PARAGRAPHS 92-94-POTTERY.

Mr. KITCHIN. How many times since 1897 has your organization got together and asked the pottery manufacturers for an increase of wages?

Mr. HUTCHINS. Every two years we have a conference.

Mr. KITCHIN. And how many times have you got your increase since 1897?

Mr. HUTCHINS. Why, there has not been any increase in the piece price, or the price per dozen since the restoration of the 12 per cent that was taken off, due to the tariff reduction in 1894.

The men have been enabled to make better wages by the building of more modern plants or the introduction of better machinery and greater efficiency, and the men have been given the benefit of that, and not only that, but the general public have benefited by that to the extent that the ware is being sold cheaper to-day than it was before then.

Mr. JAMES. So that 7 or 8 or 10 years ago you were making $15 a week on an average, the average laborer?

Mr. HUTCHINS. The average laborer.

Mr. JAMES. How does that compare with the price of living? Has not that increased greatly since then?

Mr. HUTCHINS. Yes; the price of living has increased.

Mr. JAMES. Yet the wages have stood still?

Mr. HUTCHINS. No. I was just saying that the skilled mechanic, you understand.

Mr. JAMES. But you were talking about the wages of the average laborer. You said they had not been increased since they got the 12 per cent reduction that was taken off on account of the Wilson tariff law, and that was restored, and since that time it has remained the same. Then I asked you how that compared with the price of living since then. Do you find that your wages buy as much?

Mr. HUTCHINS. Our wages have not increased with the cost of living; they have not kept pace with the cost of living.

Mr. JAMES. They have stood still? So you are not getting as much, then, so far as being able to save something, as you got several years ago, are you?

Mr. HUTCHINS. Why, yes.

Mr. JAMES. How is that?

Mr. HUTCHINS. Why, we are having steadier employment.
Mr. JAMES. You did not have steady employment before?

Mr. HUTCHINS. We did not have the steady employment for a long time after the restoration of the 124 per cent duty. It took the potters some time to regain their lost trade, and it was a gradual increase, and it was a gradual resumption of steady employment, and of course while that was taking place the increased cost of living came along.

Mr. JAMES. I thought you stated just before the tariff was reduced you got $15 a week.

Mr. HUTCHINS. No, I did not; no, sir.

Mr. JAMES. What was your pay then?

Mr. HUTCHINS. Why, I do not know. I am not in a position to I was not connected with the organization at that time.

say.

Mr. JAMES. Well, were you a laborer there?

Mr. HUTCHINS. Yes, sir; I was a laborer.

PARAGRAPHS 92-94-POTTERY.

Mr. JAMES. Do you work there now?

Mr. HUTCHINS. I do not work in the factory now.

Mr. JAMES. What do you do?

Mr. HUTCHINS. I am an officer of their labor organization.
Mr. JAMES. You do not do any of the actual labor at all?
Mr. HUTCHINS. Not now; no.

Mr. JAMES. And you were not familiar with it, then, before the Wilson bill was passed?

Mr. HUTCHINS. Yes, sir; I was working at the trade then.

Mr. JAMES. What did they get on an average per week then?
Mr. HUTCHINS. I was not in a position to know. I can tell you

what I earned.

Mr. JAMES. Well, I wanted the average.

Mr. HUTCHINS. I was not in a position to know. The pottery trade was not organized along the same lines as it is now in those days. The CHAIRMAN. All right; you are excused.

BRIEF OF NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF OPERATIVE POTTERS. The WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE,

Washington, D. C.

GENTLEMEN: In view of the fact that your committee is meeting at this time for the purpose of determining the wisdom of revising the tariff schedules on pottery, and mindful of the further fact that such revision if it be downward, judging from past experience, would undoubtedly prove a serious blow and setback to the American pottery industry, we herewith submit for your information and careful thought a few facts which we trust may be of some meager assistance to you in reaching a fair and equitable conclusion.

Should the present tariff schedules on pottery be cut so as to require a reduction in the present selling price of the American pottery manufacturers' goods, we have been given assurance by no less an authority than Mr. W. E. Wells himself, an official of and spokesman for the United States Potters' Association, that there must and inevitably will follow a reduction in the wages of the employees of such industry, in proportion to and as a consequence of such tariff revision.

In confirmation of the foregoing statement, we herewith submit, in part, Mr. Wells's public declarations to the press:

"If the rate of duty on pottery is reduced it will mean that the selling price must be reduced. The owners will not, and can not, sell their output on a closer margin than they are doing to-day, and if they must reduce prices they must either close their plants or reduce wages. Just as surely as the workmen are getting every dollar of the protection to-day, they will have to stand every dollar of any reduction made. This is no threat nor bluff, but is the deliberate statement of one who knows precisely what he is talking about. This result occurred in 1894, and there is more reason for it now than there was at that time.

"At present, one-half of the pottery used in this country is made abroad, which is fairly good evidence that the protective tariff has not made a monopoly in this particular line. We are fighting with the importer every day to hold our ground, and still pay American wages. The owner can not take another dollar out of his pocket to hold his present proportion of the business, and it will bear repeating, that if the new administration should invite pottery to this country at a lower price, that difference will have to be met right out of the workingman's pocket.'

It will be remembered, perhaps, by the older members of your committee, that when the Wilson bill was enacted into law, back in 1894, materially reducing the tariff and thereby inviting greater foreign competition, many of the potteries closed down entirely and few, if any of them, were operated much better than half time. The employees were not only forced against their wishes to accept irregular employment, but were obliged as well to work at a 12 per cent reduction. These conditions, too, obtained throughout the life of the Wilson law.

Following the enactment of the Dingley law in 1897, which materially increased the tariff, the trade of the domestic pottery manufacturer in a comparatively short time assumed a more normal and prosperous condition, steadier work was furnished

PARAGRAPHS 92 94-POTTERY.

the employees, and the wage scale which prevailed prior to the 12 per cent reduction was restored. No attempt has since been made on the part of the United States Potters Association to reduce wages. On the contrary, in many branches of the industry material wage increases have been conceded to the workmen, which, in effect, have enabled them to surround themselves with more of the necessaries and comforts of life.

In view of the expressed declarations of the United States Potters Association as to what the workmen may expect should the present tariff schedules be lowered, and in view of what actually did happen between the years 1894 and 1897, when the schedules were lowered, we say to you frankly, gentlemen of the committee, and with the utmost sincerity, that if the present schedules are reduced and the growth of the pottery industry is impaired or retarded, or if the wages of our men are jeopardized or lowered, we should consider it an act of retrogression-a step backward.

As prosperous as the country now is, and as considerate as our employers have been on questions affecting wages, our men to-day, with all of these things in their favor, have an exceedingly difficult mathematical problem on their hands to meet the everyday obligations of life. They assuredly do not want to take a step backward, and believing, as they do, that if the present schedules are lowered it unquestionably means a step backward, we, as their representatives, do urge upon you, Mr, Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, that the present schedules on pottery be not disturbed.

FRANK H. HUTCHINS,

MICHAEL KENNEDY'

EDWIN JAMES WHITEHEAD,
SAMUEL B. BURGESS,
WILL T. BLAKE,

Representatives of National Brotherhood of Óperative Potters.

STATEMENT OF W. E. WELLS, EAST LIVERPOOL, OHIO.

Mr. WELLS. Mr. Chairman, in order to avoid any misunderstanding as to precisely the class of goods that Mr. Burgess and I represent, I want to say, in the first place, that we know nothing of the goods covered by paragraph 92. Our people do not make that class of goods. We know nothing officially of them, as to the home consumption, as to the importations, or as to the exportations. Those goods are the old milk crocks that are gray.

The yellow wares, old brown or Rockingham teapots, a very few Rockingham teapots, and things of that sort, and yellow dishes are made by some of the potteries that also make our class of goods, but they are very unimportant. The thing we are talking about here, and the thing we are representing, is the white tableware, either plain or plain white, overlaid with a decoration like that [indicating], the dishes that everybody uses every day on the table. In that line we manufacture in this country somewhere between $15,000,000 and $16,000,000 per year. The importations, The importations, I believe, are in the neighborhood of $10,000,000, foreign value. To get the competing value it is obviously correct that you should designate the laid-down price of those foreign goods at the American ports. That means the addition to the foreign value of the duty and the freight laid down to our ports. We can not say precisely what that competing value is, but I do not think that Mr. Burgess's estimate is far wrong; that, in competing values, we make from fifteen to sixteen million dollars' worth of dishes-earthenware and china-in this country a year, and the competing value is in the neighborhood of twenty-two million; so that the foreigner has now, as he always has had, the better part, the larger part, of the American market.

The subject is so complicated and there are so many technicalities in it that it is almost impossible in the time allotted to anyone to explain all those things to the committee so that the committee.

PARAGRAPHS 92-94-POTTERY.

might grasp all of these things and the significance of all the details. However, if the facts are wanted, there is only one way to get them, and that is to have some one authorized by this committee to make a thorough investigation right at first sources, and it is in connection with such an investigation that I have drawn this brief that I desire to read.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Wells, do you cover the same subject matter as Mr. Burgess did? We allowed Mr. Burgess to run considerably over his time. Although the committee wants to get a full statement, we think we understand that very well. I do not want to cut you off, but if that brief covers the same subject, I would be glad to have you file it, and the committee will give it careful consideration.

Mr. WELLS. No, Mr. Chairman; it is not exactly the same, and with your permission I would like to read it, abbreviating it as much as possible.

The CHAIRMAN. All right; proceed.

Mr. WELLS. Almost 80 per cent of all the earthenware dishes produced in the United States are made in the eighteenth congressional district of Ohio and the territory immediately surrounding it.

Hon. J. J. Whitacre, Representative in Congress from that district, recently addressed a circular letter to many of his manufacturing constituents, including the potters, a complete copy of which is attached to this brief but which will not be read by me.

After calling attention to the fact that the Ways and Means Committee will grant hearings to those desiring to be heard, he says, in the second paragraph:

Personally I do not know whether the present rates on your products are too high or not. I would favor a proposition from you to the Ways and Means Committee to throw open your books and factories to the experts selected by the committee to ascertain the exact conditions that obtain in your industry as regards all matters which enter into your cost.

The Pottery, Glass, and Brass Salesman, a journal of the pottery and glass trades, published in New York, in commenting upon this letter in the issue of December 26, 1912, says:

Representative Whitacre consulted with members of the Ways and Means Committee before framing his address to the manufacturers, then laid it before a caucus of the Democratic members of the Ohio delegation.

Now, I do not know whether that newspaper story was correct, and I asked Representative Whitacre this morning. He said he did lay this letter and his proposition before the members of the Ohio delegation, but he did not submit it to the members of the Ways and Means Committee.

I will now continue with my statement.

Obviously, I have no means of knowing whether this newspaper statement is correct that some members of your committee were cognizant of the proposition made by Mr. Whitacre, nor do I know whether it has your approval, but believing we all agree that whatever action you may take in adjusting the rate of duty upon pottery should be based upon an intimate knowledge of the exact facts, I desire now to extend to you an urgent invitation, upon behalf of the American potters, to do the precise thing suggested by Mr. Whitacre. We will cheerfully throw our factories and our books open to examination by any expert or any commission that you may designate

PARAGRAPHS 92-94 POTTERY.

for that purpose, and we will dilligently and without reservation assist in developing every fact and all statistics that may have any bearing upon the question at issue.

As the result of having sent an expert representative abroad frequently during recent years to study competitive conditions in Europe, and from systematic work in gathering together the essential facts concerning home production, we have an accumulation of accurate data covering every phase of the industry, more complete perhaps than the information available concerning any other industry that will come before you for consideration. Everything we have will be cheerfully submitted to your representatives.

Should you determine to make this investigation and the results should not convince any impartial individual or commission of the following facts, then we will surrender our case and willingly accept any rate of duty the wisdom of Congress may impose upon pottery. 1. That there is more money spent every year by the American "ultimate consumer" for pottery made abroad than for pottery made at home.

2. That the full equivalent of all the protection American pottery has ever enjoyed has gone into the pay envelope of the workmen and has not stuck in the office.

3. That the average wages paid to American pottery workpeople is more than 100 per cent greater than the average wages paid in competing factories abroad.

4. That the average wages paid American pottery workpeople are at least as good as those paid in any other industry of equal importance in this or any other country.

5. That the profits of the American pottery industry at large for the last three years did not exceed 63 per cent upon the actual capital invested.

6. That the profits to the manufacturer, of the importer, of the wholesaler, and the retailer are greater upon imported than upon domestic pottery.

7. That any reduction in selling price of American pottery resulting from a tariff reduction must be followed by a corresponding reduction of wages if our potteries are to continue in business.

8. That the quality has steadily improved and the cost to the ultimate consumer has steadily decreased during the growth of the American industry, retail prices being now materially lower than under the Wilson bill.

9. That the American pottery manufacturer holds no monopoly upon any part of the trade, but through difference in labor cost the foreign manufacturer holds a practical monopoly upon the market for high-class china.

Obviously, I can not prove all these assertions within the time. allotted, but, acting upon another suggestion embodied in the letter of Mr. Whitacre, which extract I quote below, I desire to submit a sworn statement covering certain vital facts.

The following is the extract from Mr. Whitacre's letter:

If you are coming to Washington to ask any rate as necessary to your industry you should at least now come to a showing of exact facts, free from general denunciation and claptrap statements. This is a time when sound horse sense should be applied and wild statement discarded.