goods, although a small amount of high-class English ware, especially hand-pierced sterling silver, is imported. Prior to the tariff act of 1890 Sheffield manufacturers carried on an extensive business in the United States, but their American business has since become negligible in amount. PRICES. Prices of sterling silverware depend on the price of silver metal to a large extent. The articles are usually sold by weight. Design is also an important factor. Plated ware is sold at various prices, which vary considerably, depending on the grade and design. The cost of silver metal is an important factor in price, but not to as large an extent as in the sterling industry. TARIFF HISTORY. Silverware has been classified under various heads since 1883. In that year all plated ware (gold, silver, or other metal) was dutiable at 35 per cent ad valorem, and articles of sterling silver were dutiable at 45 per cent ad valorem. In the tariff acts from 1890 to 1913 both plated and sterling fell in the basket paragraph for metal manufactures. The rate in 1890 was 45 per cent ad valorem; in 1894, 35 per cent ad valorem; and in 1897 and 1909, 45 per cent ad valorem. In 1913 the duty on general manufactures of metal was reduced to 20 per cent, but on gold and silver articles, or articles plated with those metals, the duty was increased to 50 per cent ad valorem. COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS. The silverware industry depends for its success mainly upon its ability to anticipate public taste in the matter of design and finish. Under normal conditions of supply it is difficult to distinguish any relative advantage as regards cost of raw material among the chief producing countries. The more extensive use of automatic machinery made possible by quantity output and the enterprise of American companies gives them some advantage in manufacturing costs in certain lines of wide use, but this is offset in the case of special designs by the higher wages paid in the United States, especially as compared with Germany. Summary of the silversmithing and silverware industry in the United States, 1914.1 [From United States Census of Manufactures.] NOTE. The average number of wage earners was 7,070: the total value of products, $19,786,317; and the value added by manufacture, $11,510,811. Summary of the plated ware industry in the United States, 1914. [From United States Census of Manufactures.] 1 Probably contains considerable tableware produced in establishments making other articles. Manufactures of gold and silver-imports by countries-Continued. CALENDAR YEARS. Silver, all other, manufactures of, or plated with-Imports for consumption-Revenue. Gold and silver, manufactures of Domestic exports, fiscal years. For court and Treasury Decisions, see page 65. SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS. [Par. 167, act of 1913.] GENERAL INFORMATION. Articles or wares not specially provided for in this section; if composed wholly or in part of platinum gold or silver and articles or wares plated with gold or silver and whether partly or wholly manufactured 50 per cent ad valorem; if composed wholly or in chief value of iron steel, lead copper, brass, nickel, pewter, zinc, aluminum, or other metal, but not plated with gold or silver, and whether partly or wholly manufactured, 20 per cent ad valorem. Surgical instruments in 1914 were produced by about 40 establishments in the United States of which one-half were factories employing from 10 to 200 workmen, and the remainder small shops in which most of the work was done by the proprietor with, perhaps, one to two assistants. The bulk of the instruments made in the United States were what is known as soft metal goods, i. e., those composed of brass, copper, and German silver. Steel instruments were never produced in this country in quantities before the war. The total value of instruments produced in the United States in 1914 was roughly $1,400,000, of which $1,000,000 represents the value of soft-metal goods and $400,000 the value of steel instruments. Practically 80 per cent of the steel instruments used in this country were of foreign manufacture, chiefly German. The reason for the greater effectiveness of American manufacturers in producing softmetal goods was the smaller amount of skilled labor necessary in that line. American manufacturers could not compete with foreign producers in the manufacture of steel instruments because of the high cost of skilled labor in this country. Surgical instruments were not standardized. The number of items demanded ran into thousands and the quantity annually purchased of each item was relatively small. Consequently machine methods could not be introduced. The German factories had the advantage of a large supply of skilled workmen, obtainable at low wages. In the years 1880-1914 they had built up a large export trade with Russia, the United States, and South America. The larger factories exported practically threefourths of their total annual production to foreign markets. size of the business done by the larger German factories enabled them to obtain many economies of large-scale production which could not be secured by the American manufacturers, operating upon a smaller scale. The World War caused a great expansion in the production of surgical instruments in the United States. After the early months of 1916, no German instruments were received and the American manufacturers had to supply the home market. In addition, after |