on yarns, a very large proportion of the linen threads consumed here is imported; manufacturers having works both here and abroad finding it to their interest and profit to import numbers above 35, so that this proposed reduction in the tariff would simply increase foreign importations, and consequently the revenue, and make it impossible for us, and other purely American manufacturers, to compete with flax and hemp thread and yarn made abroad; yet Mr. Mills's bill would reduce the duty on linen thread to 25 per cent., and the only compensation given is that the duty on raw flax of $20 per ton is taken off; this is less than 1 cent per pound, and is scarcely worth considering when threads worth $1 per pound are manufactured; yet this is the average value of our present production.

Again, Mr. Mills proposes to take all the duty off dressed flax, although American spinners pay double the wages paid by European spinners for this work. American spinners would therefore be compelled, were this duty removed, to transfer this department of their works to Europe, as flax can only be purchased in the markets in the rough state. Free dressed flax would only be an advantage to those firms having mills in Europe.

STATEMENT OF JAMES THOMPSON & CO.,

Manufacturers of flax, hemp, and jute twines, etc., of Valley Falls, N. Y.

We desire to call your attention to, and to enter our earnest protest against, the provisions of the Mills tariff bill, inasmuch as they affect the flax and hemp industry in which we are engaged. For reasons hereinafter stated it must become apparent to you that this industry can suffer no reduction of protection without the most ruinous consequences, and we hope that in all tariff legislation your vote will be cast in accordance with such conviction.

Of all textile manufactures, those composed of flax, hemp, and jute enjoy the lowest protective duty at present; the average being about 34 per cent. This low protection has admitted of but a slow growth of our industry in a few directions, and has proved utterly inadequate in most branches.

Practically the manufacture of these fibers in this country has been limited to the field of yarns, twines, and threads, though even in these goods American manufacturers must contend with desperate foreign competition. This circumstance is made evident by the fact that $2,000,000 worth of these manufactures are yearly imported into this country.

Weaving, which we must consider the next higher step in the develop. ment of this industry, has been attempted in only very few instances, and then only on a very coarse grade of goods. Still some $20,000,000 worth of woven linen and jute goods are yearly imported into and consumed by the United States.

It is logical to suppose that the pioneers in the flax and hemp business are the ones best fitted to push, develop, and perfect the industry. But though a splendid field lies near them, they are as yet barred off from it by lack of sufficient protection, and with the present duty it must be many years before any head way can be made.

A reduction of the tariff, however slight, will certainly be disastrous to this struggling infant industry; and such a sweeping reduction as

the Mills bill proposes must prove a death blow, rendering millions of capital valueless, and throwing out of employment thousands of hands. Our situation is thus clearly presented to you, and surely no further proof is needed that the flax, hemp, and jute industry in the United States requires the most careful stimulation, not the reckless treatment that is at present under consideration.

STATEMENT OF D. W. MANWARING, NEW YORK.

I would respectfully call your attention to the amendment in the Mills bill making free entry of jute grain bags.

Jute grain bags are identical with phosphate bags, flour bags, meal bags, salt bags, sugar bags, and nearly every variety of coarse bag, and in case of this bill becoming a law in its present shape it would destroy completely the bag-making industry in this country, giving a monopoly of the same to the foreign manufacturer, and thereby throwing several thousand people out of employment, and causing a loss to the manufacturer of his business and capital invested in machinery and plant.

Under the present law the duty on the burlaps is 30 per cent., and 40 per cent. on the manufactured bags, the 10 per cent. difference allowing the manufacturer to compete with the cheaper foreign labor and to make the bag here.

The manufacturer needs this 10 per cent. distinction, and should the burlaps be made free the manufactured bag should pay 10 per cent., or at least 10 per cent. more than the cloth.

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM ALLAN,

Vice-president of the A. H. Hart Company, Elm Flax Mills, manufacturers of twines, yarns, and shoe threads, of New York.

In regard to the placing of jute, sisal, and manilla on the free list we can not advise, as we do not use either. We use nothing but flax and hemp, and are opposed to putting either on the free list; flax and hemp.being raised in the United States-the flax largely for the seed. But the farmers are becoming interested in saving the fiber, and with the encouragement which our Flax and Hemp Association is giving them will, in a few years, with the aid of improved machinery, be able to utilize the straw, which, heretofore, they have burned on account of the increased cost of labor over that paid in Ireland, Belgium, Holland, and Russia.

Three years ago we got from Michigan 10 tons of very fine flax raised there. Last year it increased to 30 tons, and this year we have so far received 50 tons. This certainly shows what can be done if it is encouraged. We have had many letters from Dakota, Wisconsin, and other States, asking for information as to the kind of fiber we use, samples of which we forwarded them, showing how to get it out, etc.

Flax-raising is not new to farmers in many States. We are not asking protection for something we do not raise but are going to. They will secure the fiber, as it will pay better than raising all wheat, etc and this can be done and still have the seed.

STATEMENT OF ELSAS, MAY & CO.,

Bag manufacturers, Atlanta, Ga.

In looking over the Mills bill we find that it aims blows at the cotton industry, viz, it lets jute come in free, and the same would be manufactured into cloth which would largely take the place of cotton goods. It also allows burlaps under 60 inches to come in free of duty; which means that these goods would be used in place of cotton for such articles as export bags and various other articles. Strange to say, the same bill puts a duty of 25 per cent. on jute yarns, while it takes the duty off burlaps, which are made of the same kind of yarn. Really, in this instance, one may say, "O! consistency, what a jewel." Now, we, in our judgment, think it would be best for a specific duty per pound to be put on such goods. Making an ad valorem duty per yard leaves room for the practice of fraud against the Government, while our theory would obviate this and justice could be done to all. We would suggest that the duty be 14 cents per pound on all burlaps under 60 inches wide; if wider, 13 cents. We beg to say to you that we think all cotton manufacturers should unite to bring this matter before Congress, as it aims at the most part of our industry. We omitted to say above that on export bags, made of burlaps, the duty is refunded to the parties shipping these goods to England, and after the flour has been carried and the duty, refunded, these goods are admitted to this country again free of duty.

STATEMENT OF EDWIN A. HARTSHORN, OF TROY, N. Y.

The flax fiber now wasted in the Western States and Territories is of great value. It is far superior to jute in strength and durability, and can be made a source of large profit. The native word for jute in India, where it is grown, is equivalent to our "sham" or "humbug," and its cheapness is its principal merit. It can be sold cheap, because it is grown and cleaned by cheap labor.

The farmer in India is quite content with 6 or 8 cents a day for labor, and can live on rice at a daily cost of less than 2 cents. Hence it is possible to purchase good clean jute at 24 to 34 cents a pound, delivered in New York, freight, duty, insurance, and all charges paid.

At these prices it is not strange that the Western farmer makes the most money out of his flax crop by burning the fiber up. It is, however, only a question of labor-cost, as this wasted fiber is excellent material for carpet yarns, twines, cordage, canvas, burlap, toweling, crash, and many other goods.

The flax fiber now wasted in Minnesota and other Western States and Territories is of great value.

The first method is impossible, and altogether suicidal to the best interests of our country; but the second is entirely feasible and human. We do not want cheaper labor on this side of the Atlantic. We can solve the linen problem by the other and better method. Let European manufacturers understand that we are determined to produce flax fiber and make linen goods here, and they will speedily transfer machinery to this country. Several of the leading linen-thread makers of Europe have already established mills in the United States,

The total exports of linen piece-goods from Great Britain to all parts of the world in 1880 were 162,247,300 yards at a value of $26,321,203. About one-half these goods, or exactly 78,169,400 yards, valued at $11,335,354, came to 50,000,000 people in the United States for consumption, while the rest of the world (save Great Britain), numbering 1,348,000,000, took the balance-one and two-fifths yards each for Americans, and one-sixteenth of one yard each for the balance of mankind.

We can not afford to continue the annual destruction of thousands of tons of flax fiber while each American equals twenty-two other people in the consumption of linen piece-goods exported from Great Britain. The time is not far distant when the fiber of American flax may be more valuable than the seed, and when fiber and seed shall both be utilized flax will be a greater source of wealth, acre for acre, than wheat. The United States has a soil and climate well adapted to the growth of flax and the manufacture of linen goods. When cultivated only for the seed, flax is a profitable crop, and the fiber, now so largely wasted, is more valuable, if properly treated, than the seed.

The United States is the most important linen goods market in the world, standing at the head of nations in consumption and at the foot in production.

This peculiar situation exists because wages are higher here than in Europe. The American people have the ability to consume more linens than other people by reason of an industrial system insuring higher wages to the working people; and by reason of higher wages other products requiring less labor are more profitable than flax. Hence, after a generous soil has produced the fiber, it pays our farmers better to burn up 40,000 to 50,000 tons of flax annually, worth, if properly treated, $10,000,000 to $12,000,000, than prepare the fiber for spinning. To stimulate the production of flax fiber in the United States, a tax or duty of $20 per ton, or about 8 per cent., is imposed upon foreign flax. This insignificant and insufficient protection of less than 1 cent per pound it is now proposed to take away from the agriculturist in order to encourage efforts in flax culture. We want more American flax than the farmer will produce at 12 cents per pound, and we therefore propose to remove the tax from imported flax, so that the farmer will hereafter get only 11 cents per pound.

This is an absurdity and an insult, and we credit the American farmer with very little intelligence when we attempt to blind him with such chaff.

We should not degrade American farm labor and farmers' profits to the low level of Russia, for we now have the best home market that the worid affords, as a direct result of well-paid labor and profitable agriculture, and yet we wish to become larger producers of flax fiber. There is absolutely but one way to do it, and that is by increasing the present tariff, or tax, upon foreign flax.

If we want cheap flax, let us increase the duty, and thereby stimulate flax culture. This will insure competition, and soon we will be supplying our own wants and exporting flax to other nations.

This is the result of adequate protection, and who can tell what five or six years of real protection will do for the flax industry of the United States?

It is the increase, not the abolition, of duty which everywhere works these charmed results. Let us, therefore, increase the duty upon flax to $60 per ton, rather than abolish the present duty. We need not be afraid of high labor-costs. Well-paid labor can never obstruct, but will

always advance civilization and general prosperity. The factor that has made us more prosperous than Russia, India, or China should not frighten us.

STATEMENT OF BENTLEY & GERWIG,

Manufacturers of twines and yarns, New Brighton, Pa.

Permit us to call attention to a few points in the Mills bill that directly affect our interests.

1. Whereas cotton and woolen goods are granted an average protection of about 40 per cent., flax, hemp, and juțe goods are reduced to 15 and 25 per cent. This, we think, is a great injustice. While cotton and woolen manufacturers get all their supply of raw material in this country, we, as flax, hemp, and jute manufacturers, will be compelled, probably, because they are on the free list, to get our supply of stock from foreign countries, and thus freights would be against us, in competing with foreign countries; while in cotton and woolen goods the advantages would be the other way.

2. Then, again, on machinery. Cotton and woolen machinery is nearly all made here, because these industries have grown so large that the manufacture of cotton and woolen machinery has developed as well and in same proportion, while the manufacture of flax, hemp, and jute machinery has not developed, because those industries are yet in their infancy, not having been sufficiently protected and fostered. Hence the machinery for these fibers is imported at heavy duties. The demand for this class of machinery is yet so small that it will not justify machinists in getting up patterns and tools to make said machinery. The expense would exceed the profits.

(3) We do not think it would be wise at this time to take duty off hemp and flax, because if it is they would not then be produced in this country, and foreign hemp is not so well adapted for binding cord as American hemp, and is higher in price. Our business then would fail or at least be seriously injured for want of suitable raw material. By fostering flax and hemp culture other fibers are held in check, and thus the harvest cord is cheapened to the consumer.

(4) We wish to state another fact: In our Western States there is a very large quantity of flax raised for seed alone, allowing fiber to go to waste, and this is because it comes in under such light duty that it is not profitable to dress it out. In other words, duty is not equivalent to the labor necessary. During the war and a few years after, while there was a premium on gold-which was equivalent to that much extra duty-we got all the flax we could use, and that raised in our immediate neighborhood. But since premium on gold disappeared flax has almost entirely ceased as a product of the United States.

5. In case of war that should involve Russia-from which country we get most of our raw material-we should be in a bad fix, not having it at home and cut off abroad. As a matter of history, during Napoleon's war with Russia, in 1807, hemp went up from $290 to $590 per ton, and flax from $340 to $710 per ton. The same was true during the Crimean war; and during our own late war hemp advanced from $80 to $180.

6. We would mention still another point. If we had to depend on foreign material, we in the interior would be at a great disadvantage. In our own case about one-half of our production is sold in the East.