PARAGRAPH 99-WINDOW GLASS. that they will be able to maintain their position, through demonstrating to the court that they are neither criminals, nor criminally inclined, but on the other hand have resorted to the only available means looking to the safe-guarding of investments and the paving of the way for living wages for the men who toil in front of window-glass furnace fires. In any event this action removes a menace from the business for many months ahead, putting the case entirely out of the way of spring and summer business. [National Glass Budget, Pittsburgh, Nov. 19, 1910.] THE WINDOW-GLASS SITUATION-GOVERNMENT CASE ENDED BY IMPOSITION OF FINESIMPERIAL NOW IN COURSE OF LIQUIDATION-OUTPUT CURTAILED OWING TO WORKERS' STRONG STAND IN SUPPORT OF WAGE AGREEMENT. The Government action against the Imperial Window Glass Co., which was listed for trial on Monday of this week, is at end, the defendants having appeared in court on Friday afternoon of last week and pleaded "nolo contendere" before Judge James S. Young to the counts that had been entered against them under the antitrust laws. This was followed by the imposition of a fine of $2,500 against the company, and fines of $500 each against its 15 directors, in both cases the cost having been assessed against the defendants. The sudden termination of this proceeding, Mr. Wickersham of the Department of Justice states, was due to overtures made by representatives of the defendant company the day prior to the termination of the court action, while on the other hand, representatives of the Imperial insist that their action was due to the fact that internal dissentions and outside competition had nullified the usefulness of the organization. NEW YORK, January 25, 1913. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: Further to our communication of January 18, we beg to inform the committee that although the statement is frequently made that American window glass can not be exported, it is, as a matter of fact, at this very time being offered in Canada at prices considerably below those ruling in the American market. We have recently seen offers of large quantities to Canadian buyers at discounts of 90 and 40 per cent and 90 and 50 per cent from the list, whereas the discounts for the United States market are 90 and 17 per cent to 90 and 22 per cent, plus packing. Using for an illustration the same four sizes as we used in our statement of January 18, the comparative prices are as follows: It will be observed that double-thick glass is being offered to the Canadian buyer for less than the American duty on the imported glass, and that even in the single-thick glass the selling price for Canada is only a trifle higher than the American duty. Respectfully submitted. SEMON BACHE & Co., PARAGRAPH 99-WINDOW GLASS. PRICES OF ORDINARY WINDOW GLASS. Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, DANBURY, CONN., January 10, 1913. Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: As a retail dealer in ordinary window glass, I wish to place some facts of the business before your committee while the hearing on glass schedule is going on. The average run of price on glass per box of 50 square feet, factory shipment, has been from $1.20 to $1.40 per box for sizes in first bracket, i. e., of 150 united inches or less. One year ago price was suddenly lowered to 99 cents a box on above sizes. Upon making inquiry learned what purported to be the following facts: That the American Window Glass Co. had perfected a machine which displaced about 48 of every 50 glass blowers in the business; that they were cutting prices to get control of the business into their own hands, as price has been subsequently advanced again. It is, I believe, reasonably safe to assume that they carried their point. Now, then, how much tariff do manufacturers need that can voluntarily sell glass (and good glass, too) at $1 per box? D. F. STEVENS. Respectfully, yours, [Extract from Daily Consular and Trade Reports.] PROSPERITY IN BELGIAN GLASS INDUSTRY. [From Consul General Ethelbert Watts, Brussels.] Belgian manufacturers of window glass are enjoying a period of unusual prosperity because of a close understanding among themselves on prices for the various export markets-high where conditions permit it, low where there is competition and where it is a matter of dumping surplus production. Although the wages of blowers have been recently slightly advanced, they remain reasonable. It seems that the workmen are moderate in their demands for better wages, in order not to encourage the introduction into Belgium of the American window glass blowing machine. Belgium plate-glass manufacturers are very prosperous, paying yearly dividends as high as 30 per cent. Because of the cheap labor the plate-glass industry in Belgium maintains on all foreign markets its power as price regulator. The advantage of a low cost of production (11 cents, United States currency, per square foot of polished plate glass) is assisted by the successful operation of the International Syndicate of Plate Glass Manufacturers, which regulates selling prices according to conditions existing in each foreign market. These arbitrary selling prices are consequently of great variety. For example, the same glass and the same sizes, quality for silvering, are sold (off the gross prices of the same list) at 20 per cent discount for England and 30 per cent discount for the United States, and quality for window at 30 per cent and 24 per cent for England, against a discount of 45 per cent and more for the United States. The reason for this discrimination is said to be the fact that the American plateglass manufacturers are not associated with the European syndicate, and consequently the syndicate establishes a low range of prices for the American market on the kinds and sizes of glass which, through overproduction, must be disposed of by the American manufacturers regardless of cost. PARAGRAPH 100. Cylinder and crown glass, polished, not exceeding three hundred and eighty-four square inches, four cents per square foot; above that, and not exceding seven hundred and twenty square inches, six cents per square foot; above that, and not exceeding one thousand four hundred and forty square inches, twelve cents per square foot; above that, fifteen cents per square foot. PARAGRAPHS 101-102-PLATE GLASS. PARAGRAPH 101. Fluted, rolled, ribbed, or rough plate glass, or the same, containing a wire netting within itself, not including crown, cylinder, or common window glass, not exceeding three hundred and eighty-four square inches, threefourths of one cent per square foot; above that, and not exceeding seven hundred and twenty square inches, one and one-fourth cents per square foot; all above that, one and three-fourths cents per square foot; and all fluted, rolled, ribbed, or rough plate glass, weighing over one hundred pounds per one hundred square feet, shall pay an additional duty on the excess at the same rates herein imposed: Provided, That all of the above plate glass, when ground, smoothed, or otherwise obscured, shall be subject to the same rate of duty as polished plate glass unsilvered. PARAGRAPH 102. Cast polished plate glass, finished or unfinished and unsilvered, not exceeding three hundred and eighty-four square inches, ten cents per square foot; above that, and not exceeding seven hundred and twenty square inches, twelve and one-half cents per square foot; all above that, twenty-two and onehalf cents per square foot. PLATE GLASS. STATEMENT OF JOSEPH S. AUERBACH, OF NEW YORK CITY. PARAGRAPH 102, Mr. AUERBACH. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, before stating my position in detail as to the paragraph now under consideration, I ask the indulgence of the committee in making certain suggestions applicable to it and to the other interests for which I shall appear in these hearings, and applicable in a measure_to industry generally to be affected by your proposed revision. By such a plan, I am confident, I shall be enabled to avoid repetition and so economize your time. My view is that your decision to hold these hearings indicates that you invite such suggestions because your minds are not fully made up as to the bills you are to report; that they are not necessarily to be in substance mere duplicates of the tariff bills of last year, but that with open minds you are seeking new and additional information to enable you to give the most satisfactory answer to the many perplexing questions before you. On behalf of these several interests I represent, I wish at the outset to tender you the loyal cooperation of their management and counsel in the task before you, which is to have such a momentous effect upon the public welfare. For with all our selfish interests, which we do not minimize, we have a correspondingly great stake in the prosperity of industry that is halting upon your action; and if we were unduly favored at the expense of other industries, it would not in the end be to our permanent advantage. When general prosperity is lacking, a particular industry is almost certain to be injuriously affected, for commercial depression is hopelessly contagious and we in the end shall not be immune. Then, too, if we should succeed in securing for ourselves inequalities, this will doubtless be true as to others, and again we shall have a tariff with which the public will not be content, and further agitation will ensue; and the manufacturer knows full well that the course of treatment best for him in this case is rest from such disturbing agitation. PARAGRAPHS 101-102-PLATE GLASS. Lest my assuming to speak to you on the subject be deemed presumptuous, let what has been said so often be repeated now-that the best tariff legislation can not be said to be truly scientific, but merely the adoption of some practical plan to raise revenue for Government needs without injustice, inequality, or discrimination. And anyone possessing only general information and intelligence as to governmental affairs may, perhaps, make some helpful contribution to your deliberations; though I wish it to be understood that my contribution is not the discovery of something novel by way of a cure-all nostrum. Observation teaches that no arbitrary rule will serve your purpose of raising income. If there is a 10 per cent duty on a given article, its reduction to 5 per cent or its increase to 20 per cent would not necessarily mean in the one case, one-half, or in the other twice the income. The reduced tax might produce less or more revenue than the original tax; and the increased tax might have a similar result. You feel your way rather than see your way to a result; only you have a great experience as your guide, and what might be a mere guess on the part of others becomes a matter of reasonable probability when, with your familiarity concerning the subject, you estimate the outcome of your revision. It is true that you are to have before you the duty of living up to the pledges of the Democratic Party to the people; but as a Democrat by principle and practice, I have no fear of them rightly interpreted. We are not, however, to confuse ourselves as to what were those pledges even though prepared to accept them at their face value. While there was a demand in the Democratic platform for the immediate revision of tariff duties, it was accompanied by the declaration that We recognize that our system of tariff taxation is intimately connected with the business of the country; and we favor the ultimate attainment of the principles we advocate by legislation that will not injure or destroy legitimate industry. President Elect Wilson, throughout the campaign, voiced this view; and again and again he gave his assurance to the American people that in the reform of the tariff no legitimate business industry need fear unjust treatment. The tariff, being a necessary governmental agency to produce reasonable revenue for its just needs, the problem is to produce that revenue in such a way that neither the wage earner nor the producer nor the consumer will be unnecessarily injuriously affected, while if possible the interests of all these classes may be promoted. The way of the tariff should be a toll road and not a highway where highwaymen may ply their trade. Naturally you must approach your task with solicitude as to the result; for you have in your keeping not only the future of political parties but the welfare of the whole nation. Some injury to one or more of these classes will probably result from whatever you do, but unquestionably you will have cause to congratulate yourselves if the specific injury be reduced to a minimum and the general benefit made a maximum. You have in all this proposed legislation the administration of a great trust, and you will very inadequately discharge your duty unless you know the rights as well as the needs of PARAGRAPHS 101-102-PLATE GLASS. your cestuis que trustent. In no other way can your stewardship be successful, however much you may receive a temporary popular applause, which, though not to be wholly disregarded, you understand full well is not always the fixed index of approval, but often the weather vane, and you must, if necessary, be content patiently and courageously to await the final verdict made up when what you have accomplished has been weighed in the balance and not found wanting. What then, rightly interpreted, was that tariff reform pledge, made by the Democratic Party to the American people? Whatever it was, it was clearly not some things, and when these are eliminated from consideration we can the better see what that pledge involved. It was not free trade or any approach to it, and if it had been so understood the Democratic Party would have gone down to certain defeat. It was not discrimination against the manufacturer or the producer who makes prosperity possible, or again the Democratic Party would have gone down to certain defeat. Nor was that pledge an undertaking to raise less money for the reasonable needs of government, for any such proposal, with the increasing necessity for legitimate and enlarged national expenditures, would have been unintelligent or insincere. Nor was it, as some insist, an arbitrary scheme of taxation to get the largest return possible from tariff duties without regard to individual or collective hardship. The pledge was none of these things; but, stating it colloquially, it was that the Democratic Party would so readjust the tariff that, in producing the same or even more revenue, existing inequalities would as far as possible be done away with and the burdens of the high cost of living to the general consumer be lightened. In all this, however, the solemn promise was that there would be taken into account and allowed for the difference in cost of production here and abroad. The chairman of this committee again and again has expressed this view forcibly, eloquently, and persuasively, too, as the result of the last election makes abundantly clear. Accepting the view, therefore, that you all are at work, either as leaders or in the ranks, to reduce the high cost of living generally, how are you going to go about it-always remembering that this so-called high cost of living is often a misnomer for the cost of high living. Let us not overlook that fact. Clearly, one of the ways is first and foremost the straight and direct way-to reduce the cost of things having directly and immediately to do with living the things we eat, and then the things we wear, and then the things we use, without, however, producing a result approaching general industrial disturbance. We have all heard from the President elect about that gibbet of shame, high as Haman's, upon which he proposes to hang the panic-breeder; and of course none of you long for the gibbet or even the public stocks. You wish, on the contrary, to give an account of your stewardship that will be reflected in a defensible prosperity-not to the few and favored but to the many; and, as the chairman of this committee once said on a notable occasion, to avoid a result so often characteristic of our legislation, both State and National, with its artificial ups and downs, which are no better for the body politic than was, of old, the prevailing disease of chills and fever good for the human body. The normal condition |