TARIFF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND PROVISIONS. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 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, La Follette, Curtis, and Watson. The CHAIRMAN. We have some gentlemen before us who will be introduced by Senator Hale of Maine. Senator, will you introduce your constituent? STATEMENT OF HON. FREDERICK HALE, SENATOR FROM MAINE. Senator HALE. Mr. Chairman, during the last few years the blueberry industry has been taken up in my State, and we are trying to build it up. I have asked Mr. Frye, who is a blueberry canner from Washington County, Me., to come here and tell you about it. They are asking for some raises in the tariff as provided by the House, and I will ask Mr. Frye to state the case. The CHAIRMAN. We will be glad to hear him. STATEMENT OF MR. EDWIN M. FRYE, HARRINGTON, ME. The CHAIRMAN. State, for the information of the committee, your full name. Mr. FRYE. Edwin M. Frye. The CHAIRMAN. Where do you reside? Mr. FRYE. Harrington, Me. BERRIES. The CHAIRMAN. What is your business? Mr. FRYE. Blueberry canner. The CHAIRMAN. Will you state to the committee your views on the subject? What paragraph of the bill are you addressing yourself to? Mr. FRYE. To paragraph 737. The CHAIRMAN. What is it you want there? Mr. FRYE. We thought that the rates were not quite enough for protection. Senator SMOOT. You mean the evaporated? 60713-21-PT 19 4027 COMMITTEE ON FINANCE. BOIES PENROSE, Pennsylvania, Chairman. PORTER J. MCCUMBER, North Dakota. ROBERT M. LA FOLLETTE, Wisconsin. FURNIFOLD M. SIMMONS, North Carolin. DAVID I. WALSH, Massachusetts. LEIGHTON C. TAYLOR, Clerk. W. B. STEWART, Assistant Clerk. TARIFF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND PROVISIONS. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 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, La Follette, Curtis, and Watson. The CHAIRMAN. We have some gentlemen before us who will be introduced by Senator Hale of Maine. Senator, will you introduce your constituent ? STATEMENT OF HON. FREDERICK HALE, SENATOR FROM MAINE. Senator HALE. Mr. Chairman, during the last few years the blueberry industry has been taken up in my State, and we are trying to build it up. I have asked Mr. Frye, who is a blueberry canner from Washington County, Me., to come here and tell you about it. They are asking for some raises in the tariff as provided by the House, and I will ask Mr. Frye to state the case. The CHAIRMAN. We will be glad to hear him. STATEMENT OF MR. EDWIN M. FRYE, HARRINGTON, ME. The CHAIRMAN. State, for the information of the committee, your full name. Mr. FRYE. Edwin M. Frye. The CHAIRMAN. Where do you reside? Mr. FRYE. Harrington, Me. BERRIES. The CHAIRMAN. What is your business? Mr. FRYE. Blueberry canner. The CHAIRMAN. Will you state to the committee your views on the subject? What paragraph of the bill are you addressing yourself to? Mr. FRYE. To paragraph 737. The CHAIRMAN. What is it you want there? Mr. FRYE. We thought that the rates were not quite enough for protection. Senator SMOOT. You mean the evaporated? 60713-21-PT 49 4027 Mr. FRYE. I am talking about blueberries-neither in the raw berry nor the canned berry. Senator SMOOT. Berries, edible, are 1 cent a pound? Mr. FRYE. Yes. A bushel of blueberries weighs 42 pounds. Mr. FRYE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. What is it you want? Mr. FRYE. We think we ought to have 14 cents per pound instead of 1 cent. Senator SMOOT. Are they worth $2.40 a bushel? Mr. FRYE. Yes; they are worth more than that. Mr. FRYE. The berries at the factory are worth about $3.50 a bushel. The CHAIRMAN. Are there many importations of these berries? Mr. FRYE. Well, there are some. The CHAIRMAN. How many? Mr. FRYE. Well, the importations ought not be great, because two-thirds of all the berries that are packed are raised in Maire But there have been some importations. Senator CURTIS. From Canada? Mr. FRYE. From Canada. The CHAIRMAN. Well, how many? Mr. FRYE. Well, I think perhaps there have been 2 to 10 per cent importation. Senator HALE. Please explain to the committee about opening up the Crown lands. Mr. FRYE. I was going to say that blueberries in Washington County, Me., and in fact all over Maine, are sold for the best berries that grow. But there are 29,000 to 30,000 square miles in the whole State of Maine, bounded by Canada, and the idea in Canada is that they are talking of opening up the Crown lands there for blueberries. In Maine, while the blueberry business is in its infancy here, we have started to lay out a lot of money for raising them. In fact, they have increased the capacity for raising blueberries 100 per cent in the last five years, and they would be a great deal more than that in the five years to come, because they have just got to work in g shape. But they can raise blueberries in the Crown lands in Canad which are near us. Washington County, Me., is bounded by Canada where most of the blueberries grow the whole north and east of Senator SMOOT. Are you a raiser of berries? Mr. FRYE. Yes. Senator SMOOT. You are not a manufacturer? Senator SMOOT. Then I suppose you would want different rais provided for the canned and preserved berries, would you? Mr. FRYE. That rate of 20 per cent does not compare favorab with the rate in 1909, when we had 35 per cent, because the price of blueberries has advanced. In 1909 No. 10 blueberries sold at $4.4 a dozen; in 1920 they sold at $9.50, or more than twice as much that is, the canned berry. Senator SMOOT. Of course, then, the duty is more? Mr. FRYE. So we would like to have 25 per cent for the canned and 1 per cent for the raw. The blueberry growers of Maine have asked me to come before you and to say that, because of the outlay of labor and capital there in Maine they have put out to grow blueberries, they feel they would have to have quite a protection until we get the industry further developed than it is at present. The CHAIRMAN. Have you filed any statement in writing? (The statement referred and submitted by Mr. Frye is here printed in full, as follows:) BRIEF ON BLUEBERRY PRODUCTION IN STATE OF MAINE. The raising and canning of blueberries in the State of Maine is almost wholly done in Washington County. The approximate sales of canned blueberries for this county for the business season of 1920 was $1,200,000 the product of 11 factories operating there. There were blueberries also that were shipped fresh to the market in small boxes packed in crates in addition to the above. There are two factories in Hancock County and two in Knox County. The output of these two counties would be about $240,000. There are blueberries shipped from these counties in crates for the market, as in Washington County. The farmers are just learining, in all the above counties, how to cultivate blueberries on a large scale profitably, for this reason the production in the State of Maine is increasong each year. The land used for this purpose is valued according to the quality of the land for blueberry production and also for the extent to which it has been cultivated for this particular purpose. It varies, therefore, in value from $4 to $100 per acre. Washington County borders on Canada, where there are quite a good many blueberries raised, a large part of which come to the United States. The blueberries there are raised on what is known as "the Queen's land on which no stumpage is charged. To allow these blueberries to be shipped into the United States on a tariff less than the McKinley tariff would be a severe blow to the industry here, an industry just in its infancy on account of the fact that, as above stated, the farmers throughout the sections where the blueberries grow are just learning to cultivate them successfully. The crop in Washington County is gathered right after the haying season, at a time when there is not much else going on. The pickers with their whole families move right onto the blueberry fields and earn enough money there in from four to six weeks to stock them up with their winter supplies. JASPER WYMAN & SON, Senator HALE. Mr. Chairman, I would like to state that while the duty was a cent a quart in 1909 it is a cent a pound now, which amounts to 1 cents a quart, because the berries have gone up very much since that time. In 1909 the price of berries was somewhere around 6 cents a quart, and now, as I understand it, you have to pay 8 or 10 cents a quart and sometimes more. Is not that true? Mr. FRYE. The average price for the last three years has been 16 cents per quart, as compared to 6 and 7 cents in 1909. Senator HALE. So the percentage that is allowed now is not nearly as high as it was on the 1909 price, when berries were much lower. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will give your statement very careful consideration. Is there any other witness, Mr. Walker? Mr. WALKER. That is all. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will stand adjourned until 10.30 o'clock to-morrow morning. (Thereupon, at 11 o'clock a. m., the committee adjourned to meet to-morrow, Friday, December 23, 1921, at 10.30 o'clock a. m.) X |