Only through rigid economy, close supervision, and very hard work have we been able to secure a margin of profit. Without the various specifically provided for products in the sections of the free list we quote this would have been an impossibility. None of the essential products in these sections are produced in this country in sufficient quantity, if produced at all, and those in our line are the only conThe form of sections 464, 472, 524, and 626 strongly appeals to us, and we consider our interests best conserved by retaining them in their present precise and specific form. There is provided in the present tariff Section 15. * * all other products or preparations of coal tar, not colors or dyes and not medicinal, not specially provided for in this act, 20 per cent ad valorem. Some of these are used for the production of coal-tar colors exclusively, some for other purposes in addition, and some for other purposes exclusively, as for perfumes, in photography, as disinfectants, antiseptics, etc. Medicinal preparations are excluded from this section. The preparations under this section that we make use of are regarded as intermediate products between those covered by section524 and the finished coal-tar colors. Some of these we import, others we manufacture ourselves, and we intend taking up the manufacture of additional ones, as we frequently find that we are either unable to purchase them, or, if so, not in quality suitable for our purposes. To summarize briefly: Under the present conditions the manufacture of coal-tar colors in this country needs, for its continuance and proper development, a protective duty of not less that the existing 30 per cent. As to the other schedules we have discussed, we beg to submit that we have accommodated ourselves to the conditions as created by them, and consider that our interests would be best conserved by retaining them in their respective places in their present precise and specific form. Trusting that you will give us careful consideration in this matter, we remain, Yours, very respectfully, CENTRAL DYESTUFF AND CHEMICAL CO., COAL TAR AND COAL-TAR PRODUCTS. ZINKEISEN & CO., NEW YORK CITY, IMPORTERS AND EXPORTERS, RECOMMEND DUTIES ON CERTAIN COAL-TAR PRODUCTS NOW ON FREE LIST. Hon. SERENO E. PAYNE, NEW YORK, December 1, 1908. Chairman Ways and Means Committee, Washington, D. C. SIR: As importers of chemical products and interested also in some chemical factories in the United States, we, together with a number of business associates, contemplate the manufacture of organic chemicals, and especially the making of derivatives of coal tar, in this country should the pending tariff legislation be favorable to the development of this branch of industry. As is well known, the modern and important organic chemical industry, especially the chemical dyestuffs, are directly dependent upon coal tar. In fostering, therefore, even to a slight extent, the many and substantial chemical enterprises in which coal tar enters, the modern organic chemical industry would be systematically and intelligently built up as a whole on American soil. Also, the great coke and coal interests here would have a market for a valuable by-product or by-products at home, so that these mining interests could much better face new conditions should the duty on coal and coke be reduced or taken off entirely or should untoward circumstances cut down the profits. The following is to outline how the coal-tar derivatives can be successfully made in this country, where nature has given us large quantities of the raw products i. e., coal, coke, and coal tar-necessary for such industries. At the meeting of your committee for the discussion of Schedule A, concerning coal tar and coal-tar dyes, two views especially were presented. These were diametrically opposed to one another. On the one hand there were the Schoellkopf, Hartford & Hanna Company, of Buffalo, and the Heller & Merz Company, of New York City and New Jersey, while on the other hand there were the Barrett Manufacturing Company, of New York City and Philadelphia, and the SemetSolway Company, of Syracuse, New York State. The proposal of the Schoellkopf, Hartford & Hanna Company points toward a complete prostration of the coal-tar industry as a whole, and for these reasons: First, if now all the so-called "middle" products (that is, the intermediate products between the crude coal tar and the more complex and finished organic chemicals) which are used in making coal-tar dyes are placed on the free list as proposed, then the working up of such "middle" products here at home will naturally become most difficult and a normal growth of the industry in all its ramifications can not be reasonably expected; second, it is common knowledge that the "middle" products of the coal-tar dye industry are controlled abroad by the same syndicates which make the coal-tar dyestuffs. It is therefore obvious that the American coal-ta'r dyestuff industry will not be put on its feet even with an ad valorem duty of 40 per cent, as has been proposed. Should the duty be raised to 40 per cent on the dyes, the "middle" products, which are almost exclusively made abroad now, would be advanced in price correspondingly by the foreign syndicates which now supply practically all the coal-tar dyes to this country, for these, as stated, also control the "middle" products. These interests have it in their power to place the prices of the "middle" products, even if all these are on the free list, so high that an American manufacturer of the finished dyestuffs made therefrom could not work to advantage, notwithstanding the very considerable duty proposed of 40 per cent ad valorem. An object lesson illustrative of this very point is the slight progress made by the chemical dyestuff industry in this country since the Dingley tariff bill was enacted, in spite of the many "middle" products which are already on the free list. On its face therefore this method of encouraging in this country the great coal-tar industry to that flourishing state of success achieved on the continent of Europe is not practical. Further, the conditions prevailing here now are quite different from those of 1897. At that time only very small quantities of coal tar were produced in the United States, so that the raw material and "middle" products could not be supplied by domestic makers. Now, however, large quantities of crude coal tar are produced and wasted every year, because the few chemical factories in this country buying the coal-tar "middle" products import these free of duty. Domestic producers of crude coal tar are only waiting the time when the American organic chemical and dyestuff industry shall have grown to sufficient dimensions to make the manufacture of the coal-tar "middle" products profitable. Then only a great industry in the manufacture of the coal-tar "middle" products is assured, and the output of crude coal tar and nearly related products will multiply rapidly until they will unquestionably become important and profitable articles of export. The heavy importation of ammonia salts (which are made in the same plants and at the same time with the crude coal tar) alone make it a national duty to support the domestic producers of coal tar and to find uses for this product, for ammonia has become vital to the continued productiveness of our farming lands. A satisfactory and a healthy coal-tar industry can, however, only be brought into being if all the products which can be made from this material shall receive rational and logical protective duties to equalize as nearly as possible the higher costs new enterprises are always subject to here, as compared with well rooted undertakings in Europe. At the same time such duties should not be so high as to be even temporarily unjust to the present American consumers of such products. The proposals of the Barrett Manufacturing Company and of the Semet-Solvay Company, on the other hand, have this end in view. Their demands, however, are in some respects illogical and unjust. Such tariff schedules as they propose would surely prevent the systematic and natural development of the coal-tar industry, especially because they actually ask for heavier duties on the raw and middle" products than on the refined and finished products. For example, benzol, a raw coal-tar product, 7 cents per gallon equals 25 per cent ad valorem. Aniline, a much higher product, ready for use in the textile industry, 20 per cent ad valorem. To build up a healthy industry in the coal-tar branch the following general plan should be observed: (1) A small duty only for raw materials, and where possible no duty on these. (2) For "middle" products which are used in appreciable quantities there should be a duty to equalize the higher cost of production here. (3) Raw material, like crude coal tar, is protected sufficiently through the cost of transportation from Europe to this country, should such transportation ever be rendered feasible by specially constructed means of conveyance. We therefore respect fully submit that the tariff should be changed as follows to meet existing conditions and to guarantee reasonable support for this far-reaching branch of industry. The products in question come under the head of the free list (as) now), No. 464, No. 469, No. 472, No. 524, No. 626, and No. 580. Coal tar (crude), free. Raw materials, which are made by simple and direct fractionating distillation (benzol, toluol, xylol and its homologues, napthalene, anthracene), 5 per cent ad valorem. "Middle" or intermediate products, such as phenols, kressols, naphthols, nitro compounds of the hydrocarbons, aniline, toluidin, cumidin, xyladine, naphthylamine, diphenylamine, benzidin, tolidin, dianisidine and its salts, benzyl-chloride, naphthol, and naphthyl aminsulphoacid, 10 per cent ad valorem. Finished products, such as resorcin, picric acid and picrates, benzaldehyde, benzoic acid, carbolic acid, 20 per cent ad valorem. Alizarin and alizarin dyestuffs and artificial (chemical) indigo, and all other aniline coal-tar colors, 30 per cent ad valorem. Carbolic acids and phenols, as well as picric acid, the Barrett Manufacturing Company did not include in its table of products it wished protected, but these are of great importance in case of war, and should be made independently therefore in every country. Finally, it is no secret that all the German and Swiss dyestuff factories plan to form a single syndicate or trust. Since these foreign factories practically control the entire American market in dyestuffs, it is to the distinct disadvantage of all our domestic manufacturers, such as our textile manufacturers, our dyers, and our cotton printers, to be forced to depend upon such a foreign combination for these materials, which are necessary to these large American enterprises, and thus to be made to withdraw their support from even such chemical and dyestuff makers as are working here now under the handicaps above described. To lend support to any tariff schedule on these products which might be especially favorable to such foreign interests would be unpatriotic and un-American, and if the next tariff bill does not include adequate measures to give the coal-tar industry a fair start, it may happen that that branch will be lost to us forever. Very respectfully, yours, ZINKERSEN & Co. THE NEW ENGLAND FELT ROOFING WORKS URGE THAT NO DUTIES BE PLACED UPON COAL TAR AND PITCH OF COAL TAR. BOSTON, December 1, 1908. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: Respect fully represents the New England Felt Roofing Works, of Boston, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That in the hearings before your committee November 10 the Semet-Solvay Company, of Syracuse, in the State of New York, and the Barrett Manufacturing Company, of the said State, ask that coal tar and pitch of coal tar be taken from paragraph 524 of section 2 of the free list and a tariff tax be placed upon them. That for the year ending June 30, 1905, the value of all coal tar and pitch of coal tar imported into the United States is $115,377; for the year ending June 30, 1906, $96,909; and for the year ending June 30, 1907, $61,705. These figures are for the values of the imports of both coal tar and pitch, no separation being made in the government reports between them, and therefore it is impossible to state from official figures how much belongs to one and how much to the other. But it will be observed that while they have been upon the free list the imports have diminished steadily, and it generally is believed in the market. That at present practically no coal tar is imported, the cost being prohibitive, and that the supply is domestic. Therefore a tariff tax thereon is not necessary for the protection of an infant or unestablished industry, and as there are no imports of coal tar a tariff tax thereon will not bring any revenue to the United States, but will increase the cost of the domestic product to the consumer. Very little pitch of coal tar is imported, and therefore a tariff tax thereon can bring very little revenue to the United States, but it also will increase the cost thereof to the consumer. Our imports of pitch of coal tar are wholly from Great Britain, there being no imports by us of either coal tar or of pitch of coal tar from Germany, and it is essential to our business, and therefore a tariff tax thereon will make our business more costly and will be, both to us and to our customers, a great injury. Coal tar and pitch of coal tar are by-products of gas and cokeoven plants; and the output in the United States is dominated and controlled, through a holding company, by the Barrett Manufacturing Company, which not only appears to be associated closely with the Semet-Solvay Company, and in this connection attention may be called to the striking similarity of their petitions before you; but also it has absorbed several of the companies which appeared before the Committee on Ways and Means in the year 1897 and then asked that coal tar and pitch of coal tar should be upon the free list. Our business in felt roofing materials has been established and maintained in Boston since the year 1852. It is dependent upon our use of pitch of coal tar, and the tariff tax proposed by the Barrett Manufacturing Company, if imposed, will compel us to pay an unfair tribute to an organization the many ramifications of which reach from New England to the Missouri River and from Chicago to New Orleans, which then will possess practically the entire market of the United States. Wherefore on behalf of ourselves and of the manufacturing corporations who are our customers, and of the people whose roofs are protected by our materials, we respectfully pray your committee to leave coal tar and pitch of coal tar as now-upon the free list. NEW ENGLAND FELT ROOFING WORKS, THE BARRETT MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK CITY, AMENDS ITS PETITION ASKING FOR PLACING OF DUTY ON COAL TAR, COAL-TAR PITCH, AND BENZOLS. NEW YORK CITY, December 1, 1908. To the Ways and Means Committee, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: On November 10 we submitted to your committee a petition asking for the placing of a tariff on coal tar and certain of |