PREFACE This is one of a series of Tariff Information Surveys prepared by the United States Tariff Commission and transmitted to the Committee on Ways and Means. The series covers all of the articles and commodities provided for in the tariff act of October 3, 1913, and others not specifically provided for. It is arranged in the numerical order of paragraphs of that act. In some cases two or more paragraphs have been combined in one pamphlet. In doing this industrial relationship of the articles has been followed when possible. In those instances where a paragraph has been treated under a preceding paragraph of the tariff act reference is made to this fact at the point where the paragraph appears in numerical order. Where one grade of an article is dutiable and another grade of the same article is on the free list, the article is discussed under the dutiable paragraph, which appears first in numerical order in the tariff act. In certain instances articles of close industrial relationship and which occur in separate paragraphs of the tariff act have been combined under one paragraph for convenience of discussion. Reference is made to this fact at the point where the commodities would naturally occur in numerical order. The first pamphlet in the series is an "Introduction and index," which contains: 1. An introductory chapter discussing the scope of the series and the general method of treatment. 2. An alphabetical index of the articles provided for in the tariff act of 1913, showing the paragraph of the act in which the article is provided for and, if discussed under a different paragraph, the number of such paragraph. 3. A list of the pamphlets in the series, showing the paragraphs and articles included in each pamphlet. Thus by use of this "Introduction and index" the exact location of the discussion relating to a given article or commodity can be ascertained. In the preparation of this report the Tariff Commission had the services of Joseph M. Donohoe, of the Commission's staff, and of others. HUMAN HAIR. SUMMARY. In 1915 there were. 205 establishments in the United States engaged in the manufacture of human-hair products, capitalized at $2,543,000, employing 1,193 wage earners and producing articles valued at $3,335,000. New York was the leading State in the industry, the value of its products being $2,022,833. All the raw material used for manufactures of human hair is imported, there being no domestic collection or saving of such hair for commercial purposes. The principal sources of supply are Russia, China, and other parts of the Orient, and continental Europe, especially the southern countries. The chief articles of manufacture are wigs, switches, and similar goods used in the hairdressing industry. A recent development of considerable importance is the manufacture from human hair of press cloth, used in the extraction of oil from cotton seed, flaxseed, etc. Imports, $500,000 in 1915, the lowest, have increased to $4,267,319 for the first 10 months of 1920. Prior to 1919 imports of unmanufactured hair exceeded imports of manufactured articles from human hair, but in 1919 and 1920 the manufactures far exceed in value the raw hair. Hair "nets and netting" is the principal item of this increase, its value in 1920 being $5,774,022, as compared with $628,990 in 1918. Importations of nets and netting are now chiefly from China. No serious tariff or competitive problem is presented in the production of articles for the hairdressing trade. The question of a duty on the raw hair, however, seems worthy of consideration, especially with respect to the supply for press cloth made from human hair. |