TARIFF CONSIDERATIONS. The great bulk of the hose made in the United States for use in conveying water or other liquids or gases is made of cotton and rubber. There is no competition from abroad in such hose. A small section of the American hose industry is devoted to the manufacture of linen hose, usually unlined, and imports are mainly of this type for use as indoor fire protection. In the act of 1913 flax yarns suitable for hose manufacture were dutiable on an ad valorem base, at 20 per cent, whereas linen hose was dutiable on a specific base, at 7 cents per pound. A pound of hose requires more than a pound of yarn, owing to a waste of about 5 per cent of the weight of the yarn in the processes of doubling and weaving. It is estimated that 1 pound of yarn is required for the manufacture of 4 feet of unlined linen hose of 2 inches internal diameter. During recent years prices of flax yarns have been so high that the ad valorem duty of 20 per cent resulted in the equivalent specific rates, in terms of cents per pound, being higher than the 7 cents per pound assessed on the finished hose. The Linen Association of New York, in a brief submitted to the Committee on Ways and Means in 1913, suggested that the duty on hydraulic or flume hose should be on an ad valorem basis and assessed at 25 per cent ad valorem. Imports were negligible at that time, but with the increase of imports after 1917 linen hose manufacturers urged that the duty on their raw material (flax yarns) and on the hose made therefrom should be on the same basis, whether specific or ad valorem, and so adjusted that the finished product would always pay the higher rate. In the act of 1922 there is levied on hose suitable for conveying liquids or gases a compound duty of 17 cents a pound and 10 per cent ad valorem. Such imported hose is mainly of flax and the specific portion of the above duty is intended as compensation to the domestic hose manufacturer for the duty he has to pay on his yarns, which are mainly of the 15 to 20 lea sizes. The duty on flax yarns is specific and arranged on a progressive scale; on 15 lea boiled flax yarn it is 13 cents a pound and on 20 lea it is 16 cents a pound. The compensatory duty is higher than that on the yarn in order to allow for the waste in yarn during the process of manufacture into hose. STATISTICAL TABLES. TABLE 1.-Belting and hose-Production in United States. TABLE 2-Hydraulic or flume hose-Imports for consumption-Revenue. TABLE 3.-India-rubber belting, hose, and packing-Domestic exports. Base price... Wholesale prices, per foot. WATER HOSE, †INCH, 5-PLY. [From Prices of Rubber and Rubber Products (W. I. B. Price Bulletin, No. 30).] RUBBER HOSE (WATER). [From Quaker City Rubber Co. Catalogue, July, 1918.] 9-inch 1 10-inch 1 1 Tank hose for railroads. Conduct- Hydrant Engine 3-ply. 4-ply. Linen hydraulic hose, made in whole or in part of flax, hemp, 20 cents per pound. or jute. ..do.. Hydraulic hose, made in whole or in part of flax, hemp, ramie, Hydraulic or flume hose, made in whole or in part of cotton, 40 per cent ad valorem. 20 cents per pound. 15 cents per pound. 7 cents per pound. 10 per cent ad valorem. Hose, suitable for conducting liquids or gases, composed wholly 17 cents per pound and or in chief value of vegetable fiber. COURT AND TREASURY DECISIONS. In G. A. 6032, T. D. 26351, of 1905, it was pointed out that paragraph 335 of the act of 1897 did not provide for hydraulic hose made of cotton, and such hose was held dutiable as countable cotton cloth. Canvas hose, not commercially known as "hydraulic hose," was held by the Treasury Department to be dutiable as a manufacture of flax or other vegetable fiber, n. s. p. f., under paragraph 284 of the act of 1913, and not as "hydraulic hose" under paragraph 274 (Dept. Order, T. D. 34373, of 1914). In the next year the Board of General Appraisers held that seamless flax fire hose used for the conveyance of water under pressure was "hydraulic hose" within common understanding and dutiable as such under paragrah 274, and not as a manufacture of flax under paragraph 284 of that act. (G. A. 7809, T. D. 35879, of 1915.) This decision, however, was not acquiesced in by the Treasury Department (Dept. Order, T. D. 36036, of 1916), and in a later case (G. A. 8015, T. D. 36930, of 1917) the Government contended that the term "hydraulic hose" is confined in trade and commerce to a cotton hose not under 3 inches in diameter, which is used in connection with mining operations to convey water in mines and which will not hold water under working pressure. The Government furthermore contended that the hose in question was not commercially known as "hydraulic hose." Witnesses for the Government testified that they had not heard the term "hydraulic" connected with hose of this character. Some witnesses further testified that they had not heard the term "hydraulic hose" used in the trade at all, and none of them had ever seen any flume hose. The importers' witnesses testified to the contrary. Most of the witnesses agreed that the word "hydraulic is ordinarily used in connection with anything that will withstand artificial water pressure. The Board of General Appraisers followed its former decision (T. D. 35879, supra) and said: "The Government attempted to prove that the term 'hydraulic hose' is limited in trade nomenclature to a certain 'hydraulic mining hose' made of cotton and used for conveying water and minerals by gravity in mining operations, but we think the testimony falls far short of proving that there is any such general trade understanding. But even if it were proven it would be of no avail in this case, for the witnesses testified that this so-called hydraulic mining hose is composed entirely of cotton, or of cotton and rubber, and is never made of flax, hemp, ramie, or jute. Paragraph 274 provides for 'hydraulic or flume hose, made in whole or in part of cotton, flax, hemp, ramie, or jute.' The provision is not confined to cotton hose alone, and therefore Congress could not have had this hydraulic mining hose in mind when the law was enacted." о |