india rubber," which means that, for this purpose, the value of the cotton or the value of the other vegetable fiber is to be added to that of the india rubber. The exception, however, does not extend to the rest of the paragraph so as to make it include articles the component material of chief value of which is cotton and other vegetable fiber, but not cotton or other vegetable fiber. (Chin v. United States, 11 Ct. Cust. Appls., 124; T. D. 38932 of 1921.) The value of component materials is to be taken as of the date of exportation and not as the value or cost of the materials at the time they were purchased by the manufacturer. (G. A. 8307, T. D. 38191, of 1919.) Survey N-27. ARTICLES RETURNED AFTER EXPORT. Imports of returned articles in 1914 were valued at $17,612,711, and for later calendar years as follows: 1918, $22,771,874; 1920, $96,797,484; 1922; $46,955,713. About 50 per cent of these returned articles were from Canada, with large amounts also from England, France, and Belgium. To some extent there are such imports from practically all countries. Report T. I. S.-4. textile material has increased from the estimated total of 28,850,000 pounds in 1913 to approximately 81,000,000 pounds in 1922 and 100,000,000 pounds in 1923. The domestic industry was first successfully established in the United States in 1910. Prior to 1920 the entire domestic output represented the production of only one concern. Since then six other large companies have entered the field. As a result of this expansion the American production of artificial silk in 1922 reached 24,406,000 pounds, being nearly one-third of the estimated output of all countries. In 1923 it was about 34,400,000 pounds. The United States is therefore at the present time the most important artificial-silk producing country in the world. In 1923 its output exceeded that of the next largest producer-Great Britain-by 17,900,000 pounds. Germany, Italy, France, and Belgium follow in the order named, in quantity of output. Other producing countries of importance are Holland, Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary. Until the beginning of the World War the domestic production supplied less than one-half of the artificial silk consumed in this country. As a result of the extension of the uses of artificial silk and of the marked curtailment of imports during ARTIFICIAL ABRASIVES. See ABRASIVE MA- the last years of the war, the domestic production TERIALS. ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS and FRUITS. See FEATHERS, ETC. ARTIFICIAL HORSEHAIR. See HAIR. ARTIFICIAL LEATHER. See CLOTHS. ARTIFICIAL SILK is a soft, pliable multifilament textile fiber, produced by elaborate technical processes from some form of plant cellulose, such as cotton or wood pulp. These vegetable fibers are treated chemically until they form a viscous solution analogous to the glandular secretion of the silk worm. By forcing this solution through minute capillary tubes corresponding to the spinnerets of the larva, it becomes attenuated into long, continuous filaments which are solidified either in a fixing bath or through a process of evaporation and then twisted together and reeled to form the artificial silk yarn of commerce. Artificial silk yarns known as "spun yarns" are made from artificial silk wastes, which are combed into tops and then spun on the worsted system. In general, artificial silk is not directly competitive with the natural product, but has distinct uses, which are becoming constantly more varied as its production advances in quantity and improves in quality. From the beginning, the knit-goods industry, including hosiery, has been the most important channel of consumption. Its next chief use is in the weaving industry, in which it is combined with cotton, silk, and wool for dress fabrics, shirtings, draperies, tapestries, and upholsteries. In its third largest use-braiding-it has all but entirely superseded real silk. It is also employed in the manufacture of laces, embroideries, small wares, gas-mantle stockinets, and insulation for electrical purposes. Spun artificial silk yarns are used in the weaving of pile fabrics and for hand knitting in combination with worsted. Production. The production of artificial silk, which was begun in Europe on a commercial scale in the early years of the present century, has become within the last decade a textile industry of outstanding importance. So rapid has been its growth that the product already tends to exceed in weight that of natural silk. The world production of this new 1 Now known as "rayon." In 1922, Italy, England, Switzerland, Belgium, and Germany were the principal exporters to the United States. In the international trade as a whole, the leading countries with a net exportable surplus of artificial silk in 1923 were Holland, Germany, Italy, and Belgium. Although important producers, England, Switzerland, and France have had for the past few years a large and growing home consumption of artificial silk, which has brought about a net balance of imports for these countries. Artificial silk, manufactures of. The domestic production of manufactures of artificial silk is not recorded but is known to be many times greater than imports. Artificial silk is being used in an increasing range of goods. In 1919, according to the census, 4,153,546 pounds were consumed in the manufacture of knit goods, the largest percentage of which was in hosiery; 3,039,257 pounds in the silk industry, including broad silks, plushes, velvets, tapestries, trimmings, ribbons, laces, nets, and veilings; and 772,000 pounds in the cotton industry. Approximately 40,000 pounds of artificial silk entered into the production of woolens, worsteds, carpets, and rugs. Although census figures are not available since 1919 for the consumption of artificial silk in the textile industries, the 1922 t. 1923. Year. Value. Duty. Rate. 1918. 1919. 1920. $36,577 $21,946 60.00 129,154 1921. 77,492 60.00 726,438 435, 863 1922. 60.00 433, 687 260, 212 1923 60.00 394, 235 471, 811 334, 389 170.87 1,382, 998 996, 865 172.08 145 cents a pound and 60 per cent. The above imports include knit goods, ribbons belting, cords, tassels, etc., dutiable under para graph 319 of the act of 1913 and paragraph 1213 of the act of 1922. France, Switzerland, Germany, and England are the main sources of such imports. Imports of other manufactures of artificial silk, such as laces, embroideries, braids, etc., are given below. They show that, including all articles, the total imports of manufactures of artificial silk were valued at $97,253 in 1918; $235,567 in 1919; $1,850.183 in 1920; $1,559,663 in 1921: $2,826,847 in 1922; and $1,920,572 in 1923. Exports. Statistics not available. ASBESTOS. The term "asbestos," as commonly used, includes half a dozen minerals all having a well-developed fibrous structure but differing in chemical composition and in some physical characteristics. The most important of these minerals commercially is chrysotile, or serpentine asbestos. About 95 per cent of the asbestos used in manufacturing is chrysotile, which commands a better price than the other fibrous minerals on the market. Amphibole asbestos is generally found in shorter fibers and its special use is in chemical laboratories and works where resistance to the action of acid is demanded. Crocidolite, or blue asbestos, is a special variety of amphibole asbestos differing from the others in appearance and in being more fusible, while an important property of other forms of asbestos is that they all resist even very high temperatures. The fundamental property of any asbestos mineral that distinguishes it from all other minerals is that it is separable into fibers similar in many respects to cotton, wool, and other articles of vegetable or animal origin. The use depends on the length and fineness of the fiber, on its resistance to the action of heat and chemicals, and on its insulating value as a nonconductor of heat and electricity. Suitable asbestos of high grade is spun or woven into ropes and fabrics for safety curtains, mats, mattresses, upholstering, firemen's suits and gloves. Much high-grade asbestos is employed for friction facings in brakes and for packings. Low-grade asbestos is utilized for numerous purposes, which may be classed in three groups building, insulating, and miscellaneous. Asbestos is employed in many ways in building: In mixtures with cement to make fireproof shingles or roof tiles; with Portland cement to make a protec tive surface on metal sheathing; in the form of asbestos paper for weather and sound proofing and for fire-protection purposes. It is used widely for fireproof plaster, for floor tiling and in the manufacture of paints. Asbestos lumber and millboard are employed for many structural purposes. Some of the many miscellaneous uses are for boiler and steam pipe coverings, fire brick, acid filters, lead-fume collectors, stove mats, cookingutensil linings, etc. "Asbestic, consists of roughly ground serpentine residues or of very finely ground asbestos, commonly-called "floats"--and is suitable for the manufacture of plaster cement, fireproof brick, and similar articles. "Unmanufactured" asbestos as it comes on the market has been separated from adhering rock and consists of fibers graded according to length. The longer fibers that can be picked out by hand are sold as "crude.” Crude asbestos is divided into Exports (unmanufactured) for recent years are as follows: (1) a high-class material with fibers over three- Production.-Asbestos is mined in the United States, chiefly in five States-Arizona, California, Georgia, Maryland, and Oregon. Georgia has for many years been the largest producer of asbestos in the United States, although the more important product has come from Arizona. The latter is high grade, containing a large proportion of spinning fiber, and much of the fiber, because of its freedom from iron, is superior for electrical and some other purposes to most of the asbestos found in other countries. The Georgia fiber is valuable only for paints, cements, coverings, and similar articles, and can not be used in spinning. Canada produces over 85 per cent of the world's total supply of asbestos. In normal times Russia is the second largest in order of production. During the last few years South Africa, including Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa, has produced increasing amounts annually, exceeding, it is believed, the output of Russia since 1916. Tons Survey N-20. ASBESTOS MANUFACTURES. Manufactures of asbestos are used mostly for heat and acid resisting purposes. Asbestos paper varies in thickness from about one one-hundredth to one-eighth inch. Thicknesses up to and including onesixteenth inch are known as asbestos paper, and three thirty-seconds and one-eighth inch thicknesses are spoken of as "rollboard." The width is generally 36 inches, and the paper is put up in rolls weighing approximately 100 pounds each. Asbestos millboard is made of asbestos fiber with a small percentage of cementing or sizing material, built up in thin layers in a manner similar to paper, in sheets 42 by 48 inches, and usually from onesixteenth to one-half inch in thickness. The chief uses of asbestos paper and millboard are for high-pressure gaskets and packings, insulations, lining for stoves, air-cell pipe covering, roofing, building paper, and other purposes in the building trades. Under the head "Sheets and plates" come Asbestos, unmanufactured-Production in United articles are made from short asbestos fiber mixed asbestos shingles, slate, wood, or lumber. States. Year. Short Value. Year. Short Value. 1914. 1,247 $18,965 1920. 1916.. 1,479 448, 214 1921. 1918. 1919. 1,002 124,687 1922. 1,648 1,361 251,265 $678, 231 These with hydraulic cement, the asbestos forming about 15 per cent of the product by weight. Asbestos shingles and slate are suitable for use wherever roofing material is required or employed. Asbestos lumber is used largely in making fireproof walls, doors, and partitions. Asbestos wick and rope are made from rovings produced by ordinary carding machinery, the rovings being twisted to the desired diameter and density on the wick and rope making machinery. tin plate, sheet steel, and other metals during the They are used for emergency packings, for wiping cooling period, and for general packing purposes in or near hot surfaces. Asbestos woven sheet 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 1,317 rubber, wire, lead, or core. These are employed for general packing purposes, especially in services using high pressure and superheated steam. Asbestos gaskets are of two kinds: (1) Gaskets 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. These gaskets are used largely to seal joints on manhole or handhole openings of boilers, and at flanges in pipe lines, also at ports of gasoline motors. (2) Gaskets made from compressed sheet (made by mixing short asbestos fiber with binding or filling materials). Compressed sheet gaskets are used principally for jointings in connection with internal-combustion motors. They are also employed for emergency uses, the engineer $6,337, 608 $3,270, 506 $1,874, 194 $7, 445, 143 preferring to cut gaskets from a sheet of compressed Imports.-In 1914 imports of unmanufactured asbestos were 76,524 tons, valued at $1,678,736, practically all from Canada. Statistics for more recent years follow: lessen expense. Frequently in twisting the yarn very fine brass or copper wire is used, which gives the material greater durability under certain conditions. The basis of all asbestos textiles is asbestos yarn. Asbestos listings are narrow woven strips, ranging from about inch to 1 inches in width, used chiefly for winding armatures of motors. Production. In 1914 there were 32 establishments manufacturing asbestos products. The total value of the output, other than steam packings, for that year was $2,814,000, of which $1,813,000 represented building materials. In 1921. there were 40 establishments, with an output valued at $13,030,440. Imports of asbestos yarn and woven fabrics for the fiscal years 1910 to 1913 averaged a little over $90,000; in 1914, $113,426. Imports of all other manufactures of asbestos in 1913 were valued at $287,308; in 1914, at $283,027. Later statistics follow: viscous, or solid deposits or lakes, those of Trinidad and Venezuela being commercially notable. Important deposits of various kinds of manjak, a hard natural asphalt, occur in Cuba and other islands in the West Indies. Bitumen designates a number of inflammable organic mineral substances, ranging from liquids to solids, including petroleum asphalt, maltha, asphalt, elaterite, wurtzilite, albertite, grahamite, gilsonite, and ozokerite. These materials are widely used in making pavements, roads, mineral rubber, bituminous paints, and for roofing. Those high in paraffin content are used in producing varnishes. The demand for both natural and manufactured (oil) asphalts is large, although the use of the latter has predominated since 1907. Production in 1914 was 77,588 net tons, valued at $630,623, as reported by 11 operators in Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and California. The output in 1917 was 80,904 net tons, valued at $735,924. Oil asphalt totaled 674,470 net tons, valued at $7,148,122, in 1914, and 1,347,422 net tons, valued at $15,176,504, in 1917. In recent years Mexican petroleum has been the chief source of petroleum asphalt, which has replaced Trinidad and Bermudez (Venezuelan) asphalt to a considerable extent. In 1921, 624,220 tons of petroleum asphalt, valued at $9,948,221, and in 1922, 805,145 tons, valued at $10,385,925, were produced in the United States from domestic petroleum; 908,093 tons, valued at $11,761,358, in 1921; 1,242,163 tons, valued at $13,899,407, in 1922, were produced from Mexican petroleum. Domestic production of all other asphalts in 1921 and 1922 was 296,412 tons, valued at $1,985,583, and 327,792 tons, valued at $2,253,180, respectively. Imports of limestone-rock asphalt, asphaltum, and bitumen in 1914 were 180,689 long tons, valued at $918,387. The bulk of this tonnage of which Trinidad supplied 49 per cent and Venezuela 36 per cent, consisted of natural soft asphalt. Since 1917 imports have been as follows: Quantity Value. Duty. Rate. Imports are from England and Canada. Exports increased in value from $293,616 in the fiscal year 1910 to $687,073 in 1914. In the year 1918 the export value was $2,493,320; in 1920, $4,431,132; and in 1922, $1,497,747. After the passage of the tariff act of 1922, the classification was given in greater detail, as follows: Year. Limestone-rock asphalt: 1918.. Tons. 30 $2,528 5, 576 11,665 157, 124 1922. 3,839 59, 590 33, 303 624, 967 609, 923 1920. 113,417 1,055, 951 ASQUITH, HERBERT (1852-), British statesman and leader of the free trade forces. He has summed up his position as follows: "We claim for free trade that it is the system best suited to the actual conditions, the industrial exigencies, the practical everyday necessities and experiences of British trade. This nation depends as no other nation does on imported food and imported raw material. We pay for these imports and could only pay for them by our exports of manufactures. The excess in imports over exports represents the amount due to us for the services of our shipping, and for the interest on our foreign and colonial investments." (See also TARIFF HISTORY, ENGLAND.) ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL IN CHARGE OF CUSTOMS is in charge of the interests of the Government in the preparation and trial of all protests and appeals in classification and reappraisement and other cases in which the Board of General Appraisers and the Court of Customs Appeals have jurisdiction. ATHLETIC AND SPORTING GOODS. Production. Data cover a great variety of articles. In 1914 there were 162 establishments engaged in the manufacture of such goods, with products valued at $13,325,000; in 1919, 188 establishments, with products valued at $23,840,000; in 1921, 152 establishments, with products valued at $31,811,000. Imports.-Imports amounted to $871,975 in 1922, and to $2,192,670 in 1923. Over 50 per cent of these were "balls for games." Exports.-Exports amounted to $783, 120 in 1914; $1,294,520 in 1922; and $1,423,460 in 1923. AUTOMOBILES may be divided into two classes-passenger and commercial. Unofficial but trustworthy reports give registered motor vehicles in the United States in 1923 as 15,092,177, of which 1,627,569 were trucks and the remainder passenger cars. According to United States Commerce Reports, February 25, 1924, there were in 1923, 80.2 per cent of world's motor vehicles in service in this country, the world's total being given as 19,187,066. The registration revenue derived from motor vehicles amounted to $188,947,863. Domestic gasoline consumption in 1923 was 6,685,035,280 gallons. Production. Statistics compiled by the industry show for 1923 a production of 4,086,997 motor vehicles, of which 392,760 were motor trucks 1 Cust. Reg., 1923, art. 1244. 544 $413,859 1,657 $1,461, 786 25 45,098 316 423,327 569 458,957 1,974 1,885, 113 1 Includes 66,246 cars produced in Canada of United States design. 2 Includes 101,007 cars produced in Canada of United States design. Includes 148,791 cars produced in Canada of United States design. Imports. The imports of automobiles and parts reached a high level in 1907; thereafter they declined until 1918. Since 1918 imports have increased rapidly, amounting in 1920 to over $2,000,000, which, nevertheless, is only about onetenth of 1 per cent of the domestic production for that year. Before the war the principal sources of imports were France (which furnished about half), Great Britain, Germany, and Italy. Imports for later years have been as follows: |