PARAGRAPH 275-OLIVES. In 1910 the importation was 4,555,975 gallons, while the California authority states their production for that year was 1,000,000 gallons, a total of 5,555,975 gallons. The California production then appears to have been 21.81 per cent of the quantity imported, and practically 18 per cent of the consumption. In 1911 the importation was 3,044,947 gallons; the California production is stated to have been 1,150,000 gallons, a total quantity for consumption of 4,194,947 gallons. The California production therefore was equal to 37.76 per cent of the foreign importation, or equal to 27.41 per cent of the entire quantity for consumption. The Californians, however, in speaking of pickled olives, do not make it clear to your committee that a very small percentage of them are olives which could possibly enter into competition even with the smaller and inferior sizes of the Spanish olive. I estimate that not over 3 per cent of the California production consists of olives cured after the manner of the Spanish olives, and then they are only of very small sizes. It is likely that 97 per cent of their entire consumption consists of ripe olives, generally put up in tins, so that it seems to me their production of olives which compete with the Spanish olives does not exceed 3 per cent-it may possibly run to 5 per cent. I have many times tried to get statistics from California as to the relative proportions of ripe and green olives, but everyone seems reluctant to give statistics. I therefore beg to suggest that when the representative appears before you, it would be well to go into this matter. I think it very doubtful, however, if you will get the California representative to admit that they produce from 18 to 27 per cent of the entire consumption in the United States, because to admit that would be to acknowledge that there is no claim for an "infant industry." Equally, if they can produce such a percentage for consumption, it is clear that there must have been an incentive for such a cultivation and that the profit warrants the outlay. If that is the case, the force of their argument as to the protection of an "infant industry" and the constant cultivation without profit, doesn't seem to follow the customary good business sense of the California producer. If after thirty years they can produce only 3 to 5 per cent of the quantity of green olives which are imported, then no protection is needed, because thirty years is long enough to show whether they can produce. That they can produce a small olive which will make oil and which can be cured when ripe, there is no doubt, and if their productions amount to anything like the quantity indicated in the Cailfornia Fruit Grower, they are no longer a baby, and need no protection. There is a difference, however, between the California ripe olives put up in tins, with very little cost for labor (and almost all of that mechanical), as compared with the bottling of Spanish olives, requiring an immense amount of American material and affording employment to thousands of people throughout the country. I have before me a list of all the known manufacturers of oil and cures of olives in California, consisting of some 29. Against these are to be counted perhaps 200 bottlers of Spanish olives in the United States; and these are bottlers of importance, drawing large quantities of glass, corks, labels, caps, boxes, packing material, etc., from American manufacturers and paying much better wages to the people who do the work than are paid by the California producers to the people who work for them. The greatest good to the greatest number, therefore, should go to the bottlers of Spanish olives instead of to the 29 California houses, many of whom do not produce eating olives at all, but only manufacture oil. Yours, truly, H. C. NEWCOMB. OLIVE OIL. PHILADELPHIA, January 10, 1913. Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, Chairman Ways and Means Committee, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I have to thank you for your letter of the 6th instant, in which you acknowledge receipt of mine of the 3d in respect to olives. This is the third campaign in tariff agitation when I have had occasion to oppose the California producers, and I regret to say that in each of those campaigns it has appeared to me that the California representatives intentionally misrepresent the facts to the Ways and Means Committee, their constant cry being for protection to an "infant industry" which was making them no money, and the result in the tariff laws seems to indicate that their statements were accepted. I believe that your committee is seeking to get absolute facts, and that the truth is the only thing which will eventually win out, PARAGRAPH 275-OLIVES. I see in the New York Journal of Commerce of January 8, that Dr. L. J. Huff, of Los Angeles, appeared before your committee on the 7th instant, protesting against any lowering of the duty on olive oil, saying that it was necessary for the successful operation of orchards in his State that the duty remain as at present, that the manufacturers' profit on olive oil is only 15 cents per gallon, and in answer to a question from Mr. Hill, he says that California produces about 5 per cent of the oil used in the United States, and protection is needed to aid the "infant industry." This poor "infant" has been shoved into the arms of the maternal Government for about 35 years, and it seems to me that the poor mother must be awfully tired, because I see the weight has increased. According to the annual review of the California Fruit Grower, published December 14, 1912, under the heading of "Olive industry progressing," I find the statement that in 1910 California produced about 800,000 gallons of olive oil, and that in the same year the United States imported over 3,500,000 gallons. The same authority states that in 1911 the California production of olive oil was 920,000 gallons, while nearly 4,500,000 gallons were imported. In checking up these figures by the Summary of Commerce and Finance in the United States, No. 12, of the series of 1911-12, I find on page 1884 that the imports in 1912 were 3,702,210 gallons, which, added to the announced production of California of 800,000 gallons, produces a total for consumption of 4,502,210 gallons. Therefore, if the consumption amounts to what has been imported and what was produced in California, the production of California was 17.32 per cent and not 5 per cent, as stated by Dr. Huff. Using the same authority, I find that in 1911 the importation was 4,405,827 gallons, to which add the California production for that year of 920,000 gallons, and we have a total for consumption of 5,325,827 gallons, so that the production of California that year was 17 per cent. If the "infant" can produce 17 per cent, there must have been a cause for such a large cultivation of olive trees, and that cause can only be a promised profit. As a matter of fact, California olive oil sells at a much higher price than imported oil of a better quality, therefore I think it should be established that the profit is only 15 cents per gallon before it is accepted by your committee as being a fact, because if Dr. Huff states the production was only 5 per cent when the statistics show it was 17 per cent, he is either poorly informed or seeks to mislead. Therefore, it would be well to investigate the other figures he gives. It does not appear to me the argument is a good one when not backed up by statistics, particularly when the statistics available disprove the assertion. I inclose herewith a copy of the article from the California Fruit Grower referred to in the foregoing. Very respectfully, yours, H. C. NEWCOMB. OLIVE INDUSTRY PROGRESSING. The olive has had a checkered career in California since its first appearance here, when the Franciscan fathers planted in their mission gardens the olive trees brought from Spain. It has passed through periods of inflation when planting was general even in sections where the climate and location were altogether unsuitable, and it has gone through other times of depression when planting has stopped, and many of the trees previously planted have been rooted out. Inexperience in cultural methods and in the best ways of preparing the oil and the pickled olives are among the obstacles which have had to be overcome by the California olive growers, and it is only within the last decade that the industry has been put upon a firm financial footing and has taken its place among the important activities of the State. Tariff protection of both the olive and the oil has done much to help the olive growers to keep afloat, but the greatest benefit has resulted from the regulations of the pure-food laws, which have barred from sale the cheap adulterated oils (foreign, but adulterated in this country for the most part), with which the pure product found it impossible to compete. With greater skill in raising and preparing the olives gained from experience, and with the aid of the tariff and pure-food laws, olive growing has lately taken a fresh start. Planting has been going on actively during the past season in localities which have proved their fitness for it, new pickling and oil-expressing plants have been established, and the price of olives has risen very materially. So inadequate has been the supply to fill the demand that contracts, five or even ten years in advance, have been made by some of the large pickling interests for the crops from a considerable acreage. PARAGRAPH 275-OLIVES. California is to be given credit for originating the practice of pickling and canning the ripe olive, a product for which there is a constantly widening market, and is also entitled to the palm for producing the purest olive oil obtainable. The olive industry in California is still in its infancy, and that there is ample opportunity for it to grow may be seen by a comparison of the production here with the import figures. In 1910 California produced about 800,000 gallons of olive oil, and in the same year (1909-10) the United States imported over three and a half million gallons, principally from Italy. The California output of pickled olives was a million gallons in 1910, and the imports (1909-10) amounted to over four and a half million (4,555,975) gallons, of which the main part was brought from Spain. 1911 shows about the same contrast; in that year the California production of olive oil was 920,000 gallons, while nearly four and a half million gallons were imported (1910-11), and of pickled olives California produced 1,150,000 gallons, while the imports (1910-11) amounted to over 3,000,000 gallons. Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, Chairman Ways and Means Committee. Washington, D. C. JANUARY 28, 1913. DEAR SIR: I have to refer to pages 2766 and 2769 of the hearings before the Ways and Means Committee under Schedule G, and the statements made and tables filed by Dr. L. J. Huff, of Los Angeles, in respect to manufacturers' cost, selling price, and profit on California ripe olives for an average of two seasons; also to one of my previous communications on the subject, suggesting it would be well for your committee to prove up figures stated by the California producers of olives. I would advise that I am just in receipt of a price list published by the Los Angeles Olive Growers' Association, for their "Sylmar" brand of ripe olives, under date of January 1, 1913, they having two marks, the "White Label" and "Blue Label." The "White Label" is listed in quart tins, at $10.50 per 2 dozen cans. As there are 3 gallons of olives to the dozen cans, the price then for the "White Label" is $1.75 per gallon, and for their "Blue Label,” which is listed at $6.50 in quart cans or per 3 gallons, the price is $1.08 per gallon. The average price in quart tins for the two brands, then, is $1.41 per gallon. Packed in gallon tins, 12 to the case, the price for the "White Label" is $18 per case, or $1.50 per gallon, and for the "Blue Label" $12 per case, or $1 per gallon, the average for the two being $1.25 per gallon. From this price list there is a discount of 1 per cent for cash in 10 days. On page 2769 Dr. Huff states that their average selling price per gallon for California ripe olives is $0.8775, from which he deducts $0.15 for trade discounts, cash discounts, freight, brokerage, and other selling expenses, leaving $0.7275 as the net selling price. On this basis he figures a net average profit for the two seasons of $0.1225 per gallon. Comparing with the above the price list of the Los Angeles Olive Growers' Association (which is one of the largest producers there) the selling price on gallon tins is $1.25, from which deduct $0.6050, their cost of manufacturing, and $0.15, their cash and trade discounts, freight, brokerage, and other selling expenses, or a total of $0.7550, and the net profit appears to be $0.4950, in gallon tins. In quart tins, with an average selling price for the two brands of $1.41, deducting their cost of $0.7550, the net profit is $0.6250-materially different from the profit they show of $0.1225. I shall be glad to send you the price list if you wish to see it. They also state that they pay to the grower for his olives on the trees an average of $62 per ton. Compared with this I have to advise that my statistics of the prices paid Spanish growers for green olives during the last 15 years show an average of $160 per ton. This price, in Spain, is paid to the grower, the curer picking and carting the olives to the curing warehouses. As the California growers receive only $62 per ton for their olives, whereas the Spanish growers receive $160 per ton for theirs, it is a clear case that the California olives are not of as good quality as the Spanish. I again beg to call attention to the fact that the Californians refer to ripe olives, whereas the Spanish olives are green. The production of green olives in California amounts to practically nothing and they are unknown to the bottling trade in this country as a going product; from time to time they have been presented for inspection, but none of the bottlers have been able to use them for the reason that they are small in size, not uniform in color, and of doubtful keeping quality. I can not impress PARAGRAPH 275-OLIVES. too strongly upon your committee that the infinitesimal quantity of green olives they produce cuts no figure whatever in competition with the Spanish olives. On the other hand, the Spaniards do not produce and sell in the United States ripe olives in competition with the California ripe olives. They are two distinct classes of trade; although both are sold by grocers, California green olives are not found on the grocers' shelves, and Spanish ripe olives are not found on the gorcers' shelves. Very respectfully, yours, H. C. NEWCOMB. LETTER OF 0. H. MILLER, OF THE SACRAMENTO (CAL.) VALLEY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION. Hon. WM. KETTNER, 2965 Union Street, San Diego, Cal. SACRAMENTO, CAL., January 24, 1913. DEAR MR. KETTNER: The board of directors and advisory committee of the Sacramento Valley Development Association, at a meeting held last Saturday, January 18, directed me to write to you and ask your support of the existing tariff on olives and olive oil. We understand that there is under consideration by Congress a plan to make quite a reduction on the tariff on these products. As you no doubt know olive oil and pickled olives are rapidly gaining favor with the American people. Especially is this true of the California product, which is noted for its pureness and healthfulness. We believe that California olives and olive oil stand to-day recognized as superior in quality to any imported product. The industry is rapidly expanding through the planting of young orchards, and the output of this State will be multiplied several times within the next few years. We are reliably informed that because of the great difference in wages paid in California and in Europe and on account of the greater cost of transportation from California to the Atlantic coast over that from Europe to the same points, foreign olive oil and olives can be laid down in this country, freight and duty paid, at about equal the cost of California olives on the trees. It is obvious that there would be no competition under such conditions. If the duty were to be eliminated or even reduced it could only result in seriously crippling or wiping out this industry in California. As a representative from the State of California the Sacramento Valley Development Association trusts that you will give careful and serious consideration to these facts, and as one interested in the progress of California industries we ask you to work and vote against any reduction on this duty. Yours, very truly, SACRAMENTO VALLEY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION, SUGGESTION REGARDING GROUND OLIVES. Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, Chairman Ways and Means Committee, Washington, D. C. DECEMBER 20, 1912. SIR: I take the liberty of suggesting that provision be made in the revision of the agricultural schedule for the admission of olives when ground with the kernels and fit only for the manufacture of oil, free of duty. This article is commonly known in producing centers as the pulp of the olive. This material is made from the olives that are used in the manufacture of oil. The only process of manufacture that it goes through is to grind it with the pits, preparatory to pressing, and for the purpose of enabling it to be properly packed. I recently imported a sample parcel of this material, which was returned by the appraiser at this port as "olives," and assessed at 15 cents per gallon, the rate applicable on a carefully selected and handled edible product, and manifestly not intended to apply to any such material as imported. I forward you by mail a small sample of this material which bears the label "Pulp of olive, No. 7721. This sample, of course, has aged, as this importation was made in March, 1912, but it will give you a fair idea of what the material consists of, and clearly shows that it is of no value except for remanufacture. Yours, very truly, M. B. SNIVELY. PARAGRAPH 277-CITRUS FRUITS. STATEMENT REGARDING OLIVE INDUSTRY IN CALIFORNIA. Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, WASHINGTON, D. C., January 20, 1913. Chairman Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives. DEAR SIR: I am this day in receipt of a night letter, a part of which I am requested to send to your committee to consider during the hearing on olives. This I quote below: Hon. WM. D. STEPHENS, LOS ANGELES, CAL., January 18, 1913. House of Representatives, Washington. D. C. Twenty years' experience California in orchard business has shown needs olive industry. We are growing 11,000,000 trees in nursery and only 2,000,000 in the orchards now. If tariff is left on olive oil and pickles this State will produce 20 to 100 times present production. E. W. Ehmann, Oroville, Cal., leading olive pickler and oil manufacturer, publicly stated San Francisco recently that there are 3.000.000 acres California-Arizona land available for olive culture; rest of world only 3,500,000 acres. Only 28,000 acres are now planted, but thousands of acres are being prepared for spring planting. This is certainly an infant industry and if present tariff is retained hundreds of thousands of acres will be planted next five years. Will soon be in bearing, giving employment to thousands of laboring men and homes to people not requiring large investment like lemon and orange orchards. Process of pickling and inaking oil continually improving. As soon as Panama Canal is open will have advantage immigration from European countries now growing olives and will help to produce cheaper. Olives can be planted from Chico and Oroville to San Diego and in great Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, also southern Arizona. If olive industry encouraged will become greatest fruit industry Pacific coast. Olive oil and pickles at present prices more or less luxury and should pay revenue. Doubtful if benefit any reduction tariff will be given ultimate consumer. ISAIAH MARTIN, President Gibraltar Investment Co. WM. D. STEPHENS. Grapes in barrels or other packages, twenty-five cents per cubic foot of capacity of barrels or packages. PARAGRAPH 277. Lemons, one and one-half cents per pound; oranges, limes, grapefruit, shaddocks, or pomelos, one cent per pound. CITRUS FRUITS. TESTIMONY OF W. C. TEMPLE, OF TAMPA, FLA. The witness was duly sworn by the chairman. Mr. TEMPLE. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I came here to represent a body of men to whom the salvation of the citrus industry means their life. In view of what has transpired with the witness who preceded me I wish to say that the first vote I ever cast was for Grover Cleveland and that the last vote I ever cast was for Woodrow Wilson. But as I have sat here and listened to the examination of Mr. Skinner, gentlemen, I must confess I am reminded of the occasion when Nero fiddled and watched Rome burn. Gentlemen of the committee, I represent people to whom this thing is their very life, and to see it ridiculed in the way it has been, I feel it strongly. Mr. HARRISON. I see nothing ridiculous in the statement I made that we have six times as much exports as imports? |