PARAGRAPH 90-CHINA CLAY. made special rates for imports to be carried from abroad to western consuming points, and foreign clay seems to have been especially favored in th s respect. Our representations to the Interstate Commerce Commission for relief in this regard are met by the response that their duty does not seem to lie in the direction of advancing railroad rates. We cite as example that from New Orleans to Chicago a rate as low as 7 cents per 100 pounds has been quoted on imported clay, while from our mines, which are several hundred miles nearer Chicago, the rate is 21 cents per 100 pounds. For your further information we may say that clays can be shipped from Fowey in Cornwall to Chicago via Philadelphia, Boston, or Portland for approximately the same freight rate which we have to pay from Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. To some other consuming points the difference in favor of the importer is even greater. Fifth. The cost to us of fuel, engine supplies, tools, etc., are all higher than are paid for similar things abroad, while for labor we have to pay negroes higher wages than are paid to first-class unskilled laborers at the English mines. For superintendents and foremen we pay nearly twice the price paid in England. The disadvantage at which we are placed in regard to labor is not diminishing by any means, and in respect of this one item at the present moment the English miners can get labor at prices 50 per cent less than we have to pay. We find it difficult to secure sufficient labor with an advancing scale of wages. Labor constitutes at least 80 per cent of the cost of this product. Sixth. The Government at the present time derives an annual revenue of approximately $600,000 from the duty on this commodity, and we believe that if this duty were removed entirely, or in part, that such a reduction would produce so infinitesimal a diminution in the cost of articles into the manufacture of which it enters as to give no benefit to consumers. We would further submit for your consideration in our favor that we believe that in the clays of this country we will and are striving to find all the qualities of material necessary to supply the home market; that the initial expenses of investigation and test are all very costly, and with prices at the present low level there is little margin of profit, while if we are compelled to submit to a reduction the enterprises must be inevitably strangled and abandoned. The foregoing is subscribed by the Georgia Kaolin Co., McIntyre Kaolin Co., American Clay Co., Albion Kaolin Co., the Edgar Bros. Plastic Kaolin Co., the Harris Clay Co., Atlanta Mining Clay Co., Edgar Bros. Co., Immaculate Clay Co., and Philadelphia Clay Co. BRIEF OF PERKINS GOODWIN CO., NEW YORK CITY. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: We desire to invite your attention to the discrimination existing in paragraph 90 of the present tariff (Schedule B--Earths, earthenware, and glassware) between clays or earths wrought or manufactured provided for at $2 per ton, and china clay or kaolin provided for at $2.50 per ton. The term "china clay," we believe, was first used in connection with certain grades of clay found in England, largely in Cornwall and Devonshire, which were discovered to be especially adapted for making pottery or china. The term "kaolin," as we understand it, was originally given to clays having similar uses, found in Austria. By an extension of the trade understanding there are now English kaolins as well. The only unwrought or unmanufactured clays, which are also provided for in the same paragraph, of which we have any knowledge, are what are technically known as ball clays." These are crude, inferior pottery clays usually imported in lump form and always unwashed. Clay which has been washed, dried, and ground—in other words, advanced beyond the crude, unwrought condition in which it is taken from the earth— has always been held to be dutiable as a wrought or manufactured clay. The Treasury Department so ruled many years ago before the Board of General Appraisers was established (see Treasury Decisions, 9249), and this ruling has never been reversed. In consequence all clays, including china clay and kaolin, excepting ball clay, are in fact wrought or manufactured clays. To be used as a china or pottery clay the clay must possess certain burning qualities. If the clay does not possess these qualities which specially adapt it for pottery pur poses (and this frequently happens with clays coming from the same district and the same locality), it can be used for other purposes, such as paper making, filling of 78959°- -VOL 1-13- -34 PARAGRAPH 90-CHINA CLAY. cotton cloth, or linoleum manufacture. To apply the term china clay to such clays is a misnomer. The grade of wrought or manufactured clay or kaolin used in making high-grade papers, but nevertheless not possessing the burning qualities for pottery uses, is frequently superior to china clay or kaolin used for pottery purposes. There is no sound reason for tariff discrimination between these articles, and it tends to confusion. Prior to the Dingley law such discrimination did not exist. We append the pertinent provisions of the tariff laws of 1883, 1890, 1894, 1897, and 1909 for the information of the committee. 1883.98. All earths or clays, wrought or manufactured, not specially enumerated or provided for in this act, three dollars per ton; china clay, or kaoline, three dollars per ton. 1890.-98. Clays or earths, unwrought or unmanufactured, not specially provided for in this act, one dollar and fifty cents per ton; wrought or manufactured, not specially provided for in this act, three dollars per ton; china clay, or kaolin, three dollars per ton. 1894-82. 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 per ton. 1897.-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. 1909.-90. Clays or earths, unwrought or unmanufactured, not specially provided for in this section, one dollar per ton; wrought or manufactured, not specially provided for in this section, two dollars per ton; china clay or kaolin, two dollars and fifty cents per ton. Inasmuch as there is a little real competition between foreign clays and domestic clays by reason of the great difference in quality, and inasmuch as English wrought clays are the raw material especially of paper and linoleum manufacturers, we would urge a reduction in duty to stimulate importation and lead to increased revenue. Whatever the rate fixed by the honorable committee and by Congress, we especially urge a return to the principle found in the Wilson Act of 1894 and prior tariff acts, and that the same rate be imposed upon wrought clays and china clay, or kaolin. A clause providing: Clays or earths, unwrought or unmanufactured, not specially provided for in this section, per ton; wrought or manufactured, including china clay, or kaolin, not specially provided for in this section, Respectfully submitted. per ton. PERKINS GOODWIN CO., By S. GOLDMAN, Secretary. PROTEST AGAINST RATE OF DUTY ON CHINA CLAY. THE CHAMPION COATED PAPER CO., Hon. Mr. UNDERWOOD, Chairman Ways and Means Committee, House of Representatives, Washington. D. C. DEAR SIR: We are advised that you will have a hearing on Wednesday next regarding the duty on English china clay. There is no substitute in this country for this clay. It is a decomposed granite and it is entirely different from the clays in this and other countries. We are paying a very high tax on our largest raw materials, while the finished product comes in free of duty from Canada. We therefore hope that you will use your influence to see that this duty is eliminated. Yours, truly, THE CHAMPION COATED PAPER Co., By PETER G. THOMSON, Vice President. PARAGRAPH 90-FLUORSPAR. FLUORSPAR. STATEMENT OF C. S. NUNN, ESQ., IN BEHALF OF THE FLUORSPAR INTERESTS. Mr. NUNN. If the committee please, you have been good enough to assign to several fluorspar producers an opportunity to be heard before you, but to conserve your time they have agreed I may present the matter, feeling that a short time will suffice. The CHAIRMAN. To which paragraph do you desire to address yourself? Mr. NUNN. Paragraph 90, the last phrase of it, with reference to fluorspar. The CHAIRMAN. You may proceed. Mr. NUNN. For the information of the committee I will say that fluorspar is a mineral product, commercially mined in America in southern Illinois and western Kentucky, a relatively small district. It is a small industry. I think perhaps 150,000 tons will cover the total American consumption. Some 85,000 to 100,000 tons is the American production. The other is imported from Great BritainDurham and Derbyshire. Over 80 per cent of this American consumption is used in the manufacture of steel by the open-hearth process. It is the only method of steel manufacture in which fluorspar is used. It takes about 8 to 10 pounds of fluorspar to make one ton of finished steel. Prior to the Payne bill there was no tariff on fluorspar. Until 1904 we needed no tariff on fluorspar. The fact is that was really the beginning of what we call the industry on a large scale. The growth of the open-hearth steel process and the supplanting of the Bessemer process has increased the use of fluorspar, and to supply that there was a concern named Blackwell & Co. which discovered that in Great Britain there were immense dumps of waste fluorspar piled up there at old abandoned lead mines. It was a waste product at the time the lead was mined. There are millions of tons of it, as we are informed. The mining of it was paid for years and years ago. Blackwell & Co. bought the dumps at an insignificant sum. It is close to the coast. They began to load it in vessels and bring it over here as ballast, free of duty; the prices at Baltimore and Philadelphia being $3 a ton, whereas unless we could get $6 a ton for it aboard the cars in Kentucky and Illinois we could not live. From that time, 1905, until 1909, the production of American fluorspar decreased from 50,000 to about 30,000 tons per annum, and the importation of British fluorspar increased proportionately. Mr. HARRISON. What are the importations? Mr. NUNN. In 1911, which are the last figures I have, the importations were 33,000 tons, producing to the Government a revenue of a little over $99,000. Mr. HARRISON. About 50 per cent ad valorem? PARAGRAPH 90-FLUORSPAR. Mr. HARRISON. The ad valorem equivalent of your American price, and about 100 per cent of the value of it the foreign price at the customhouse? Mr. NUNN. It was first sold in the United States to the steel people, at $5 per ton for the flux fluorspar aboard the cars, when we could sell it at all. The fact is our trade had diminished until we were really not in the market. My company had practically suspended. I am president of the Kentucky Fluorspar Co., and we were the largest of the Kentucky producers. The effect of this tariff has been to increase the price $1 per ton. We sell it on board the cars at Marion, Ky., at $6 per ton. That increase of $1 per ton in the price of fluorspar has increased the cost of steel in the sum of one-half cent per ton to the steel manufacturer. It takes a pretty high-power glass to discover what increase that is in the cost of finished steel products to the final consumer. As we see it, the imposition of that duty hurts no one. It has been the means of saving the industry in America. It has had this further effect: There are some 600 or 700 men employed in our county and in that district. Before 1909 they were getting from $1.50 to $2 per day wages. The average wage there now, not counting foremen, is about $2.50. It had the further effect of increasing the production of American fluorspar from 35,000 tons in 1908, I think, to 87,000 tons in 1911. Mr. JAMES. What is the total amount of output of fluorspar in the United States? Mr. NUNN. In 1911 the American production was 87,000 tons. The American consumption was some 130,000 or 140,000 tons, there having been 30,000 to 50,000 tons of fluorspar imported annually since the Payne Tariff Act, producing a revenue to the Government of from $90,000 to $130,000, or $140,000 annually. Feeling that the imposition of this duty does not materially injure anyone and is of great value to us, we hope the committee will find it consistent with their view of the facts and conditions to leave that duty remain as it is. Having thus briefly presented the matter in this way, I desire to present it more in detail in the form of a prepared statement. The CHAIRMAN. You may do that. Mr. NUNN. The statement is submitted in support of the present duty of $3 per ton fluorspar, as established by the last item in section 90 of Schedule B of the tariff act of August 5, 1909, in the following words: "Fluorspar, $3 per ton." The Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, issued reports on the production of fluorspar for the years 1910 and 1911. An earlier report was issued in 1905. The report for the year 1912 has not yet been published. These reports show 42,488 tons of fluorspar imported in 1910 and 32,864 tons imported in 1911. On this basis the revenue to the Government was $127,464 in 1910 and $98,292 in 1911. This statement is submitted on behalf of the producers of fluorspar in the States of Illinois and Kentucky, who have been engaged in the mining of fluorspar for an extended period of time in these States. The main purpose of the argument is to convince the committee, if PARAGRAPH 90-FLUORSPAR. possible, first, that any change in this tariff would not reduce the cost of living; second, that while the revenue comparatively is not large, the duty is a clear application of the principle of a revenue tariff; third, that any change in the tariff would destroy in this country the business of mining fluorspar, an essential ingredient in the process of making steel by the open-hearth method; fourth, that there is no real demand for such a change, since financial benefit from such a change would flow into the pockets of the foreign producer or importer. In regard to the nature and commercial uses of fluorspar, the following quotations are taken from the bulletin of the Department of the Interior for the year 1911: Fluorspar or fluorite, chemically calcium fluoride (CaF2), consists of calcium and fluorine in the proportions of 51.1 to 48.9. The mineral is crystalline, only slightly harder than calcite. Fluorspar, associated with other minerals, has a broad distribution geographically and a wide range geologically. The deposits thus far exploited in the United States are, however, confined to the States of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois, Tennessee, and New Hampshire. Fluorspar is a mineral of relatively low value as compared with metallic ores mined under similar conditions. Under the most favorable conditions, therefore, the margin of profit can never be expected to be large, and it requires exceptionally good management to conduct any spar mining operations profitably, unless the veins are thick and of uniformly good quality. Fluorspar is used in the manufacture of glass and of enameled and sanitary ware, in the electrolytic refining of antimony and lead, the production of aluminum, the manufacture of hydrofluoric acid, and in the iron and steel industries in which it is used as a flux in blast furnaces, and in basic open-hearth steel furnaces. It is estimated that about 80 per cent of the American fluorspar output, namely, in the form of gravel spar, is consumed in the manufacture of basic open-hearth steel. The use of fluorspar is increasing in practically all of these industries. The western market for fluorspar is more limited than that of the Central and Eastern States, but it is nevertheless increasing. Recently the iron and steel works of Irondale, Wash., and in Shasta County, Cal., have been enlarged. Supplies of spar mined in the West have heretofore not been sufficient to supply the western market for more than a few months at a time. This has been due to several conditions, the most important of which is that most of the western spar thus far produced has not been of so high a grade as that produced in the Illinois-Kentucky district. Fluorspar for iron and steel making should carry at least 85 per cent calcium fluoride, and preferably it should be purer. For most other chemical uses it should contain from 95 to 98 per cent calcium fluoride. There are two main grades of fluorspar sold on the market. The first is known as "ground" fluorspar, and contains 96 per cent or more calcium fluoride. This grade is sold to be used principally in the manufacture of glass, of enameled and sanitary ware, the production of aluminum, and the manufacture of hydrofluoric acid. The second grade of fluorspar is known as "gravel" fluorspar, and is sold almost entirely to the steel mills and used as a flux in the open-hearth furnaces. This grade should contain 85 per cent or more in calcium fluoride. Gravel fluorspar amounts to more than 80 per cent of the production, and the average price for domestic fluorspar of all grades in 1911 was only $7.02. It is therefore manifest that the fluorspar business can not be successful unless this grade can be marketed at a profit. As a flux fluorspar when applied even in small quantities to the metal charge in the furnace liquefies the charge, renders it readily fusible, and thus allows the impurities to escape. According to our information, the chemists of the steel companies have never |