24 



The Rorists' Review 



Dbcbmbxb 22, 1921 



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TARIFF HEARING 



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WANT PROTECTION ON FOUAaE. 



Higher Duty Asked. 



Protection for prepared foliages from 

 the competition of foreign producers, 

 which the firm says it cannot meet, has 

 been asked of the Senate finance com- 

 mittee by the Ove Gnatt Co., of 

 Laporte, Ind. These foliages were not 

 taken care of in the Underwood 

 (present) tariff law, for the first of 

 these prepared foliages were manu- 

 factured by Ove Gnatt in 1913, the year 

 the law was enacted. Under a Treasury 

 decision, however, they were construed 

 to come within paragraph 438 of the 

 tariff act of 1909 and paragraph 347 of 

 the present law. 



Under this decision of the Treasury 

 department prepared foliages were sub- 

 jected to an ad valorem duty of sixty 

 per cent. The Fordney bill proposes a 

 rate of forty-five per cent ad valorem 

 on natural leaves, plants, shrubs, herbs, 

 trees and parts thereof, chemically 

 treated, colored, dyed or painted. This, 

 however, the Ove Gnatt Co. states, is 

 too low. 



The finance committee is considering 

 the Fordney tariff bill. These commodi- 

 ties came up in connection with the 

 sundries Schedule and the case of this 

 concern was presented by Eepresenta- 

 tive Andrew J. Hickey, of Indiana. 

 Fred Henoch, of this concern, had in- 

 tended to appear in person, but was pre- 

 vented from doing so by a death in his 

 family. 



Arguments to Finance Committee. 



"We believe an ad valorem duty of 

 seventy per cent, instead of forty-five 

 per cent as provided by the House, is 

 highly essential and necessary, if the 

 ipdustry is to survive," the finance 

 committee was told. 



"There are many item.s of prepared 

 foliages made in this country which will 

 be detrimentally affected by foreign 

 competition, unless ample protection is 

 afforded in the jiendiiig tariff legislation. 

 Prior to 1913, these goods were all im- 

 ported from Germany, Italy, Fr;ince and 

 the Scandinavian countries. In that 

 year Ove Gnatt started tlie development 

 of the industry in the United States 

 and a slow but steady development en- 

 sued. With the advent of the war, 

 which practically established a prohibi- 

 tion against the importations, the entire 

 home consumption of the products was 

 made in America, until today in excess 

 of 2,000 people are employed in the man- 

 ufacture of those items. Our wage 

 scale, in American value, is from five to 

 ten times greater than that paid in these 

 foreign countries. 



"Since the closing of the war many of 

 these goods of foreign manufacture have 

 appeared on the American market at 

 prices which are absolutely ruinous to 

 the home manufacturer. In many cases 

 they are far less than the American cost 

 of production without regard to profit 

 or expense of carrying on trade. 

 Large Importations. 



"There are about 400,000 pounds of 

 oak leaves used annually in the United 

 States, all of which were prepared here 



during the period of the war. Since the 

 war these goods have been brought over 

 from Germany and Italy in large' quan- 

 tities at a price about fifty per cent less 

 chan they can be produced and sold for 

 liere at a living profit. The same situa- 

 tion applies to beech leaves, of which 

 about 150,000 pounds are used an- 

 nually. 



"About 3,000,000 cycas leaves, which 

 grow only on the island of Formosa, 

 Japan, are used in the United States 

 annually. Before the war the greater 

 part of these were sent from Kobe, 

 Japan, to Germany, where they were 

 prepared and distributed throughout the 



world. They are again appearing oe 

 our market from abroad at prices fifty 

 per cent less than our cost of manu- 

 facture. 



"About 500,000 pounds of lycopodium, 

 or ground pine, are annually consumed 

 in the United States. Euscus is im 

 ported from Italy, France and Switzer 

 land, both in the natural and bleached, 

 to the amount of 400,000 pounds, which, 

 when prepared and finished, weighs 

 about 500,000 to 600,000 pounds. The 

 German goods are again being offered 

 in this market at from fifty to seventy- 

 five per cent less than they can be sold 

 for at the cost to manufacture here. 



"Magnolias grow in abundance in 

 Florida, Georgia and Alabama,- and 

 also in profusion in Italy, and some of 

 the prepared leaves are beginning to 

 come in from that country. American 

 consumption of magnolia leaves ap- 

 proximates 1,000,000 per annum." 



A. E. G, 



OWtN Wrm^y^ READEnd 



MAKING SERVICE SPECIAL. 



I have read a number of articles in 

 the trade papers in reference to the pro- 

 posed elimination of special delivery on 

 parcel post packages. Most of these 

 writers protest against the removal of 

 it without going into the matter far 

 enough to determine what is really a 

 benefit to them and what is not. They 

 do not seem to realize that so many 

 packages can be sent special delivery 

 that practically the entire mail becomes 

 "special," which, of necessity, elimi- 

 nates anything special about it. In 

 reality, it all becomes ordinary mail. As 

 long as the special delivery fee is only 

 10 cents, this practice is going to con- 

 tinue. The postoffice authorities state, 

 and any of us who observe the parcel 

 post service will agree, that it is get- 

 ting to be the custom to stick a special 

 delivery stamp on all packages sent out, 

 because any slight benefit it may receive 

 is worth a dime. Now, what we all want 

 is real special delivery service, and I 

 would say that if we were charged 25 

 cents for the special delivery privilege 

 on parcel post packages, it would only 

 be used by people who actually did want 

 that kind of service, thus reducing the 

 amount of this kind of delivery to a 

 point where this service could actually 

 be given. I am sure everyone would be 

 willing to spend 25 cents for a real serv- 

 ice, so why not petition the Postoffice 

 department to increase the rates rather 

 than fuss around about removing some- 

 thing that, as a matter of fact, does not 

 exist? E. J. McCallum. 



WERE YOU ONE OF THEM? 



We wish you would put in The Re- 

 view something about the unfairness of 

 asking firms to make heavy shipments 

 of bulbs by parcel post and not sending 

 any postage. We received one order at 

 wholesale prices for 880 No. 1 gladiolus 

 bulbs. The florist paid for the bulbs and 

 would not give us his express oflBce. He 

 wrote to send the bulbs by parcel post. 



Of course, we can make C. O. D. ship- 

 ments, but then we have a lot of 

 money tied up in the busy season. We 

 received in one week last spring fifty 

 parcel post orders and only two of those 

 sending them had brains enough to send 

 postage. Perry Gardens. 



OYSTER SHELLS FOR FORCING. 



The article, "Shells for Bulbs in 

 Home," in The Review for November 

 10, in a way solves the problem of 

 where we shall get pebbles to use in 

 bowls of bulbs for home forcing. 



My experience in this line may be of 

 use also, as I have several dozen bowls 

 of Paper Whites and Chinese lilies, in 

 the forcing of which I used oyster shells. 

 The roots grew at a rapid rate and those 

 in one bowl, in particular, seemed to 

 push the shells out, with the roots still 

 clinging to them. This happened while 

 they were still in the dark and had 

 made no top growth. Oyster shells are 

 plentiful in the south and east, and no 

 shell possesses more lime nourishment 

 for the bulbs. M. F. Winslett. 



IN A SMALL TOWN. 



I am sending a copy of an advertise- 

 ment which I ran over the signature of 

 the Polo Greenhouse recently. It is, 

 you will notice, an adaptation of the 

 advertisement of United Candy quoted 

 in the advertisement of George 'M. 

 Stumpp in The Review of December 8. 

 I changed the text there so as to apply 

 it to flowers, making it read: 



FLOWERS SPEAK ALL LANGUAGES. 



They dry the tears of little children and 

 wreath the faces of old age in smiles. 



They are the unspoken message from the lover 

 to his sweetheart; the token of continuing af- 

 fection from husband to wife. 



They bring Joy to the home; comfort and good 

 cheer to the absent. 



Flowers mean happiness. 



Polo, 111., is a town of only 2,200 peo- 

 ple, but by keeping at it all the time, 

 I manage to make good. It is my be- 

 lief we should aim to keep the idea of 



