Cost of manufacturing 100,000 yards of 194-ounce 40-inch burlap in Calcutta and laying same down in California. Requiring 231 persons in Calcutta working ten days, ten hours each day. 33 tons raw jute at 150 rupees per ton Help (per day each): 4 men batching, at 1 rupee 4 helpers, at 12 anna.. 12 spoolers, at 12 anna. 12 cop hands, at 12 anna 2 oilers, at 1 rupee 2 spare hands, at 12 anna.. 1 skilled machinist, at 8 rupees 1 skilled helper, at 2 rupees.. 1 spinning overseer, at 6 rupees. 1 skilled helper, at 2 rupees 1 messenger, at 1 rupee.. 4 warpers, at 14 anna.. 3 warp helpers, at 12 anna. 22 Power, oil, insurance, interest, repairs, depreciation, and other fixed charges... 1, 190 Freight, commission, insurance, brokerage, from Calcutta to San 1,220 Total cost 9, 816 8 Counting the rupee equal to 31 cents United States money, that would make total cost of 100,000 yards, $3,043.11. As a yard weighs 104 ounces and costs 3.04 cents per yard, 16 ounces would cost 4. 63 landed in the United States. Comparison of costs. Cost of manufacturing 1 pound of burlap in the United States... Cents. 6.46 4.63 1.83 Cost in the United States greater than that in India.... The following mills in the United States manufacture jute in some form: Chelsea Jute Mills, New York; Dolphin Jute Mills, Paterson N. J.; Planet Mills, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Tucker & Carter Cordage Company, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Allentown Spinning Company, Allentown, Pa.; John Good Spinning Company, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Travers Bros., New York, N. Y.; Schlechter Jute Cordage Company, Philadelphia, Pa.; John T. Bailey & Co., Philadelphia Pa.; Finley & Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; Wilmington Manufacturing Company, Wilmington, Del.; Thomas Jackson Company, Reading, Pa.; Sutherland & Edwards, Paterson, N. J.; Pearson Cordage Company, Boston, Mass.; Ludlow Manufacturing Company, Ludlow, Mass.; California Jute Mills, San Francisco, Cal.; San Quintan Jufe Mills, San Quintan, Cal.; Lamons & Robertson, Paterson, N. J.; Plymouth Mills, Plymouth, Pa.; California Cotton Mills, Oakland, Cal.; Walla Walla Jute Mills, Walla Walla, Wash. Mr. RUTHERFORD. Now, the words "of similar material" is a very wide phrase. It includes this material here [exhibiting]. That is similar material to cotton wrapping; no one can question it. If you take the goods which come in for binding hops, of which 70,000 or 80,000 bales are grown on the Pacific Coast, or cotton bagging, or heavy cloth ready for wrapping cotton bales, the graduation between the two is difficult to determine, and the custom house officers, inspectors, and appraisers are puzzled, and they can not do better under the present law. The CHAIRMAN. That is the result of putting burlaps on the free list? Mr. RUTHERFORD. Yes, sir. Mr. EVANS. How much more expensive is it to make the burlaps than the samples you show? Mr. RUTHERFORD. The expense of making burlaps depends entirely upon the size of the yarn. If the yarn is small, it requires a great deal more labor, and if the yarn is thick you can turn out a great deal more in the machine, because to every foot there is so much less twine. In the weaving, every pick of heavy yarn is put in quicker than small picks of fine yarn, and consequently the coarse cloth can be made at half the price for the labor, in some cases, of the fine cloth. Mr. EVANS. I am referring to these particular samples. Mr. RUTHERFORD. That sample I showed there would cost nearly as much, this big sample, as the finest burlap, but this little bundle of samples are expensive because they are dyed. You will notice these solid colors are coming in free, dyed solid, and the dyers of this country have the right and just claim for dyes they have brought in here to dye goods with. No wool could compete with them, jute costing 3 cents per pound and wool costing 24 cents and 50 cents when it is washed. All colors are coming in. You will notice all colors are coming in free of duty. Those goods are imported free, although we have tried to stem the current. The CHAIRMAN. Does the term "burlap" admit of so wide an application as that? What is the meaning commercially and technically of the word "burlap"? Mr. RUTHERFORD. It means a coarse, textile fabric; burlaps and hessian are two conventional phrases. It was just fifty years ago since men in England and Scotland were trying to weave jute. I have seen machines made which cost thousands and thousands of dollars. They could not manufacture jute, and they had to go on experimenting for years with the jute, and in London nobody knew how to work it; but gradually they began to work it with a little oil and a little soap, and ultimately they became acquainted with its nature; and the names, I do not know how they originated or what they were derived from, but "burlaps" and "hessians" are the names which include everything when you come to a popular reckoning of it. The CHAIRMAN. Would any plain weaves of jute be considered as burlaps under the law? Mr. RUTHERFORD. Yes, sir; not only plain, but twilled cloth; ornamental goods, too. Mr. PAYNE. Your statement that these goods came in free was questioned a moment ago. I understand you made efforts to prevent them coming in free. Will you state what efforts you have made recently, and what the result was? Mr. RUTHERFORD. I told the inspector in Mr. Tucker's office, who is the chief appraiser-I told his assistant that was horse blanketing; it was called plaid, and used to be imported by a great many gentlemen I know. Mr. Ayers, I think, used to import the horse blanketing and pay a big duty, and I stated it was not fair to bring that in, and it was never intended under that act. The act, as I understand it, put burlaps free so as to benefit the farmer who raises grain and the cotton grower in his cotton, and it was just to bring in those goods, but they read the clause "burlaps and bags made for grain of burlaps, free," and "all such material," and say the clause is comprehensive, but I believe they appealed to the New York Board, and I think just now it is in abeyance, and they allow no more of it to come in, and it has been stopped. The CHAIRMAN. This difficulty has all arisen under the act of 1894, and if the burlaps were dutiable the difficulty would never have taken place. Mr. RUTHERFORD. There was never any trouble before that. They read over this very carefully here, "bagging for cotton, gunny cloth, and all similar material." Now this bagging comes in for hops greatly at San Francisco. If the crop of hops is poor and there are no hops, rather than carry that bagging they send it to the East, and sometimes to New Orleans and Galveston, for wrapping cotton in instead of carrying that for a year or two. Hops have been at 5 cents instead of 25 cents, and the cloth had to be disposed of, and so hop bagging is very little different from cotton wrapping, and it is all under the general head of "similar material.". It does not say anything about color. Suppose you put a dozen stripes on the cotton wrapping and that passes; suppose you put in two dozen colored stripes and that passes, where is the limit to be? Mr. DALZELL. Under what section do you claim these goods come in, 424 or 3921 Mr. RUTHERFORD. I will just read the section here. I looked it up in the book I have in my pocket. Mr. DALZELL. Under what section are they admitted? Mr. RUTHERFORD. In section 392. Mr. DALZELL. Under the term "similar material"? Mr. RUTHERFORD. Yes, and bring in the goods there. They are burlaps made of jute. Mr. DALZELL. Why should they not come in under this section of 4241, "Burlaps and bags for grain made of burlaps"? Mr. RUTHERFORD. This is a California grain sack, known all the world over as a grain sack for 2 bushels of wheat, of which we got 40,000,000 last year, and everybody knows this to be a burlap [illustrating]. That is called in England and India a "hessian" and in this country a "burlap." It is the standard size. This sack is 22 by 36 and it weighs 124 ounces. Mr. PAYNE. These come in, you contend, as burlaps and other similar material? Mr. RUTHERFORD. Yes, sir; similar material-under the two words "similar material." Mr. DALZELL. Similar material is provided for "as composed in whole or in part of hemp, flax, jute, or jute butts." It is not contended these come in for covering cotton? Mr. RUTHERFORD. Yes, sir; we get cotton from Galveston. We import from Galveston and Texas points 6,000 bales a year in the California mills. Many bales are covered with piece cloth like that [illustrating]. Last year in particular a great many of them were covered with fine cloth. You see the thing is this: If the heavy cotton burlaps, or cotton wrapping, weighs 15 pounds and costs 4 cents a pound, that is 60 cents. They have gone up to fine cloth and called it cotton wrapping that only weighs half as much as that heavy cloth and not twice the price, so it is cheaper to cover the cotton sometimes with the fine cloth. Now, I have here, Mr. Chairman, the cost of the manufacture of a hundred yards of 104-ounce burlap. All of these standard bags are made of 104-ounce burlaps 40 by 36 inches; that is the standard of all grain bags, and, unless by special order, they are made 104-ounce weight, 40 inches for the width, and 36 inches long. Now, I have figured that here as the standard, so that everyone might know it. I have a long statement of wages, but it is not necessary, I think, to go over it unless you want me, and I will only show that the total is $4,244 for 100,000 yards made in this country. Now, in dividing that up we find that is 4.24 cents to the yard. Now, we take a pound of that at the same proportions and it will cost 6.46 cents to the pound, or 4.24 to the yard. Now, if we take Calcutta, to make 100,000 yards in Calcutta of the same cloth, pay insurance, commissions, brokerage, and everything connected with it, to land it in San Francisco with all the items stated here will cost 9,816 rupees and 8 annas, counting the rupee equal to 31 cents-which, I think, it is scarcely equal to at present, but we will put it at that, so the Indian statement will not be less than it should be and it comes to $3,043.11 in United States money landed in San Francisco or New York, and there is very little difference when freights are reasonable-about $5 or $6.50 a ton measurement, which is 40 cubic feet. So I say this amount of cloth landed in this country costs $3,043.11. As a yard weighs 10 ounces, too, the cost of 1 yard of Calcutta cloth landed here is 3.04 cents and 1 pound will cost 4.63 cents, or a difference of 1.83 cents per pound, a little over 13 cents a pound for the cloth in the piece. The bales generally come in 2,000 yards. Now, a great deal of that cloth, as you will see from the returns, comes into this country to be cut up into bags. In making the bags about three-eighths or half a cent is the cost of cutting up, doubling, sewing, hemming, filling, and baling the bags; about three-eighths of a cent to the bag is the cost of the work for making this cloth into bags, and consequently if the bags come in free, if we are to be protected in the same measure as against the cloth, we have to have a little more protection on bags. It is astounding what a quantity of cotton is needed. Now, the mills interested with us in California-we have fully 500 looms in California-and the only mill running just now is the State prison mill, and they are at their wits' end (the State prison directors), for I have spoken to them, and they are wondering how to get the thing to pay, and they get their labor free. Mr. TAWNEY. How long have the mills been idle? Mr. RUTHERFORD. It was in August, 1894, the bill giving us free burlaps was passed, and the mills were shut down that year; that was about the end of 1894. Mr. COBB. Are you sure you are absolutely correct about the price of these foreign goods? Mr. RUTHERFORD. Yes, sir; and I would be very glad if any of the Members here would take this and examine it, or have any expert examine it acquainted with foreign exchange, insurance, etc. I leave this statement with the committee, and I invite inspection of it. Mr. COBB. Have any of your California textile plants been removed to this country where labor is so cheap? Mr. RUTHERFORD. No, sir; but I will tell you one little point I did not touch on this branch of the subject, but if you will permit me I will tell you what has happened. As I stated in this paper, there are sixteen of these mills running in California. One of the largest was running during the war and I believe it made the best blankets in the United States for both the South and North, and supplied an immense quantity of goods at that time, running day and night. That mill until a few years ago employed a thousand people, with about sixty big dye vats for dyeing goods, and had an immense plant at Black Point. That mill, when the difficulties were so disheartening and things looked so bad, had been trading all the time with the Japanese, and the Japanese saw this mill and bought it complete, except the engine, which was too big. I went and bought the engine, a 600-horsepower engine. I sent six or eight men there, trained mechanics and machinists. They took down that engine. I went there at the time and saw the work proceeding, and I saw in that mill a whole crew of Japanese brought over from Japan in a steamer for the very purpose of taking down that machinery. I saw that, and spoke to them, and they took down all the machinery, tacked all of it with labels in their own writing, and packed all that plant, except the building, away in the steamer, and sent with it these men who were brought over. I never understood how they could bring them over to this country to do the work that rightfully belonged to the machinists in our State, who are idle by the hundreds, but that is a fact, and that is only one instance. There are only three mills running in California Mr. COBB. Have any jute mills transferred their plants? Mr. RUTHERFORD. No; but I will state about the mill I am immediately connected with. I have worked in mills since I left school in the textile industries of England and Scotland, and I am acquainted with all textile industries, and the mill I am connected with has a large cotton department immediately adjacent to the jute plant. Some time ago, when our jute plant was standing idle, a Japanese merchant, about whom we inquired as to his honor and integrity and capability to perform whatever contract he might make with us, offered us a fair proposition to take our mill to Japan and locate it at Osaki, where since 1882 there have been over sixty cotton mills built, but it was considered it would be better to take our mill to Yokohama, where coal was 90 cents a ton and we could secure labor of Japanese women for 8 sen-8 sen is about 5 cents, the Japanese yen only equaling 53 cents and the silver yen weighing more than an American dollar. We have a lot of them coming into California. The Japanese girls would work for about 6 cents, or from 8 to 10 sen. We were told we could get all the Japanese help we wanted for 22 sen, which would be about 12 cents of our money. Mr. TAWNEY. Could you own the mill over there? Mr. RUTHERFORD. We investigated the matter. I am an American citizen and have been, I am proud to say, for many years, and we found we could not own any property there. No alien can own property in Japan, and the proposition we got was to be satisfactory, because we could make a contract that the Government would be called upon to enforce, that they would give us a reasonable amount for the plant when they took possession, which would be about four years after it started. There is one peculiarity in Japan which we found out from our investigation, that nearly all the mills there are furnished with Canadian and Scotch machinery. There is no mill in Japan that employs any European labor after they start; not one of those 62 mills, I am assured, has any European or American labor after running. Everyone is paid off and the foreign element is cleared out, and when I found we could not own the property and have control of it as I did not want to become a Japanese citizen-I |