RAPE-SEED OIL. (Paragraph 31.) NEW YORK, N. Y., December 28, 1896. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS: At the request of the chairman of the committee on legislation of the drug-trade section of the New York Board of Trade and Transportation, I beg to say that under the present tariff the duty on rape-seed oil is 10 cents per gallon, and manufacturers of butter color in Copenhagen and other points use rape-seed oil in making their color, and ship the color here, entering it at the custom-house as butter color, which is free of duty. In this way they get the rape-seed oil into the country without paying the duty of 10 cents per gallon, to the detriment of domestic oils. I would respectfully suggest, if the duty remains the same on rape. seed oil, that the law be amended so that any article which may be composed in part of rape-seed oil shall pay at least the same duty as rape-seed oil. OLIVE OIL. L. E. RANSOM. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS: BOSTON, December 29, 1896. We respectfully protest against the efforts of the few producers of olive oil in California to have a high rate of duty on so necessary an article for all classes of people as pure olive oil. As importers and dealers we suggest that a specific duty of 20 cents per gallon on olive oil would be a proper protection to the very few American cultivators of the olive tree. JAMES A. HAYES & Co. OLIVE OIL FOR MECHANICAL USES. (Paragraph 568.) NEW YORK, January 8, 1897. We are importers of common olive oil for manufacturing and mechanical purposes. There is no olive oil produced commercially in our country which competes with this grade, it all being used for eating purposes. The duty on olive oil fit for salad purposes (Par. No. 32,) is 35 cents per gallon. We have no changes to suggest in the rate of duty. We ask for a clearer specification in the wording of paragraph 568. The only distinction between "free" oil and "35 cents per gallon duty" oil is the phrase "unfit for eating." In Italy and Spain the lowest and poorest class of the population use these low-grade oils for cooking and eating. In our country there is no consumption of this oil for eating purposes, except, perhaps, to a very limited extent among the poorest foreign laboring class of Italy and Spain. The intent of the tariff is to protect the American eating oils by a duty of 35 cents per gallon on quality used generally for this purpose. The duty is at times assessed on oil imported under paragraph 568 under the charge that it is fit to eat. The average value of a barrel of olive oil for the past three years would be about $25. The duty assessed amounts to $17.50 per barrel, or, say, 75 per cent on its value. The importer must pay and recover through the usual channels. We think this an injustice, and respectfully urge that the paragraph should read in a new tariff act, "Olive oil expressly used for manufacturing and mechanical purposes, free." The principal consumption for this grade of olive oil is the woolen manufacturing industry, for finishing washing woolen yarns; the soap manufacturing industry for textile and castile soaps, principally the former; the manufacturing drug trade, for lotions, ointments, plasters, and similar articles, and the silk manufacturing and dyeing industry for finishing silks. The first and second are the principal uses, the others all being small. We ask for a favorable consideration of our suggestion, in order that olive oil used for the purposes intended may be absolutely secure in its exemption from duty. WM. PETERS & Co. FISH OIL. (Paragraph 34.) BRISTOL, ME., December 20, 1896. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS: Permit me to call your attention to the need of a change in the duty on fish oils. Instead of the 25 per cent ad valorem of the present tariff there should be a specific duty of at least 10 cents per gallon. Some think 12 cents not exorbitant, but my impression is that 10 cents is a conservative figure. H. H. CHAMBERLAIN. OPIUM AND MORPHINE. (Paragraphs 25 and 36.) COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS: NEW YORK, December 28, 1896. A new tariff bill being now under consideration, and the purpose being to produce revenue as well as provide protection to our home industries, we respectfully suggest that the duty on opium be restored to $1 per pound, and on morphia to $1.50 per ounce, as proposed in the inclosed circular. No article can, better than opium, stand a tax. It will not be felt by the consumers, will afford a safeguard against the introduction of aduÏterated and harmful preparations of the drug, and should produce a revenue of more than $600,000. The duty on morphia, codeine, and other alkaloids of opium would amply protect our manufacturers. TARIFF RELATING TO OPIUM AND ITS PREPARATIONS. Free list, paragraph 569, reads: "Opium, crude or unmanufactured, and not adulterated, containing nine per centum and over of morphia, free." Amend to read "one dollar per pound." Schedule A, section 25, reads: "Morphia, or morphine, and all salts thereof, fifty cents per ounce." Amend to read "Morphia, codeine, and other alkaloids of opium, and all salts thereof, one dollar and fifty cents per ounce." Schedule A, section 35, reads: "Opium, aqueous extracts of, for medicinal uses, and tincture of, as laudanum, and all other liquid preparations of opium, not specially provided for in this act, twenty per centum ad valorem." Amend to read "forty per centum ad valorem." LANMAN & KEMP. PAINTS, COLORS, AND VARNISHES. (Paragraphs 37 to 48.) STATEMENT OF MR. J. SEAVER PAGE, REPRESENTING E. W. DEVOE AND THE C. C. REYNOLDS COMPANY. MONDAY, December 28, 1896. Mr. PAGE. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee: Like the gentleman who preceded me, I desire to say on the part of the color makers we will present a statement later in regard to what we require, but we are happy at this particular moment to call attention to our business for this reason, like one of the gentlemen who preceded me said, we are also between the upper and the nether millstone, and if any. thing we are on the top shelf, because we have to use chemicals in order to make the colors; so in that consideration we desire you will not overlook us, but if we can have a relative duty, that is all we ask. We desire to have no increase, but enough to protect us in the manufacture of our business. We shall be glad to answer any questions if there is anything concerning our colors which requires explanation and which we will submit to you in writing later. The CHAIRMAN. I understand you to say the existing duties in regard to colors you find to be ample to retain the business in this country? Mr. PAGE. In many respects; yes, sir. There are some few changes, and of course where the chemicals are changed you must make it relative; and we assume that a change will be made in chemicals. Mr. EVANS. You will explain in your written statement just exactly where that provision would bear? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir; we will certainly do so. Mr. PAYNE. Will you specify in your written statement just what particular chemicals enter into your business? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir; and all we ask is a relative change on our products. We use such things as white lead, zincs, and oils, and of course they are component parts of our manufacture, and if any change be made in those we want relative changes made in our products and nothing more. Mr. MCMILLIN. If they remain the same you are satisfied with the present schedules? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir. If you will allow me to correct one statement I made, before going further. I was asked the question if there are no changes made in chemicals we should desire some changes made in colors, and I answered no. I now desire to say yes. To my mind there are two or three items which, to be in harmony, ought to be changed. STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE REPRESENTING THE COLOR MANU FACTURERS. NEW YORK, N. Y., January 6, 1897. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS: The committee representing the color manufacturers submit the following facts and arguments relative to the articles consumed and manufactured by them, and the rates of duty which, in their judgment, should be placed upon them. Our raw materials are chiefly chemicals, and in almost every case they form the only component parts of our manufactures. Should any change be made in the duty on chemicals, it would be only just that colors should be treated in a relatively similar manner. Heretofore in many cases the finished product has been admitted at a lower rate of duty than that imposed on the raw materials and in some cases at the same rate, when in fact the finished product represents but a fractional part of the raw materials used in its manufacture. The manufactures in which we are interested are covered by the following paragraphs: Paragraph 38, which should read as follows: "Blues, such as berlin, prussian, chinese, and all others containing ferrocyanide of iron, dry or ground in oil, or mixed with oil, and in pulp or mixed with water, 12 cents per pound." Blues containing ferrocyanide of iron pay under the present law 6 cents per pound. The price of this article was in 1894, 1895, and 1896, respectively, 32 cents, 31 cents, and 31 cents per pound. A duty of 6 cents per pound, therefore, is equivalent to an ad valorem duty of 18.99, 19.07, and 19.07 per cent for the years above given, or average about 19 per cent. (See Imports for Consumption, Bureau of Statistics, 1896, pp. 286 and 396.) In the manufacture of these blues we use the following raw materials: Yellow prussiate of potash, paying 25 per cent ad valorem; bichromate of potash, paying 25 per cent ad valorem; copperas, free. To produce 80 pounds of blue, 100 pounds of yellow prussiate of potash, 20 pounds of bichromate of potash, and 95 pounds of copperas are used, the two former of which have a higher rate of duty than the finished product. It is plain, therefore, that not only have we no protection, but that a discrimination in favor of the foreign manufacturer clearly exists. To equalize the difference in the price of labor and plant and give us adequate protection, we ask for a duty of 12 cents per pound on all blues as enumerated in paragraph 38. We also ask that colors in pulp or mixed with water be included in this paragraph, under the duty of 12 cents per pound. We dry these colors at a temperature of not more than 120°, whereas the importer claims that 2120 is the proper temperature. At this latter point considerably more moisture is driven off than is customary in manufacturing, and the importer thus pays a duty on 25 per cent on dry blue only, whereas he should be made to pay a duty on 33 per cent at least. We further suggest that should a duty of 5 cents per pound be placed on yellow prussiate, and a duty of 3 cents per pound be placed on bichromate of potash and a duty reimposed on copperas, we should be given a compensatory duty of at least 25 per cent ad valorem, in addition to the duty of 12 cents per pound, on all blues as enumerated in paragraph 38, and the paragragh would then read as follows: "Paragraph 38. Blues, such as berlin, prussian, chinese, and all others containing ferrocyanide of iron, dry or ground in oil, or mixed with oil, and in pulp or mixed with water, 12 cents per pound and 25 per cent ad valorem." Paragraph 40 should read: "Black, made from bone, ivory, or vegetable, under whatever name known, including bone black and lampblack, dry or ground in oil or water, 30 per cent ad valorem.” Paragraph 41 should read as follows: "Chrome yellow, chrome green, and all chromium colors in which lead and bichromate of potash or soda are component parts, dry or ground in or mixed with oil or water, 43 cents per pound and 25 per cent ad valorem." In the production of chrome yellow we use white sugar of lead and bichromate of potash. Chrome yellow under the present law pays a duty of 3 cents per pound. To produce 100 pounds of this article we use 137 pounds of white sugar of lead, on which there is a duty of 23 cents per pound, making a total duty of $3.77, and 45 pounds of bichromate of potash, on which there is a duty of 25 per cent ad valorem, making a total duty of $2, and a grand total of $5.77 in duties which we pay on the raw materials used to produce 100 pounds of chrome yellow, which under the present law pays a duty of 3 cents per pound, or on 100 pounds a total duty of $3, showing a difference of $2.77 between the duty paid on the raw materials and that paid on the finished product, to the disadvantage of the latter. We therefore ask for the duty above suggested. Article 566 of the free list, which provides for the free entry of ocher, umber, and sienna earths, should be stricken from the free list, and article 42 of Schedule A should be amended to read as follows: "Ocher and ochery earths, sienna and sienna earths, umber and umber earths, dry, crude, not powdered, washed, or pulverized, $1 per ton; powdered, washed, or pulverized, three-eighths of 1 cent per pound; ground in oil, 12 cents per pound." Paragraph 44, relating to varnishes, should read: "Paragraph 44. Varnishes, including so-called gold size japan, 35 per cent ad valorem, and on spirit varnishes for the alcohol contained therein, $1.32 per gallon additional." Paragraph 45 should read: "45. Vermilion and other colors containing quicksilver, dry or ground in oil or water, 7 cents per pound and 20 per cent ad valorem." Quicksilver, from which these colors are made, pays a duty of 7 cents per pound, and the manufactured product a duty of 20 per cent ad valorem, with no compensatory duty for the additional duty on quicksilver. The decreased importation of quicksilver and the increased importation of vermilion will show how the manufacturers of vermilion suffer because of no compensatory or adequate duty on their manufactured product. The importation of quicksilver for the three preceding years was as follows: 1894, 15,000 pounds; 1895, 15,007 pounds; 1896, 75 pounds. Whereas the importation of vermilion showed an increase as follows: 1894, 26,276.9 pounds; 1895, 1,271 pounds; 1896, 43,890.5 pounds. The duty of 20 per cent ad valorem allows the German and English manufacturers to ship increasing quantities of vermilion to this coun try, and every pound imported means a pound less of American quicksilver used in the production of vermilion here. It is only reasonable to insist upon a duty which will offset the disadvantage under which the home manufacturer now works. Vermilion red, made of or containing lead, should pay 73 cents per pound. This is made from orange mineral and aniline colors, and |