PARAGRAPH 5-AMMONIA. Conclusion. To place bauxite on the free list would surely stimulate the aluminum industry and would not, in our judgment, seriously affect our American mine owners, because, as already explained, the American markets for the imported and domestic ore are to a large extent separate and distinct. Furthermore, should it be deemed advisable to maintain a duty on our American bauxite, a distinction may be made between the "red" and the "white" bauxite, and the duty removed on the former. This may be effected by providing that bauxite containing in excess of 10 per cent of iron (Fe,O,) shall be entered free, and bauxite containing less than 10 per cent iron shall pay a duty of $1 a ton. Respectfully, yours, PARAGRAPH 5. S. W. WILDER, President. Ammonia, carbonate of, one and one-half cents per pound; muriate of, or sal ammoniac, three-fourths of one cent per pound; liquid anhydrous, five cents per pound. AMMONIA. BRIEF OF THE MICHIGAN AMMONIA WORKS. Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, DETROIT, MICH., January 2, 1913. Chairman Ways and Means Committee, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: As manufacturers of aqua ammonia and carbonate ammonia we beg to submit our most earnest protest against a possible reduction in the duties on these two articles. Aqua ammonia. The gradual increasing cost of the raw material, the continuous advances in labor in this country against cheap labor and cheap material of foreign countries, has handicapped the manufacture of this article considerably. The manufacture requires an expensive plant, careful and conscientious attention, and only a large production permits the American manufacturer to operate on a small margin if the duty will at least remain at its present state. A standard of a high-grade article must be maintained on account of the efficiency expected from aqua ammonia in its ultimate application. A reduction of duty would not result in any advantages to the individual at large. Its Carbonate ammonia.-The manufacture of this article requires an expensive plant and very careful attention to the process. consumption is confined practically in the baking of sweet baked goods by the bakers in this country and is limited to a comparatively small consumption. Largely on account of the limited consumption we can operate this plant a few months in the year only. The foreign manufacturers have considerable advantages over us. Their cost of labor is about half of ours. Their cost of raw material is much less than ours. Their larger production gives them the advantage over us by lessening their total cost. They are in position to maintain profitable prices at home and use the foreign markets PARAGRAPH 6-ARGOLS. to dispose of their surplus production at a low price and sometimes below cost. High cost of labor and material together with the increased cost of manufacture on account of the limited home consumption by the American market make it absolutely necessary to at least retain the present duty in order to permit the domestic manufacturer to continue the production of this article. A possible reduction of duty on this product would in no way benefit the ultimate consumer. Less than a pound of carbonate ammonia is used to a barrel of flour, yielding about 400 pounds of sweet baked goods. The carbonate ammonia is sold at 8 to 9 cents per pound and fractionally higher for small quantities. If therefore the present tariff on these products would be decreased it would eventually involve the American manufacturer into a very serious loss, and we respectfully and urgently ask you not to decrease the present duties of these articles. Very respectfully, yours, PARAGRAPH 6. MICHIGAN AMMONIA WORKS, Secretary and Treasurer. Argols or crude tartar or wine lees crude, five per centum ad valorem; tartars and lees crystals, or partly refined argols, containing not more than ninety per centum of bitartrate of potash, and tartrate of soda or potassa, or Rochelle salts, three cents per pound; containing more than ninety per centum of bitartrate of potash, four cents per pound; cream of tartar and patent tartar, five cents per pound. For cream tartar, etc., see also Charles Pfizer & Co. (Inc.), page 44; for argols, see also Harshaw Fuller & Goodwin Co., page 45. ARGOLS. STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY CALIFORNIA FIRMS REGARDING DUTY ON CREAM OF TARTAR. SAN FRANCISCO, January 6, 1913. To the honorable REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS FOR THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: We urgently commend to your attention the attached communications to the Hon. Burton Harrison, chairman of a subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House, relating to H. R. 20182. No doubt you will agree with us that tariff provisions should not be enacted which, at best, can procure but a very slight reduction in cost for the ultimate consumer by destroying a domestic manufacturing industry, and with it the market for a domestic raw material, with consequent loss to American labor interested in both. We submit this additional thought: That the principal article affected by the reduction in section 9 of said bill, cream of tartar, is mainly used in the manufacture of baking powder; and that the resulting reduction in the market price of one of its ingredients will PARAGRAPH 6-ARGOLS. not be sufficient to affect the retail prices of this article, thus favoring only its manufacturers and distributers. Respectfully submitted. Hon. BURTON HARRISON, CALIFORNIA WINE ASSOCIATION. NAPA & SONOMA WINE Co. ARTHUR LACHMAN & Co. THE ROSENBLATT Co. B. ARNHOLD & Co. AMERICAN CREAM TARTAR Co. GRAPE GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA, San Francisco, Cal., January 6, 1913. Chairman, Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: House Bill No. 20182 increases the duty on argols (crude tartar or wine lees), apparently favoring the American wine industry, of which argols are a byproduct. The marketing of this product in California, where the industry is mainly located, has been made possible in recent years only through the establishment on this coast of a refining plant, producing therefrom cream of tartar, tartaric acid, and Rochelle salts; and on these the same bill makes a 50 per cent reduction. See sections 9 and 1. We have reason to believe that such an increase in duty on its raw material and a reduction on the finished product will seriously cripple, if not ruin, this local industry; thus destroying instead of improving our market for argols. Aside from the freight handicap in marketing this by-product on the Atlantic coast, it seems likely that this tariff will destroy even that meager opportunity by opening the way for foreign countries to supply the entire American requirements of cream of tartar and the other products from wine lees. A tariff giving us a more remunerative price for argols would, of course, be welcome; but we protest against a change that tends to kill the industry which is the only outlet for this product. Respectfully submitted. E. M. SHEEHAN, President. [Telegram.] SAN FRANCISCO, January 6, 1913. Hon. BURTON HARRISON, Chairman Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: As grape growers and wine manufacturers, we are urged by mutual interests to join in and earnestly indorse the representations made to your committee, under even date, by the Grape Growers' Association of California in reference to House bill No. 20182. ITALIAN-SWISS COLONY. CALIFORNIA WINE ASSOCIATION. NAPA & SONOMA WINE Co. WETMORE-BOWEN Co. THE ROSENBLATT Co. PARAGRAPH 6-ARGOLS. MEMORIAL OF THE ITALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, NEW YORK CITY. Hon. O. W. UNDERWOOD, Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, D. C. HONORABLE SIR: The Italian Chamber of Commerce in New York, an organization representing the commercial interests of a community of over 600,000 consumers and dealers in this city, and of a still greater number distributed in various States in the Union reached through this market, desire to submit to this honorable committee the following recommendations concerning the revisions of Schedule A of the tariff act of August 5, 1909, now under consideration. To make its position clear as to the interests it represents, this organization states at the outset that while it was established for the promotion of reciprocal trade relations between Italy and this country, where its members have made their permanent home, the scope of the interests it represents is not confined to imported articles, but extends, by reason of the correlated necessities of trade, to a wider field, including many commodities of domestic productions which enter their business. This chamber is an exponent of commercial interests with which Italo-American communities living in this country have been identified, irrespective of the origin of the articles exchanged, as well as of the consumers whose needs they supply. The unbiased character of the motives by which it is moved to submit recommendations respecting the revision of the tariff thus appears manifest. In recommending the changes in the rates of duties herein explained this chamber has not been unmindful of the many issues implied in tariff legislation, of which some of the most important are: The necessity of raising revenue; the offsetting of the difference in the cost of production of an article between this and foreign countries; the relieving, as much as possible, from taxation of articles necessary to the livelihood and comfort of the people; the lightening of fiscal burdens on raw materials necessary to American industries; the interests of the ultimate consumers in the case of products of industry necessary to manufacturers of other products; and is aware of the difficult task of reconciling these various and often contrasting issues so that a tariff may result of which, rather than the fiscal side, its function in relation to the economic life of the Nation may stand out conspicuously. This chamber believes that the changes of rates hereby recommended are not only in accord with the interests it vouches, but also harmonize with the fundamental principles above stated, upon which the present revision is conducted, and trusts that they will receive due consideration from this committee. Argols and wine lees. This raw material, necessary to American industry, is not produced, save in irrelevant quantity, in the United States and is imported from the countries of southern Europe at the rate annually of about 28,250,000 pounds. Argols are a byproduct of the wine industry and the only visible source of raw material for the production of cream of tartar, tartaric acid, and PARAGRAPH 6-ARGOLS. Rochelle salts, tartaric products not having been obtained yet by any synthetic process. Many are the uses of these finished products: Tartaric acid (of which about 3,000,000 pounds are yearly manufactured in this country) in dyeing and printing of fabrics, in the preparation of medicinal compounds, and as a substitute of citric acid in the manufacture of beverages; cream of tartar, in medicines and food products, especially in the form of baking powders, in the preparation of which probably more than one-half of the whole output (estimated yearly at about 25,000,000 pounds) is absorbed; and Rochelle salts, used pharmaceutically. Baking powders are a household necessity. There is practically no family, however modest in circumstances, in whose grocery bill baking powders are not an item. It is important, from the standpoint of health, that the use of baking powders made from cream of tartar be encouraged in preference to less healthful preparations of a similar denomination, such as the phosphate and alum baking powders. To this end it is necessary that the cost of baking powders should not increase, as a higher price would be felt widely, and in some measure add to the already high cost of living. If the purpose of the present tariff revision is, as this chamber understands, to relieve raw materials bearing upon the necessities of life from fiscal burdens and to bring about by fiscal legislation such conditions as will promote a reduction in, or at least prevent an increase of, the cost of living, then the advisability of leaving unchanged the present rate of 5 per cent on argols, or crude tartar, is manifest, if they can not be returned, as in former tariffs, to the free list; while on partly refined argols, containing no more than 90 per cent of bitartrate of potash, a rate of 10 per cent, and, on those containing more than 90 per cent, a rate of 2 cents per pound would appear fair for revenue purposes. On cream of tartar and tartaric acid this chamber recommends, in lieu of the present high duties, the rates, respectively, of 2 and 3 cents per pound, which appear sufficient for reasonable protection to the manufacturer, without leaving the consumers entirely at the discretion of the latter. Citrate of lime.-For like reasons citrate of lime should be maintained on the free list. It is a raw material, imported chiefly from Sicily (5,219,544 pounds in fiscal year 1911), used in the manufacture of citric acid, of which over 2,000,000 pounds are yearly produced in the United States. Citric acid enters largely into the preparation of pharmaceutical compounds and of temperance beverages, so healthful in our climate. The importations of citrate of lime have shown during the last years a tendency to increase, owing to the greater demand of citric acid for the above-stated purpose. As it is an article not produced in the United States, and as its market in the country of production has been organized to eliminate the fluctuations in prices formerly ruling in this raw material, its continuation on the free list, while not prejudicial to any American industry, would obviate increase in the price of citric acid and allied products, otherwise unavoidable. |