jealously guarded. I have endeavored to furnish you with such information as I have been able to. The most available source for obtaining authentic information as to foreign imports is the declarations of value by importers to our customs department. Hoping to obtain information as to goods which are actually being imported which might enable me to furnish to your committee some comparison between the costs of such fabrics and similar ones of home manufacture, I obtained a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury from the chairman of your subcommittee on wool manufactures. The Secretary of the Treasury stated that the prices of such goods were confidential under an administrative ruling of his department (which, it is fair to say, had been made by his predecessors), so that I have been unable to obtain them. In my opinion a law should be enacted whereby such information may be available for use through the Bureau of Manufactures or some other department of our Government, in like manner as it has been deemed fair and equitable to have that bureau collect data as to costs and prices of domestic manufactures. Your committee has sent out a sheet of "Interrogatories propounded to manufacturers" requesting the most intimate detailed information as to their manufactures, to be given under oath and to be printed in such manner as to become to all intents and purposes a public document; and also requesting information as to foreign costs of similar articles. Permit me to suggest that considerable information as to foreign manufactures can be obtained from the source suggested, and no reason suggests itself to me why such information should not be used as well as that obtained from our own home manufacturers. In conclusion, let me reaffirm my oral recommendation to you through your subcommittee that the rates of the Wilson Act of 1894 be reenacted. While I believe those rates to be too low, particularly on goods weighing under 4 ounces, as shown by the increase in importations in such light weight goods under that Act, yet I am willing as stated to you orally, to take my share of the risks which will result therefrom. Conditions were unfavorable for the enactment of the Wilson bill and are more favorable now. How much more favorable, no one can tell until the new rates are actually in operation. WILLIAM WHITMAN. COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Suffolk, ss: BOSTON, June 4, 1913. Then personally appeared William Whitman known to me and known to me to be the person who subscribed the foregoing statement and made oath that the said statement by him subscribed was true to the best of his knowledge and belief. Before me, C. EATON PIERCE, Notary Public. THOMAS O. MARVIN, SECRETARY HOME MARKET CLUB, BOSTON, MASS. WAGES IN ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES. Comparative list of wages paid in Bradford, England, and United States on Mar. 1, 1913, in mills owned by Joseph Benn & Sons Co., spinners, and manufacturers of mohair and alpaca, and making identically the same classes of goods on the same kind of machinery running at the same speed in both countries. Comparative costs of mohair and alpaca cloths manufactured in the Uuitad States and in England. Cost per yard of cloth made in United States under the new Underwood bill of 20 per cent ad valorem duty on raw mohair and alpaca.. Cost of imported cloths under the new Underwood bill paying a 28.0 32.5 36.5 42.7 69.2 46.9 78.2 37.0 33.7 39.0 45.0 31.2 39.7 duty of 40 per cent ad valorem.. 24.5 28.3 32.3 37.4 59.9 41.1 69.0 31.6 29.4 34.1 40.2 27.3 35.5 Advantage to importer over United States manufacturer, per cent.. Cost of cloths made in United Cost of imported cloths paying 35 12.5 12.9 11.5 12.4 13.4 12.2 11.8 14.6 12.8 12.6 10.7 12.5 10.6 27.0 31.1 35.5 41.0 65.9 45.5 74.8 35.3 31.6 37.5 42.8 30.0 37.1 23.7 27.3 31.2 36.1 57.8 39.7 66.6 30.5 28.4 33.0 38.8 26.4 34.3 12.2 12.2 12.1 12.0 12.3 12.7 11.0 13.6 10.1 12.0 9.3 12.0 7.5 26.2 30.2 34.6 40.0 64.1 44.0 73.9 33.9 31.4 36.5 43.0, 29.2 38.0 27.0 31.2 35.7 41.3 66.2 45.4 76.3 34.9 32.5 37.7 44.4 30.139 2 27.9 32.2 36.8 42.6 68.3 46.9 78.7 36.0 33.4 38.9 45.8 31.0 40.5 ..per cent.. 99.0 87.3 83.3 79.6 86.5 103.0 83.2 83.8 91.1 93.1 77.8 88.8 80.0 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOOL MANUFACTURERS, 683 ATLANTIC AVENUE, BOSTON, MASS., BY JOHN P. WOOD, PRESIDENT, AND WINTHROP L. MARVIN, SECRETARY. BOSTON, MASS., May 9, 1913. Hon. WILLIAM J. STONE, Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on the Woolen Schedule, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: We wish to enter our earnest protest against the woolen schedule of the Underwood tariff bill, for the following reasons: First. The proposed rates of duty are, on the whole, inadequate, and their adoption would be a menace not only to the prosperity but to the existence of the woolen manufacturers in the United States. Second. The proposed duties on the products of manufacture at their different stages from tops to finished cloth do not give proper consideration to the relative differences in the costs and values of those different products. Third. The provision of a single ad valorem rate each for tops, yarns, cloths, and dress goods is a perilous expedient, calculated to destroy important parts of the industry and to deprive the Government of proper revenue. A tariff made up wholly on the ad valorem basis is contrary to the practice of the modern world, and has always been deprecated by most of the wisest of American statesmen. Fourth. The duty proposed on finished goods-35 per cent ad valorem-is far below the 40 and 50 per cent of the Gorman-Wilson tariff law of 1894, which proved disastrous to this as to other Ameri can industries. Since 1894 wages in American woolen mills have advanced from 30 to 40 per cent. There has been no corresponding increase in the competing mills of Europe. Fifth. Not only are weekly earnings from two to four times as great in this industry in America as they are abroad, but the actual cost of spinning a pound of yarn or weaving a yard of cloth is at least twice as great here as it is in Europe this is the explicit statement of the recent Tariff Board. Moreover, because of the higher general wages in this country, the cost of the buildings and machinery of a woolen mill is about 50 per cent larger than in Great Britain. Sixth. Differences so great as these in the cost of manufacture can not be covered by a duty of 35 per cent, which would in actual practice amount to less than 30 per cent, because of undervaluations of imported merchandise. Seventh. We recognize that the Democratic Party is pledged to a downward revision of the tariff, but we respectfully urge that it has never been pledged to such extreme changes as are embodied in the pending bill. The serious crippling of a great national industry and the destruction of parts of it are certainly not desired nor expected by the American people. We respectfully ask that your committee will so modify the woolen schedule of this bill that it may accord with your platform promises and the assurance of the President, that in the process of readjustment of our tariff laws no legitimate American industry shall be injured. Par. 296.-WOOLEN YARNS. ABBOT WORSTED CO., GRANITEVILLE, MASS., BY JOHN C. ABBOT, ASSISTANT TREASURER. GRANITEVILLE, MASS., April 23, 1913. Hon. FURNIFOLD MCL. SIMMONS, Chairman, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: We wish to call your attention to the great injustice we firmly believe will be done to us provided Schedule K of the proposed Underwood tariff bill goes into effect. We are manufacturers of carpet and camel's-hair yarns under this schedule, and would say that, in our opinion, unless the duties are raised on manufactured goods under this heading it will work untold injury to our industry. We have carefully gone into figures, which we believe are right, and find from samples of English carpet yarns which have been submitted that these yarns can be imported under this proposed bill cheaper than we can manufacture them. To substantiate this would say that the Government allows for 1 pound of yarn in a carpet 3 pounds of the greasy wool (this ratio has been fixed as a standard for export business and is, we think, a correct standard), which, of course, on the basis of a 4-cent duty per pound under the present bill, means a reduction of 12 cents for the 3 pounds. Taking this off of the present price of yarn and comparing with English prices which have been given to us, we find the price in favor of the English yarn by a cent or two per pound. We might follow this through on the carpets and find that these also show that they would be imported cheaper than we can manufacture them. We are firm in our belief, therefore, that such a bill is going to invite most serious competituon, and would ask that the duties be increased by 5 to 10 per cent, this increase to apply right through the line from paragraph 300 to 316, inclusive. We would also like to bring to your attention the paragraph covering camel's-hair press cloth, which is most serious for us, inasmuch as under paragraph 435 it is free, and camel's-hair yarn, from which it is made, comes under the heading of paragraph 300, which makes the yarn dutiable 20 per cent. If the yarns are to be taxed, the manufactured goods out of these yarns certainly should be taxed also, and we would ask that this press cloth be put back under Schedule K as it was formerly and carry with it a duty of 35 per cent. Unless this is done it is inevitable the press-cloth business will be absolutely ruined, as, naturally, it can be shipped in from the other side cheaper than it can be manufactured here. We realize you have all the statistics on hand with reference to these two lines of business, so we are not going into that, but would simply ask that, in all fairness to our industry, you endeavor to give us duties high enough to at least allow us a fighting chance to compete against foreign trade. Par. 296.-WOOLEN YARNS. W. STURSBERG, SCHELL & CO., EVERETT BUILDING, 45 EAST SEVENTEENTH STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y., BY W. STURSBERG, PRESIDENT. NEW YORK, April 28, 1913. Hon. CHARLES F. JOHNSON, Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: We wish to enter our respectful protest against the proposed flat rates of duty in Schedule K, House bill H. R. 10, clause 300, yarns, 20 per cent; clause 301, etc., all manufactured piece goods, 35 per cent, as unscientific and unjust. While accepting the administration's dictum of free wool, but placing of a flat rate of duty on all yarns and cloths, etc., of every quality is a hit in the dark, and a positive injury to the greater part of the domestic woolen and worsted industry, and an absolute disregard of the tariff plank of the Democratic platform, and of the repeated public assurances of the President that no business would be injured. These flat rates are not competitive; they are practically prohibitive, as the results will show if enacted into a law. We hereby appeal to the matured wisdom, enlightened statesmanship, and the patriotism of yourself as a member of the Committee on Finance to remedy this glaring injustice. We take the liberty to present for your consideration and that of your committee a schedule which is practically the same as presented to your committee in a comprehensive brief by one of the best informed and most experienced woolen and worsted manufacturers in the United States, Mr. Julius Forstmann, of Passaic, N. J. The rates are properly balanced and adjusted according to the purchasing power of the consumer, differentiating between necessities and luxuries and increasing revenue on the latter. |