producers had not resumed the manufacture of asbestos products on an extensive scale. England is the chief competitor of this country. The methods of manufacture in the United States and England are practically the same, but American machinery is run at greater speed and the output per operative is greater in this country. However, the gain in production is partly offset by more rapid depreciation of machines. British manufacturers have some advantage in the production of asbestos yarn, chiefly on account of their more extended use of Rhodesian or South African fiber which costs less in the open market than the Canadian. Moreover, since the three largest producers of asbestos manufactures in England are mine owners (in either Rhodesia or South Africa) they can bill the raw material to themselves at cost. Rhodesian and South African fiber is procurable in the United States at practically the same price as in the open market in England and is much cheaper than Canadian fiber which is used almost exclusively by most American manufacturers. The use in this country, however, of Rhodesian and South African fiber has increased rapidly in the last two or three years as American spinners have gained experience in the manipulation of the smoother fiber. The British advantage as regards raw material costs will tend to disappear, since it is chiefly due to the larger substitution of Rhodesian asbestos for the more costly Canadian material. American establishments owning mines in Canada are not as subject to these conditions as are those which do not own mines. With the wider adoption of Rhodesian fiber Canadian producers may be forced to reduce prices to meet competition not hitherto experienced. British manufacturers express the opinion that they can not compete with manufacturers in the United States, but may sell certain products in the United States, provided domestic manufacturers maintain prices at levels which bear no relation to cost of production. British prices are from two and one-half to three times higher than they were before the war, whereas American prices, which in 1914 were not greatly higher than British prices, plus the duty of 25 per cent, are now from two to three times those obtained in England. The profit in the turnover of British plants was recently estimated to average about 15 per cent." It is announced that Turner Bros. Asbestos Co. (Ltd.), one of the largest British firms, is to build a plant in the United States. That company claims that the cost of producing yarn and other asbestos products in the United States is much less than the combined cost of producing these articles in England and shipping them to this country. It is said that the construction of the plant is only delayed by difficulty in getting building material and labor." It is given as the opinion of United States manufacturers that some understanding exists between English manufacturers whereby English textiles are offered in the United States at lower prices than are asked for the same goods in England, for instance, that an article selling in England at 70 cents is offered in the United States at 60 cents. It is further stated that instead of making, say, 20 per cent profit in England, English manufacturers will sell for a profit of • Paul M. Tyler, special agent to England of the United States Tariff Commission. 10 or 5 per cent, and sometimes without profit, to users in the United States. Definite statistics of wages paid in the asbestos industry are not available. Wages paid in the past in the manufacture of asbestos textiles were lower in England than in the United States. The different processes employed in the manufacture of asbestos and cotton textiles are almost identical and wages paid in the latter industry indicate to a certain extent the rates paid in the asbestos industry. About two-thirds of the operatives in the English asbestos textile mills are women. In April, 1921, the standard wage for the chief classes of workers in spinning and weaving was 45 to 50 shillings per week of 48 hours, but this was later reduced, in at least one establishment, to 36 shillings (about $7.20). About one-third of the workers. are men whose wages, at the same time, ranged from £3 12s. to £4 (about $14 to $16) according to the character of work performed. Loom fixers and machinists were earning from £4 to £4 10s. (about $16 to $18). Eighty-spindle machines are used for spinning, each operator (female) tending one bank of 40 spindles. The speed is regulated by the strength of the fiber. British asbestos workers have no separate organization but most of them are members of the National Union of General Workers which has a membership of some 1,250,000 among more or less unskilled workers in a wide range of trades. The British manufacturers formed a pool for the purchase of raw materials and assisted in the production of munitions during the war. In 1920 this pool was revived and promises to be an important factor in the trade as it comprises all but one of the manufacturers and controls fully 90 per cent of the product. Its functions are to regulate prices, to act as an Employers' Association in dealing with the workers, and otherwise to promote joint interests. Price reductions made in the spring of 1921 were drastic and, in many cases, the products were selling at materially less than production costs. Total asbestos yarn and woven fabrics, composed wholly or in chief value of asbestos— Imports for consumption-Revenue. Yarn composed wholly or in chief value of asbestos-Imports for consumption-Revenue. 1 Oct. 3, 1913, to June 30, 1914; prior to June 30, 1914, included in "Woven fabrics composed wholly or in chief value of asbestos.' Woven fabrics composed wholly or in chief value of asbestos-Imports for consumption Asbestos yarns and woven fabrics—Average prices paid by consumers in 1920. [Asbestos; published monthly at Philadelphia, Pa.] Act of Par. 1883.... Asbestos textiles-Rates of duty. Tariff classification or description. Asbestos, manufactured. 1894.... 351 1897.... 1909.. Woven fabrics composed wholly or in chief value of asbestos. 1913.... 367 | Manufactures of * * * asbestos, *** or of which these substances or any of them is the component material of chief value, not specially provided for in this section. Rates of duty, specific and ad valorem. 25 per cent ad valorem. Do. Do. Do. Do. 40 per cent ad valorem. 10 per cent ad valorem. Yarn and woven fabrics composed wholly or in chief value 20 per cent ad valorem. of asbestos. COURT AND TREASURY DECISIONS. Woven fabrics composed wholly or in chief value of asbestos with a border to bind the edges, were held to come within the second clause of this provision in the act of 1909 for woven fabrics composed wholly or in chief value of asbestos, and not within the first clause as manufactures of asbestos. . (United States v. Grasselli Chemical Co., 5 Ct., Cust. Appls., 320.) Asbestos yarn is dutiable under this paragraph and not free under paragraph 406 as unmanufactured. Abstract 39424.) ASBESTOS PACKINGS. GENERAL INFORMATION. TARIFF PARAGRAPH, ACT OF 1913. PAR. 367. Manufactures of * * * asbestos, * or of which these substances or any of them is the component material of chief value, not especially provided for in this section, 10 per cent ad valorem. 7 ▾ Includes all asbestos manufactures except yarn and woven fabrics. DESCRIPTION. . Asbestos packings are of two general types or classes. Class 1.-Included in this class are all packings made from crudes and fibers by regular standard textile practice, viz, crushing, mixing, carding, spinning, weaving, treating. There are several different kinds of such packings: (a) Wick or rope packings are made from rovings produced by ordinary carding machinery, the rovings being twisted to the desired diameter and density on wick and rope making machinery. They are used for emergency packings, for wiping tin plate, sheet steel, and other metals during the cooling period, and for general packing purposes in and near hot surfaces. (b) Braided or twisted packings are made of asbestos yarns, the yarns being twisted or braided on machinery employed throughout the general textile industry for such purposes. Braided or twisted packings are frequently graphited and lubricated. They are used for packing valve stems, small piston rods, and small stems of angle and globe valves, sight-feed lubricators, and the like. (c) Laid or high-pressure steam packings are made from asbestos cloth, rubber treated, cut to size in strips and laid or wound to desired finished size, either square, round, or oblong, and with or without rubber, wire, lead, or core. These are employed for general packing purposes, such as piston rods, stuffing boxes, and the like, especially in service using high pressure and superheated steam. (d) Gaskets are made from rubber-treated asbestos cloth, cut in strips, folded, and formed to shape and size desired. They may be folded and tape jointed, or they may be made from asbestos tubings, the latter being known as seamless gaskets. Gaskets are used to seal joints on manhole or handhole openings of boilers, and at flanges in pipe lines, also at ports of gasoline motors. Class 2.-In this class are packings and gaskets made from compressed sheet. This compressed sheet is fabricated by mixing short asbestos fibers with binding and filling materials. By compressing and a semivulcanizing process, a product, tough, semiresilient, and of the desired size and thickness is obtained. Compressed sheet packings are used for a great variety of purposes, principally for jointings in connection with internal-combustion motors. These packings are also employed for emergency uses, the engineer preferring to cut gaskets from a sheet of compressed packing rather that wait to secure gaskets of a given size from a supply house. Asbestos paper and millboard are used in considerable quantities for very hot joint packing in gas stoves, exhaust pipes, furnace covers, and other types of joints. The first cost of asbestos paper and millboard is less, but it is inferior to the regular compressed sheet packing. No important substitutes for asbestos packings are known, asbestos being the only permanent, elastic, heat resisting, and generally satisfactory material available for such purposes. DOMESTIC PRODUCTION. The capital invested in the manufacture of asbestos packings in the United States is roughly estimated at $25,000.000, and the value of the annual output at factory at $25,000,000. The Priorities Division |