It is on the broad range of counts above 40s, classed under the general term of "fine yarns," that the interest in the American cotton yarn tariff centers. Here the disparity between the duties on imports into the United States and into the principal foreign countries is most marked, and this disparity increases with the increasing fineness of the yarns. Thus, on medium fine yarns, 40s to 80s counts, which represent substantially the range of American fine yarn production for sale or in considerable quantity, the import duties into the United States in 1914 ranged from 6 to 103 cents per pound, representing from 15 to 22 per cent of the market value of the yarns imported. A glance at that section of the chart shows that the American duties were considerably above those of the principal foreign countries, being twice as high as the highest, France, whose duties on 40s to 80s run from 3 to 6 cents a pound, and decidedly higher than those of the other countries, whose duties did not rise above 5 cents for the finest yarns under 80s, and for the most part were between 2 and 4 cents a pound. On the range of yarns most properly termed "fine"-from 80s to 120s-the difference between the American and other tariff rates is still more marked. Yarn imports into the United States of 80s to 100s paid in 1914 an average duty of 14 cents a pound, and those between 100s and 120s, slightly under 18 cents a pound. In comparison with this American duty, averaging for the 80s to 120s range somewhat over 15 cents a pound, it will be observed that the duties of industrially important foreign countries did not exceed 5 cents per pound on yarns as fine as 120s, the majority centering between 3 and 4 cents a pound. The only notable exception is that of France, which divides the range into four groups, paying from 6 to 94 cents per pound, or approximately half the corresponding American duties. THE DIVERGENT POLICIES IN THE TREATMENT OF FINE YARN IMPORTS, The countries in which cotton yarn is spun above 80s, in any considerable quantity or for sale, is limited to Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Germany, and the United States. For yarns finer than 120s, it is safe to say that the consuming industries of most countries, with the exception of France, are dependent for the largest part of their supplies upon the fine spinning mills of Lancashire, England. It is significant, therefore, that as yarns of this range of fineness are reached, the tariff policies of important countries diverge radically. One policy is exemplified by France and Germany, which have continued to advance the amount of duty per pound with increasing fineness of the yarns; the German duties advancing from 2.7 to 3 cents a pound at 83s, and from 3 to 4.3 cents at 102s, and the French duties rising from 6.1 to 7 cents a pound at 83s, to 8.3 cents at 107s, and to 9.6 cents at 119s. Allied to these are the tariffs of Italy and Japan, which continue practically the same duties on all yarns above 70s or 80s-5 cents per pound in the case of Italy and 4 cents for Japan. In striking contrast is the policy of a number of other European countries, which reduce materially or omit altogether the duties on yarns above a certain fineness. Thus, Belgium reduces the duty on yarns 77s or finer to less than half a cent a pound; Austria reduces the rates progressively on yarns above 80s, and admits free of duty all yarns over 110s in fineness; while Switzerland sets the same duty on yarns from 20s to 119s, above which the duty is reduced to about half a cent a pound. A more striking instance of the same policy is found in the case of Canada, which admits all yarns 40s or finer free of duty, although yarns under 40s are dutiable at 25 per cent of value. The policy of these four countries, in reducing or abolishing the import duties on cotton yarn above a certain degree of fineness, is doubtless prompted by an industrial motive: to encourage the development of the domestic manufacture of fine knit or woven goods, embroideries, and laces-which are the main users of fine yarns above 80s or 100s-by affording them that part of their manufacturing material requirements which is not readily obtainable at home, at the lowest possible prices, unburdened by heavy import duties. The imposition of high duties on the imports of such yarns may perhaps, in time, serve to foster the development of that branch of the domestic fine spinning industry. This is probably the motive which has prompted the high duties on very fine yarns in the case of both the United States and Germany. Despite the existence of high protective duties over an extended period of time, however, there has been little tendency discernible in the domestic industry of either country to extend its operations to any considerable extent to very fine yarns. The continued dependence of the fine yarns users of both countries upon foreign spinners for a large part of their supplies, as evidenced by their increasing imports, would seem to indicate one of two things. Either the cotton spinners of these countries have not found sufficient inducement in the volume or character of the requirements of very fine and specially prepared yarns to lead them to undertake their production for sale, even when substantially protected, or else the superiority and reputation of the imported yarns from the usual sources, mainly Great Britain and, to a slight extent, France and Switzerland-countries possessing the advantages of production in larger quantities and long-developed adaptation to the manufacture of yarns requiring high skill and special processing leads the consumers of such yarns to prefer the imported products, even when similar goods could be obtained from domestic manufacturers. The two diverse policies above mentioned toward the importation of fine cotton yarns are well exemplified by a comparison of the duties. of the various countries on yarns 1203 and finer. It will be observed that France alone, of the important countries, advances the rate of duty above that point, providing for six groups above 120s with a sharply ascending scale of duties, from 11 cents per pound on 120s to slightly under 30 cents on yarns above 225s. Italy, Germany, Japan, and Serbia continue the same fixed amount of duty per pound on "very fine" as on "fine" yarns, which renders the duty, in effect, a decreasing percentage in relation to the increasing valuo of the yarns as they go up in fineness. Neither Italy, Japan, or Serbia are importers of very fine cotton yarns, so that in the case of Germany alone, of the group, is the duty at all operative or of much consequence. And the German duty on gray singles above 102s is 4.3 cents a pound, which on fine yarns of this character, valued in 1914 at about a dollar a pound, probably did not exceed 4 or 5 per cent of the value of the imports, which is slight compared with the corresponding American duty on such yarns of 25 per cent ad valorem. Belgium and Switzerland levy a nominal duty of about half a cent a pound on fine yarns. Austria admits all yarns above 110s free of duty. Imports into Canada are free above 40s, and as has been earlier indicated, all yarns are admitted free of duty into the United Kingdom and Netherlands, practically the only other users of any quantity of very fine yarns. With the exception, then, of France and Germany, it appears that no foreign country interested in the importation of very fine yarns imposes a duty of as much as 1 cent a pound on yarns above 120s. In contrast with this fact, it will be noted that the American tariff renders all gray single carded yarns above 99s dutiable at the basic rate of 25 per cent ad valorem, which in 1914 amounted to an average duty on such yarns of nearly 18 cents. a pound. Summing up, it appears from the above analysis that, with the exclusion of the four countries imposing notably high import duties on all commodities, the limits and approximate average height of the basic duties on the various grades of cotton yarn, levied by the principal foreign countries, compared with those of the United States. in 1914 and 1918, are as follows: 1 The sharply ascending scale of French duties on fime yarns is accounted for by the considerable development of the fine end of the French spinning industry, particularly around Lille, calling for high protective duties against competitive imports. |