No. 6622.

Reply of Sterling Dynamite Company, of Bessemer, Ala., manufacturers of nitroglycerin and dynamite.

[Established in 1889. Capital invested, $30,000.]

Our annual production is about 10,000 cases of dynamite, and the value is about $75,000.

We have been running on short time during the past twelve months, owing to the lack of orders and low prices.

Duty does not affect us.

The price of 40-per-cent nitroglycerin dynamite in 1890 was 14 cents per pound; in 1892 it was 13 cents per pound, and the present price is 114 cents per pound.

Domestic competition has increased during the past four years.

We are not producing as many goods as we did in 1892, owing to less demand and price too low.

Wages have declined during the past twelve months.

The cost of living of skilled workmen is from $1.50 to $3 per day. We have no difficulty in construing the existing law.

The price of living has decreased from 10 to 20 per cent during the past four years.

The present depression is due to too rapid development and fear of free-trade legislation.

Our raw materials are nitric and sulphuric acid, wood pulp, carbonate of magnesia, nitrate of soda, manila paper.

Our goods are necessities.

We pay the rate of 8 per cent on loans.
Immigration does not affect our business.

Seventy-five per cent of our labor is skilled.

Anything that reduced the present selling price we believe would have to be made up out of labor.

We employ about 15 persons and pay them from $1.50 to $6 per day. We work sixty hours per week.

We have no foreign competition.

We export about 15 per cent of our goods and realize about the same price as from home trade.

The cost of production has decreased since 1889 20 per cent in both labor and material.

Our selling prices have decreased since 1890.

We consume all domestic productions in our manufacture.

None of our component materials pay duty.

Prices have decreased in the past twelve months more than the previous four years.

We suggest that you give us absolute free trade or protect Southern products.

Bull. 55, pt. 2-2

MATCHES.

Present law: 441. Matches, friction or lucifer, of all descriptions, per gross of one hundred and forty-four boxes, containing not more than one hundred matches per box, ten cents per gross; when imported otherwise than in boxes containing not more than one hundred matches each, one cent per one thousand matches. Proposed law: 326. Matches, friction or lucifer, of all descriptions, [twenty] ten per centum ad valorem.

OTHERWISE THAN IN BOXES CONTAINING NOT MORE THAN 100 MATCHES EACH.

Manufacture of matches in the United States in 1890.
[From the Eleventh Census.]

Number of establishments

No. 6625.

Statement of S. Hoffnung & Co., of New York, N. Y., agents for Bryant & May, Limited, London.

It being generally understood that the new tariff bill had been framed with a view of reducing the duties which are now being enforced under the McKinley tariff, we beg most respectfully to submit to your honorable committee that under Schedule N 324, of the Wilson bill, or of the bill now under consideration in the Senate, if passed in its present form, matches (excepting the lowest grades which remain taxed about the same) would be subjected to an increase of duty ranging from 100 per cent to 300 per cent as compared to present duties.

The effect would be that only the very cheapest and commonest kind on matches could in future be imported, which would be disas trous to our interests, for it would prevent us altogether from importing the higher grade wax matches, which we have introduced into this country at considerable expense and trouble, and which are not manufactured here to any extent.

As we have every reason to believe that the proposed increase in the duty on matches was quite unintentional and caused by the change from the specific to ad valorem system, we take the liberty of placing before you the relative duties on such lines as we are in the habit of importing most extensively, which will show that, while there is no reduction made under the new tariff, in nearly all cases the duties have been raised, in some instances over 300 per cent over and above the rate chargeable under the McKinley bill.

Comparative statement of duties on the most popular styles of Messrs. Bryant & May's matches.

We find that schedule N 324 in the proposed new tariff bill reads as follows: "Matches, friction or lucifer, of all descriptions, 20 per cent ad valcrem," which may have been intended as a reduction on the McKinley tariff, but which we desire to point out will have just the opposite effect. Schedule N in the McKinley bill reads as follows: "Matches, friction or lucifer, of all descriptions, per gross of 144 boxes, containing not more than 100 matches per box, per gross, 10 cents; when imported otherwise than in boxes containing not more than 100 matches each, per thousand matches, 1 cent."

To illustrate, we will therefore first consider matches packed in boxes containing less than 100 matches, and afterwards those packed in boxes containing more than 100 matches. The above indicated change causes a reduction only on such goods which cost at the factory in a foreign

country 50 cents per gross boxes or less, if such matches are packed in boxes containing less than 100 matches per box, as 20 per cent of 50 cents is 10 cents, so that in this case the proposed ad valorem and the new levied specific duty would be the same.

On all matches, packed in boxes containing not more than 100 matches per box, costing more than 50 cents in a foreign country, the new ad valorem duty of 20 per cent will be higher than the old specific duty of 10 cents per gross. To illustrate this, we beg to mention that we import very largely a very superior wood safety match packed in boxes containing less than 100 matches, the average number of matches in a box being 73, which costs at the factory 4s. or $1, on which the duty to day is 10 cents. The proposed new law would increase this duty to 20 cents, or 100 per cent, and would seriously interfere with, if not entirely stop, the importation of this line.

It is, however, the high-class article of wax matches which would be most affected by the proposed change in the tariff, as they are considerably better and more expensive than the wood matches. We ourselves import about twenty different styles of wax matches, nearly all of which are packed in boxes containing less than 100 matches, as we find that matches are transported more safely if only a comparatively small number is packed in a box. Most of our styles are packed, some in wood, some in tin boxes, containing from 30 to 50 wax matches per box. Of all these wax matches, packed as just described, there one single style which costs at the factory in England less than 2s. 6d. (60 cents) per gross boxes, and they run as high as 148., or about $3.50 per gross boxes. These two prices are at present about the lowest and highest market values at the factory in England for the high-class grade of wax matches packed in boxes containing not more than 100 matches per box which we import; and all these goods now pay duty 10 cents per gross boxes. You will see that a change to 20 per cent ad valorem would mean an increase of the duty to 12 cents on the cheapest lines, and to 70 cents per gross on the highest priced goods, where to day the duty is only 10 cents per gross boxes on all the lines. If this proposed 20 per cent ad valorem duty on the goods above described should become a law it would stop their importation altogether and entirely ruin our trade and business, for the building up of which we have spent much time and large sums of money. We have no doubt that it is not and has not been the intention of the framers of the tariff bill to increase duties out of all proportion and to stop importation, as we understand the general purpose and intent of the bill to be to reduce duties whereever possible.

We now come to consider the matches described in the McKinley bill, Schedule N, as follows: "Imported otherwise than in boxes containing not more than 100 matches each," that is, matches packed in boxes each containing over 100 matches. The wood matches imported containing more than 100 matches in a box are usually packed in boxes containing about 380 to 400 matches and are known in the trade as "Nominal 500's." There are also imported boxes containing about 200 and 300 matches, though not to a very large extent. The duty on the so-called "nominal 500's" under the present law is between 50 and 60 cents per gross boxes (1 cent per 1,000 matches). The value of these matches at the factory is about $2.50 to $2.75 per gross boxes, so that the proposed duty of 20 per cent ad valorem on these goods would be between 50 and 60 cents, or about the same as the present specific duty. In wax matches, however, which are largely imported in boxes containing about 350, as well as in boxes containing about 850 matches

(known to the trade as nominal 500's and nominal 1,000's, respectively), the difference between the present specific duty and the proposed ad valorem duty is enormous. Under the present tariff the two kinds mentioned pay a duty of about 53 cents and $1.22, respectively. The value of the nominal 500's wax matches at the factory in England is from $8 to $9 per gross. The duty on these under the proposed law would be $1.60 to $1.80, or an increase of over 300 per cent in duty. The value of the nominal 1,000's wax matches at the factory in England is from $15.50 to $17 per gross, and the duty on these under the proposed law would be $3.10 to $3.40, or an equally large increase, viz, 300 per cent.

It is evident from these figures that such an enormous increase in the duty would absolutely do away with the importation and consumption of wax matches, for which after years of labor and considerable outlay we have succeeded in creating a demand; we may also mention that these goods are not manufactured in this country to any great

extent.

We trust that the committee on the new tariff bill may, in justice to existing interests such as ours, see fit to fix the duties on wood and wax matches on a basis at least as favorable as those at present in force (under the McKinley tariff), which puts a duty of 10 cents per gross boxes on matches packed in boxes containing less than 100, and of 1 cent per 1,000 on matches packed in boxes containing more than 100 in a box.

No. 6626.

Reply of Max. Loewenstein, of 519 Broome street, New York City, importer

of matches.

I import matches and shoe blacking from Germany and julep straws from England. I note that matches have been changed to an ad valorem duty in the Wilson bill from a specific duty in the McKinley bill. If any duty must be placed on matches, I certainly am in favor of a specific duty for the following reasons, viz, it puts all importers on an equal basis, for there is no way to avoid the law or to defraud the Government under a specific duty on matches, as you have both weight and measurement to go by. On the other hand, with an ad valorem duty, if an importer wishes to take advantage of his competitor and makes a deal with the manufacturer by which he sends duplicate or fraudulent bills, it seems to me that it would be an easy matter to defraud the Government, and at the same time his honest competitor is at a disadvantage. I for one do pray for matches to be placed on the free list for the following reasons: In the first place, there exists, to my knowledge-and I think upon investigation you will find my statement correct-only one match concern in this country, known as the Diamond Match Company. This is a trust owned by an English syndicate. Their business is carried on as follows: They have printed documents or contracts, which they request the dealer to sign, and by doing so the dealer agrees to sell no matches but those sold by the Diamond Match Company under penalty of the loss of a rebate of 10 per cent at the expiration of six months. If they find that the dealer has bought matches other than their make they forfeit the 10 per cent rebate. Now I will also add that I am willing to prove all that I have written.