PARAGRAPH 262-PEAS. petition, as may be shown by reference to the large importers of split peas into the United States from foreign countries during the past three years. The importation of split peas has increased during this three-year period, until at the present time the American split-pea millers are practically out of the market, and the entire trade of the United States has been taken by the foreign millers. The present protective duty of 20 cents per bushel is not sufficient to enable the American millers to import the dried peas and manufacture them into split peas for the American market in competition with the foreign millers. The best proof of this statement is the fact that the American millers for the past two years have been closed and unable to operate during the greater part of the time. During the season of 1911-12 our own mills turned out about one-third of their normal output, owing to the fact that we have not been able to compete with the imported goods. During the present crop season, from the 1st of August until the present time, we have not been able to operate for a single day, and it is apparent that we will not be able to turn out more than 10 or 15 per cent of a normal output, as we can buy an imported split pea cheaper than we can buy the raw material and manufacture it into split peas. We therefore contend that the present protective duty of 20 cents per bushel is not sufficient to protect the American miller and enable him to compete with the foreign miller. The present duty on dried peas is 25 cents per bushel. A material reduction in this duty or the placing of dried peas on the free list would undoubtedly enable us to import the raw material from abroad and manufacture split peas in the United States in competition with the foreign millers, provided the present duty of 45 cents per bushel on split peas is maintained. We very much doubt, however, the advisability of reducing the duty on dried peas for the reason that the result would undoubtedly be with the American farmer that he would abandon the growing of peas, as he could not compete with the foreign farmer, producing peas in Russia, Manchuria, and China, as well as to somewhat less extent in some of the European countries. Weather conditions in the United States during the past two years have been extremely unfavorable for the growing of peas, with the result that the American crop has been materially reduced and rendered unprofitable to the American farmer, notwithstanding the high prices obtained for the peas. It is our belief that the American farmer will continue to grow peas, and with a return to normal conditions will be able to produce all of the peas required for consumption in this country, provided the present duty is maintained. If peas should be placed upon the free list or the duty reduced, we are firmly of the belief that the American farmer would abandon the growing of peas, and that the United States would then be dependent entirely upon foreign countries for all peas consumed here. Our experience in the manufacture of split peas and the handling of dried peas covers a period of upwards of 20 years, and our opinions are based upon such experi ence. The present duties either upon dried splits or upon split peas do not under normal conditions effect the price to the consumer. During our experience in the split pea business we have sold split peas at varying prices according to market price of raw material. Our selling price to the wholesale grocers has varied from 13 cents per pound to 34 cents per pound, without seeing any change in the retail price of the commodity to the consumer. The consumer also universally buys split peas in lots of 1 pound at a time, and the retail trade throughout the greater part of the consuming territory of the United States have almost universally maintained the price of 5 cents per pound to the consumer. Present prices of split peas and of dried peas are abnormal, owing to the universal scarcity of the pea crop throughout the world. Filed by Hon. Henry McMorran, M. C. PARAGRAPH 263. MICHIGAN CEREAL CO., Orchids, palms, azaleas, and all other decorative or greenhouse plants and cut flowers, preserved or fresh, twenty-five per centum ad valorem; lily of the valley pips, tulip, narcissus, begonia, and gloxinia bulbs, one dollar per thousand; hyacinth, astilbe, dielytra, and lily of the valley clumps, two dollars and fifty cents per thousand; lily bulbs and calla bulbs, five dollars per thousand; peony, Iris Kæmpferii or Germanica, canna, dahlia, and amaryllis bulbs, ten dollars per thousand; all other bulbs, bulbous root or corms which are cultivated for their flowers or foliage, fifty cents per thousand. PARAGRAPH 263-BULBS. BULBS. TESTIMONY OF ARTHUR COWEE, BERLIN, N. Y. The witness was first duly sworn by the chairman. Mr. CowEE. Mr. Chairman, and members of the Committee on Ways and Means, I am here this afternoon representing and voicing the sentiment and request of what I estimate to be at least 90 per cent of the gladiolus acreage of the United States. In addition to this I represent the American Gladioli Society. This society is composed not only of commercial but also of amateurs, and at a meeting in Chicago last August they voiced the same sentiment and request which I shall later mention to you. The growth of this industrythe cultivation of gladioli bulbs-during the past 10 years has been exceptional, due largely to the great improvement made in this flower as well as increasing the vigor and vitality of the corn, rendering it useful under adverse climatic and soil conditions. These achievements have been largely through American hybridizers, professional and amateur, by whose untiring efforts and free expenditures of money the gladiolus has become the most popular of all flowers and within reach of the poor classes. Prior to the tariff act of 1909 foreign-grown gladioli bulbs bore a duty of 25 per cent ad valorem, but the revision of 1909 reduced this duty to 50 cents per thousand specific. This revision had hardly gone into effect before American growers were besieged with applications from Holland and German growers for small planting stock. These foreign growers heretofore were glad to secure our regular blooming-size bulbs and were to all appearances content with the growing of hardy bulbs such as tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, etc., for which their soils are more suitable for growing. You can readily appreciate that, with the cheap labor which these foreign growers employ, it was not a hard task for them to make serious inroads upon our American growers, returning our own standard varieties at prices below the reach of the average grower but at handsome profits to themselves. I have several samples of what we call the heart bulblets, or heart corms, which have to be grown from one to three years before they produce blooming bulbs. Some corms, however, will produce blooming bulbs in two years, but rarely in one year. The differentsized bulbs, too, as they are grown from the bulblets, command different prices. For instance, the large bulbs, which you see there, are called by the foreign people "top size," and bring a higher price than those which are smaller. Why this change in the tariff or by whom requested, I am unable to state; suffice it to say that American growers of gladioli bulbs were not responsible, for if they had been, provision would have been made for the different sizes of bulbs, and stages of development would have been taken into consideration and your speaker would have escaped a dilemma which confronted him some three years ago when importing some 23 barrels of small bulblets, hard and soft, upon which the collector of customs demanded a duty of 50 cents per thousand, which duty was prohibitive, compelling the return of the stock. Later your speaker had the opportunity of presenting PARAGRAPH 263-BULBS. this matter for a different ruling than that made by the port collector and a consistent ruling was made so far as the small bulblets, hard and soft, were concerned. First, we contend that the gladiolus industry has become sufficiently important, so that our product, instead of being classified as "other bulbs," they should take their place with the tulip, narcissus, begonia, and lily bulbs and be classified as "gladiolus bulbs." Second, that all gladioli bulbs or bulblets, hard or soft, measuring fiveeighths of an inch in diameter and under should be admitted duty free. Third, that all gladioli bulbs or corms measuring above fiveeighths of an inch in diameter should be subject to a duty of 25 per cent ad valorem. Mr. HARRISON. You advocate transferring them from the basket clause in bulbs, your product, into that part of paragraph 263 which classifies the lily of the valley, tulips, and roxania bulbs? Mr. CowEE. Yes, sir. Mr. HARRISON. The result would be to raise the ad valorem equivalent 5.23 to 15.26, or practically tripling the duty. Mr. CowEE. The duty as it is now is 50 cents per thousand. The gladioli bulbs are classified as "all other bulbs that are grown for their flowers, 50 cents per thousand." What we hold is that they should be classified as "gladioli bulbs," and carry a duty of 25 per cent ad valorem as heretofore. Mr. HARRISON. But at the present time the ad valorem equivalent, the duties they do pay, is only 5.23 per cent, because they only import the big ones? Mr. CowEE. That depends altogether upon the prices of the bulbs. You take a bulb which you can purchase on the other side say at $2 a thousand, the net price here would be $2.50 per thousand. Mr. HARRISON. We have all those figures worked out by the Treasury Department, and they give us an average. The average ad valorem equivalent to that rate, if your products are to be left in this basket clause, would be to only give them a 5 per cent duty. Mr. CowEE. What we ask for is 25 per cent on blooming size bulbs, and to allow all bulbs below the blooming size to come in duty free the same as seed. One of the principal points I wish to impress upon your minds is that the extensive growing of gladioli was and is to-day a truly American industry. The rate of wages paid by us is from $9 to $15 per week for 10 hours per day, while foreign growers are able to secure equally skilled labor for from $4.50 to $7.50 per week for 12 hours per day. Now, in order to conserve American labor and encourage the further development of this industry by Americans the majority of the growers of the United States, whose signatures I have, believe we are entitled to and petition for a protective duty of 25 per cent ad valorem upon regular merchantable size bulbs. Now, I am not posted as to that. I took this from a Hollander, who told me the committee would probably know more about those figures than I do. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, HONORABLE SIR: We, the undersigned growers of gladiolus bulbs in the United States, realizing the inroads made in our business by foreign growers, on account of the 78959°-VOL 3-13-40 PARAGRAPH 264-SEEDLINGS. change in custom duty from 25 per cent ad valorem to 50 cents per thousand bulbs specific duty, and realizing that many of our standard varieties originating with us are taken abroad, grown by cheap labor and returned to the United States at unprofitable prices for American growers, would respectfully petition Congress to revise the tariff upon gladiolus bulbs so that blooming bulbs of any variety or mixture above fiveeighths inch in diameter shall demand a custom duty of 25 per cent ad valorem and that bulblets, hard or soft, five-eighths inch in diameter and less shall be admitted duty free. ARTHUR COWEE, Berlin, N. Y. TELEGRAM FROM D. M. FERRY & CO. Hon. FRANK E. DOREMUS, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DETROIT, MICH., January 17, 1913. Is committee arranging to retain specific duties on bulbs and seeds, paragraphs 263 and 266? As explained to you, we desire specific rates, not ad valorem. We think rates could well be somewhat lower, but are immensely anxious that specific basis be retained. Kindly answer at our expense. PARAGRAPH 264. D. M. FERRY & CO. Stocks, cuttings, or seedlings of Myrobolan plum, Mahaleb or Mazzard cherry, Manetti multiflora and briar rose, three years old or less, one dollar per thousand plants; stocks, cuttings, or seedlings of pear, apple, quince, and the Saint Julien plum, three years old or less, two dollars per thousand plants; rose plants, budded, grafted, or grown on their own roots, four cents each; stocks, cuttings and seedlings of all fruit and ornamental trees, deciduous and evergreen shrubs and vines, and all trees, shrubs, plants, and vines commonly known as nursery or greenhouse stock, not specially provided for in this section, twenty-five per centum ad valorem. SEEDLINGS. TESTIMONY OF IRVING ROUSE, REPRESENTING THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN, OF ROCHESTER, N. Y. The witness was duly sworn by the chairman. Mr. ROUSE. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I represent the American Association of Nurserymen. This association embraces practically the entire nursery interest of the United States. We have also with us delegates from the Ornamental Growers Association. Previous to the last tariff act we had a mixed specific and ad valorem duty, and at the request of this association Congress changed the law to a straight specific duty on seedlings, as follows: Stocks, cuttings, or seedlings of Myrobolan plum, Mahaleb and Mazzard cherry, 3 years old or less, $1 per thousand plants; and on apple, pear, and quince stocks, $2 per thousand. This specific duty was what the nursery trade was anxious to secure and what we especially desire to have retained in the pending bill. It is really of much more importance than the rate of duty. We ask for a specific duty such as we now have, because these goods are an annual crop, like corn or potatoes, and are affected by the weather and climatic conditions, and thus subject to violent fluctuations in price. At least 85 per cent of the crop is bought from three to nine months in advance of the actual delivery, as the goods can only be shipped in winter, when the growth is completed and the plants dormant. Now, the 10 to 15 per cent of the crop unsold in Europe at the beginning of the shipping season fixes the price, as far as the PARAGRAPH 264-SEEDLINGS. United States appraisers' valuation for duty is concerned, of the entire crop. If the demand is heavy or the crop poor, the price for this unsold balance is higher than the 85 per cent of the stock purchased early, and there is no way whereby the early buyer can tell what the market is at the time of shipment, and he is thus liable to fines and penalties by reason of the fact that he enters his invoices at actual purchased prices, which are or may be lower than the market price fixed by the Board of Appraisers. If, on the contrary, the price for the unsold balance goes down, the importer does not benefit, as he must pay on invoice prices even if they are higher than market rates at the time of shipment. This creates an almost intolerable situation. A straight specific duty avoids this trouble entirely. On stocks, cuttings, or seedlings of Myrobolan plum, Mahaleb and Mazzard cherry, Manetti, Multiflora, and Brier roses, 3 years old or less, we ask that the present rate of $1 per thousand plants be continued. The average prices quoted the past season by five of the leading French nurseries are, $9 for Myrobolan plum, $5 for Mahaleb and $8 for Mazzard cherry, and $8 for rose stocks, an average of $7.50 per thousand on which our present rate of $1 per thousand amounts to 13.2 per cent ad valorem; the average price on stocks quoted the past season taken from the five leading French nurseries is, pear $8 per thousand, apple $7.77, quince $6, so that the average for the entire list is $7.77, and under the present duty schedule of $2 per thousand we are paying 25 per cent ad valorem. A specific duty also tends to lessen the planting of seedlings of inferior size and quality which do not produce strong and healthy trees and which when met by a specific duty do not seek a market in the United States. Previous to the passage of the Dingley Act very little of this stock was grown in this country. To-day at least 80 per cent of all the apple seedlings planted are grown here, with a less quantity of other items. For the above reasons we ask that the present specific duty on these items be retained. Rose plants, budded, grafted, or grown on their own roots, 4 cents each. Stocks, cuttings, and seedlings of all fruit and ornamental trees deciduous and evergreen, shrubs and vines commonly known as nursery or greenhouse stock, not specially provided for in the section of this act, 25 per cent ad valorem. This latter rate is necessary. We formerly paid for unskilled labor from $1 to $1.50 per day. We are now paying $1.75 to $2 per day for the same labor. In France and Holland, where most of the stock comes from, there has been no material increase in labor in the past. 10 years. And The average price for nursery labor in France is 40 to 50 cents per day for 11 hours, and from 30 to 50 cents per day for women. in Holland from 30 to 60 cents per day for 12 hours, as against $1.75 to $2 per day for 9 or 10 hours' work in the nurseries of the United States. When it is realized that 90 per cent of the cost of a rose plant is labor, it is readily seen that we must have some measure of protection. The soil, climate, and moisture conditions of Holland, with her cheap labor, are particularly adapted to turning out rose plants quickly |