APPENDIX VI COTTON CONVERSION COSTS AND TARIFF RATES The following table is taken from an address of Senator Robert M. La Follette made in support of his substitute bill revising the cotton-tariff schedule during the tariff debate of 1913 and printed in the Congressional Record, Volume 50, Part 5, 63d Congress, 1st Session, September 9, 1913, p. 4591 et seq. The costs contained in the table are taken from the Taft Tariff Board report on 66 Cotton Manufactures," House of Representatives Document No. 643, 62d Congress, 2d Session (1912), p. 442 et seq. Senator La Follette in introducing the table explained its structure as follows: Mr. President, I submit another table based on the Tariff Board's samples. I have before me the cotton textile samples, showing the actual cloth, upon which the Tariff Board based its investigation of 1912. They are, I think, exactly 100 in number. They are typical of the entire cotton industry of this country. I I have applied to these samples the Payne-Aldrich rates. have had the same computations made upon the rates in the pending cotton schedule and in the substitute which I have offered. This table gives the kind of cloth, the number of square yards to the pound, the kind of finish, the total American cost of conversion per square yard, the total English selling price per square yard, the duty per square yard under the Aldrich Act, the duty per square yard under the pending bill, and also the duty per square yard under the substitute which I have presented. Mark you, Mr. President, this table shows the total cost of conversion. That means the total expense of making any one of these fabrics-converting them from the raw material as it comes to the factory into the finished product as it goes upon the market. Now, the utmost that anyone contending for the principle of protection asks to-day is that the tariff shall measure the difference between the cost of production in this country and abroad; that is, the difference in the conversion cost. I have not figured out in this table the difference in the conversion cost, but I have the total American conversion cost. DUTIES ON THE TARIFF BOARD COTTON SAMPLES UNDER THE PAYNE-ALDRICH LAW, THE PENDING BILL, AND THE LA FOLLETTE SUBSTITUTE COMPARED WITH THE AMERICAN CONVERSION COST AS FOUND BY THE TARIFF BOARD 1 Cost estimated from mills manufacturing similiar construction and does not include the cost of filling and glazing. DUTIES ON THE TARIFF BOARD COTTON SAMPLES UNDER THE PAYNE-ALDRICH LAW, THE PENDING BILL, AND THE LA FOLLETTE SUBSTITUTE COMPARED WITH THE AMERICAN CONVERSION COST AS FOUND BY THE TARIFF BOARD · - Continued 21 Fancy white goods. Check nainsook... Dimity check.. 8.17 do. .0662 .1175 .0525 25 .0294 25 .0294 4.44 .do. .0329 .1060 .0300 15 .0159 25 .0265 8.61 do.. .0317 .0793 .0375 221 .0178 25 .0198 Pique or welt.. 3.46 .do. .0499 .1811 .0800 15 .0272 25 .0452 Fancy white goods. Checked lawn. 8.12 ..do.. .0894 .1608 .0900 25 .0402 25 .0402 9.87 ..do.. .0376 .1120 .0425 25 .0280 25 .0280 Mercerized corded check. 8.51 .do.. .0615 .1375 .0625 25 .0344 25 .0335 28 Dotted swiss check.. 8.62 do. .0640 .1625 .1000 25 .0406 25 .0406 Dotted swiss..... Curtain swiss or madras. 11.60 ..do.. .0413 .0824 .0575 221 .0185 25 .0206 Fancy or allover swiss.. 7.13 .do. .0741 .2013 .1325 25 .0503 25 0503 Lappet dotted swiss.. 10.12 do.. .0429 .0918 .0575 221 .0207 25 0280 Mercerized jacquard or fancy white goods. Fancy white goods 5.53 Mercerized and .0719 .1516 .0750 20 .0374 30 0455 DUTIES ON THE TARIFF BOARD COTTON SAMPLES UNDER THE PAYNE-ALDRICH LAW, THE PENDING BILL, AND THE LA FOLLETTE SUBSTITUTE COMPARED WITH THE AMERICAN CONVERSION COST AS FOUND BY THE TARIFF BOARD Continued DUTIES ON THE TARIFF BOARD COTTON SAMPLES UNDER THE PAYNE-ALDRICH LAW, THE PENDING BILL, AND 2 Not obtained. Cost estimated from mills manufacturing similar construction and does not include the cost of filling and glazing. |