PARAGRAPH 284-BACON AND HAMS.

Dividing each of these outputs in pounds by the number of trees reported gives:

32.66, or 33 pounds average.

33 times 25-825 pounds per acre average output.

The average price for years from 1902 to 1911, inclusive, was 12.55 cents gross, or 11.50 cents net to grower.

$0.115 times 825-$94.875.

From this amount the costs of production must be subtracted. These are approximately:

Peanuts or ground beans, unshelled, one-half of one cent per pound; shelled, one cent per pound.

Nuts of all kinds, shelled or unshelled, not specially provided for in this section, one cent per pound; but no allowance shall be made for dirt or other impurities in nuts of any kind, shelled or unshelled.

PARAGRAPH 284.

Bacon and hams, four cents per pound.

BACON AND HAMS.

BRIEF SUBMITTED BY THE IRISH INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK CITY.

The COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS,

Washington, D. C.

NEW YORK, January 30, 1913.

GENTLEMEN: The Irish Industrial Association of New York City, a commercial body of American citizens representing important interests as importers and dealers in both trade and consumption of Irish as well as of domestic products in the United States, and particularly identified with the interest of meat products and provisions covered by Schedule G of the tariff law, respectfully submits to the consideration of this honorable committee for adoption the recommendation respecting duties on articles coming under the aforesaid schedule, as follows:

MEAT PRODUCTS.

The present duty on hams and bacon is 4 cents per pound (par. 284), equal to a protection of about 20 per cent ad valorem, and the duty of 20 per cent ad valorem on the preserved meats above named in a country like this, where pork is produced much cheaper than abroad, as shown by the enormous export trade of said meats, is surperfluous and limits the importation of foreign hams and bacon, which really do not compete with our domestic products, because the former are cured and flavored in a particular way, different from the process in this country, on which account they are in considerable demand by the American people.

PARAGRAPH 286-CANNED BEEF.

Prices themselves prove that there is not the slightest possibility of competition between the foreign and domestic articles.

While Chicago ham sells on this market around per pound, the cheapest imported sells for 27 cents per pound and the best imported for 35 cents per pound, so that the duty of 4 cents is simply a tax placed on the consumer.

This Irish Industrial Association recommends that the duty on the aforesaid prepared ham and bacon be taken off, and that the same be placed on the free list. Respectfully submitted.

PARAGRAPH 285.

IRISH INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK. By J. M. SULLIVAN,

H. WINSHIP WHEATLEY,

EMILIO YASELLI, and

Attorneys.

Fresh beef, veal, mutton, lamb, pork, and venison and other game, except birds, one and one-half cents per pound.

PARAGRAPH 286.

Meats of all kinds, prepared or preserved, not specially provided for in this section, twenty-five per centum ad valorem.

CANNED BEEF.

STATEMENT BY A. H. BENJAMIN, NEW YORK CITY.

Hon. OSCAR UNDERWOOD, Esq.,

Chairman Ways and Means Committee, Washington.

NEW YORK, January 3, 1913.

DEAR SIR: In the event of any reduction of the tariff on canned corned beef I will import from Australia this class of goods, but under present tariff conditions it is quite impossible. I herewith submit for your consideration the cost of a shipment recently received and passed by the Board of Agriculture, viz:

10 cases canned corned beef, at $8.25 per case f. o. b.. Freight and charges...

£17.00

Value, 120 cans..

Duty, 83 pounds net.
Charges...
Commission.

Cartage...

Cost, $12.50 per case..

1. 11

18.11

$90.16

20.75

5.00

8.50

1.00

124.91

I may add the standard quality of these goods has received the indorsement of the trade as being very good. Since this shipment arrived prices abroad have advanced 75 cents per case, making it impossible to compete with the trust, whose price is $13, less 5 per cent. Cost of living hinges on foodstuffs-butter, meat, jams, etc.

The new referendum in Australia will in all probability exclude the Beef Trust from Australia, and I am cooperating with our Government there with this object, as should they succeed there they will have cornered the meat of the world, as they now control the United States and Argentina.

The above is for your information and consideration when the opportunity arrives. I am, yours, very truly,

A. H. BENJAMIN.

PARAGRAPH 287.

PARAGRAPH 287-MEAT EXTRACT.

Extract of meat, not specially provided for in this section, thirty-five cents per pound; fluid extract of meat, fifteen cents per pound, but the dutiable weight of the extract of meat and of the fluid extract of meat shall not include the weight of the packages in which the same is imported.

MEAT EXTRACT.

TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM JAY SHIEFFELIN, PRESIDENT OF SHIEFFELIN & CO., WHOLESALE DRUGGISTS, NEW YORK CITY.

The witness was duly sworn by the chairman.

Mr. SCHIEFFELIN. I represent Schieffelin & Co., wholesale druggists, and also the American Kitchen Products Co., of which I am the president. That company manufactures what are called bouillon cubes, and we have come to ask that paragraph 287, which imposes a duty of 35 cents a pound on extract of meat other than fluid extract of beef, be amended to place the extract of meat on the free list, and for these reasons: Extract of beef is an important article of food and its use is unduly limited on account of the high duty. The best quality is manufactured in Argentina and Australia, where beef cattle are abundant and cheap.

It should be made from the best meat and not from scraps or liver or blood. It is not economical to make it from the best meat in this country, there being more demand for good meat than can be supplied. Most of the beef extract which is imported is used as raw material in the manufacture of beef bouillon cubes, which are composed of salt and seasoning and vegetable flavoring and beef extract; one of these cubes dissolved in a cupfull of boiling water produces instantly a cup of bouillon which would require hours of work in the kitchen to duplicate. Last year, the year ending June 30, 1912, there were 154,353 pounds of beef extract imported, at a valuation of . $192,012, and the duty paid thereon was $54,022. Those are figures from the statement of the Department of Commerce and Labor. It seems to me it would be better for every one if this duty were taken off, even for the packers in this country. It is a mistake to think that extract of beef is very nourishing; it is stimulating, but it can be used in such small quantities that it can scarcely be termed nourishing.

.

If you will scan and scrutinize the advertisements of the product which my company manufactures you will see no claims for nourishment, but you will see that it stimulates and is helpful in rendering the stomach anxious to take real food. It is just as absurd to talk about extracting the nourishing qualities of beef as it would be to talk about extracting the heat qualities of coal. Measured in food value it is simply fuel to the body. It is measured in calories. If you had a steer and a squad of men to feed you would be far wiser to slaughter that steer and give the beef to the men than to try to make an extract and think you could impart the nourishment of that meat to those men. Therefore I claim it is very much better that whatever good meat is produced here should be used as such, whereas in Argentina and Australia it would be a great deal better, where they have a surplus of meat, to let them turn what part of that they wish into extract and send it here, because there is a field and a demand for a large amount of extract of beef. I think the production of meat

PARAGRAPH 290-TALLOW.

in our own country must exceed $500,000,000, so you see what a trifling item $192,000 of extract of meat is in comparison to that industry. So there does not seem very much point in leaving such a high duty, 35 cents a pound, on a product which it would be far better not to make here at all.

PARAGRAPH 288.

Lard, one and one-half cents per pound.

PARAGRAPH 289.

Poultry, live, three cents per pound; dead, five cents per pound. PARAGRAPH 290.

Tallow, one-half of one cent per pound; wool grease, including that known commercially as degras or brown wool grease, crude and not refined, or improved in value or condition, one-fourth of one cent per pound; refined, or improved in value or condition, and not specially provided for in this section, one-half of one cent per pound.

TALLOW.

TESTIMONY OF W. H. WADHAMS, OF NEW YORK CITY.

The witness was first duly sworn by the chairman.

Mr. WADHAMS. I appear in behalf of the common laundry soap manufacturers of the United States, and the particular item concerning which I desire to be heard is tallow (Schedule G, par. 290), upon which there is now a duty of one-half of 1 cent per pound. In the examination of H. R. 20182 we find no recommendation of change with respect to the tallow, and in response to your inquiry we state to this committee that our recommendation is that it be placed upon

the free list.

Tallow is a basic element in the manufacture of laundry soap. The duty was originally placed upon tallow as a protective measure, the argument being that it was so placed for the protection of the interests of our farmers. At that time the business of slaughtering cattle and rendering tallow was conducted on a small scale by numerous local butchers and tallow renderers in every section of the country. Since then, however, a complete change has taken place. Tallow has undergone a centralization which has been common in our industries, and at present the production of tallow is very largely in the hands of those concerns which are commonly known as the packers-the large packers who have bought up local rendering plants, and who, in very many of our communities, are the principal if not the only renderers of tallow in the United States. There is still, however, in the country districts a business of the accumulation of tallow in job lots, which may be bought through brokers; for instance, in the city of New York there has been for some time what is known as special, and also another grade known as New York City prime, tallow which has been sold by the packers. The soap manufacturers have also bought what has been known as job lots of raw tallow, put up in a different kind of package, which they have bought through a broker.

Mr. KITCHIN. What proportion of soap is tallow?

Mr. WADHAMS. Tallow is the principal basic material in soap. It varies according to the formula, soap being a combination between

PARAGRAPH 290-TALLOW.

a fatty acid and an alkali, and the tallow is the basic fatty acid usually used.

Mr. KITCHIN. Out of a dollar's cost for common laundry soap, what part of that does the tallow represent?

Mr. WADHAMS. I am having that prepared, and at the hearing on the 31st, at which I have asked a number of men engaged in this business to give you figures of the percentages, I will have a table prepared and forwarded to you at that time, if you will allow me to pass that to-day, because I am not prepared at this time. I will try to find out what percentage the different manufacturers use, and I am unable to give you those figures for our own company at this time, because we have not yet obtained the per cent from the works manager. However, it is a large per cent, being one of the principal basic materials.

Mr. LONGWORTH. How does that compare with some of these essential oils?

Mr. WADHAMS. The essential oil is merely a drop in the bucket. In speaking of the essential oils, you will have the distinction, no doubt, in your mind between nut oils and essential oils. The essential oil, like citronella, is a cheap perfume, used to overcome the offensive soapy smell of tallow, or the basic material of common laundry soap, so that the essential oil is but a small fraction of the material entering into the manufacture of common laundry soap.

Mr. LONGWORTH. How about the other oils, the nut oils?

Mr. WADHAMS. The nut oils are used in a large proportion according to the formula of the peculiar soap; for instance, some oils, such as cottonseed oil, and some oils such as the imported palm oil and palm kernel oil, are used as substitutes for tallow, as it makes a better substitute in certain kinds of soap. Coconut oil is the oil used as a substitute for tallow in making the white floating soaps.

Mr. LONGWORTH. Are not nut oils used as substitutes for tallow? Mr. WADHAMS. Both in combinations and as substitutes for tallow. Mr. LONGWORTH. They may be either combined with tallow or used as a substitute for tallow?

Mr. WADHAMS. Yes, sir.

Mr. HULL. What are the other uses for tallow?

Mr. WADHAMS. Besides being used in the soap industry?

Mr. HULL. Yes.

Mr. WADHAMS. Of course, candles is a familiar use for tallow. I do not know what other uses it is put to, but a very large part of the production is used for soap.

Now, I wish to make this proposition. Of course, I appreciate in the fixing of this duty, it is merely a question of degree-what should bear the burden. We find here that in the Underwood bill the committee did not apparently consider the question of tallow, or, if they did, they passed it by and left a duty upon it of one-half cent. Does it not seem that tallow is conspicuously a product which the pledges which have been made to the people in the last election require should be placed upon the free list?

Mr. HULL. You say this has never been considered?

Mr. WADHAMS. It may never have been considered; therefore I am bringing it up now. It is very important in our industry, not because there have been large importations of tallow, but because if there