April i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



245 



Rubber and the American Tariff. 



IN the inaugural address delivered by Mr. Taft on taking office 

 as President of the United States, on March 4. he referred 

 to the pledge made by his party, prior to the last general 

 election, that a revision of the tariff would be made at the earli- 

 est practicable date. He gave notice at that time of an extraor- 

 dinary session of the Congress, to deal with this subject, and 

 such session was convened on March 15. In a message to the 

 congress on this date the President called attention to the pledge 

 which had been made to the country and suggested prompt ac- 

 tion not only on a revision of the tariff schedules, but in the 

 matter of providing against an imminent deficit in the revenues. 



During the interim the committee on ways and means of the 

 house of representatives had been at work upon a new tariff 

 bill, in connection with which there had been an extensive series 

 of hearings of representatives of the leading industries in the 

 United States, as well as of the importing interests affected by 

 the tariff schedules, and the new bill was introduced on March 

 17. While every indication exists that the work of the special 

 session will proceed promptly, it is only reasonable to suppose 

 that the consideration of a schedule of 712 items by a legislative 

 body of nearly 400 members will lead to very many changes in 

 the bill as presented, not to mention several new features in the 

 administrative part of the bill, all of which must precede the 

 consideration of the bill by the senate, and here again the 

 schedules are liable to have many changes made in them. 



In view of the fact that the bill now under consideration can 

 by no manner of means be enacted into law as it stands, it 

 seems hardly worth while at this time to go into detail regard- 

 ing the changes proposed in the existing tariff schedule. It 

 may be said, however, that so far as the india-rubber industry 

 is directly concerned the new bill proposes very few changes. 



Crude india-rubber and gutta-percha remain on the free list. 

 The description of waste rubber is altered so as to remove a 

 certain degree of ambiguity in the existing statute. The law of 

 1897 includes in the free list: 



<;7g. India-rubber, crude, ^nd milk of. and old scrap oi' refuse india- 

 rubber which has been worn out by use and is fit only for rcmanufacture. 



The new provision reads : 



587. India-rubber, crude, and milk of, and scrap or refuse india- 

 rubber, flit only for rcmanufacture, and not ground or otherwise reduced 

 in size. 



The rate on manufactures of india-rubber not specially prnvidc-d 

 for remains at 30 per cent., and on products of gutta-percha at 

 3S per cent., ad valorem. The rates are unchanged on products 

 of cotton and india-rubber and silk and india-ritbber. The rate on 

 oil-cloth and linoleum is increased slightly. The rate on "sul- 

 phur, refined or sublimed, or flowers of," is reduced from $8 to $6 

 per ton. Barytes remains at the old figure. The rate on whiting 

 and Paris white, dry or ground in oil, is cut in half. 



The rate of 10 cents per pound on chicle is retained. 



The new bill proposes a minimum and maximum tariff, the 

 maximum rates being generally equal to the minimum rates, with 

 20 per cent, added. The lower rates are to be applied to imports 

 from countries which give the United States as good terms by 

 way of tariff as are given to any other nation, and the maximum 

 rates to imports from other countries. The executive is instructed 

 to collect duties, whether minimum or maximum, in accordance 

 with the terms of the bill, leaving open to the courts to decide 

 upon the legality of the action. 



It would be impossible, without laborious analysis, to estimate 

 the percentage of reduction in the proposed tariff rates, but gen- 

 erally the reduction seems slight. There are few additions of 

 importance to the free list, while duties have been increased on 

 some other articles, notably those classed as lu.xuries. The 

 President has asked the congress to make provision for revenue 



from other sources than tlie customs service, to provide against 

 any failure of the new schedules to yield enough money for the 

 purposes of govornment. 



RUBBER AND ALLIED TRADES AT THE HEARINGS. 



The tariff hearings before the committee on ways and means 

 of the house of representatives were begun at Washington on 

 November 10, 1908, and continued until March 10, the printed 

 record of the whole filling 8,103 pages. Tlie rubber goods in- 

 dustry was scarcely represented. There were few rubber men 

 present before the committee, very few representatives of the 

 industry in any way, and no combination or association of 

 rubber manufacturers was heard from. 



The president of the American Hard Rubber Co. (New York) 

 submitted a brief, with statements regarding the lower rate 

 of wages paid by their foreign competitors in the hard rubber 

 branch, and asking that for the benefit of the manufacturer and 

 wage earners in this country the present rate of 35 per cent, 

 be retained. Mr. Myer Dittenhoefer, representing the Vul- 

 canized Rubber Co. (New York), and other manufacturers 

 of hard rubber and hard rubber goods, stated that their for- 

 eign competitors paid for labor from 40 to 45 per cent, less 

 ♦lian wages in America. 



The Bishop Gutta-Percha Co. (New York) -were represented 

 by Mr. William Boardman Reed, who stated that they were 

 manufacturers of gutta-percha goods, including sheet or tissue. 

 In the case of the latter the greater percentage of the cost 

 was for labor, and a large business is done, but if the duty, now 

 35 per cent., was lowered even to 25, there would be nothing 

 attractive in the business. 



The N. Tire Rubber Sponge Co. (Chicago), through their 

 manager, Mr. B. B. Felix, asked that rubber sponges for toilet 

 use be specified in the tariff schedule, and that a higher duty 

 be imposed than on rubber goods generally — say 50 per cent. 

 ad valorem. This was asked on the ground that the labor cost 

 for such goods is so much higher in the United States than in 

 Europe. 



Mr. B. A. Levett, of New York, representing several im- 

 porters of waste rubber, asked for a change in the existing 

 specification of scrap rubber in the free list, which relates to 

 rubber "which has been worn out by use and is fit only for 

 remanufacture." Mr. Levett asked that the phrase be amended 

 so as to introduce scraps of new rubber as well, and the com- 

 mittee have done this in framing the bill now under considera- 

 tion. Mr. Levett also protested against the present ruling at 

 the custom houses under which wool-lined old rubber boots 

 and shoes are made dutiable as wool waste. He asserted th.'.t 

 such wool had absolutely no value, as the only way in which 

 the rubber in such goods could be recovered was by destroying 

 the wool. 



Manufacturers of safety fuse asked for a separate classifi- 

 cation in the tariff law for this line of goods. To-day the 

 duty on fuse is based upon the component material of chief 

 value, which differs with different importations, making the 

 rate unstable. Importations are now very large — 14,000,000 

 pounds a year being credited to the Du Pont Powder company 

 at Wilmington, Delaware ; 7,500,000 feet to Insoloid Co., of 

 Denver, and considerable quantities to seven other coinpanies. 

 The National Fuse and Powder Co. (Denver) during 10 years 

 have not paid a dividend, on account, it is claimed, of the severe 

 competition from abroad. A prominent German manufacturer 

 is reported to be placing gutta-percha fuse f. o. b. vessel at for- 

 eign points of shipments at $1.91 per 1,000 feet, or only 63 per 

 cent, of the actual cost of manufacture by the National Fuse 

 and Powder Co. The tariff committee was informed : "For 



