EXHIBIT C. NEW YORK, November 17, 1908. Mr. A. F. RICE, VICE-PRESIDENT CAMPBELL ART CO., Elizabeth, N. J. DEAR SIR: We are in receipt of your favor of the 16th instant, in regard to meeting of the Ways and Means Committee to be held at Washington November 21. Mr. Witterman, of the Albertype Company, in Brooklyn, visited us and talked this matter over, and we assured him that we would do our share in bringing about the desired revision of the tariff. Thanking you for bringing this matter to our attention, we are, Yours, very truly, CAREY LITHOGRAPH COMPANY. EXHIBIT D. CAMPBELL ART COMPANY, Elizabeth, N. J. NEW YORK, November 17, 1908. GENTLEMEN: In reply to your favor of November 16, wish to say that I should have been very glad to join with you in your effort to revise the present tariff on pictures, but the time is so short that I do not think I can arrange to go to Washington on Saturday. Of course we are more interested in the duty on photogravure plates and prints. One trouble is that our fine work has to be printed on imported paper, on which there is a heavy duty. This places us at a disadvantage with the foreign houses, because they get the paper much cheaper; and with a small duty on the prints makes it difficult for us to compete with them. It would be better for all of us if the duty on fine paper that can not be made in this country was reduced and the duty on the pictures printed on this paper increased. That would place us in a position to sell our goods in South America and Mexico. I should like to have an interview with your representative who is going to Washington, and I might be able to suggest something that would be to our mutual benefit. The photogelatin printers of this country are constantly going into competition with the photogravure houses in Europe. Yours, truly, Mr. ARTHUR F. RICE, PHOTOGRAVURE AND COLOR COMPANY, EXHIBIT E. MERIDEN, CONN., November 18, 1908. Vice-President Campbell Art Co., Elizabeth, N. J. DEAR SIR: Regret to say it will be impossible for me to appear before the Ways and Means Committee on the 21st, and should be glad if you could represent us, as well as yourself, at that time. We hold that the present tariff on photo-gelatin work is wholly inadequate to put us on an even footing with the German manufacturers, when the wages paid, hours worked, and cost of materials on the other side are considered. We also hold that it is a manifest injustice to compel us to pay 45 per cent duty on machinery for this process (and we can get this machinery in no other way than by import), and then protect us on the product of the machinery by only 35 per cent or less. Very truly, yours, THE MERIDEN GRAVURE COMPANY, EXHIBIT F. CHICAGO, November 16, 1908. CAMPBELL ART COMPANY, Elizabeth, N. J. GENTLEMEN: We have your letter of November 12, which was forwarded from our old address. The tariff relative to the photo-gelatin industry is, as you say, manifestly unjust and we are cordially in sympathy with any movement which has in view a readjustment of this matter. Considering the impossibility of American photo-gelatin firms of competing with European firms under the present tariff, we should suggest that the presses come in free and that a duty of 100 per cent or more on the finished product would be putting us on a more equitable plane of competition. Thank you for calling our attention to this important subject and for the interest you are taking in the matter. Very truly, yours, WESTERN PHOTOGRAVURE COMPANY, STATEMENT OF ARTHUR F. RICE, FLATIRON BUILDING, NEW YORK CITY, RELATIVE TO PHOTOGELATIN POST CARDS. SATURDAY, November 21, 1908. Mr. RICE. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I would like to speak on the photo-gelatin printing process as affected by the present tariff. Mr. HILL. Do you know what paragraph of the law that is in? Mr. RICE. It is hard to say, because we are not, I think, properly classified, if classified at all. On the basis of the duty charged on imported photo-gelatin work, we belong in paragraph 403. Mr. HILL. What is the particular business you are in? Mr. RICE. The photo-gelatin printing process, and I will say that I represent practically all of those in that business. We thought it was unnecessary to bring you gentlemen long papers on this subject. I think I represent all these people, practically, and I will give you the names of those I represent, and what I have to say will occupy but a short time. The photo-gelatin printing process was introduced in this country about 1871, and while it has flourished mightily abroad, especially in Germany, it has never secured in this country the place which it is entitled to hold as the best process for the reproduction of art pictures and kindred work, where fine details and graduation of tones are required. On the 17th of this month the Government Printing Office called for bids on nearly three million photo-gelatin prints as illustrations for an important publication where the above-mentioned qualities are absolutely required. There are not three photo-gelatin plants in the United States capable of turning out this work within the desired time, and the reasons are not far to seek the low duty on foreign photo-gelatin work and the tremendous difference in the cost of labor and materials between Germany and the United States tell the story. No photo-gelatin power presses are made in this country, and we have to pay a 45 per cent duty on such a machine. Mr. HILL. What is the duty on the product? Mr. RICE. Twenty-five per cent as it comes in now, classified as printed matter. It comes in under the duty of 25 per cent. Mr. GRIGGS. What do you want to make it? Mr. RICE. The finished product of a photo-gelatin press in the form of post cards comes in under the customs tariff as printed matter, on which a duty of but 25 per cent is imposed. Mr. GRIGGS. How much do you want to make the duty? Mr. RICE. I will arrive at that. I have the briefs here of all the important photo-gelatin men. The bringing in of the finished product of the process at a duty of 25 per cent is manifestly unfair and a discrimination in favor of foreign capital and labor. I find no fault with the 45 per cent duty on the press, but I submit that the duty on the finished product should, to say the least, be no less. I speak of post cards because they represent the largest single item of imported gelatin work. The CHAIRMAN. Have you a written brief there? Mr. RICE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Then I think you had better submit it to the committee in that form. Mr. RICE. Yes. I am speaking of the duty on the finished product which comes in here, to our great detriment. I think I am within the truth in stating that two years ago more than 75,000,000 photogelatin cards were imported. I have not the data regarding last year. Practically none of this work was done here, although we needed it badly enough. Many of these cards are hand colored, but come in under the same 25 per cent duty, which is a still harder proposition for the manufacturer here, as it involves more cheap labor, not to mention the very prevalent impression that some of these hand-colored cards come in at certain ports of entry under the classification of "lithographs," "chromos," and so forth, at 5 cents. per pound, which would bring the duty down to an absurdity on this class of work. There is a large business in these cards in South America, about one-half as much as in this country, but under the present conditions we can get none of it; the same is true of Mexico and Canada. If we can not secure any part of this trade, I submit that we should at least be protected in our own country. The following is a comparative scale of wages, which shows where we find ourselves on the labor problem: I assure you, gentlemen, that those are conservative figures. There is no guesswork about them. In connection with the briefs submitted by several of the other gentlemen are sworn statements in respect to the labor cost in Germany, and those can be substantiated here at any time. Certain features of this process call for skilled labor, which it is almost impossible to get in this country, and we are restrained under the law from making contracts for foreign labor. The question is asked why they do not all come here from Germany and why we do not get the skilled labor. If men of the required ability come here of their own accord, the labor unions immediately get hold of them and settle the wage question for them in a hurry. Any relief, therefore, in the way of cheaper labor is exceedingly remote. Concerning the principal materials entering into our work, we find ourselves in practically the same position, as the following figures will show: Of course, if paper were on the free list, that would be of great help to us. We do not ask that, but do ask that the adequate protection of one industry shall not operate as a disadvantage to us because we are not properly protected. The duty on machinery, gelatin, ink, and paper is, in every case, higher than the duty on photogelatin printed matter, and possibly no further argument should be necessary to demonstrate the fairness of an advance in duty on the latter. As to how much this advance should be, those whom I represent in a measure here differ, as the briefs will show, ranging from a minimum of 45 per cent to a maximum of 100 per cent. The Camp bell Art Company, for whom I speak directly, feels that a maximum. of 75 per cent and a minimum of 60 per cent ad valorem would be equitable and reasonable in view of the figures just given, which can readily be authenticated concerning the relative cost of labor and material here and abroad. On the basis of such an advance, it is probable that ten presses would soon be running where one is in operation to-day, and that many hundreds of both skilled and unskilled 61318-SCHED M-09- -32 workmen would find steady employment where scores are busy to-day. I submit briefs and letters from the Albertype Company, of Brooklyn; Meriden Gravure Company, of Meriden, Conn.; Campbell Art Company, of Elizabeth, N. J.; The Photogravure and Color Company, of New York; Carey Lithograph Company, of New York; E. Moebius, of Camden, N. J.; Heliotype Company, of Boston, Mass.; and TaberPrang Art Company, of Springfield, Mass., constituting practically all of the important concerns in this country in this line of work. We buy our materials, manufacture our products, and sell our goods in this country. There is no combination among the people engaged in this line of business, and I can assure you that the competition between ourselves is keen enough to protect the public so far as prices are concerned. What we want and ask for is such measure of protection as will keep our factories running and our people employed. • Mr. HILL. How many of you are there engaged in this printing from gelatin plates? Mr. RICE. The eight factories I have named, and there are several smaller concerns. Mr. HILL. What is the total American production, in round figures? Mr. RICE. That would be a difficult question to answer. Mr. HILL. A million dollars? Mr. RICE. Yes, sir. Mr. HILL. Two million dollars? Mr. HILL. Do you know what the importations are? They are not classified separately in the government reports. Mr. RICE. I spoke of post cards as the largest item, and if I am correctly informed and I believe I am-two years ago I can not tell what it was last year Mr. HILL. In dollars and cents, what is it? Mr. RICE. There were 75.000.000 post cards imported. Mr. HILL. What did it amount to in dollars and cents? Mr. RICE. You mean their price or ours? Mr. HILL. No; the total amount, after they are admitted into this country. What would be, in your judgment, the total importation? They are about $2 to $4 a thousand, we will say, and there were 75,000,000 of them. That would be about $200,000, would it not? Mr. RICE. Yes; $300,000, nearly. Mr. HILL. Your estimate is that the American production is from a million to two million, and the importation is from $200,000 to $300,000? Mr. RICE. I am speaking of only one item, namely, post cards. Mr. RICE. Then, there are other things that come in, art pictures, catalogue covers, and booklets, and the Smithsonian Institute, for instance, is getting some work in Germany to-day. The only place where the American photogelatin printer has a chance to-day is where the customer must have his work immediately, and where he must have good quality, because you can get as good quality in this country as in Germany; but if a man hes to wait sixty or ninety days for his goods, an American manufacturer can sometimes get an order for im mediate shipment. But it is not only the post cards. That is the most striking feature of it, but the other things are creeping in and getting their hold because of the difference in the price. |