CALF AND KIP LEATHER UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION, The United States Tariff Commission respectfully submits the following report in response to Senate Resolution No. 163, passed by the Senate on March 2, 1928. The resolution reads as follows: Resolved, That the United States Tariff Commission is hereby requested to investigate and report to the Senate the extent of sales of foreign calf leather in the United States since January 1, 1925, and the rates of wages paid calf-tannery workers in the United States and competing countries. INTRODUCTION Pursuant to Senate Resolution No. 163, agreed to on March 2, 1928, the commission formulated plans for securing information on the extent of sales of foreign calf leather in the United States since January 1, 1925, and the rates of wages paid calf-tannery workers in the United States and competing countries. A questionnaire was sent to domestic tanners to obtain data with respect to production, prices, and wages in the calf-tanning industry. Field work began on May 1, 1928. Agents of the commission visited 16 calf-leather tanners located in five States and secured from these companies data called for in the questionnaire previously submitted. Samples of stock and information with regard to sales prices and the nature of the imports were obtained from the importers at New York and Boston. The character of the imports was determined by an analysis of invoices entered in the New York and Boston customs districts. An inquiry into foreign wages was conducted by the Brussels office of the commission. Leading tanners of calf and kip leather in European countries were interviewed by the commission's agents who requested information comparable with that obtained in the domestic field work. General information on European wages and labor conditions was also assembled. In April, 1929, upon completion of the report, domestic calf tanners arranged for an informal conference with the commission at which they requested a review of the estimates of domestic production of calf and kip leather and the subject of lining leather. The principal points under discussion were as follows: (a) The number of square feet per dozen skins to be used in converting the production statistics in terms of skins to square feet. of leather. (b) The degree of competition of imported calf and kip lining leather with domestic calf and kip leather used principally for shoe uppers, with special reference to imports from the United King dom. (c) The possibility of imports of calf and kip leather being included in statistical classifications other than those analyzed by the commission. In order to obtain further information upon these points the commission sent questionnaires to domestic calf tanners and in May, 1928, a second field trip was made, during which the data submitted by eight of the important domestic tanners were checked back to the books of record. A further analysis was made of the imports of calf and kip leather through the customs districts of Boston and New York with a view to establishing the representativeness of the import data, and entries at the port of New York during November, 1927, under certain other import classifications, were examined to determine if any calf leather had been included under such classifications. SUMMARY OF REPORT This report presents information with respect to imports and production of calf and whole kip, calf and kip side, and lining leather, and a study of wages paid to tanning labor in the United States and in competing countries. It also shows stocks of finished leather carried by tanners, shoe manufacturers, and others; prices; and information with respect to the raw material used and its sources. The first question asked in the Senate resolution was "the extent of sales of foreign calf leather in the United States since January 1, 1925." A sales analysis of imported calf and kip leather was found not to be practicable. Imports of calf and kip leather were taken to be indicative of the quantities of foreign calf and kip leather sold in the United States and a study was therefore made of import statistics. During 1927 and 1928 import statistics were officially reported under two classifications: (1) Calf and kip upper leather and (2) Lining leather (calf and kip only). These import statistics include the imports of calf and kip side leather. To separate the calf and kip side leather imports from the calf and whole kip leather imports, an analysis was made under the above classifications of imports entered at Boston and New York during February, July, and November, 1927, and February and July, 1928. The results of this analysis were not entirely satisfactory because of the meager information contained on the invoices, and the apparent conflict in some cases between the description and the unit price on the invoices. The absolute quantities of the various types of leather covered in the analysis are not necessarily accurate, but the results may be taken as indicative of the types of leather imported. The percentages of imports of calf and whole kip, and calf and kip side leather for both upper leather and lining leather, based upon the invoice analysis of imports, were applied to the import statistics as officially recorded for 1927 and 1928. Table 1 shows the total imports as reported for 1927 and 1928 and as segregated between calf and kip whole leather and calf and kip side leather and other leather on the basis of the import percentages obtained from the invoice analysis. TABLE 1.-Calf leather: Official statistics of imports segregated, on the basis of the Tariff Commission's analysis of invoices, into calf and whole kip upper and lining, calf and kip side upper and lining, and into other leather, 1927 and 1928 An analysis was made of imports entered at New York during November, 1927, of five classes of upper leather other than calf and kip (listed on p. 9). This analysis covered $600,920 of leather imported under these classifications, of which $56,000 was calf and kip. An analysis was also made of imports of rough tanned leather entered at New York and Boston during November, 1927, to determine whether or not any calf, whole kip, or kip side leather was included in this classification. This analysis shows that the imports of such leather recorded under this classification for that month were negligible. An exact comparison of the quantities of domestic production and of imports of each of the various types and grades of calf and kip leather can not be made because of the lack of detailed statistics, but an approximate comparison may be made for the most important types. Calf and whole kip upper leather.—The domestic production of calf and whole kip leather is reported by the Bureau of the Census in terms of number of skins tanned. In order to make the production statistics comparable with import statistics, the commission obtained from domestic tanners the average number of square feet per dozen skins for calf and whole kip leather. Using this figure as a conversion factor the domestic production in 1928 of calf and whole kip upper leather was 126,744,778 square feet (not including grades suitable for lining). Imports in that year of the same type of leather were 12,800,086 square feet. In addition there were imports of 6,277,411 square feet of calf and kip side upper leather, making the total imports of calf and kip upper leather, 19,077,497 square feet. Kip side leather.-The estimated domestic production of kip side leather in 1928 amounted to 33,750,000 square feet. A large portion of this was in the form of patent side leather. Kip side leather is not shown separately in import statistics, but the commission has segregated the imports of calf and kip side leather, and further subdivided them into upper and lining leather. As indicated above, imports in 1928 of calf and kip side upper leather were calculated at 6,277,411 square feet. Imports of calf and kip side lining leather were 28,072,842 square feet. Lining leather. There is little or no domestic production of calf and kip lining leather as such, but in 1928 there was a production of calf and kip leather in grades suitable for lining of 10,454,693 square feet. Imports of calf and kip side lining leather, and of calf and whole kip lining leather, according to the commission's analysis, were 31,260,555 square feet in 1928. Lining leathers produced in the United States are usually made from goat, kid, and sheep skins for use in lining women's shoes, or from splits from other leather, used in the cheaper grades of men's shoes. The domestic consumption of calf and kip lining leather, used principally in the medium and better grades of men's shoes, is supplied almost entirely by imports. The second question in the Senate resolution was in regard "to the rates of wages paid calf tannery workers in the United States and in competing countries." The commission obtained data on wages and hours of labor of tannery workers in the United States, Canada, and a number of European countries. These data may be summarized as follows: The average wage paid in 14 domestic calf tanneries in 1928 to male workers varied by company averages from 48.4 cents per hour to 74.5 cents per hour. The weighted average hourly wage for all of the 14 tanneries, taking into consideration the total number of labor hours and the total wages paid, was 56.8 cents per hour. Wages in European tanneries varied from an average by companies of 13 cents per hour to 26 cents per hour, with a weighted average for 5 tanneries in various countries of 20 cents per hour. Wages in Canadian tanneries ranged from 37 to 53 cents per hour. The average wages paid in European tanneries, grouped by countries, in 1928, and subdivided into skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled workers, are given in Table 2. TABLE 2.-Average rates of wages paid in European tanneries, 1928 The tannery workers in the United States can not be readily segregated into skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled groups, but if a division of wage rates paid in 14 tanneries in the United States is made upon the basis of high, medium, and low rates of pay, it is found that the average wages for the highest group of workers were 82 cents per hour, for the middle group, 61.6 cents, and for the lowest group, 46.5 cents, the group figure in each case being the simple average of the high, medium, and low thirds of the wage scale. The 48-hour week was found to be general in European tanneries. Ten firms furnished information on this point. Of these 8 were working 48 hours, one, 40 hours, and one, 43 hours. In the United States, of 16 tanneries reporting, 7 were on a 48 hours per week basis, 7 on a 50 hours per week basis, and one each on a 53 and 54 hours per week basis. In the wage study the commission obtained some productivity data in the form of the quantity of calfskins processed in the various departments for the same week for which wage data were obtained. From this information the wage or labor charge per 100 square feet |