PARAGRAPH 3-ALKALIES. operated it for two years, at the end of which period he had charge of the works of this company at Pittsburgh, manufacturing carbonicacid gas and Epsom salts. Later, he was engaged by a concern in Chicago in the matter of manufacturing a new and useful chemical, "acetaldehyde," not previously manufactured in this country. He resigned his position in Chicago about three months ago with the view of establishing a plant for the manufacturing of bicarbonate of potash upon his land in Southern Maryland, being then ignorant of the fact that it is proposed to make the tariff upon this product so low as one-half cent per pound. He has already ordered, and there has been delivered, a portion of the requisite machinery for his plant; but pending the enactment into law of the new tariff bill, and your petitioner being fearful that the proposed rate of one-half cent per pound upon this product may be prescribed, he has been impelled to abandon the further prosecution of his plans for the present, to be resumed, nevertheless, if the duty shall be 14 cents per pound. In conclusion it is respectfully submitted that your petitioner knows of no reason why the rate of duty on bicarbonate of potash should not be maintained on equality with the duty on permanganate of potash; the duty whereupon, as appears from said paragraph 69, is proposed to be at the rate of 14 cents per pound in lieu of the present duty of 25 per cent ad valorem upon that commodity. It may be added that the Government has been making search for available sources of potash other than the German deposits, and that it is important to develop the potash industry where possible. Respectfully submitted. HERBERT WATSON. NOTE. In the above tabulation, the year is the fiscal year ended on June 30 of the designated year. 16,915 4, 228.75 .049 16, 633 4, 158. 25 .049 16, 428 4,107.00 .051 .048 PARAGRAPH 3-COMPOUNDS N. S. P. F. COMPOUNDS N. S. P. F. REQUEST THAT MANNIT BE PLACED ON THE FREE LIST WITH ΜΑΝΝΑ. NEW YORK, February 4, 1913. The COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: It has recently been brought to our attention that our people in America, and other classes of your population, originating from southern Europe, use almost exclusively crude manna instead of mannit. Mannit is the sugar extracted from manna. Manna is a sap from a tree known as frassino, which grows only in Sicily and Southern Europe. Manna and mannit are both used for the same purposes― namely, as a sirup and gentle laxative. Mannit is the more desirable of the two, but on account of its being taxed 25 per cent duty the people import crude manna duty free instead. Approximately 47,427 pounds crude manna were imported in 1911, valued $21,424, duty free. The importations of mannit are unobtainable, but we know them to be very small, only a few hundred pounds. The high duty, 25 per cent ad valorem, on material worth $2 a pound, brings the price up to $2.50 a pound, with the results that there are no importations, no revenue derived, none is produced here, and the people are importing crude manna instead. It requires 4 parts manna to yield 1 part of mannit, so the persons using manna take a proportionately larger quantity, and get a lot of molasses and other impurities in their system. The principal sales in other countries are of mannit, because the price is right, and mannit is better adapted for children and delicate persons, because of its purity. It seems reasonable, therefore, to ask that the consumer in the United States be also placed in a position to get mannit reasonably, especially as there is nothing to be lost to anybody in granting to mannit the same exemption from duty as accorded to manna. Business will be handled through the same channels here, and the supply received from the same sources abroad. It seems that mannit has been improperly classified with "Chemical compounds, n. s. p. f., subject to a duty of 25 per cent ad valorem." Mannit is not a "chemical compound," alcohol is not used in refining it commercially, and mannit does not contain alcohol in any form whatsoever. The mannit of commerce is the pure crystal obtained from a solution of manna in water. The alcohol process referred to in textbooks is not employed except in very rare instances; not over 250 pounds a year of alcohol-prepared mannit is used in the whole world. Mannit is not manufactured or refined in the United States in any form, and probably never will be because of its peculiar and exceptional nature. The sap-bearing trees grow only in a few places in southern Europe, and are not grown in the United States. It requires 12 years before a tree begins to bear, and then another 5 to 10 years for the sap to ripen after it has been tapped. Manna improves with age; so the villagers pile it against the walls of their huts and have PARAGRAPH 3-COMPOUNDS N. S. P. F. it around them this way, year after year. They are a deserving class of poor but industrious people, living cheaply on their own gardens, and sell their manna when they need money. The world's production and supply of manna does not exceed half a million pounds annually; take out 50,000 pounds of crude shipped to America, and the balance is boiled down to 150,000 pounds of mannit, the refined manna, which plays an important rôle in the health of many people elsewhere, and would be better for our own people than the present use of crude manna. We therefore respectfully petition your honorable committee to place mannit in the same specific classification as manna on the free list; that is, to have paragraph 620 instead of reading "manna," read " manna and mannit," thereby benefiting and encouraging the consumer, without injuring any industry or merchant, and without depriving the Government of revenue. Respectfully submitted. FERDINAND COCORULLO, Importer. Endorsed by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in New York. THE HARSHAW FULLER & GOODWIN CO., CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASK FOR CLASSIFICATION OF TARTRATE OF LIME. THE HARSHAW FULLER & GOODWIN Co., Cleveland, January 6, 1913. SIR: We respectfully ask that paragraph 6 be changed by adding the following: "Tartrate of lime" (after argols). The paragraph would then read: 'Argols, or crude tartar, or wine lees crude, and tartrate of lime, 5 per cent ad valorem; tartars and lees crystals, or partly refined argols, containing not more than 90 per cent of bitartrate of potash, and tartrate of soda or potassa, or Rochelle salts, 3 cents per pound; containing more than 90 per cent of bitartrate of potash, 4 cents per pound; cream of tartar and patent tartar, 5 cents per pound." "Tartrate of lime" is a by-product in the manufacture of cream of tartar, and is the raw material in the manufacture of tartaric acid; hence it bears the same relation to tartaric acid as argols to cream of tartar, and, in our opinion, should come under the same classification, and be subject to the same rate of duty. It has not been heretofore specifically classed. Respectfully, Hon. O. W. UNDERWOOD, RALPH L. FULLER, Secretary. Chairman Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. PARAGRAPH 3-COMPOUNDS N. S. P. F. NITRATE OF AMMONIA. TESTIMONY OF MR. WILLIAM J. DIPPEL, REPRESENTING C. TENNENT SONS & CO., NEW YORK CITY. The witness was duly sworn by the chairman. Mr. DIPPEL. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I represent the C. Tennent Sons & Co., of New York City. We are the selling agents of the Norwegian Hydroelectric Nitrogen Co. (Ltd.), of Norway, and the article which I desire to bring to your attention is nitrate of ammonia. Under the present tariff it is not specially provided for, and consequently pays a duty under the blanket paragraph No. 3 of 25 per cent ad valorem. Under House bill 20182, paragraph 8, a duty of three-quarters of a cent per pound is provided, which, of course, we think is a reasonable rate when the article is to be used for explosive purposes. Up to the present time it has been used merely for explosive purposes, in the manufacture of permissible powders-that is, for explosive purposes-and in a limited way in the manufacture of nitrous oxide, which is commonly known as "laughing gas. Since the bill was drawn, however, a wonderful advance in the chemical industries of the world has taken place through the synthetic process for the manufacture of nitric acid and ammonia, which has made it possible now to manufacture nitrate of ammonia at a price which will permit of its being utilized as a fertilizing material if it is admitted free of duty. It contains 35 per cent of nitrogen, which is equivalent to about 42 per cent of ammonia, and in this concentrated form it is most valuable as a fertilizer. In fact, nitrogen in the form of nitrates is the most available of any form of nitrogen, as detailed in Farmers' Bulletin No. 44, on page 15, which bulletin was issued by the United States Department of Agriculture; and that bulletin dwells at some length on nitrogen, particularly on nitrogen in the form of nitrates. In the Southern States, to show you how much of this fertilizing material is consumed in the country-in the Southern States the consumption of fertilizers for 1911 was approximately 4,250,000 tons, of which about 106,000 tons was nitrogen, taken out at 100 per cent; that is to say, the amount of nitrate of soda would be equal to about 530,000 tons in the Southern States alone. Mr. William H. Bowker, of Boston, conected with the American Agricultural Chemical Co., one of the oldest and best-informed men in the fertilizer trade, in his publication, entitled "Plant Foodits Sources, Conservation, and Preparation," writes in reference to nitrogen: Nitrogen is so rare an article, the commercial sources of it being so few that he who will discover a cheap commercial process for obtaining it from the atmosphere and combining it in a form that will be servicable to crop production not only will be a great benefactor and inventor but will change the economy of living on this earth." This is just what the Norwegian Co. has done. That was written about two or three years ago, but they have done exactly what he refers to here. PARAGRAPH 3-COMPOUNDS N. S. P. F. The CHAIRMAN. Is that cyanamide? Mr. DIPPEL. No; it is not cyanamide. We have presented briefs, giving in detail full particulars, which we will be glad to have you incorporate into the record, and we do not think any lengthy argument is necessary to show the committee the great value which will accrue to the agricultural interests of the country if this article is placed on the free list. In order to make it obtainable to the American farmer all duty must be eliminated, otherwise it can not compete with nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, and other ammoniates for fertilizing purposes which are at the present time on the free lists. Congress has always been in sympathy with the free importation of fertilizing materials, and, as far as I know, no duty is at this time imposed on an article used for this purpose. În the Payne-Aldrich bill of 1909 these fertilizing materials, namely, sulphate of ammonia, basic slag, cyanamide, and lime nitrogen were all placed on the free list, while prior to the passage of that act rates of duty of three-tenths of a cent a pound and $1 per ton and 25 per cent, respectively, prevailed. The CHAIRMAN. What is the amount of importation of this product? Mr. DIPPEL. The importation now is limited, because it is only used for explosive purposes. You are speaking of nitrate of ammonia? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Is cyanamide on the free list now? Mr. DIPPEL. Cyanamide is now on the free list, and also nitrate. of lime. In fact, there are no fertilizing materials that I know that are not on the free list. If nitrate of ammonia is placed on the free list, our company can import it to compete with nitrate of soda and other ammoniates; and we feel that after knowing the facts and giving due consideration thereto you honorable committee will put it on an equal basis with these articles. Honorable COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, 100 WILLIAM STREET, New York, January 16, 1913. House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIRS: We, the United States agents for the Norwegian Hydro-Electric Nitrogen Co. (Ltd.), do respectfully submit for your consideration the following in the contemplated revision of the tariff: Nitrate of ammonia.—This material has been imported for several years for the purpose of being used in the manufacture of safety explosives and also in a limited way in the manufacture of nitrous oxide. Under paragraph 8 (H. R. 20182) a duty is proposed of three-quarters of a cent per pound, which, at the present time, is a reasonable rate of duty on the material when nitrate of ammonia is used for either of the aforesaid purposes. We do, however, respectfully claim that Nitrate of ammonia when used for fertilizing purposes should be placed on the free list for the following reasons: The development of the synthetical process for the manufacture of nitric acid has made it possible to manufacture nitrate of ammonia in Norway at a price so low that it can be used as a fertilizer. Nitrogen in the form of nitrates is the most valuable form in which nitrogen is obtainable for fertilizing purposes, and the ever-increasing demand in the United States, as evidenced by the increased importations of nitrate of soda, shows conclusively that the United States is not able to produce sufficient nitrogen for the requirements of the country. In the Southeastern States-Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi-the consumption |