and worsted mills. About 16.6 per cent had been engaged in the industry less than one year; 53.9 per cent less than five years; 26.3 per cent ten years or over. We are told that on the whole the mills are at a disadvantage on account of the large proportion of new and inefficient workers. Many employees of woolen and worsted mills are continually shifting from one mill to another, and large numbers are frequently entering and leaving the industry. Of all those investigated, 27.7 per cent had been employed less than one year in the particular mills from which they were reported, and well over half of these were new to the industry.3 Italians and natives of eastern and southeastern Europe showed, on the whole, the shortest period of service. The board found that, during the year 1910, mills employing an average of 13,233 persons actually gave employment to 28,421 persons, so great was the number of those who were discharged or who quit of their own accord. Facts of this nature, together with data as to actual wages paid, which follow in the report, are important and significant, although they furnish no aid whatever in determining rates of duty. Much of the information given is contained in other government publications, notably in those of the Bureau of Labor and of the Immigration Commission, but its inclusion in the report is perfectly legitimate. It is possible that there has been some duplication in field work and in tabulation of returns; but it is doubtful to what extent the Tariff Board could have utilized data collected by other governmental agencies, because of the specific manner of presentation adopted. The results of the investigation of efficiency of labor and machinery, which follow the general information as to labor and wages outlined above, occupy two hundred pages, of which all but about forty pages are taken up by tables showing the efficiency of weavers on different kinds of fabrics. The efficiency of the weave room is considered a good index of the efficiency of the mill as a whole; it is expressed as a percentage and rep 1 Report. p. 958. • Ibid. p. 971. • Ibid. p. 962. • Ibid. p. 984. resents the proportion of total working time that the loom is actually in operation. A loom has to be stopped from time to time, to allow the weaver to tie a broken thread or to change bobbins or for other reasons; and although a certain amount of stoppage is unavoidable, the ratio of actual running time to total time is an index of the efficiency of the operative. The standard or ideal efficiency for worsted weaving is considered to be 80 per cent, and for woolen weaving, 70 per cent.* Of twenty-two worsted mills investigated, four had an efficiency of over 80 per cent (the highest having 87.66 per cent); seven had between 70 and 80 per cent; nine had between 60 and 70 per cent; two had under 60 per cent (the lowest having 52.28 per cent). Variations of from 40 per cent to 90 per cent efficiency on individual looms occurred in single mills. Data procured for exactly similar looms on the same fabrics, and information gleaned from mill owners in special correspondence on this point, indicate clearly that these differences in efficiency are due in the main to the varying abilities of the weavers rather than to defects in the machinery. This part of the report gives mill owners and efficiency engineers much illuminating information; but the lack of corresponding figures concerning the efficiency of operatives in foreign mills detracts greatly from its value for the immediate purpose of the report, for only by comparison are these data important from a tariff-making point of view. The tables reveal alarming inefficiencies in many mills, but it is unsafe to conclude that our factories are at a disadvantage in this respect. On the question whether the inefficiency is due in any way to the protective tariff, the board expresses no opinion. If the industry were monopolized, there might be reason to draw this conclusion despite the absence of comparative data, but since it is well known that there is active competition in wool manufactures (the American Woolen Company controlling only about one-eighth of the output), it may be argued that this counterbalances any influence the tariff has in putting a premium on inefficiency. It may be concluded that, although 1 Ibid. p. 1051. the investigation of efficiency is valuable as far as it goes, yet it is of no service in the determination of duties, and throws no light on the relationship between the tariff and technical development. VI Taken all in all, the report shows symptons of hasty preparation and of a not too careful analysis of the facts gathered. It was prepared under pressure, with instructions that it be ready by a specified date; at the last minute, however, the time allotted had to be slightly extended. With the exception of the "Glossary," practically every section of the report is lacking in some essential; wool costs are not even approximately determined; manufacturing costs are not sufficiently analyzed; the inquiry into the cost of ready-made clothing is not supplemented by an adequate investigation of the cost to the consumer; and the data on labor and efficiency lose much of their possible value by reason of the lack of comparative figures from other countries. Because of these omissions the report furnishes only the roughest kind of bases for estimating, or for guessing at, appropriate duties. The words of President Taft in his message to Congress of December 20, 1911, that the report" is a monument to the thoroughness, industry, impartiality and accuracy of the men engaged in its making," are hardly borne out by careful scrutiny. Nevertheless the report, in spite of its shortcomings, is extremely valuable. It shows clearly enough that the cost of production is much greater in the United States than it is abroad. It shows also that the present duties are higher than necessary. Accordingly, although we are forced to the conclusion that some parts of the work might have been much more efficiently and satisfactorily performed especially if more time had been allowed for the investigation, the report as it stands amply justifies the existence of an independent and permanent tariff commission, and marks a distinct advance in our handling of this vast and complicated problem. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. L. D. H. Weld. IN RECENT TAX REFORMS ABROAD. III N the preceding articles of this series,' the recent changes in the fiscal policy of Great Britain and of Germany were discussed, and the Australasian development was considered, so far as the general and progressive taxes on land value were concerned. It now remains to examine the other phases of the Australasian situation and to draw the conclusions applicable to our American conditions. ments. VI. The exemption of improvements in Australasia It is true In Australasia, during the last two decades, the principle of land-value taxation, first applied in the states, has been extended not only to federal but to local revenues. indeed, that the form which the local movement has taken has been slightly different from that of the state and federal moveThe local taxes or rates, as they are called, were originally levied largely on the same principle as in the mother country; that is, they were imposed on the rental value or the so-called annual value of real estate. The practical consequence was the same: when the property was not rented, it was assumed to possess no rental value, and it therefore paid no Under this system, vacant land might be held out of the market for speculative purposes for an indefinite time. To prevent this practice, a movement set in to replace the tax on rental values by one on capital values. In some cases a further step was taken: improvements were exempted, in whole or in part, so that the tax fell, to an increasing extent, upon bare land values. taxes. It is true that in the majority of the Australasian states this new system has not yet been introduced. Thus Victoria, South Australia, West Australia and Tasmania still levy the rates on annual value. But in the three other states, namely in New South Wales, Queensland and New Zealand, the new 1 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY, vol. xxvii, pp. 454-469, 577-604. system has been applied. In Queensland the law dates back to 1890; in New Zealand, to 1896; and in New South Wales, to 1906; although in each case the system was actually inaugurated a few years later. In Queensland the Valuation and Rating Act of 1890 was passed chiefly for fiscal reasons. The movement goes back to a law of 1879, known as the Divisional Boards Act.' While this bill was under discussion it was suggested that, as considerable areas of country were in process of purchase from the crown, under the condition that certain improvements be made, these obligatory improvements ought to be exempt for rating purposes, since otherwise the conditional purchasers might delay making them. The purpose of this suggestion was obviously to accelerate the settlement of the country. A further suggestion, that the concession for improvements ought to be extended to the towns, was stoutly opposed; and, in the case of country lands, the endeavor to exempt improvements other than houses and buildings was defeated. The law as passed provided that, in the case of ratable property in the country districts, there should be a separate valuation of land and of houses, and that there should be deducted from the total annual rental value "an amount equal to one-half that portion of such rent as shall be deemed to arise from any house or buildings that may be situated on such ratable property." This remained the situation until 1887, when the Valuation Act provided that in the case of town and suburban lands the annual rental subject to taxation should be estimated as a sum equal to two-thirds of the rental value, including improvements. At the same time, however, a further modification was introduced in fixing the tax limit. In the case of unimproved land the minimum fixed for the rate of taxation was a little higher than in the case of improved land (eight instead of five per 'For the history of these earlier attempts cf. pp. 197 et seq. of the British Blue Book entitled: Taxation of Land, etc.: Papers bearing on Land Taxes and on Income Taxes, etc., in certain Foreign Countries, and on the Working of Taxation of Site Values in certain States of the United States and in British Colonies, together with Extracts relative to Land Taxation and Land Valuation from Reports of Royal Commissions and Parliamentary Committees. Cd. 4750 (London, 1909). |