Mens Sewed Straw Hats | Page 6

the invoice.]
The imports at the port of New York of hats from England are classified in Table 7. It is evident that the bulk of the English importations are not competitive with Italian hats. Only 28 per cent of the imports from England had a foreign value of less than $7 per dozen.
TABLE 7.--Imports at the port of New York of men's sewed straw hats from England,[1] classified according to foreign value, including packing, January-June, 1924
------------------+--------- Foreign value | Dozen ------------------+--------- $6.50-$6.99 | 2,631 $7.00-$7.49 | ... $7.50-$7.99 | ... $8.00-$8.49 | ... $8.50-$8.99 | 3,340 $9.00-$9.49 | 1,260 $9.50-$9.99 | 1,044 $10.00-$10.49 | 98 $10.50-$10.99 | ... $11.00 and up | 948 | ===== Total | 9,521 ------------------+--------- [1: These data cover 9,521 dozen hats out of a total of approximately 10,730 dozen imported from England, or 89 per cent. They represent the larger invoices (several over 1,000 dozen) and hence are not so evenly distributed as are the Italian hats.]
Effect of imports.--The effect of the increasing imports of straw hats on the production and sales of domestic firms was discussed at the public hearings before the Tariff Commission. Evidence was introduced showing that the production of 19 factories decreased from 468,424 dozen in the eight months August, 1923, to March, 1924, to 391,189 dozen in the corresponding months of 1924-25. Seventeen firms showed decreased production and two firms reported increases. Meanwhile imports of foreign hats increased from 74,355 dozen to 102,450 dozen. Imports from Italy increased from 38,000 dozen to 70,000; imports from England decreased from 12,000 dozen to 9,000. Representatives of several domestic firms stated that their losses of business were directly attributable to inability to meet prices quoted by importers of Italian hats.[1]
[Footnote 1: See Transcript of Public Hearings, May 16, 1925, pp. 408, 420.]
Representatives of the importers, on the other hand, called attention to the increasing competition of small firms in and around New York City with larger and longer established firms located principally in Baltimore. Some of the new firms operate on small capital and specialize in cheap hats which are directly competitive with the cheapest Italian hats. Others produce a somewhat better hat, such as is sold by chain stores. The rate of business failure among the newer firms is unusually high. Although the membership of the group of producers of cheap hats is fluctuating, its total output of hats each year is a factor in the competitive situation.
A relatively new development in the distribution of straw hats is the chain stores. Sales of such stores, estimated at 150,000 to 200,000 dozen straw hats yearly, include Italian and English hats but are principally of domestic manufacture. In some cases a chain-store organization has established factories and thus has instituted direct competition with manufacturing firms already established. Chain stores also have furnished capital to small manufacturers, contracting for the bulk of their output. Thus the change in marketing methods has a bearing on the failure of the older establishments to keep pace in the volume of their sales with the national expansion in straw hat consumption.
PRINCIPAL COMPETING COUNTRY
Table 3, on page 4, shows that in the calendar year 1923 imports of sewed straw hats from Italy amounted to 48,101 dozen, or 51 per cent of total imports. The average value per dozen of these Italian hats was $6.01. During this same period imports from England amounted to 20,549 dozen or 22 per cent of total imports, at an average value of $12.50 per dozen.
During the calendar year 1924 imports from Italy amounted to 71,762 dozen, or 44 per cent of the total, at an average value of $5.96 per dozen. Imports from England were 29,450 dozen, or approximately 18 per cent of the total, at an average value of $9.59. Total imports increased from 93,309 dozen in 1923, valued at $779,989, to 164,041 dozen in 1924, valued at $1,179,929, a quantitative gain of approximately 75 per cent.
The latest available import data covering the months of January-April, 1925, are shown in Table 4, on page 5. For these four months imports from Italy amounted to 72,449 dozen, or about 76 per cent of the total, and the average value of Italian hats imported declined from $6.23 per dozen, on the comparable four months' period in 1924, to $5.46 per dozen in 1925. Imports from the United Kingdom for this same period were 12,353 dozen, or about 13 per cent of the total, and it should be noted that the average value increased from $9.64 to $13.07 per dozen.
Italy, is, therefore, for the purposes of section 315, the principal competing country.
FOREIGN PRODUCTION
The center of production in Italy is Signa, near Florence. It was estimated (1924) that 1,500 persons were employed in the Signa district in establishments producing men's straw hats. The employees were about evenly divided