PARAGRAPHS 97-98-GLASS AND GLASSWARE. Statement showing the number of members of each department in each local union, total membership, number of employed and unemployed, as far as reported—Continued. Grand total...2, 011 2,045 1,053 767 644 593 476 514 393 60 136 67 46 14 8,819 8,010 809 PARAGRAPHS 97-98-GLASS AND GLASSWARE. SECRETARY'S QUARTERLY STATEMENT FOR THE QUARTER ENDING SEPT. 30, 1912, GLASS BOTTLE BLOWERS' ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. Statistical. 112 280 210 PARAGRAPHS 97-98-GLASS AND GLASSWARE. ADDITIONAL DATA FURNISHED BY MR. T. W. ROWE, OF THE AMERICAN FLINT GLASS WORKERS' UNION. Hon. OSCAR UNDERWOOD, M. C., AMERICAN FLINT GLASS WORKERS' UNION, Washington, D. C. HONORABLE SIR: In addition to the statements I made before the Ways and Means Committee and the brief on file at the hearing accorded me Wednesday, January 8, I desire to submit the following, with the hope that it will be made a matter of record, in order that our opposition to any reduction in tariff will be clearly understood. Regarding the "Average wage," I quote herewith an extract from the annual report of our national secretary, Wm. P. Clarke, as found on page 99, and statistics on "Employed and unemployed," as found on page 101 of the proceedings of the Montreal, Quebec, 1912 convention, a copy of which I send you under separate cover. AVERAGE WAGE. "In 1895 Secretary Kunzler reported to our Toledo convention that the general average earnings of 7,300 members equaled $8.12 a week, for 52 weeks in the year, or a total of $422.24 earned by each member during the entire year. "In 1910 the writer reported that 8,901 members had earned on an average of $10.65 a week, for 52 weeks in the year, or a total of $553.80 each. These figures showed an increase of 31 per cent over those reported by Secretary Kunzler 15 years previous. "To-day we have the pleasure of reporting that an average of 9,002 members during the past year, earned on an average of $12.42 a week, for 52 weeks in the year, or a total of $645.60 each. This being an increase of 17 per cent over that reported two years ago; or, if you return to the figures of 1895, and make a comparison with the figures herein presented for the past year, you will discover that the earnings of our members have increased 53 per cent in the past 17 years. However, as a matter of justice, I must state that the year of 1895 contains one of the darkest pages in the history of our organization." Employed and unemployed. On account of the reduced tariff under the Wilson bill, our members were obliged to double their day's work without any increase in wages on duplex globes. In the blown department and stem-ware department, where they make wines, cocktails, Cordials, goblets, and that class of goods, our members suffered a 20 per cent reduction in wages, removed the limit from their day's production, and adopted an unlimited piece-work basis. On numerous occasions we have increased our day's work on dome, cone, and flat shades made in opal, green, and white plated. Notwithstanding this, many shades are being imported at the present time. We understand that the Welsbach Light Co. of Gloucester, N. J., bring them to this country by the shipload, and that old reliable concerns operating in Philadelphia, Pa., just across the river from the Welsbach Light Co., are unable to meet this evil competition. PARAGRAPHS 97-98-GLASS AND GLASSWARE. Two years ago our members increased their day's production as high as 40 per cent on what is known as chemical wares, such as beakers, flask beakers, and other wares used in hospitals and laboratories. And they removed the limit from their production so that they could work on a nonrestrictive basis with the hope of competing with the imported article. Notwithstanding this great change and sacrifice made by our members, the foreign manufacturer exports wares to this country. I respectfully direct your attention to the fact that the new McAlpine Hotel, Thirty-fourth and Broadway, New York City, was supplied with $30,000 worth of imported bar wares supplied through the Wannemaker & Co. The ware was produced by the Val St. Lambert Co., Val St. Lambert in Belgium. Another very important feature connected with this affair is that we understand that all the glass wares used in the United States Navy Department on battleships are of foreign make. In addition to this, the Hudson River boats are furnished with foreign-made goods. We understand they come in duty free because they are used on navigable steamers. Yet this is a grave injustice to the American manufacturer and the American worker. A significant feature connected with the importation of chemical wares and wares used in hospitals and laboratories for experimental purposes is, as we understand it, that the wares are admitted free. When a jobber calls at a hospital or laboratory for an order, an order is given for a certain class of goods, and they tell the jobber to double or triple the order; but it will not be necessary for the party ordering to take the ware unless they really want it. The ware can be stocked by the importer and the order thus signed by the party ordering some ware is shown as evidence to the custom officials in New York and elsewhere as a bona fide order, and when the ware is secured, only one-third, or one-half of it, is delivered, and the balance is used in open competition with the product of the American manufacturer. This report was submitted to me by one who made an extensive investigation of the matter, and we believe that something should be done to prevent deceptive practices of this kind. In my statement before your committee on Wednesday, January 8, I mentioned electric bulbs. I would like it distinctly understood that I mean electric bulbs with or without filament, that is, sent here to be fitted with carbons or filaments, or sent here complete, as competition between American manufacturers and workers on this line of goods is extremely keen, due solely to the very low wages under which bulbs are produced in Continental Europe. Even with our 60 per cent duty I understand that 10,000,000 bulbs arrived on our shores last year. The wages of the electric bulb blower are low at the present time, and only recently we succeeded in securing an increase in wages for the gatherer from $2.80 to $3 a day. If the tariff is changed on this line of goods, it will certainly effect the interests of our men and probably cause some great sacrifice to be made by the members of our organization. We understand that the Treasury Department has transferred incandescent lamps from paragraph 98, Schedule B, known as "Glass schedule," to the metal schedule. We sincerely believe that these articles should be restored to the glass schedule specifically and placed with blown glassware which includes electric bulbs, because of the fact that the largest proportion of the labor cost, or materials used in incandescent lamps, is composed of glass. We trust your committee will not be misled by this transfer, as any change made on electric bulbs under the metal schedule would be a grave injustice to the members of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union and the employers who are exercising their best efforts to cooperate with us in a harmonious degree consistent with the keen competition prevailing at the present time. You will note by the statistics given that while the season 1911-12 was one of the very best seasons, over 13 per cent of our men were unemployed, and it is impossible for us to find employment for these men in the trade, owing to the fact that there is not sufficient work for them. I am sure that if the tariff on imported glassware is reduced that the present serious competitive state will be intensified and a great number of our members thrown out of employment. In behalf of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union I respectfully request that your committee do not reduce the tariff on blown glassware. Please convey to the members of your committee my sincere gratitude for extending the time of your session in order to allow me to present our protest. Respectfully submitted. T. W. ROWE, President, American Flint Glass Workers' Union. 78959°-VOL 1-13- 47 PARAGRAPHS 97-98-GLASS AND GLASSWARE. AMERICAN FLINT GLASS WORKERS' UNION, Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, M. C., Toledo, Ohio, January 30, 1913. Chairman, Ways and Means Committee, Washington, D. C. HONORABLE SIR: In connection with the tariff revision on glassware I desire to add the following to that which has been submitted, on behalf of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union, and I sincerely hope that the presentation of the following facts will not consume too much of your time or trespass upon your patience. Owing to the fact that the question of imported glassware is extremely serious to us, we have concluded that it is advisable to present all possible sides to you on the subject, with the hope that judicious legislation will follow. The American flint glass trade is in a rather precarious condition to-day, due to the fact that there is no organization among the employers to regulate prices, and competition is extremely intensified on account of a lack of unity and the competitive rivalry and the fact that the present tariff rates do not furnish adequate protection from imported articles, our country is flooded with wares from abroad, particularly continental Europe. The wages prevailing at glass factories in continental Europe are from one-third to one-fourth the prevailing rate in this country. German glass factories are finely constructed and all the necessary facilities are supplied in order that quality and quantity can be produced, and this fact with the low wages and long hours prevailing, enables them to ship goods to this country, even though we have a high tariff rate on certain lines. Our principal competition in Germany is from the factories at Jena, Gehlberg, Ilmenau, Weiswasser, and Prague. The principal competition in Belgium comes from Val St. Lambert Glass Co., with factories at Val St. Lambert and Namur, and goods produced by this concern can be found in almost any principal city in this country, and we again remind you of the fact that the new McAlpin Hotel, New York City, recently opened, was supplied with $30,000 worth of fine stemware, such as cordials, wines, goblets, and other barware utensils. All supplied by the Val. St. Lambert Co. principal competition in France is from Baccarac. This concern ships blanks for cutting and cut glass. The We ask you to remember that the glassware used on naval vessels and on the Hudson River steamboat lines is imported ware, and another significant fact that should require your attention is that all the syphon bottles used in the United States are imported articles, and the firm that formerly made this class of goods, Thill & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., passed out of existence, due to the competition in this line of ware. It is conservately estimated that there are sufficient syphon bottles used in the various cities of this country to keep three large furnaces in operation and several attempts have been made to meet this competition and on each occasion they have proved failures. Last year we understand there were 10,000,000 incandescent electric bulbs shipped into this country from Germany and Austria, and we now understand that the importers are trying to have the finished incandescent lamp, which is governed at present by the metal schedule tariff, reduced from 45 to 10 per cent. We certainly consider this one of the deceptive acts resorted to by the importers, as we know that the principal cost in finishing an electric incandescent lamp is in the glass-working department. The concern that made this request has its factory in Holland where the glass blowers do not ever get for regular work more than one-fourth or one-third of the wages paid here, and the living conditions of the workers are very poor. On top of this these Holland glass workers get 20 per cent deducted from their regular wages when the goods they make are for export to this country. (See the extracts from my report on labor conditions in Europe, which I filed with you when I appeared before you on January 8. It is printed on page - of your hearings on the glass schedule. That investigation was not made for your committee, but was made by our union for it to know what competition it was meeting, and is the most complete collection of actual facts about glass workers that there is.) If there are any serious changes regarding the tariff rates on incandescent lamp bulbs with or without filaments, the members of our union will seriously suffer on that account, and instead of reducing the tariff on the incandescent lamp bulb with filaments, we believe and urgently advise that incandescent lamp bulbs with filaments be taken from the metal schedule and be placed on the blown glassware schedule, which provides for a 60 per cent duty, as there is no doubt in our minds as to that being its proper place, and we hope that you will not overlook that very important point. It would be like giving us something with one hand and taking it away with the other to give us protection on bulbs and then follow the request of these Holland importers to lower the duty on the lamps which is the only article for which the bulbs can be used. |