September i, 1909.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



417 



Crude Gutta-Percha. 

 The first imports of crude gutta-percha doubtless were con- 

 sidered at the custom houses as india-rubber, but in the Act 

 of March 3, 1857, this material was specified by name, since 

 which time the terms of admission of gutta-percha have been 

 identical with those for india-rubber. The customs returns, in 

 fact, lumped both under one head until 1891, when the gov- 

 ernment, at the instance of The In'Dia Ruwber World, first 

 began to rwiuire statistics to be kept separately in regard to the 

 two materials. 



MaNIFACTLRES of lNl)l,\-RuBnER. 



India-rubber goods were first specified by the tariff makers 

 in the Act of August 30, 1842, prior to which any imported 

 would have been dutiable as "unenumeratcd articles," the rate 

 on which varied with different revisions of the tariff. The 

 designation was "India-rubber, manufactures wholly or in part 

 of," and the rate of 30 per cent. The rate was changed several times 

 under the twenty-three acts amendatory of the tariff which pre- 

 ceded the Act of June 22, 1874, under which the tariff schedules 

 were embraced in the "Revised Statutes of the United States." 

 This did not make the schedules permanent, however, and six 

 revisions were made in about as many years. The subsequent 

 general tariff Acts have been those of 1883, 1890 (the McKinley 

 bill), 1894 (the Wilson bill), 1897 (the Dingley bill), and 1909 

 (the Payne bill). It is hardly necessary to mention the rate 

 on rubber goods under each Act. The trend of the charges 

 appear in this 



SUMMARY. 

 1842-1857 30% 18831894 .' 30% 



1894-1897 25% 



1897- 1 90Q 30% 



■ 909- 35% 



1857-1861 24% 



1861-1872 21% 



1872-1874 18% 



1874-1883 25% 



There was a tendency at one time in introduce a classification 

 of rubber goods in the schedules. Rubber boots and shoes, 

 for example, figured sometimes at a different rate from rubber 

 manufactures in general, as follows : 



Under the Acts of 1861, 30%; other ruhlxri- yoods, 20%. Under the 

 Revised Statutes (1874), 30%; other goods. 25%. Under the Act of 1883, 

 25%; other goods, 30%. 



Beginning with the Act of 1846 there have been special rates 

 for elastic fabrics and other like goods, which will be dealt with 

 in another part of this article. 



The "McKinley bill" (1890) contained this paragraph, the 

 general form of which has been retained in the law until now : 



460. Manufactures of bone, chip, grass, horn, india-rubber, pabii-leaf. 

 straw, weed?, or whale-bone, or of which tliese substances or either of them 

 is the component material of chief value, not specially provided for in 

 tilis act, 30 per cent, ad valorem. 



The same wording appears in the latest Act, except that the 

 word "quills" is added after "horn," but the rate has been raised 

 to 35 per cent. 



Hard rubber manufactures were also specifically mentioned 

 in the tariff schedules for the first time in the revision made 

 by McKinley, in 1890 (Paragraph 461 1, the rate being fixed at 

 35 per cent., the same as on manufactures of gutta-percha. The 

 McKinley phraseology has been retained, practically, and the 

 rate has been unchanged, except under the Wilsnn bill (1894-97), 

 when it was 30 per cent. 



Manufactures of Gutta-Percha. 



While crude gutta-percha was mentioned in the tariff five years 



earlier, manufacturer of nutta-iiercb.i were not specified before 

 the \c\. of July 14, 1862, in which a duty of 30 per cent, was 

 imposed. Since that time the rate has been almost uniformly 

 higher than on india-rubber goods, until the passage of the new 

 Act, under which the rate is the same for both classes of goods. 



SUMMARY. 



1862-1864 3u% 



18641872 40% 



18721874 36% 



1874-1883 40% 



1883-1890 30% 



1890-1894 35% 



1894-1897 30% 



■897- 3!i% 



Reclaimed Rubber. 



The reclaiming of rubber from waste having been developed 



in the United States earlier than elsewhere, the importation of 



such material from Europe is of recent origin. The status of 



such importations, as "a non-enumerated manufactured article." 



is set forth in The India Rur.r.ER World, June 1. 1909 (page 



309). During the recent special of the Congress it was proposed 



to amend the Payne bill in one paragraph as follows : 



Manufactures of - - - india-rubber, INCLUDING RECLMMED RUIil'.ER 

 - ■ • not gpcciallv provided for in this section, 35 per cent, od valorem; 

 Ictc.]. 



.■\t the same time influences were at work in Washington to 

 have reclaimed rubber placed upon the free list, and the net 

 result was to leave the situation unchanged as to reclaimed 

 rubber. Any importations of such material in future will be 

 subject to the provision — 



480. That there shall be levied, collected, and paid on the iinportatinn 

 (■f all raw or unmanufactured articles, not enumerated or provided for 

 in this section. .1 duty of 10 \{cr cent, ad valorem, and on all articles 

 manufactured in whole or in part, not provided for in this section, a duty 

 of 20 per cent, ad valorem. 



And under "Treasury Decisions" No. 29,731 the treasury de- 

 partment "is of the opinion that the merchandise (described as 

 "certain reclaimed or recovered rubber from old scrap, boots 

 and shoes and automobile tires"] is a non-enumerated article, and 

 you [collectors] are accordingly directed to classify future im- 

 portations thereof - - - at the rate of 20 per cent, ad valorem." 



Waste Rubber. 

 The first reference to waste rubber in the official data from 

 which this data is compiled appears in a summary prepared by 

 order of the United States Senate in 1890, in which it is stated 

 that the rate of 25 per cent, on imports of "Itidia-rubber boots 

 and shoes" was applicable to such articles, even if "old and fit 

 only for remanufacture." No record is available of such im- 

 ports at that time, or the application of this rate. But the 

 McKinley bill, passed in that year, embraced this item in the 

 free list : 



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

 rubber which has been worn out by use and it fit only for remanufacture. 



The Payne bill, as originally reported, contained this item : 



,s87. India-rubber, crude, and milk of, and scrap or refuse india-rubber, 

 tit only for remanufacture, and not ground or otherwise reduced in size. 



.-\s reported to the Senate by Mr. Aldrich the paragraph read: 



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

 lU t>nly for remanufacture. 



.\fter all the permutations of the tariff liill. in the linal form, 



the reference to scrap rubber is the same as in the Act of 1890. 



The interest in the proposed changes lay in the fact thai latterly 



not a little imported waste rubber has been held to be dutiable, 



on the ground that it is not material "which has been worn out 



IMPORTS ENTERED FOR CONSUMPTION IN THE UNITED ST.'VTES UNDER THE HEADING '^MANUFACTURES OF INDIA-RUBBER 

 .\NI) GUTT.X-PERCHA AND SUBSTITUTES FOR," DURING SIX \ EARS, THE I-IGITRES FIRST GI\ EN FOR EACH ^ E.\R RKP- 

 KKSENT IMPORT \ALUES AND THE FICURliS IN PARENTHESIS THE AMOUNT OF DUTIES COLLECTED. 



[The heading "Elasticon and similar substitutes for india-rubber" has longjiecn in 

 valorem — that applicable to "unenumerated articles of manufacture."! 



oRue in the customs service; the rate of duty it 2c jwr cent, nd 



lUFOBTS. 190!-03. 



Indiarilbher $493,537 ($148,061) 



Hard rubber 117. 191 



(iutta-percha 124,798 



'Elasticon," etc. 



46,994 



(41,017) 



(43.679) 



(9.399) 



1903-04. 



$591,027 ($177,282) 

 146,272 (St. 195) 

 141.555 (49.544) 

 38.533 (7.707) 



1904-05. 



$1,021,741 ($306,523) 



175..M6 (61,388) 



117,421 141,098) 



44,619 (8,924) 



1906-06. 1906-07. 



$1,749,209 ($524,740) $1,851,423 ($555,427) 



195,102 (68,115) 177. 3"9 (61.971) 



114,802 (40,181) 175.923 (61,573) 



56,046 (11,209) 60,596 (12,119) 



1907-08. 



$1,856,585 ($556,070 



293. 4'7 (102.696) 



41.299 (14.455) 



29.994 (5.999) 



Total $782,520 ($242,156) $917,387 ($285,728) $1,359,179 ($417,933) $2,115,179 ($644,245) $2,265,261 ($691,090) $2,239,793 ($680,121) 



.\verage ad vol. , ,^ ^ ^ 



duly 30.95% 3l.'5'/'> .30.7570 30.46% 30.51% 30.3770 



