PARAGRAPH 17-PYROXYLIN COMPOUNDS. just been advised of the brief filed by the Cassella Color Co., requesting the removal of the misconstruction in the present tariff, which makes hydron blue dutiable at 30 per cent. We believe a favorable action in this matter would be of great advantage, both to the textile industry and the public in general. Hydron blue is one of the more important of the recent additions to the color industry, being a decidedly faster color than indigo, which it would largely replace if the price were more favorable. At its present price it is used only for the more expensive lines of work, and lowering the duty would undoubtedly increase the use of this valuable dyestuff. Respectfully, yours, PARAGRAPH 16. Cobalt, oxide of, twenty-five cents per pound. PARAGRAPH 17. H. W. OWEN, General Superintendent. Collodion and all compounds of pyroxylin or of other cellulose esters, whether known as celluloid or by any other name, forty cents per pound; if in blocks, sheets, rods, tubes, or other forms, not polished, wholly or partly, and not made up into finished or partly finished articles, forty-five cents per pound; if polished, wholly or partly, or if in finished or partly finished articles, except moving-picture films, of which collodion or any compound of pyroxylin or of other cellulose esters, by whatever name known, is the component material of chief value, sixty-five cents per pound and thirty per centum ad valorem. For celluloid, see also Park & Tilford et al., page 66. PYROXYLIN COMPOUNDS. BRIEF SUBMITTED BY FRANCIS A. GUDGER, NEW YORK CITY, IN BEHALF OF MANUFACTURERS OF PYROXYLIN COMPOUNDS. Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, NEW YORK, January 10, 1913. Chairman Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, D. C. SIR: The American manufacturers of compounds of pyroxylin beg to express their appreciation of the opportunity afforded them to be heard by your committee relative to contemplated changes in the tariff law affecting their industry, but owing to the shortness of time and the absence of the undersigned upon the dates set for the hearing. on paragraph 17, Schedule A, and realizing that your committee will undoubtedly be crowded to the utmost by the large number of persons who will wish to be heard on this schedule, we respectfully ask you to accept this short statement concerning the matter in question: The paragraph in the tariff act of 1909 which is applicable to our industry is No. 17, Schedule A. We earnestly protest on behalf of the stockholders of our several companies, as well as on behalf of the thousands of workmen employed in our factories and factories of allied industries, against any reduction in the rates of duty now set forth in paragraph No. 17 of Schedule PARAGRAPH 17-PYROXYLIN COMPOUNDS. A of the act of 1909. We firmly believe in the justice of our position and feel that it is supported by facts and conditions, the most important of which we set forth briefly as follows: First. Our product is distinctly and originally American. It was discovered by an American citizen forty-odd years ago, and American capital and brains developed and perfected it to a point where it became a valuable commercial commodity. When that point was reached our patents were copied, our secret processes were learned and transported abroad and developed to such an extent that to-day there exist large factories in Germany, France, England, Austria, Russia, Italy, and Japan. Second. There is no trust or monopoly in the industry and never has been. Each one of the companies is an independent corporation in which the others have no interest whatsoever, marketing their goods wholly independent of each other, and there exists between them all competition of the very keenest character. Third. The Government records will not show a large importation of pyroxylin articles, but this is because under the interpretation of the tariff laws the great majority of these goods are imported into this country under other tariff schedules than the one applying specifically to our industry. Such importations are, however, very large and increasing rapidly and progressively year by year. A single glance at the stocks of any of the department or retail stores throughout the country will fully bear out this assertion. Fourth. We firmly believe that if the protection now afforded our industry is taken away or radically reduced, our business will be seriously crippled and in many of the lines now produced by us will be completely destroyed, as they are now being gradually crippled. Fifth. The foreign manufacturers have taken from us all the markets of the world except the United States of America, and unless adequate protection is continued we will undoubtedly gradually suffer the same defeat at home as abroad. Sixth. Foreign manufacturers have a great advantage over us in cheaper crude materials and cheaper labor, and in many other ways, both from a point of cost and labor conditions. In the European countries well-known and well-established records show their labor to be less than one-third of the wages paid in our factories. In Japan, where there are now two completed "celluloid" factories on modern improved scale, the labor is less than a fourth or fifth of what ours is in this country, and some records show it to be far less than this. Seventh. There is scarcely a single article that we manufacture or that is manufactured from our material but what is strictly a luxury and has always been so classified or which can not be replaced by other and cheaper materials. Eighth. In the manufacture of our material we are very large users of two raw products, the conditions surrounding which we wish to call to your particular attention. (a) The American manufacturers of compounds of pyroxylin,while unable to give figures of an exact character, owing to the competition which prevents each from knowing the figures of the other, are users of approximately 10,000,000 pounds of cotton per year and a decrease in our manufacture or a resulting cessation of our industry will, of course, wholly or partially eliminate this consumption. PARAGRAPH 20-DYEING OR TANNING WOODS, ETC. (b) Our industry consumes millions of pounds of camphor; all of which comes from the Empire of Japan. The price of this raw material is controlled by the Government of Japan, the supply is controlled by the Government of Japan, and the distribution of this material is in the hands of the financial backers of the celluloid industry of Japan, all of which places the pyroxylin industry of America largely at the mercy of these same Japanese manufacturers who are planning to become our keenest competitors. Finally, we respectfully protest against any reduction of the protection afforded us in paragraph 17, Schedule A, act of 1909, and the clean conduct of our industry in both giving to the world and our country a commodity hitherto unknown, and with prices reasonable and fair we firmly believe justify every claim that we make for this encouragement from our Government, and we further respectfully request and wish to impress upon you the importance of a more strict and correct reading of the paragraph referring to our product and ask that the following paragraph be appended to the present tariff act as it now reads: "No article of which a compound of pyroxylin, or of other cellulose esters, is a component of chief value shall be entered for import under any other classification bearing a lower rate of duty.' Very respectfully, PARAGRAPH 18. FRANCIS A. GUDGER, Second Vice President, The Arlington Co. Coloring for brandy, wine, beer, or other liquors, fifty per centum ad valorem. PARAGRAPH 19. Copperas, or sulphate of iron, fifteen hundredths of one cent per pound. PARAGRAPH 20. Drugs, such as barks, beans, berries, balsams, buds, bulbs, bulbous roots, excrescences, fruits, flowers, dried fibers, dried insects, grains, gums and gum resin, herbs, leaves, lichens, mosses, nuts, nutgalls, roots, stems, spices, vegetables, seeds (aromatic, not garden seeds), seeds of morbid growth, weeds, and woods used expressly for dyeing or tanning; any of the foregoing which are natural and uncompounded drugs and not edible, and not specially provided for in this section, but which are advanced in value or condition by any process or treatment whatever beyond that essential to the proper packing of the drugs and the prevention of decay or deterioration pending manufacture, one-fourth of one cent per pound, and in addition thereto ten per centum ad valorem: Provided, That no article containing alcohol, or in the preparation of which alcohol is used, shall be classified for duty under this paragraph. For nutgalls, see also F. Bredt & Co., page 54. DYEING OR TANNING WOODS, ETC. STATEMENT OF R. A. McCORMICK, REPRESENTING The CHAIRMAN. Mr. McCormick, we have assigned to you 15 minutes, if that is satisfactory. Mr. MCCORMICK. Entirely so. The CHAIRMAN. Give your name and address to the stenographer. more. PARAGRAPH 20–DYEING OR TANNING WOODS, ETC. Mr. MCCORMICK. R. A. McCormick, of McCormick & Co., of BaltiMr. Chairman, the items that we as a firm are interested in are very small as compared with the main item in Schedule A, and I will therefore not take up very much of your time on them. we are We handle a number of articles in the chemical schedule, but wish to speak only of those under section 20. This section deals with a number of items which we import under the free list, section 559, but which in the ground state, or in a state described in the section as "advanced in value," carry a specific duty of one-fourth cent per pound and 10 per cent ad valorem. The principal items we import affected by the sections are: Section 559, juniper berries, insect flowers, gum asafetida, marjoram leaves, thyme leaves, savory leaves, laurel leaves, and senna leaves; section 668, tumeric root, celery seed, caraway seed, anise seed, fennel seed, coriander seed, and fenugreek. None of these items, so far as informed and also advised by the United States Department of Agriculture, are produced in this country other than as an occasional kitchen-garden product, except insect flowers. These, we are advised by Prof. Woodward, entomologist of the department of agriculture of California, are cultivated in that State by one grower only, who sells all his products at higher prices than are paid for the imported flowers. As the yield is not one-thousandth enough to supply the demand, it would seem that this single product needs no protection when unground or ground. Different grades of practically every agricultural product may come from the same field. They will vary in value on account of soil or season by the care and intelligence, or their lack, used in gathering the crops, together with the facilities for curing and weather conditions while being matured. Any of our common grains, as oats, wheat, barley, or corn, may be so badly grown, gathered, cured, or protected that they may be difficult to market, but bring a fair price in the ground state, simply because the buyer can not so thoroughly examine or so easily see the defects and inferiority when in the ground condition, and also because no chemical or microscopical examination will equal the examination by the eye when in the whole state. Any one of the leaves named may lose its strength wholly or in part, and in consequence could not be imported unground, and would sell in the country of origin for only a fraction of the cost of prime quality leaves, but could still be ground and hardly denied entry. For instance, if they were mixed with a small quantity of firstquality powder, they would meet every requirement for entry. In some seeds, as, for instance, caraway, the grains may be exhausted in the process of distilling the essential oil. The exhausted seeds are inert and of no practical value, easily distinguished and condemned in examination by the eye and taste, but if ground and mixed with powder from good seed would pass current and not be refused entry. This danger of substitution is greater now than a few years ago, for damaged products not up to a certain well-defined standard may be and are rejected when presented for entry at our ports; therefore the reasons for importing ground goods are greater from a profit standpoint. PARAGRAPH 20-DYEING OR TANNING WOODS, ETC. Heretofore practically none of these items have been imported in the ground state; therefore there has been little or no revenue derived under this section from the class of goods named. In framing a new tariff act with reference to goods affected by this section, if the duty is left unchanged we believe that in the main importing the ground goods will be prevented. It is, however, probable that in some instances it will be still found to pay the foreign grinder to send to the United States inferior ground goods rather than good class whole goods. In that event this class of goods would yield a small revenue, but to the detriment of the legitimate American grinder or to the ultimate consumer. If duties are reduced additional revenue will be had, as importing would be fostered, but the dangers pointed out would be proportionately increased. Putting these articles, if ground, on the free list would be particularly regrettable and would not only bring in no revenue but would certainly foster an evil without any compensating benefit. A duty on ground goods of this class is for one of two objects: First, as a revenue producer; second, to entirely bar out the goods. If for revenue, the duty must be at a happy medium between free and so high a tariff as to be prohibitive, or it must be high enough to be practically prohibitive. The latter is presumably the end here sought. I urge that your committee either leave the duties as they are now or increase them, and recommend that an ad valorem duty of 30 per cent rather than a combined specific and ad valorem duty, as at present, will be best, and respectfully urge that this rate be adopted. STATEMENT OF W. W. SKIDDY ET AL., REPRESENTING THE MANUFACTURERS OF DYEWOOD AND TANNING EXTRACTS. Paragraphs, present law: No. 20. Dutiable list, Schedule A; No. 22. Dutiable list, Schedule A. No. 559. Free list. Committee representing the manufacture of these extracts in the United States: W. W. Skiddy, Stamford, Conn.; Geo. A Kerr, Lynchburg, Va.; Oma Carr, Canton, N. C.; The New York Tanning Extract Co., New York, N. Y.; John D. Lewis, Providence, R. I.; American Dyewood Co., Chester, Pa.; The Stamford Manufacturing Co., Stamford, Conn.; Brevard Tannin Co., Pisgah Forest, N. C.; Jno. E. Heald & Co., Lynchburg, Va.; Mount Union Extract Co., Mount Union, Pa.; Smethport Extract Co., Damascus, Va.; The Tanners & Dyers Extract Co., Charleston, W. Va.; The Champion Fibre Co., Canton, N. C.; Cherokee Tanning Extract Co., Andrews, N. C.; American Extract Co., Port Allegheny, Pa.; and others (see page 9, Compilation of Tariff Hearings). WASHINGTON, January 6, 1913. Hon. Oscar W. Underwood, chairman, and the honorable members of the Ways and Means Committee. GENTLEMEN: Representing the manufacturers of dyewood extracts and tanning extracts in the United States, we beg to submit the |