' MARBLE COMPANY, KNOX MARBLE & RAILWAY COMPANY, Tennessee.. C. D. JACKSON, OF C. D. JACKSON & Co., Committee of the Marble Industry of New York. President and Committee of the National Association of Marble Dealers. WASHINGTON, D. C., November 23, 1908. Mr. BOUTELL. Is this the end of the marble hearing? Mr. PARTRIDGE. Yes. We have united in this memorial, so that is the end of it, unless you want to ask other questions. The committee are here from New York with me. The CHAIRMAN. Is there anyone to be heard upon the subject of reducing the duty? Mr. BOUTELL. That is what I wanted to ask-whether there is not somebody here, some contractor or architect, who would like a reduction of this duty. Mr. COCKRAN. I do not think any request was sent to architects to be present. Mr. BOUTELL. But it has been published through three weeks. Mr. COCKRAN. Would it be permissible to leave it open, and invite some architects to come and present their views, if they want to? I know of one or two, myself. The CHAIRMAN. I think the committee would be willing to hear them further at any time when it is at leisure. Mr. COCKRAN. I would like to call their attention to it. Mr. RANDELL. What interest has an architect in the question? Mr. COCKRAN. They are very much interested in it. Mr. RANDELL. He takes his contract according to the prices in the market. What difference does it make whether the price is high or low? Mr. BOUTELL. He has, at least, an aesthetic and artistic interest. (The committee thereupon, at 10.50 o'clock p. m., adjourned until to-morrow, Tuesday, November 24, 1908, at 9.30 o'clock a. m.) APPENDIX. CLAYS. A. D. Hatton, esq., of St. Louis, Mo., representing the LacledeChristy Clay Products Company. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I desire to supplement the brief already submitted with further statistics regarding gas retorts and settings referred to. I desire that it be incorporated with the original brief as part of these proceedings. I do not desire to detain you further, as the hour is late. It will be our purpose to try and submit some further information regarding the exact prices of foreign gas retorts and gas-bench settings to assist you in your labors in considering these paragraphs. A. D. HATTON. BRIEF SUBMITTED BY LACLEDE-CHRISTY CLAY PRODUCTS COMPANY, ST. LOUIS, MO., CONCERNING PARAGRAPHS 87, 88, 93, 97, AND 98, UNDER SCHEDULE B, AND 522 AND 614, UNDER FREE LIST, IN THE TARIFF ACT OF JULY 24, 1897. Hon. SERENO E. PAYNE, ST. LOUIS, November 16, 1908. Chairman Committee on Ways and Means, GENTLEMEN: Laclede-Christy Clay Products Company, manufacturer, engaged in handling anything in clay products, as miner, manufacturer, and jobber, is interested and concerned in a revision of certain paragraphs in the present tariff on imports into the United States and the free list as contained in the act of July 24, 1897, prescribed by Schedule B, earths, earthenware, and glassware. We submit for your consideration the arguments and recommendations hereinafter mentioned as a basis for proposed changes. It will be our purpose to confine our issues to facts, placing them before you as concisely as possible. Laclede-Christy Clay Products Company succeeded Christy Fire Clay Company, established in 1857, first developed the celebrated Christy Missouri washed pot clay as a substitute for the imported German clays; Laclede Fire Brick Manufacturing Company, established in 1844, originally offered refractory bench settings and retorts to the manufacturers of coal gas; and Jamieson-French Fire Clay Company, organized in 1895. It is a Missouri corporation, has at paid-up capital of $1,000,000, all invested in the clay products business; owns and controls extensive clay and kaolin deposits and has fee-simple title to over 700 acres of unencumbered realty, on which its clay mines are located, within the city of St. Louis; operates regularly and fully three plants, two within the city of St. Louis and one in St. Louis County, employing about 1,000 men, with a pay roll aggregating over $500,000 annually. In the statement "Mineral products of the United States," prepared by the Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, clay products has a scheduled value in the calendar year 1907 of $158,942,369, ranking fifth with all other metallic, nonmetallic, and unspecified minerals, following pig iron, bituminous coal, copper, and Pennsylvania anthracite, respectively. About 10 per cent of this amount represents the value of refractories (fire brick, fire-clay tiles, retort or gas-bench settings, furnace or tank blocks and stones, and probably gas retorts), the principal producing States, selling 80 per cent of the whole, being (1) Pennsylvania, (2) Ohio, (3) Missouri, (4) New Jersey, (5) Kentucky; the next, New York, shows a value of 50 per cent less than New Jersey. In fire clays mined and sold Missouri ranks fourth, following New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio in that order. In refractories Missouri contributes 11 per cent, and 4.34 per cent of total clay products. It will be our purpose to take up with you only high-grade fire clays or earths of a refractory and flux-resisting character used in the manufacture of glasshouse pots, tank-furnace blocks, and furnace stones, crucibles, gas retorts, and retort or gas-bench settings, and other refractories for the building of furnaces where such conditions obtain. These clays are indispensable in the glass, gas, iron and steel, cement, and all other metallurgical industries. For convenient reference we have copied herein the paragraphs under discussion: CLAYS OR EARTHS: 93. Clays or earths, unwrought or unmanufactured, not specially provided for in this act, one dollar per ton; wrought or manufactured, not specially provided for in this act, two dollars per ton; china clay or kaolin, two dollars and fifty cents per ton; limestone rock asphalt containing not more than fifteen per centum of bitumen, fifty cents per ton; asphaltum and bitumen. not specially provided for in this act, crude, if not dried, or otherwise advanced in any manner, one dollar and fifty cents per ton; if dried or otherwise advanced in any manner, three dollars per ton: bauxite, or beauxite, crude, not refined or otherwise advanced in condition from its natural state, one dollar per ton; fuller's earth, unwrought and unmanufactured, one dollar and fifty cents per ton; wrought or manufactured, three dollars per ton. 522. Clay: Common blue clay in casks suitable for the manufacture of crucibles. 614. Minerals, crude, or not advanced in value or condition by refining or grinding, or by other process of manufacture, not specially provided for in this act. Exhibits A, B, and C herewith are explanatory. Our high-grade clays result from high-priced and limited area realty, sinking of shafts with heavy maintenance charges under hard mining conditions, $2.50 per day wages, others in proportion, erecting of buildings for handling, weathering, and treating three to five years' supply at all times, and refining through the washeries. A further step is calcining or burning. The imported clays result from abundant clay areas, no additional expense nor time required to market, save simple selecting (the picked |