PARAGRAPH 416-BOOKS. tion of the duty on works of art. This cancellation covered, to be sure, only the works which had been produced more than 20 years back, but it did constitute a recognition of the fact that the barriers between the American public and the art productions of the world should be lessened rather than increased. As above stated, a book of the class now in question is in itself a work of art. The interpolation above cited makes a substantial increase in the duty on a work of art; it is intended, in fact, to prevent the importation, and it must of necessity have the effect of preventing the importation, of books bound in artistic designs. The result is not only an inconvenience and an injustice to cultivated Americans who desire to se ure such books (and here I am speaking as a binder), but it stands in the way of the development of the art of binding in this country. If the American binder is satisfied with his own present standard of binding designs, he will make no progress toward a more artistic and satisfactory standard. Such progress is made only by the study of and the competition with the higher class designs produced in the art centers of Europe. I point out further that the interpolation in question constitutes an example of what may be described as surreptitious legislation. It was slipped in at the last moment during the work of the conference committee. The fact that there had been any change proposed or accomplished in the duty on books was not known even to the leaders of the party who were responsible for the tariff act. No opportunity was given to those interested on the part of the book trade or of the book-buying public to consider the proposed change or to present arguments against it. It is our contention, in which I think the leader of the House is in full accord with us, that whatever changes are made in the tariff system, or in the general taxing system of the United States, shall be arrived at publicly and after due considerate and adequate discussion. I hope very much that the work of yourself and of your associates will not be brought to completion without the elimination of this surreptitious interpolation in the section fixing the duty on books. I am with much respect, your obedient servant, Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, Washington, D. C. GEO. HAVEN PUTNAM. HANOVER COllege, Hanover, Ind., January 11, 1913. DEAR SIR: There is published at Berlin by Langenscheidt Muret-Sanders, Encyclopaedisches Englisch-Deutsches und Deutsch-Englisches Woerterbuch, the best German-English and English-German dictionary extant. This is at best a rather expensive work, which would appeal chiefly to such teachers of German as wish to do the most thorough work and occasionally to libraries. Now, under present tariff regulations libraries can purchase this work for $16.80 duty-free, but I or any other teacher of German must pay $21 for it if we want the work. In other words, any teacher of German must pay a tax of $4.20 on this work alone for the privilege of equipping himself with the best tool. There is nothing of the sort published in this country and probably never will be, so it could not be for the sake of that much-vaunted god Protection." It must be regarded as a luxury. Now, teaching is not the most remunerative occupation in the world, as you perhaps know. I have been a teacher of German for a number of years because I enjoy the work. I have felt the need constantly of this work, as has many another German teacher, perhaps some in your district. Thus far the price and the tax together have been prohibitive. So I have taken the liberty of calling your attention to this item with the hope that in the new tariff schedules you and your colleagues might see fit remove one of the burdens of a profession that involves a good deal of sacrifice anyway. Doubtless there are other items of similar character heavily taxed, but this one has appealed to me particularly. I have also written Hon. Lincoln Dixon, Representative from this district, regarding this item. DEAR MR. AYRES: I have your letter of the 16th instant, and in reply will say that when I speak in my letter of the "new tariff" I mean the Payne-Aldrich bill, which came into effect in 1909. PARAGRAPH 416-PHOTOGELATIN PRINTS. The duty which has been placed on the illustrations in question has been raised to 30 per cent ad valorem plus 5 cents per pound of paper, thus making the duty from 50 per cent upward, according to the weight of the paper. Previous to the Payne-Aldrich bill the duty was only 25 per cent ad valorem. The incongruity of the whole proceeding lies in the fact that a foreign publisher is protected in this country and has free entry with his goods into this country, whilst the American publisher is fined with a heavy penalty if he imports from the German publisher the same goods in order to use them for an English version of the foreign product. There should either be the same duty on foreign books containing the plates, as stipulated in the Payne-Aldrich bill, or the duty on the plates themselves if imported by an American house should be removed. This ought to suggest itself by the laws of equity and justice; they are educational matters. I have been paying these high duties ever since 1909 without being able to obtain redress. If you can do anything with the Ways and Means Committee in this respect, I shall feel obliged. I hope that I have made myself quite clear now, and that you will be able to understand the situation better. Yours, very truly, REBMAN CO., FRANCIS J. REBMAN, President. PHOTOGELATIN PRINTS. BRIEF OF CAMPBELL ART CO., ELIZABETH, N. J. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee on Ways and Means: I desire to lay before you certain facts relative to the products of the photogelatin printing process as affected by the tariff, Schedule M. There are only about a dozen photogelatin printing plants in this country, employing in the aggregate something like 50 power presses (all of which have to be imported on a 45 per cent duty) and doing but little over $1,000,000 business. I am asked to represent here the majority of these concerns, namely, The Albertype Co., Brooklyn; Meriden Gravure Co., Meriden, Conn.; Chicago Photogravure Co., Chicago, Ill.; Illustrated Postal Card & Novelty Co., New York; The Artogravure Co., Hoboken, N. J.; Kramer Art Co., Cincinnati, Ohio; Louis Winkler, New York; Taber-Prang Art Co., Springfield, Mass.; Photogravure & Color Co., New York; The Ullman Manufacturing Co., of New York, and the Campbell Art Co., my own company, of Elizabeth, N. J. Their letters are attached to my brief. All we desire to do is to lay before you a plain and brief statement of facts, and without legal counsel or the importuning of our various Senators and Representatives, to leave the matter to your good judgment and decision. The photogelatin process is particularly adapted to small runs of work requiring careful execution in the reproduction of art pictures, book illustrations, the finer grades of post cards, and the like. Strictly speaking, it is a fine art, and the work turned out by it is a luxury. The process is very slow, about 500 sheets per day for one press, as against from 3,000 to 12,000 per day from a type or lithographic press. The cost of the work, especially as a fine grade of paper must be used, is correspondingly large. The process has been in vogue in this country for over 40 years, and therefore can not be called an "infant industry;" it might be better described as a dwarf. Until 1909 the product of the photogelatin press was not even mentioned in the tariff, and the only duty levied on its importation was 25 per cent, under the general classification of "printed matter." Especially in the form of post cards there have been large importations of photogelatin printed matter, and on account of the great disparity in the cost of labor and materials here and abroad the foreign cards have been and are being used almost exclusively in this country, the majority of them bearing the imprint "Made in Germany," and this in spite of the fact that a slight additional duty of 15 cents per pound was written into the tariff in 1909. We were hopeful that hereafter we would find ourselves on an even keel with the foreign manufacturers and get our share of this growing post card business, at least in our own country, but the results have not shown this. During the past four years only about 40 presses have been imported. During that time my own company has found it impossible to make any post cards whatever in competition with manufacturers here PARAGRAPH 416-PHOTOGELATIN PRINTS. and abroad. A few in this country have, however, succeeded in doing so at a very small profit. We realize that it would be futile to ask for a higher duty on photogelatin printed matter at this time, although we firmly believe that the conditions and the facts warrant it; but we do ask that the present rate be not reduced and that a careful examination be made of the relative cost of labor and materials here and abroad in justification of this request. I submit herewith a table showing the cost of materials and the rates of wages paid in 1908 to the different classes of employees engaged in this business in Germany and in the United States. Since that time wages and the cost of materials have advanced about 20 per cent both here and abroad. Assuming that the Tariff Commission has supplied your committee with its findings in relation to this item of the tariff, I am confident you will find my table accurate and conservative. The exports of photogelatin work from this country are probably less than 10,000 per annum and confined chiefly to reproductions of exclusively copyrighted pictures, protected under the international copyright law. The home market is our only field I have been unable on short notice to learn what the importations amount to at this time; but in 1907 they were, in post cards alone, $350,000 at the port of New York, and, on a conservative estimate, $150,000 more in Boston, Philadelphia, and other ports of entry, without counting art pictures, catalogues, and other photogelatin printed matter. It may be safely assumed that the present importations are no less than then and amount to about as much as the entire output of the photogelatin plants in the United States. In Germany huge factories, operating 20 or more power presses each, are running from 10 to 14 hours a day and employing thousands of people; and to a less extent the same is true of France, England, Austria, and Belgium. The United States is their very best customer, and they also practically have the entire trade of South America, Cuba, Mexico, and Canada. In a word, we have no foreign market and are being crowded out of our own. This I quote from a letter submitted to me by the Albertype Co. of Brooklyn, one of the oldest concerns in the country: "The wages in our line average two and a half to three times as high as in Germany-especially when the German system of four years apprenticeship is taken into calculation. Photogelatin view cards have for years been made at 6 marks or $1.44 per 1,000 of a subject. When the preparatory work, packing, and sundry expenses are considered, we can not compete at double the rate. ratio applies equally to other work that is usually done by the photogelatin process." It is my experience that the only important orders that the American manufacturers can hope to secure is when immediate deliveries are required or when we furnish exclusive, copyrighted subjects ourselves. In the production of hand-colored post cards we are still worse off, as they involve more cheap labor, and there is a strong impression that many of these, especially photogelatin cards printed in three colors, come in at certain ports of entry under the classification of "lithographs,' "chromos," etc., at a low rate per pound, which brings the duty down to an absurdity. My own company is less interested in post cards than in the other features of photogelatin work, such as book illustrations, catalogues, and the reproduction of art pictures. Some of these products are required by the departments of the Government here and called for in their specifications, and when I tell you that that peculiarly American institution, the Smithsonian Institution, is getting at least a part of its 78959°-VOL 5-13 -20 PARAGRAPH 416-PHOTOGELATIN PRINTS. book illustrations from abroad, and not on the basis of the foreign product being superior, you can see how we are placed. We do not ask for a monopoly; we do not expect to get any foreign business; we do not even ask for any advantage over our alien competitors in our own country; but we would like to have, for ourselves and for the workmen we employ, the privilege and the opportunity of competing with them on even terms, which I assume is one of the designs and objects of the tariff; and we court the most careful scrutiny into the matter to see whether we have been, or are likely to be, put on a basis of equality with our competitors abroad under the tariff now prevailing. Moreover, there is another active and sleepless factor operating against us continually and at this very moment, namely, the importers of photogelatin products, who are naturally more interested in buying their goods cheaply than is sustaining any home industry. I beg that you will carefully weigh their arguments in the balance with our own and that our interests, though comparatively small, will not be overlooked in the final analysis. I attach hereto copy of a characteristic circular letter from a German house manufacturing high-grade post cards, which they have mailed from Dresden to all the small post-card dealers in this country. Accompanying this you will find their catalogue and price list, which are at variance with the text of their letter. In this connection please note the letter, also attached to this exhibit, from the Albertype Co. of Brooklyn. In consideration of this matter photogravures and photogelatin products should be considered in the same light and in a class by themselves and they should never be confused with half tones, zinc etchings, lithographs, three-color work, or other cheap and rapid processes. Like the photogelatin process, the photogravure process is adaptable only to high-class art work, and in the evolution of business it has met with the same difficulties regarding competition from abroad. The photogravure output in this country, marked samples of which accompany this brief, has been narrowed to about half a dozen concerns of any importance and solely to the cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The duty on Japanese vellum, Holland, Italian handmade and some other foreign-made papers being higher than the duty on the finished product; and the duty on certain inks and materials, which can not be made in this country, but which are necessary in the turning out of photogravure work, being very high in proportion to the duty on the finished product, the photogravure makers in this country are hit both ways. For instance, the duty on blankets for a photogravure press is about $4 per yard; whereas in England the total cost per yard is about $3.50. The photogravure samples herewith are, as usual, on imported paper carrying a high duty, and the best quality of photogelatin work also requires equally good paper. By a careful comparison of the photogravure and photogelatin samples you will note how kindred the processes and the results are although the photogravure is much more rapid than the photogelatin process. Under the prevailing conditions, if Mr. Morgan or some patron of the arts desires to publish a very fine catalogue, or if American artists desire high grade reproductions of their work, they can save money by going abroad for them, the finished work coming in at a much less rate than the separate materials or component parts. The same is true of the printing presses. The duty on photogelatin work, other than post cards, is 25 per cent, but the duty on a photogelatín press, none being made in this country, is 45 per cent. If the duty on photogelatin and photogravure prints, of all classes other than post cards, could be made 45 per cent, the same as on the press that prints them, this line of business would be materially aided and without loss of revenue to the Government. Mr. Chairman, on November 15, 1908, as a member of the then Ways and Means Committee, you asked me if I thought the photogelatin industry in this country could control 50 per cent of the business if we got what we asked for them, and I said I thought we could; but we did not get all that we asked for and we have not been able to control 50 per cent of this competitive business since that time; no, nor 25 per cent of it. As this has not been due to lack of diligence on our part, I ask that consideration be given to this four-year practical test, and that, irrespective of any duty that has prevailed, you give us exactly what we are entitled to, to equalize the cost of labor and material here and in foreign countries, with a reasonable profit added, if in your wisdom you think we are entitled to a profit on our invested capital. Moreover, I ask that this dainty and beautiful process which is in itself invaluable for fine reproductions of art pictures, drawings, and natural objects, be not discouraged. I attach to my brief samples (on file) showing its educational value in schools and seats of learning, the finesness of its execution, its utility to the Government itself, and its importance, not only to those engaged in the work, but also to those who make use of it. ARTHUR F. RICE, President. PARAGRAPH 416-PHOTOGELATIN PRINTS. OSCAR W. UNDerwood, NEW YORK, January 27, 1913. Chairman Ways and Means Committee, Wsahington, D. C. MY DEAR SIR: As further evidence of a proposed attempt by certain important foreign manufacturers of post cards (concerning which I recently wrote you) to monopolize at any cost the post-card business in this country and South America, I inclose herewith a letter from Mr. Witteman, of the Albertype Co., Brooklyn, which bears closely on this matter. Mr. Witteman is a highly reputable man and his statement merely corroborates the information I already had, and more of which I expect to be able to secure and transmit to you. Very respectfully, yours, CAMPBELL ART CO. President. Mr. ARTHUR F. RICE, Campbell Art Co., New York. BROOKLYN, N. Y., January 25, 1913. MY DEAR MR. RICE: Your kind letter has spurred my memory, and I have obtained this information from one of my printers, Mr. Herman Rudelt, residence 320 Irving Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., who had lived and worked in Berlin (Germany) and become acquainted with Mr. Pankhurst, the American representative of the lately formed postcard trust, the Excelsior Postcard Co. (Ltd.), Berlin, Hugo Deyhle, president. The following photo-gelatine printing firms were incorporated into it: Gebrueder Deyhle, Berlin C, 17 gelatine presses; Dr. Trenkler, Leipzig, 12 gelatine presses, Wilh. Hoffmann, Dresden, 13 gelatine presses. They jointly own a printing-ink factory and paper mill. They have lowered the price of a thousand gelatine post cards in one color to 5 marks ($1.20) per 1,000 cards. Their representative, Mr. Pankhurst, and several of his men are traveling in the United States to collect orders for view and other post cards, with the avowed purpose of forcing the market at almost any price. Mr. Pankhurst has thus expressed himself toward Mr. Rudelt, and the latter will testify to it. The Excelsior Postcard Co.'s domicile in New York is not known to me, but post cards with their trade-mark are plentiful here. The inclosed "Woman's Hospital, New York" card (on file) appears to be of their make, with the American News Co.'s initials in the clover leaf. The trust's president, Commercienrath Deyhle, is said to be a millionaire, and the other two concerns are of old standing and financially powerful. They will no doubt cut below the 5 marks for large export, and employ other insidious methods to break us or the hated tariff barrier. One of these is to bring in post cards without the obligatory imprint "Made in Germany." The inclosed card (on file) of "Celilo Falls, Columbia River," was sold by a Los Angeles house, Newman or Rieder. It is unquestionably of German make and had escaped close scrutiny when entered at some American port, if it did not come by way of Canada. If it was deemed necessary, Mr. Rudelt would make a sworn affidavit or appear as a witness in Washington. What more do you wish me to find out? Very truly, yours, A. WITTEMAN. PETITION OF PHOTOGELATINE WORKERS' UNION OF AMERICA. NEW YORK, January, 1913. The COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. Mr. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN: We, the officers and members of The Photogelatine Workers' Union of America, respectfully petition your honorable body, and enter our plea for, at least, the retention of the present impor tariff on post cards and art reproductions produced by the photogelatine process of printing as provided for in paragraph 416, Schedule M, of the tariff act of 1909. While we desire that this present tariff be retained, still we feel justified in calling your attention to the fact that an increase over the present tari: would be very de |