As an illustration we give the amounts imported under the McKinley bill for the year ending June 30, 1893, with duties collected and also under the Wilson bill for the year ending June 30, 1896, as follows:

These figures show a difference in importations of less than $90,000 between the two years and a loss in revenue to the Government of over $1,000,000.

These two years are quoted because they are more nearly representative of the two systems, being far enough removed from the time of their original passage to prevent their being affected by the increasing or decreasing of the importations because of anticipated change in rates. An examination of other years since the Wilson bill became law will show similar results.

ROBERT PILLING, Chairman,

2150 E. Huntingdon street, Philadelphia, Pa.

STATEMENT OF MR. ROBERT W. COOPER, PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH HOSIERY COMPANY, OLNEYVILLE, R. I.

Mr. COOPER said:

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, we make exclusively selvedged full-fashioned goods, cotton and cashmere, and I have a memorandum here of the average cost of the goods we make. These stockings cost in Germany 5 marks, equal to $1.37. Our labor costs on them for the leg, foot, turning off, seaming, counting, and factory expenses 72 cents per dozen. The same labor in Germany is 24 cents per dozen, just exactly three times the cost with us as it is in Germany. The dyeing, finishing and folding, boxing, and warehouse expenses are 44 cents per dozen, and the same work in Germany is done for 19 cents per dozen, which makes our total cost $1.16 in wages, whereas in Germany it is 43 cents. The cost of our yarn in this country is 45 cents, and in Germany it is 37 cents. The expense in selling where we sell for ourselves is 5 cents per dozen, and I put their expense at the same, which makes our cost $1.66 and the German cost 85 cents per dozen, which shows clearly we require on that class of goods, to be equal with Germany, 81 cents per dozen.

The CHAIRMAN. And that is in labor?

Mr. COOPER. That is in labor; and for protection I would ask on behalf of our own firm a protection of 41 cents per dozen and 30 per cent, which is equal to 81 cents.

The CHAIRMAN. Combining a specific with an ad valorem duty? Mr. COOPER. That should be the duty on all goods costing $1.50 and under. That is as far as we are interested. There are others who make a better class of goods who require a higher protection. These machines on which these goods are made are very expensive, and the average cost is about $3,000. We require a class of labor to work these machines who are not only expert knitters, but they must be experienced mechanics who can take care of such valuable property, and these men earn $12 per week, while in Germany they earn 16 marks, which is $4 a week.

We think the men who can work these machines are entitled to $12 a week, as the cost of living is greater in this country, and the women who are occupied with that work of the seaming and other departments earn $6 a week, while in Germany they only earn $1.75 per week.

Mr. STEELE. Is it not just as easy to have the duty specific as to combine the specific with ad valorem?

Mr. COOPER. We require an ad valorem to protect the higher classes. When I say $1.50 perhaps, we have to calculate for dollar goods or 95 cents, because where this duty

Mr. STEELE. Could it not be done by different fences?

Mr. COOPER. In my opinion it is better to be one rate in order to protect us from undervaluation.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, you make it one line of fence and that is $1.50, and then above $1.50 another rate?

Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You combine the ad valorem with the specific in order to avoid the rate being so high on the cheap goods?

Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir. The protection on the cheap goods with this at a dollar would give 70 per cent.

Mr. MCMILLIN. What is the cheapest grade of goods you make? Mr. COOPER. Well, the lowest goods we can produce is $1.25 a dozen. Mr. MCMILLIN. You receive 50 cents a dozen and 30 per cent ad valorem?

Mr. COOPER. Forty cents per dozen and 30 per cent ad valorem. Mr. MCMILLIN. You are in favor, then, of an ad valorem system combined with a specific?

Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir.

Mr. MCMILLIN. In order to get the higher rate of duty on the higher grades of goods?

Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir.

Mr. MCMILLIN. But you devise no means by which you get a lower rate on goods which go down, say to $1.25.

Mr. COOPER. Well, I take the average protection as about 70 per cent. Mr. MCMILLIN. Seventy cents on the dollar of manufactured goods? Mr. COOPER. Yes.

Mr. MCMILLIN. Do you think that will be prohibitory or merely a revenue duty?

Mr. COOPER. A revenue duty. It will not be prohibitory, because our cost comes to exactly the same with that protection as their cost. The CHAIRMAN. That is, you equalize the conditions of the two countries?

Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir.

Mr. McMILLIN. How about the transportation which you have not to contend against?

Mr. COOPER. If you will allow me to follow that up. The total cost of the yarn and wages in this country is $1.66, while in Germany it is 85 cents. The interest and depreciation of machinery is put at 20, and I put the same in Germany, giving them equal facilities. Manufac turer's profit I put at 10 per cent on $1.86, which is 19 cents, and I put 19 cents for them. Trade discount to customers I put at 6 per cent on $2.18, which is 13 cents, and I put the same for each.

Mr. MCMILLIN. You estimate all of these as the elements of cost of your goods?

Mr. COOPER. Yes. The total cost of this article makes $2.18 in both countries, with the 81 cents duty added to the German cost.

Mr. EVANS. Do you not think the difference in these various items would make up the cost of transportation to this country?

Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir; that is what I calculate.

Mr. MCMILLIN. What do I understand you to include in the labor cost in the beginning of your statement? I am not sure I got that statement accurately.

Mr. COOPER. I take the cost of the stocking from the beginning up to the time it goes out of the house.

Mr. MCMILLIN. You get your raw material free-free wool?

Mr. COOPER. I am talking of cotton now. The yarn which we buy for that stocking costs us 45 cents, while in Germany it costs 37 cents. I have given that before, and the labor on the stocking from the beginning to its finished condition

Mr. MCMILLIN. Now, let us see what items of labor are included in that; that is the point I want to get at.

Mr. COOPER. Making the leg, the feet, turning off, seaming, counting, and factory expenses

Mr. MCMILLIN. That is what I want to find out. What are the factory expenses?

Mr. COOPER. Running the engines and machines, repairs, and general expenses, such as oils, supplies, etc.

Mr. MCMILLIN. You include all that as labor?

Mr. COOPER. As the actual cost of labor; yes, sir.

Mr. MCMILLIN. That is what I was trying to get at.

Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir; I have not made an item of general trade expenses, but I put it in that form. Up to that point our goods cost 72 cents, while the same goods in Germany cost 34 cents. Then the finishing costs 44 cents, whereas theirs costs but 19 cents. The dyeing, trimming, folding, and boxing, etc., costs 44 cents a dozen here, and the cost of the same in Germany is 19 cents a dozen.

Mr. MCMILLIN. Does that include the cost of the dyes?

Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir.

Mr. MCMILLIN. You include that as labor?

Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir; that is a very small item.

Mr. MCMILLIN. I was only wanting to see what you included as labor.

Mr. PAYNE. You sell your product principally in New York City, do you not?

Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir; New York, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia.

Mr. PAYNE. And the Germans sell their product principally in New York City?

M. COOPER. Yes.

Mr. PAYNE. Do you know whether or not your freight is less from your place to New York than their freight is from Germany to New York?

Mr. COOPER. Oh, yes; it is less.

Mr. PAYNE. How much less?

Mr. COOPER. The freight is very small, so small that you can scarcely get a percentage. Our freight is possibly a dollar a hundred dozen, and their freight might probably be $2 per hundred dozen.

Mr. PAYNE. You are speaking now not from actual knowledge, I suppose?

Mr. COOPER. Not about their freight-no.

Mr. PAYNE. Do you know their goods are actually delivered from

Germany to Chicago and St. Louis cheaper in freight than from New York in many instances?

Mr. COOPER. No; I did not know that.

Mr. PAYNE. I am told that is the fact.

Mr. WHEELER. Is it not true the manufacturer of Germany is about as far removed from the seaboard as you are from New York?

Mr. COOPER. Yes; they are fully that far.

Mr. WHEELER. Then this estimate of freight would be from the seaboard?

Mr. COOPER. Yes, I presume they pay freight to the seaboard. There are very few importations of these goods at less than a dollar a dozen. The seamless goods in this country have taken the place of that class of goods.

Mr. RUSSELL. When did you establish your industry here?

Mr. COOPER. Twelve years ago.

Mr. RUSSELL. You brought your plant from England, so to speak? Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir; machines and skilled workmen.

Mr. RUSSELL. Have you been running for the last two years much? Mr. COOPER. Yes, sir; we have been running.

Mr. RUSSELL. Steadily?

Mr. COOPER. Not steadily for the last six months, but we have been running without a profit I will say from the beginning. We have been trying to get this industry established, and in the twelve years we have been here we have not paid any dividends. It has been a hard struggle. We were just getting on our feet under the McKinley bill, but the Wilson bill would have destroyed us unless we had a good backing in our stockholders.

TUESDAY, December 29, 1896.

STATEMENT OF MR. JAMES TALCOTT, REPRESENTING THE AMERICAN HOSIERY COMPANY, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONN.

Mr. TALCOTT said:

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I represent the American Hosiery Company, of New Britain, Conn., large manufac turers of full-fashioned hosiery and underwear. The industry has been very much crippled under the present law. It is an industry that could be developed either as a revenue matter for the Government to bring in a great deal of revenue or else manufacture the goods here and employ a large amount of labor for the benefit of the manufacturer and laborer. At present it is for the benefit of foreign countries. The goods are worn almost exclusively by the well-to-do or wealthy classes. As an economical measure without regard to party it is one which should be developed in this country, either as a revenue measure, as I said, or for the benefit of the manufacturer and laborer.

STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY MR. TALCOTT.

NEW YORK, December 28, 1896.

COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS: The American Hosiery Company of New Britain, Conn., the largest manufacturers of full-fashioned hosiery and knit underwear in the country, and having the latest improved machinery, are capable of manufacturing goods in large quantities, equal in quality to the best in the world. These goods are used by the well-to-do (wealthy) classes, and the labor forms the largest proportion of the cost. Full-fashioned goods are knit on complicated and very expensive frames, which narrow and widen the

fabric in the process of manufacture, and so give it any required shape. The garments are then seamed or made up either by hand or machines which imitate hand work, taking up the selvage loops and avoiding objectionable seams or raw edges. All the machines used for full-fashioned goods are slow in their operation; difficult to keep in order, they require skillful operators and the closest care. To compete with foreign manufacturers requires great care and intelligent, well-paid, and satisfied labor. The production of fine full-fashioned goods is, we think, creditable not only to the manufacturer, but to the country, and there is no reason why goods equal to foreign make should not be produced here under suitable protection. Under the present tariff our industry has been very much depressed, and the mill has been either stopped at intervals or run upon a limited production.

AMERICAN HOSIERY CO.,

New Britain, Conn. JAMES TALCOTT, Agent, 108 Franklin Street, New York.

Mr. MCMILLIN. What is the present rate?

Mr. TALCOTT. Fifty per cent ad valorem.

Mr. DALZELL. Paragraph 262 covers your goods?

Mr. TALCOTT. I forget the section now, but it is 50 per cent. We require a graded schedule, as we wish to manufacture these goods running up into the fine grades.

Mr. PAYNE. Do you have any difficulty growing out of the undervaluation of imported goods?

Mr. TALCOTT. Yes; there is no doubt there are undervaluations-in fact, there does not seem to be any valuation to them.

Mr. DALZELL. What is your suggestion in regard to the amount of tariff?

Mr. TALCOTT. I would like a grade running up, with a specific and ad valorem duty graded upon the different prices.

Mr. DALZELL. On both hosiery and underwear?

Mr. TALCOTT. Yes, sir. We make very fine goods-a class of goods that the wealthy classes use almost exclusively, which are altogether or very nearly all imported.

Mr. MCMILLIN. About what rate do you ask?

Mr. TALCOTT. Well, I have not fully determined that. I have not made up my schedule, but I will have that very soon.

Mr. MCMILLIN. You have no idea in regard to that?

Mr. TALCOTT. I would want more than the present rate. There is no use of having 40 or 75 per cent if it does not protect. I want just enough to protect.

Mr. MCMILLIN. What is your idea in regard to the rate? You have given the matter careful study, I infer.

Mr. TALCOTT. I could not give that exactly to day, but it will not do any good to have 10 per cent more and the goods still keep coming in. And if the Government wants to use the hosiery business for revenue instead of for manufacturing them here, why

Mr. MCMILLIN. You want sufficient to keep them out?

Mr. TALCOTT. Yes, sir; that is what I want. I want the Government to either derive enough revenue from the industry or else I want enough to protect them to have it manufactured here. These goods are worn by people who are perfectly able to pay for them, and

The CHAIRMAN. Your idea is the duty can be increased simply as a matter of revenue and can come out of the well-to-do people?

Mr. TALCOTT. I think it might be materially increased as a matter of revenue alone.

The CHAIRMAN. You propose to submit a statement covering the ground, with your reasons?

Mr. TALCOTT. Yes, sir.