ZINC ORE. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1919. UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met in the committee room, Senate Office Building, at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Senator Watson (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Watson (chairman), Curtis, and Thomas. Present also: Senators Gore, Spencer, and Capper, and Representatives Howard, McPherson, and Campbell. The CHAIRMAN. We will hear Mr. Ruhl at this time. [H. R. 6238, Sixty-sixth Congress, first session.] AN ACT To provide revenue for the Government and to establish and maintain the production of zinc ores and manufactures thereof in the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That on and after the day following the passage of this act there shall be levied, collected, and paid upon articles named herein, when imported from any foreign country into the United States or any of its possessions (except the Philippine Islands, the Virgin Islands, and the Islands of Guam and Tutuila), the rates of duties herein prescribed, namely: SEC. 1. Zinc-bea ing ore of all kinds, including calamine, containing less than ten per centum of zinc, shall be admitted free of duty; containing ten per centum or more of zinc and less than twenty per centum, one-fourth of one per cent per pound on the zinc contained therein; containing twenty per centum or more of zinc and less than twenty-five per centum, one-half of one per cent per pound on the zinc contained therein; containing twenty-five per centum of zinc, or more, one cent per pound on the zinc contained therein: Provided, That on all importations of zinc-bearing ores the duties shall be estimated at the port of entry, and a bond given in double the amount of such estimated duties for the transportation of the ores by common carriers bonded for the transportation of appraised or unappraised merchandise to properly equipped sampling or smelting establishments, whether designated as bonded warehouses or otherwise. On the arrival of the ores at such establishments they shall be sampled according to commercial methods under the supervision of Government officers, who shall be stationed at such establishments, and who shall submit the samples thus obtained to a Government assayer, designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall make a proper assay of the sample, and report the result to the proper customs officers, and the import entries shall be liquidated thereon, except in case of ores that shall be removed to a bonded warehouse to be refined for exportation as provided by law. And the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to make all necessary regulations to enforce the provisions of this paragraph. SEC. 2. Zinc in blocks or pigs and zinc dust, one and three-eighths cents per pound; in sheets, one and five-eighths cents per pound; in sheets coated or plated with nickel or other metal, or solutions, one and three-fourths cents per pound; old and worn-out, fit only to be remanufactured, one cent per pound. SEC. 3. That there shall be levied, collected, and paid on zinc, oxide of, and white pigment containing zinc, but not containing lead, dry, one cent per pound; ground in oil, one and three fourths cents per pound; sulphide of zinc, white or white sulphide of zinc, one and one-fourth cents per pound; chloride of zinc and sulphate of zinc, one cent per pound. SEC. 4. That all provisions of any act or acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. Passed the House of Representatives September 2, 1919. WM. TYLER PAGE, Clerk. 3 STATEMENT OF MR. OTTO RUHL, MINING ENGINEER, JOPLIN, MO. Mr. RUHL. Mr. Chairman, I am one of a delegation of mining men from Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, in one way or another connected up with the zinc mining industry of our district. Our district represents the largest single unit of zinc mining in the United States. Senator GORE. It is one of the largest in the world, is it not? Mr. RUHL. It is really the largest single unit in the world; yes, sir. Directly interested as laborers in our industry we have 12,000 to 15,000 miners, all Americans not a foreigner among them-a district that has always been blessed with American living conditions; no strikes, and very good relations between both our employers and our employees. Senator GORE. And the public also? Mr. RUHL. Yes; and the public. We are here on account of an emergency confronting both our laborers and our employers. We are to-day suffering the greatest crisis that we have ever faced in our industry. Our ore to-day, that is, the market price, is the lowest we have had in over five years' time. Senator WATSON. What is the price? Mr. RUHL. The average for the past nine months is $40.50; one of the lowest prices we have ever had. Senator WATSON. Compare that with some previous years in prices, will you, please? Mr. RUHL. I will be glad to do that. During 1912, we had $51.95; 1913, $42.62; 1914, was the next nearest year to compare, $39.43; 1915 we began to have the war period and war prices, $78.47; in 1916, $83.26; 1917, $70.52; 1918, $51.68. So that we are really facing more serious conditions than we have ever faced before. Senator THOMAS. Is that not a universal condition; that is not peculiar to the United States? Mr. RUHL. I am not speaking so much in regard to the low price of our product as the running price of our product in comparison to the products that we utilize in our industry. Senator THOMAS. Is it not as well also to consider the prevailing prices for zinc in other consuming countries? Mr. RUHL. Well, I am not so sure that that is true, Senator, because of this fact, that we are exporting a large amount of zinc metal, but no zinc ore, and we are being deluged with zine ore from all other countries for this reason: The smelters of Europe are largely within the war centers, Belgium, Poland, and Germany, and they were controlled for a large part of the time by the Germans and were considerably damaged or destroyed. For that reason there was no other place to which foreign ores, outside of the United States, could go during the entire war period, and since. For that reason we have been faced with all the production of the world outside of Germany. Senator THOMAS. Is there not a large zinc refining business in England? Mr. RUHL. They have been trying to build up since the war started a large smelting business, but so far it has not been proving successful. At one time it was supposed that English smelters could so organize that they could take over the Australian output and relieve the situation there after the embargo was placed upon the |