Note. This print is for the immediate use of the Committee A 4 d 1927% TARIFF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND PROVISIONS. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1921. UNITED STATES SENATE, The committee met, pursuant to adjournment, at_10.30 o'clock a. m., in room 312, Senate Office Building, Hon. Boies Penrose presiding. Present: Senators Penrose (chairman), Smoot, McLean, Curtis, Watson, Sutherland, and Jones. Present also: Senator Frank R. Gooding, of Idaho. The CHAIRMAN. There are a number of witnesses invited to be here this morning, but they are not present, for some reason or other. Mr. Wiswall is here on his own account, and I told Senator Johnson that Mr. Wiswall might have a brief hearing. LIVE STOCK. TESTIMONY OF MR. CHARLES E. WISWALL, REPRESENTING The CHAIRMAN. Where do you reside? MR. WISWALL. I am a cattle raiser. The CHAIRMAN. How long do you want in which to address the committee? Mr. WISWALL. I would like about a half hour, if I may. The CHAIRMAN. Are you an American citizen? Mr. WISWALL. Yes, sir; my family lives in California. The CHAIRMAN. On what point do you want to speak? Mr. WISWALL. I want to speak on the tariff on live cattle. The CHAIRMAN. And advocate a higher duty or lower duty? Mr. WISWALL. I want to try to get a lower duty on some classes of cattle. The CHAIRMAN. What State do you come from originally? The CHAIRMAN. How long have you been residing in Mexico? The CHAIRMAN. You run a large business there, do you? Mr. WISWALL. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Is it a corporation? Mr. WISWALL. Yes, sir. Pt.35 The CHAIRMAN. What is the name of the corporation? The CHAIRMAN. You are the superintendent? Mr. WISWALL. I am the manager. The CHAIRMAN. Do you own much of an interest in the company as well? Mr. WISWALL. It belongs exclusively to my wife and her children, my stepchildren. Senator WATSON. Do you vote in the United States? Mr. WISWALL. I vote in Arizona. That was my last residence in the United States. Senator SMOOT. How much land do you own in Mexico? The CHAIRMAN. Do you live there all the year around? Mr. WISWALL. Practically, Senator; I am there probably 75 per cent of the time. Senator SMOOT. How many head of cattle have you? Mr. WISWALL. Thirty-five thousand. Senator SMOOT. And where is your market? Mr. WISWALL. All over the United States, principally in the Northwestern States; also in California to a large extent. Senator SMOOT. Feeders? Mr. WISWALL. Feeders, practically exclusively. The CHAIRMAN. Proceed. Mr. WISWALL. I also represent, as vice president, the Association of American Cattlemen of Mexico. There are not very many of us left. Our association consists of about 25 men. We have lots of land and not very many cattle. The ownership represents, I believe, about 8,500,000 acres and only 95,000 head of cattle. The CHAIRMAN. Do they own these lands outright or only grazing privileges? Mr. WISWALL. They own them ourtight, sir. But the lands naturally are capable of carrying many more cattle than they do at the present time. I have also told you who I represent personally. We have been importing cattle into the United States for the last 20 years. You will recall that under the Dingley and Payne-Aldrich tariff laws cattle were dutiable, under one year of age at $2 per head; cattle up to a valuation of $14 per head paid $3.75 per head and over a valuation of $14 per head paid 27.5 per cent ad valorem. We encountered two difficulties in the application of this law. In the first place there is absolutely no way in the world of telling when a calf is 12 months of age. A well-grown calf 11 months old is larger than a 13 months old calf which has not done well and you can see how that may lead to many questions. The second difficulty was in applying the ad valorem rate of duty when cattle were valued at over $14 per head. We had great difficulty in arriving ofttimes at the valuations with the customshouse officers. You can readily understand how one bunch of cattle will be thin in flesh, and have poor breeding, while another bunch of cattle of the same age will be of good quality and of good flesh, and there was no way arriving definitely at the value. We were entirely at the mercy of the customshouse appraisers, who often were not experienced cattle men. Our bills of sale were considered valueless, because very frequently unscrupulous cattle buyers would come in there and make out false bills of sale; and the result was it was necessarily unsatisfactory both to the importers and to the customshouse officers alike. Therefore, we were very much relieved when cattle went on the free list in 1913. The importations of cattle while on the free listthat was a period of seven and one-half years, as you know-more than doubled. During the last seven and one-half years they have averaged about 500,000 head annually. Cattle importations from Mexico jumped to 625,000 head in the year 1914. That was the year after cattle went on the free list. This was not because cattle were allowed to come in duty free, but because of revolutionary conditions in Mexico, and everybody owning cattle there was trying to get them out in that year. The Canadian importations, which amounted to practically nothing up to the time cattle went on the free list, commenced to jump very rapidly, 28,000 being imported in 1913, and it increased to 550,000 in 1919. They were off again last year, however, to 316,000 head. As you know, the emergency tariff bill went into effect on the 28th day of May of this year. This bill had the effect of practically cutting off all importations from Mexico. The Canadian importations are off about 75 per cent. I talk now of the months from June to September of this year. I was not able to get any data regarding October. To show you how Mexico importations have fallen off, there have been but three entries of cattle from Mexico since the emergency bill went into effect, one in June of 1,010 head, one in August of 34 head, and one in September of 327 head, a total of 1,371 head. We made the importation of the 1,010 head in June, and I would like to give you the results of it. These were yearling steers. We received $19 per head for these yearling steers on the cars at Hereford, Ariz. We paid $3.50 per head export duty to the Mexican Government; we paid $3.90 per head import duty to the American Government, a total of $7.40 per head in duties, which left $11.60 a head for the steers. This was exactly the same class of cattle which we sold 12 months previously at $42.50 per head to Denver parties, and after paying $3.50 to the Mexican Government it left us $39 per head net for our cattle instead of $11.60 this year. Senator SMOOT. You are no worse off than cattle raisers in America. Mr. WISWALL. I am not making any complaints; I am just telling facts; I am not telling any hard-luck story. You can readily appreciate that we can not raise yearlings for $11.60. Senator SIMMONS. What was the highest price you got for yearlings any year? Mr. WISWALL. $42.50. We contracted sales in 1920 at $45, but money conditions got very bad in the spring of 1920 and the party who contracted them fell down on the contract. In 1911, which was the first year I was managing this outfit, and for the first sale of yearling steers I made we received $20 for our yearlings. They increased in price from year to year; never went back until 1920, when the contract price was $45, and they went back in one year from $45 to $19. Senator SIMMONS. What were you getting for that same class of yearlings before the war? |