480 



SCIENCE 



[1ST. S. Yol. XLIV. No. 1136 



Representative Ebenezer J. Hill, of Con- 

 necticut. In January, 1915, hearings were 

 held on this bill and there was presented 

 the unusual sight of both producers and 

 consumers urging the Ways and Means 

 Committee to report the bill favorably. 

 In spite of this unanimity the report was 

 not forthcoming. Public demand for such 

 legislation, however, increased and finally, 

 after a conference between leading mem- 

 bers of the controlling party in both the 

 Senate and the House of Representatives 

 of a large number of producers and con- 

 sumers, a form of legislation was proposed 

 by the congressional representatives which 

 ■embodied the ad valorem rates of the New 

 York Section but reduced the specific duties 

 hy one third, such specific duties to con- 

 tinue in full force for a period of only 

 five years, after which time they were to 

 decrease twenty per cent, annually. 

 Another feature was the proviso that if at 

 the expiration of five years American dye- 

 stuff factories were not producing sixty 

 per cent, of the values (note this carefully) 

 of American consumption, the specific 

 duties were to be immediately and com- 

 pletely repealed by Presidential procla- 

 mation. 



In spite of the lowered specific duties 

 this agreement, confirmed by authorized 

 interviews from "Washington, led to in- 

 creased activity by many producers. It is 

 not difficult to imagine, therefore, the 

 amazed surprise which greeted the appear- 

 ance of the dyestuff section of the general 

 revenue bill, which, while it contained all 

 of the above, showed one other totally un- 

 expected feature, namely, the exclusion of 

 indigo and alizarin and their derivatives 

 from the benefit of the special duty of 5 

 cents per pound. Such an exception was 

 fatal to the purposes of the bill. The ad 

 valorem duty alone would not suffice to 

 promote and encourage the manufacture 

 of synthetic indigo and alizarin. No scien- 



tific or technical justification existed for 

 discrimination against these two coal tar 

 dyes, which constitute 29 per cent, of the 

 values of our consumption. Furthermore, 

 the manufacture of at least 10 per cent, of 

 dyestuffs coiild not for the present be at- 

 tempted in this country because of existing 

 foreign patents. Such considerations show 

 that the possibility of expansion of the 

 home industry within the five-year period 

 to 60 per cent, of the values of consump- 

 tion would be precluded by the terms of 

 the bill itself. Consequently the duration 

 of the special duty for any dyestuff would 

 be restricted to the initial five-year period. 

 Evidently our lawmakers had surpassed 

 the skill of the alchemists, in that they had 

 demonstrated their ability to transform at 

 least bricks into gold. 



Pressed for a justification of the exclu- 

 sion of indigo and alizarin, the chairman 

 of the Ways and Means Committee made 

 explanation on the floor of the house in a 

 speech which by previous agreement was to 

 conclude the debate. In this speech refer- 

 ence was made to the satisfactory character 

 of the conference with the representatives 

 of the industries; individual manufactur- 

 ers were referred to as not desiring full 

 protection for indigo and alizarin; and no 

 justification on scientific or technical 

 grounds was attempted. Then the dyestuff 

 section of the bill was adopted by a party 

 vote. Immediately briefs were filed with 

 the subcommittee of the Senate Committee 

 on Finance in charge of this section of the 

 House bill. These briefs included letters 

 and telegrams from the individuals re- 

 ferred to in the house debate refuting the 

 statements made by the chairman of the 

 Ways and Means Committee. Moreover 

 they pointed out clearly that the exception 

 of indigo and alizarin was not in accord- 

 ance with the original conference agree- 

 ment and would prove disastrous to the 

 entire industry. The Senate subcommittee 



