mit within a reasonable time a schedule of rates which we believe will be satisfactory to you and to all interests concerned. We desire to emphasize the fact that all ad valorem rates shall be abolished. Respectfully submitted. A. W. WATSON, WALTER KOBBE, SAMUEL KRIdel, Committee. STATEMENT OF SAMUEL KRIDEL, OF NO. 47 GREEN STREET, NEW YORK CITY, RELATIVE TO SILK BRIEF. TUESDAY, December 1, 1908. Mr. KRIDEL. I will simply say that we all signed the brief that was last submitted by the committee representing the importers, the brief submitted by Mr. Watson. STATEMENT OF F. W. CHENEY, OF MANCHESTER, CONN., REPRESENTING THE SILK ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA. TUESDAY, December 1, 1908. Mr. CHENEY. I appear here as the chairman of the revenue laws committee of the Silk Association of America. We have expressed our views in our brief which we will submit, to be either read or filed as you wish. We wish to take up as little time as possible. The CHAIRMAN. You may read your brief. (Following is the brief submitted by Mr. Cheney :) WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: The Silk Association of America has authorized the members of its committee on revenue laws to appear before the Committee on Ways and Means at the hearing on the silk schedule, Tuesday, December 1, and represent it in all matters relating to the tariff revision to come before Congress. Our committee has earnestly endeavored to harmonize the views of the domestic manufacturers and the importers of silk goods. We have hopes of being able to bring about the cooperation of both parties to secure substantially the recommendations as to rates of duty required under the new tariff, but it requires more time than we have at our disposal to bring about such an agreement to report to you to-day. We are earnestly trying to make the duties, so far as practicable, specific and only to resort to ad valorem rates in cases where specific duties can not be applied equitably. Ad valorem rates are theoretically the fairest ones, but many years' experience has proved that they can not be collected because of undervaluation, and they lead to the demoralization of the import trade and give unfair advantages to unscrupulous importers. Under the Dingley bill specific duties were imposed so far as they seemed to be at that time practicable. The Dingley tariff has worked fairly well on the whole, but some weak points have developed the fact that in extreme cases the rates have been excessive and in others inadequate. It is our wish to correct these inequalities and to make specific rates bear more uniformly. Silks belong to the class of luxuries consumed by the rich. Taxes on these articles do not bear heavily on the laboring classes, who can escape them altogether without hardship whenever wages are not ample enough to permit indulgence in even moderate luxuries. The profits in silk manufacture are not excessive, considering the risks incurred. No large fortunes have been acquired by silk manufacturers, and there is not even one very rich silk manufacturer in this country. The production of silk goods is absolutely on a free competitive basis, without any combination. One result of this home competition has been to materially decrease the cost of silk goods to consumers. A severe cut in the tariff rates on silks will be followed immediately by a cut in the wages of the workers in the silk mills, who are in no way responsible for the economies which will be forced upon their employers. They have already suffered enough during the panic year we have just passed through and can ill afford to be subjected to further losses. It is our intention to cooperate with you in any way in our power to facilitate the revision of the tariff, and to do so with as little delay as possible. If you wish us to furnish in detail the rates of ad valorem and specific duties to be applied we will prepare them. We are not here to protest against anything, and will accept whatever your honorable body desires. We respectfully request more time to work out our figures before finally submitting them to you. We will have them ready by the time you really require them. Our present wish is to encroach as little as possible on your valuable time and to do nothing that can be construed as obstructive or not responsive to your investigations of existing conditions. Respectfully submitted. Attest: F. W. CHENEY, OTTO ANDREWS, Committee on Revenue Laws of the FRANKLIN ALLEN, Secretary. SUGGESTED SILK SCHEDULE. RATES AND CLASSIFICATION OF SILKS RECOMMENDED BY THE COMMITTEE OF THE SILK ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, SOUTH MANCHESTER, CONN., Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: Silks and silk goods occupy a position different from most commodities. There is no such thing ascertainable, either in this country or abroad, as market value. Two colors or prints of the same texture may sell at the same time for a variation of 25 per cent in price, while two months later that which sold at the higher price inay be sold at less than the other. The market prices are fixed by the freaks of fashion in women's dress. Costs in foreign countries vary greatly with the country in which the goods are produced. Silk is one of the very few articles of manufacture made in the United States which comes into direct competition with goods made in oriental countries. For these reasons importers, manufacturers, and the customs authorities have had great difficulties in meeting questions of import values and unfair competition due to undervaluation of goods for import. Therefore, all are agreed that specific rates, wherever possible of application, are the only ones that are fair. The schedules herewith submitted are the result of careful computation and much compromise and giving way on the part of those interested in the trade, in order to secure the one thing that all are anxious to have-specific rates. In some industries American labor is much more productive than foreign. This is not the case in the silk industry. European machinery in the best mills is quite the equal of the best in America. Many American manufacturers even import their looms. In Japan modern mills are being built rapidly, equipped with the very best American and European machinery. While it is doubtless true that in some industries Japanese labor can not be profitably employed, it is not true in silk. The Japanese and Chinese were proficient in the silk industry before it was known in Europe. They have been accustomed to handling silk for generations and have the soft hands and supple fingers necessary, while the American manufacturer is often compelled to take as labor Irish, Swedes, Germans, and Poles, who have never known silk and whose hands are roughened with work on the farm. Owing to the lower cost of labor in foreign countries, the manufacturer is able to use cheaper materials than it would pay to handle with our high-priced labor. It has even occurred that goods were invoiced from Japan at lower prices than the American manufacturer would have paid for his material from which to make them, but the American manufacturer would have made more perfect goods. Wages paid in the United States and foreign countries, taken from private and consular reports, are as follows, taking as a basis of comparison wages paid to weavers, the largest labor item: United States (Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York)... $1.50 to $3.00 2.25 1.60 .75 to 1.50 France and Switzerland (Lyons and vicinity, Zurich, etc.). Japan (power looms, pay includes board and lodging). The average pay of the employees in a large American factorymen, women, boys, and girls-was $1.75 per day. The United States. now manufactures more silk goods than any other country in the world unless it is China, whose product it is imposible to ascertain. Table showing the condition of the silk industry in the United States for a term Number of establishments... Salaries.. $109,556, 621 $81, 082, 201 $51, 007, 537 $19, 125, 300 $6, 231, 130 $2,926,980 65,416 Salaried officials, clerks, etc. (number of) Wage-earners, average number. 79,601 $26,767,943 $14,052, 777 $75,861, 188 $20, 982, 194 Total wages Miscellaneous expenses.. Value of products, including amount received for contract work Raw silk used, pounds. $107, 256, 258 9,760, 770 $14, 805, 046 1,531 $1,917,877 49,382 $17,762, 441 $4, 259, 623 $51, 004, 425 $87, 298, 454 Does not include dyeing, conditioning, designing, card cutting, loom and machinery building, mill-supply establishments, nor rented buildings. |