PARAGRAPH 3-ALKALIES. Paragraph 482.-(Free list.) Acid phthalic should be retained in the free list, as more than 60 per cent of the total quantity imported is used in the manufacture of the medicinal product phenolphthalein. If phthalic acid be placed in the dutiable list, as proposed in H. R. 20182, phenolphthalein should be specially provided for at the specific rate of 55 cents per pound, as alcohol also enters into its manufacture. Phenolphthalein up to three years ago was manufactured exclusively in Europe and sold in the United States at $2.15 to $2.75 per pound in a wholesale way. It is now manufactured by us, with the result that the wholesale price is $1.20 to $1.25 per pound, a reduction of about 50 per cent in about three years, and due entirely to our competition. As long as the European manufacturers had no competition they obtained high prices here, but with home competition they lowered their prices in an endeavor to make the manufacture here unprofitable and undesirable. Paragraph 500.-* * *; also quicksilver flasks or bottles, iron or steel drums used for the shipment of acids, of either domestic or foreign manufacture, which shall have been actually exported from the United States, but proof of the identity of such articles shall be made under general regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. After the words "iron or steel drums" insert "exported empty or," and after the word "acids" insert "or other chemical products,' making the lines read "iron or steel drums exported empty or used in the shipment of acids or other chemical products of either domestic or foreign manufacture," etc. We request this amendment for the reason that numerous chemical products are shipped into the United States in such iron or steel drums and on which drums a duty of 30 per cent ad valorem is levied under paragraph 151 in addition to the duty levied on the contents. Under the present act if such drums are returned or exported to be refilled and shipped back to the United States, these same drums are again assessed at the rate of 30 per cent ad valorem, the importers paying duty twice or more on the same drums as often as they are returned and reshipped into the United States. Respectfully submitted. ST. LOUIS, January 6, 1913. MONSANTO CHEMICAL WORKS, Per JOHN F. QUEENY, President. PETITION OF HERBERT WATSON, OF CHARLES COUNTY, MD., REGARDING DUTY ON BICARBONATE OF POTASH. To the Chairman and Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives: The petition of Herbert Watson, of Charles County and State of Maryland, respectfully shows and represents: 1. That the specific duty of 1 cents per pound which, as appears from the first item in paragraph 69 of the bill H. R. 20182, originally introduced in the House of Representatives on February 15, 1912, it is proposed to place upon potash, bicarbonate of, and carbonate PARAGRAPH 3-ALKALIES. of, refined, should be made to be at least 1 cents per pound on bicarbonate of potash, for the following reasons, that is to say: As proven by experience, it has been impossible heretofore to maintain a plant and to manufacture and sell bicarbonate of potash in the United States in competition with importers of this commodity manufactured abroad, even with the rate of duty 25 per cent ad valorem, as it is at present, this being about equal to a specific duty of 14 cents per pound. The Diamond Soda Works, a branch of the Liquid Carbonic Co., at Milwaukee, Wis., the only concern in the United States which has attempted the manufacturing and marketing of this product, commenced the manufacturing of bicarbonate of potash in the year 1901, and continued until the year 1907, when the enterprise was abandoned as being unprofitable, for the cause hereinafter stated. As will appear from the tabulated statement herewith submitted, as part hereof, marked "Exhibit A," the importation of the commodity fell from 162,798 pounds in 1900, the year before the manufacturing in this country commenced, to 44,850 in 1906, owing to the output from the domestic concern at Milwaukee. In the year when the manufacturing in this country ceased importations were 310,281 pounds; and the import value was reduced from $0.049 in 1906 to $0.022 in 1907, or considerably less than the value per pound of the crude carbonate of potash from which the bicarbonate of potash is made. It was the importation of this large quantity in 1907 and the low price for which the commodity was offered on the market that made the further manufacturing in this country wholly unprofitable and caused its abandonment at Milwaukee, as above set forth. The following year, 1908, the value of the imported commodity was again put up, and the selling price to the trade became, for lack of competition, about 1 cent per pound greater than the price of 64 cents, for which thedomestic concern at Milwaukee had been selling the product manufactured there. The price has continued to rule slightly above these figures, there being no longer competition with any domestic manufacturer. While, even at the prevailing 25 per cent ad valorem duty, it was found, after six years' experience, impossible to manufacture bicarbonate of potash at Milwaukee in competition with foreign manufacturers, your petitioner believes it would be possible to manufacture the product at a place nearer the Atlantic coast if a duty of at least 1 cents per pound were laid upon the imported commodity; and, with this duty, your petitioner is prepared to undertake such manufacture in Charles County, in the State of Maryland, where he now owns land about 25 miles south of Washington City. For, not only would the expense of maintaining a plant and operating in said Charles County be less than in Milwaukee, but there would be relief from the heavier freight charges on the crude potash west, as well as from the return charges on shipments of the refined product east. Besides, in this section of Maryland, the entire section south of Washington, there are no manufacturing establishments whatsoever, and the installing of such plant and the operating thereof would aid greatly in the development of this section, so in need of development. With such a plant in southern Maryland your petitioner would be able to supply at least 60 per cent of the trade in this commodity in the United States, at a price not exceeding 64 cents per pound. The PARAGRAPH 3-ALKALIES. ruling prices three months ago were from 7 to 73 cents per pound, ex dock, New York, although in some cases contracts for 1912 have been made at $6.87 per 100 pounds. Thus consumers would be benefited by the imposition of a duty which would make it possible and profitable to manufacture this commodity here, while at the same time the revenue to the Government would increase. For instance, take the 275,204 pounds imported in 1912, as appears from "Exhibit A" herewith, as the quantity fairly demanded by the trade in this country in a year. Selling at 64 cents, as against the present ruling price of 74 cents per pound, there would be a saving to the consumers of $2,752.04; and (conceding that the domestic concern would supply 60 per cent of this quantity), as against the revenue from the importation of the entire quantity at cent duty per pound, amounting to $1,386, we should have, from the 40 per cent, or 110,082 pounds, imported with a duty of 14 cents per pound, revenue amounting to $1,657.23. 2. Your petitioner respectfully submits that the figures given in the exhibit herewith, together with what has been hereinbefore stated as to the ability of your petitioner to manufacture at least 60 per cent of the quantity of bicarbonate of potash required by the trade in the United States, fairly indicate what would be the decrease in importations if the duty were fixed at 14 cents per pound, thus enabling your petitioner to establish his plant in southern Maryland and to manufacture the commodity, as herein before stated. Of course, if others should be similarly encouraged to engage in the work of manufacturing the product the result might be no further importations. At best the total revenue from such importations under present conditions is not large, as appears from "Exhibit A." There are no secrets about the manufacture and use of bicarbonate of potash. The cost of the plant, machinery, and apparatus is approximately $10,000. The commodity is made by treating carbonate of potash in solution with carbonic-acid gas and crystallizing the product, which involves the production of carbonic-acid gas on a commercial basis; and it requires from 12 to 14 days to crystallize and prepare the product for use. It must be chemically pure and answer to all the requirements of the United States Pharmacopoeia. All crude material is imported duty free. Bicarbonate of potash is used principally by manufacturers of patent medicines and by baby food and condensed milk manufacturers. It is rarely sold by retail druggists, except in small quantities as a component part of physicians' prescriptions. Therefore, it enters as a very small fraction into the cost of any article or compound. 3. In submitting the aforegoing statements and estimates your petitioner has relied, both upon a publication by the Bureau of Statistics of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, from which the tabulated statement herewith, marked "Exhibit A," was taken by courtesy of the officials of that bureau, and upon knowledge and information gained from his experience and work as a chemist, as an inventor who has made discoveries in applied chemistry, and as a manufacturer. He was superintendent and chemical engineer of the Diamond Soda Works, at Milwaukee, herein before mentioned, where he installed the plant for the manufacturing of bicarbonate of potash, and PARAGRAPH 3-ALKALIES. operated it for two years, at the end of which period he had charge of the works of this company at Pittsburgh, manufacturing carbonicacid gas and Epsom salts. Later, he was engaged by a concern in Chicago in the matter of manufacturing a new and useful chemical, "acetaldehyde," not previously manufactured in this country. He resigned his position in Chicago about three months ago with the view of establishing a plant for the manufacturing of bicarbonate of potash upon his land in Southern Maryland, being then ignorant of the fact that it is proposed to make the tariff upon this product so low as one-half cent per pound. He has already ordered, and there has been delivered, a portion of the requisite machinery for his plant; but pending the enactment into law of the new tariff bill, and your petitioner being fearful that the proposed rate of one-half cent per pound upon this product may be prescribed, he has been impelled to abandon the further prosecution of his plans for the present, to be resumed, nevertheless, if the duty shall be 1 cents per pound. In conclusion it is respectfully submitted that your petitioner knows of no reason why the rate of duty on bicarbonate of potash should not be maintained on equality with the duty on permanganate of potash; the duty whereupon, as appears from said paragraph 69, is proposed to be at the rate of 14 cents per pound in lieu of the present duty of 25 per cent ad valorem upon that commodity. It may be added that the Government has been making search for available sources of potash other than the German deposits, and that it is important to develop the potash industry where possible. Respectfully submitted. 1900. 1901. 1902. 1903. 1904. 1905. 1906. 1907. 1908. 1909. 1910. 1911. 1912. Year. EXHIBIT A. HERBERT WATSON. NOTE. In the above tabulation, the year is the fiscal year ended on June 30 of the designated year. PARAGRAPH 3-COMPOUNDS N. S. P. F. COMPOUNDS N. S. P. F. REQUEST THAT MANNIT BE PLACED ON THE FREE LIST WITH ΜΑΝΝΑ. NEW YORK, February 4, 1913. The COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: It has recently been brought to our attention that our people in America, and other classes of your population, originating from southern Europe, use almost exclusively crude manna instead of mannit. Mannit is the sugar extracted from manna. Manna is a sap from a tree known as frassino, which grows only in Sicily and Southern Europe. Manna and mannit are both used for the same purposesnamely, as a sirup and gentle laxative. Mannit is the more desirable of the two, but on account of its being taxed 25 per cent duty the people import crude manna duty free instead. Approximately 47,427 pounds crude manna were imported in 1911, valued $21,424, duty free. The importations of mannit are unobtainable, but we know them to be very small, only a few hundred pounds. The high duty, 25 per cent ad valorem, on material worth $2 a pound, brings the price up to $2.50 a pound, with the results that there are no importations, no revenue derived, none is produced here, and the people are importing crude manna instead. It requires 4 parts manna to yield 1 part of mannit, so the persons using manna take a proportionately larger quantity, and get a lot of molasses and other impurities in their system. The principal sales in other countries are of mannit, because the price is right, and mannit is better adapted for children and delicate persons, because of its purity. It seems reasonable, therefore, to ask that the consumer in the United States be also placed in a position to get mannit reasonably, especially as there is nothing to be lost to anybody in granting to mannit the same exemption from duty as accorded to manna. Business will be handled through the same channels here, and the supply received from the same sources abroad. It seems that mannit has been improperly classified with "Chemical compounds, n. s. p. f., subject to a duty of 25 per cent ad valorem." Mannit is not a "chemical compound," alcohol is not used in refining it commercially, and mannit does not contain alcohol in any form whatsoever. The mannit of commerce is the pure crystal obtained from a solution of manna in water. The alcohol process referred to in textbooks is not employed except in very rare instances; not over 250 pounds a year of alcohol-prepared mannit is used in the whole world. Mannit is not manufactured or refined in the United States in any form, and probably never will be because of its peculiar and exceptional nature. The sap-bearing trees grow only in a few places in southern Europe, and are not grown in the United States. It requires 12 years before a tree begins to bear, and then another 5 to 10 years for the sap to ripen after it has been tapped. Manna improves with age; so the villagers pile it against the walls of their huts and have |