PARAGRAPH 433-FIREWORKS. The CHAIRMAN. Are there any importations coming through the customhouse? Mr. BELL. I am not able to say about that. I doubt if there are. If there are, there are very few, as far as I know. I can not say as to that, because I am simply representing the company and am down here at Lynchburg. I am representing it as a stockholder, and representing the interests of the sparkler here. The CHAIRMAN. We would like to know very much the amount of the importations and the amount of the American production. Mr. BELL. Yes. I would say, in the second place, that there are absolutely no combinations in this country between the manufacturers. On the contrary there is a fierce warfare and competition between such manufacturers as there are. They have even gone to the length, some of them, of putting our goods in their boxes and selling them as samples-those who make an inferior article, and who wish to get the business in that way. I would say the third reason for the retention of the duty is that the business is absolutely new. We have been in operation four years, getting in shape. It is in a state of incubation. I would say that in that time we have lost about $12,000. We do not go to any great expense in the way of salaries and so forth; aside from the president of our company, who is paid $150 a month, and the stenographers, we have but one salaried man, who receives $20 a week. Apart from the stenographers, practically everyone is on the basis of piecework. One of the good features of the business is that it affords employment for young women at good rates of pay, a good deal better than the department stores and without the necessity for an outlay for appearance sake. It is a very good business from that standpoint. Now, we have foreign competition. We are trying to build up an export business. I would say that we could not get any export business at all if it were purely a matter of competing prices, but with American ingenuity we have been able to devise certain exclusive features which, so far, have not been copied by our German friends, who are our chief competitors. In the first place, we make a sparkler which is waterproof, so it will stand in any kind of atmosphere and will permit its transportation across the Tropics. The waterproof sparkler enables us to reach a trade which is at a long distance and over sea, such as the Philippines, Java, and China and Japan, but we can not reach trade near Germany or in Europe, because their prices undersell us. We have lost some very large foreign orders; for instance, we lost one Asiatic order of about $40,000. We have been able to devise a lighter weight sparkler, which gets us into such countries as the South American countries, where they levy heavy import duties on weights. We make a sparkler so that 144 dozen will not weigh more than 100 dozen of the German make, so we have been able to get into, say, Brazil, by virtue of the lighter weight. Those things have enabled us to get some trade there and throughout the world, but we are not able to meet the Germans on the proposition of price when it comes to that feature exclusively. Now, another point in connection with this matter is that we pay heavy duties on the articles that we use, and the conditions are such that a reduction of imports on these articles will not help us mate PARAGRAPH 433-FIREWORKS. rially, if at all. For instance, we use powdered aluminum of the very highest grade, which pays 12 cents a pound import duty. That is controlled by a combination in Germany. It is not made in the United States, although I heard just recently that a company in America is just starting out to make an aluminum powder. Whether they will succeed or not is a question to be determined. Now, we have tried all other makes and kinds, and can not use any other. Dextrine is also made in Germany, and it is in the hands of one person. Our nitrate pays 3 cents a pound and 25 per cent ad valorem, and that is also controlled by a very few wealthy individuals. Now, I do not think the reduction of duty on any of these articles would help us, because they will simply raise theirs up so much more. As a matter of fact they have gotten together and advanced prices very largely. In addition to that, we have heavy differences in freights-ocean freights-and in the cost of labor and materials. We started in under the former tariff just about the time of the present existing tariff, and if we had known as much as we do now, we never would have started in under that tariff, because it would have been impossible to succeed, and it would be impossible to succeed under any material reduction in the tariff. We My position in the matter is this, that I would like to see reasonable duties kept upon the ingredients which we use, which I have mentioned, to give the people here a chance to develop these goods. have had to go to Germany by compulsion. reasonable degree of duty on these articles to manufacturer, so we can buy them at home. to do. I believe in keeping a encourage the American That is what we want We These sparklers are dipped on wire, which is copper coated. have been able to buy the wire and our steel at home so far, and I presume we shall be able to continue to do so. Those are practically the only two domestic articles that we use in the manufacture of sparklers? Mr. DIXON. Light one of them. Mr. BELL. Light the small size for you? Mr. DIXON. Yes; light one of the sparklers. Mr. BELL. The younger generation pretty generally know what sparklers are, but I would not have known myself what they were, except for the fact that I am interested in their manufacture. The witness thereupon lighted one of the said sparklers. Mr. BELL. At night they make a very pretty display. The incandescent particles are very finely divided steel, so finely divided that they chill instantly on touching the flesh, and do not do any particular damage. Mr. DIXON. How many are there in a box? Mr. BELL. Twelve. Mr. DIXON. What do they retail for? Mr. BELL. This size box retails for 3 cents a box. I want to bring out the fact that a reduction in the price to the wholesaler, even if we had to force down our prices, would not materially help the consumer, for two reasons: One of the principal reasons is on account of the trade custom. The trade in these little novelties is accustomed to get certain prices-3 cents or 5 cents or 10 cents for a box of these things PARAGRAPH 436-MATCHES. or similar articles, and a cent is too large a unit to permit of the reduction of the price by so much as 1 cent. That is one of the reasons that a reduction even in the wholesale price would hardly reduce them to the retailer. Mr. DIXON. How many sizes do you make of them? Mr. BELL. We make the four sizes that you see here, and we make two larger sizes, which are called "torches" and are put in wooden sockets and carried in torchlight parades. The larger of those burn six minutes and sell for 10 cents apiece, and the next smaller size burn approximately half that time, and sell for 5 cents apiece. These are articles which are not made by the Germans at all. They are used in Hindu ceremonies in India-religious ceremonies. I would like to show you our waterproof sparklers. They are all covered, you see, by a coating of aluminum. You can dip it in water and light it afterwards. The CHAIRMAN. Is that all, Mr. Bell? Mr. BELL. Yes; unless there are some questions to answer. Any that I can not answer, I will try to get the information on. Shall I leave these with you? The CHAIRMAN. No; it is not necessary. Mr. BELL. Thank you, gentlemen PARAGRAPH 434. Fulminates, fulminating powders, and like articles suitable for miners' use, twenty per centum ad valorem; all other not specially provided for in this section, thirty per centum ad valorem. PARAGRAPH 435. Gunpowder, and all explosive substances used for mining, blasting, artillery, or sporting purposes, when valued at twenty cents or less per pound, two cents per pound; valued above twenty cents per pound, four cents per pound. PARAGRAPH 436. Matches, friction or lucifer, of all descriptions, per gross of one hundred and forty-four boxes, containing not more than one hundred matches per box, six cents per gross; when imported otherwise than in boxes containing not more than one hundred matches each, three-fourths of one cent per one thousand matches; wax and fancy matches and tapers, thirty-five per centum ad valorem. MATCHES. TESTIMONY OF WALDO PECK ADAMS, OF NEW YORK CITY. The witness was duly sworn by the chairman. Mr. ADAMS. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I have prepared a brief, which I believe has been distributed, regarding Schedule N, on matches. I wish to supplement that brief with the statement that I am about to make, and also make a demonstration of matches to illustrate some of the points that are brought out in the brief. In connection with and supplementing the brief which I have submitted to the committee, I wish to say that the subject of safe matches for the American people is one worthy of your serious consideration. The retail price paid by the consumers of this country for matches approximates $50,000,000 yearly. PARAGRAPH 436-MATCHES. As set forth in brief, the National Fire Protection Association, while in convention in Chicago in May last, are reported to have gone on record in favor of legislation to curtail the enormous losses from fire caused by matches, which they stated amounted to $36,000,000 a year in the United States, and kill more people each year than all the dynamite manufactured in the country. The Esch-Hughes regulations insure the manufacture and importation of matches that are less dangerous as a fire hazard, on account of the fact that the temperature at which they ignite by friction or otherwise is much higher than that required for white phosphorus matches. The yearly destruction of property by fire with the attendant loss of human life in killed and injured that results from the manufacture, warehousing, storage, transportation, handling, and use of unsafe matches is of much greater importance than loss of life due solely to the use of white phosphorus in match manufacture which called for the Esch-Hughes legislation. The amendments to the tariff regulations recommended in the brief I have submitted are designed to prohibit the importation of dangerous matches. This will require a classification of matches in type and kind. The match industry in the United States has been practically dominated by one concern for the last 40 years. The industry is a glaring illustration of special privilege that has been fostered by an unjust and discriminating tariff. Fire insurance statistics, together with the information brought out in connection with the bearings before your committee on white phosphorus matches, is sufficient proof that the common type of American household matches, such as have been on the market during all these years, has been a dangerous hazard, both from poison and fire. It was brought out in the hearings above referred to and it is generally admitted that matches of European manufacture, as a rule, are superior to the American-made product. This can be demonstrated by actual comparisons. As stated on the fifteenth page of the brief submitted, the correctness of the ad valorem unit costs under the Payne tariff is questioned, particularly when importations have been made in boxes containing over 100 matches each. One American manufacturer is placing matches on the New York market at the wholesale price at less than 3 cents a thousand matches. These matches are sold to the retail trade at 3 cents a thousand matches and to the consumer at 5 cents. I submit for the consideration of your committee, in the form of Exhibit A, cuttings from New York City newspapers showing the attitude of the majority of American manufacturers of matches to the restrictive legislation incorporated in the new match law of New York City that went into effect January 1, 1913. This law is a model of excellence. There is also submitted a copy of the suggested State law referred to on page 7 of the brief submitted. There is also submitted samples of matches of both foreign and domestic manufacture that have been labeled to show type and kind. PARAGRAPH 436-MATCHES. I will not take up your time in reading more than one or two items from this Exhibit A, which are clippings from the New York papers with reference to matches. The first I will read is in reference to a suit of the Tariff League against O. C. Barber for dues (reading): That Ohio Columbus Barber, organizer and former president of the Diamond Match Co. owes the American Protective Tariff League $1,840 in back dues is alleged in the complaint of a suit filed against him to recover that amount by the league's attorney in the Supreme Court yesterday. The papers assert that since Mr. Barber joined the league in 1888, upon the payment of $100, he has not paid a single assessment, except one of $2 in 1910. That was to pay for a souvenir issued by the league. Although George W. Carr, of No. 29 Wall Street, has been trying to do so for more than two years, he only succeeded in serving a summons on Mr. Barber on Tuesday. (New York World, Oct. 31, 1912.) Here is an article cut from the New York Globe, undated: BOASTS HE CONTROLS WORLD'S MATCH TRADE. O. C. Barber, president of the Diamond Match Co., returned from Europe to-day on the Mauretania, He said he doesn't care who is elected President. No one man is capable of spoiling the business of the United States, he added. "It looks as if we are going to have an improvement in business generally," said Mr. Barber. "In illustrating how his company controls the world's match business, Mr. Barber pulled a box of matches from his pocket and offered them to those who stood around him. "They're from Sweden,' he said. 'If you don't like them try these. They are from Germany,' and he drew a second box from his pocket. He said he carried matches, made by his trust, that came from many different parts of the world." Mr. HILL. Is this an attack on Mr. Barber? [Laughter.] Mr. ADAMS. I represent myself. I am in the fire insurance business in New York. This [indicating] is a package that I referred to as selling at 3 cents a thousand in the wholesale trade. It is marked 1,000 and is supposed to contain that amount. This match is outlawed under the new ordinance of New York City which went into effect January 1, for the reason that it is made of white phosphorus and the splint is not impregnated with a compound and subsequently coated with paraffin, so as to insure carbonization of the wood and prevent the afterglow, which is the fire-creating hazard in matches that I would like to have prohibited in importations. That will burn [witness having lighted and then blown out the match] until the tip drops off. When the match is extinguished people throw it away and think the match is out, and this is what causes many fires. This match [indicating] is made in Sweden, "The Lancer." This is one of the best matches made, with a poisonous tip, with an impregnated splint. Under the Esch-Hughes law they can not import this match after January 1 of this year. When that match [witness having lighted same] is blown out it is out; it still holds the ash. Mr. HARRISON. By the way, I understand the Swedish law forbids the manufacture of those matches for use in Sweden, but permits the manufacture of them for export to the United States. Mr. ADAMS. There are a few factories in Sweden and Belgium that make unimpregnated matches for export. They do not sell any in |