industry have necessarily had to cease operation because of inadequate processing margins. It is generally considered that the displacement of soap and soap products by synthetic detergents, most of which contain no domestically produced fat or animal oil, has been largely responsible for the present plight of the United States tallow and grease-producing industry. Naturally this loss of an important domestic outlet by tallow and grease producers has resulted in large supplies of these materials being readily available in this country and, when there is superimposed on this situation the conditions of abundance now existing in other domestically produced fats and oils, it is not difficult to see why we do not need imports of these materials at this time. For your information, rates of import duty on practically all fats and oils items have been reduced to such an extent in already negotiated agreements that there remains only a mere shell of the tariff structure on this class of materials which existed at the time the so-called reciprocal-trade policy was initiated; perhaps this is one of the reasons why the United States fats and oils industry currently is in such a critical predicament. The record will show that for 17 years, this association has made statement after statement before the various Government committees and agencies set up to determine the duty concessions on these items, protesting the wholesale giveaway of our domestic markets. We were occasionally received courteously at these hearings, but always with the same result, namely, a substantial reduction in the duty on the particular fat or oil item. We believe the provisions of the Simpson bill, if enacted into law, would at least give domestic producers a more adequate opportunity to establish injury and obtain limited relief from the overzealous tariff-slashing policy that has been followed by the United States in recent years and we hope that your committee will give a favorable report on H. R. 4294. As has been stated before your committee on many previous occasions, the original purpose of the tariff was to enable United States producers to compete pricewise in the American market with low-priced, similar articles of foreign origin. It seems to us that such an objective is just as much in order today as it was when the first tariff duty was enacted. In closing, I would like to invite your attention to the attached tabulation of extracts of recent letters to the National Renderers Association alluding to conditions now prevalent in various areas of the country. It is requested that you arrange to have this letter. together with the attached tabulation, printed as part of the committee proceedings under H. R. 4294. Very truly yours, F. B. WISE, Secretary-Treasurer. EXTRACTS OF RECENT LETTERS TO NATIONAL RENDERERS ASSOCIATION Wisconsin Just completed a trip through the State of Wisconsin, during which time I personally contacted every renderer in our State. Wherever I went and regardless to whom I spoke, the story was the same and conditions far from rosy. Many of the boys are very much discouraged and very pessimistic about the immediate future. Several plants have already closed in our area and one cannot blame them for discontinuing their operations in the face of continuous losses. This of course would create quite a problem in the territory now covered by such renderers and would make it necessary for the farmer, small packer and meat market operater of such locality to dispose of their own offal or dead stock, resulting into an undesirable situation from all angles, especially from a sanitary viewpoint. Texas For many years we have provided a free removal service for dead and fallen animals in surrounding areas. We have also accepted collect phone calls when this service was desired. We have been able to provide this service, notwithstanding the heavy trucking and processing costs involved, because the finished products were selling at fair values. But tallow, grease, meat protein feed products, and hides are now all selling at their lowest points in well over a decade, and in some cases it is difficult to sell them at any price. 32604-53-59 Under these conditions, we are eliminating our advertising in local newspapers. We must also eliminate the not inconsiderable expense of accepting collect telephone calls. So, in the future, when you desire our service, will you please prepay your telephone call. Michigan' Synthetic detergents are replacing the soaps made from tallow. Synthetic materials are reducing the demand for hides. The market for animal proteins is shot to pieces. The renderers foresee a public health problem around some of the larger cities. They can't afford to take care of the wastes from butcher shops in today's market for animal byproducts. The industry is talking with the health departments of larger cities to determine if some other means of handling waste materials from butcher shops can be devised. In short, an old and honorable business is going to pot, the victim of progress, and will be in for even worse times unless the chemists devise some new means of using animal carcasses and butchers' wastes. That's the way it is in this wonderful 20th century, the era of synthetics. Georgia We discontinued handling fallen stock about 6 months ago. We went along losing money on this service and when hides took a big drop we stopped picking up any fallen stock. We also discontinued our routes on fat and bones from retail stores, as there was no incentive to do this, even free of charge for materials. You know as I do that many renderers have closed their plants and many are hanging on by the skin of their teeth and I hate to think what the poultry plants in our area would do with the inedible waste if we closed our doors. Massachusetts With present market conditions for tallow, grease and meat scraps being what they are, it is impossible for us, or any other renderer, to pay for some grades of slaughterhouse and market waste. Prices bid for livestock are based on the sales value of all the products which can be produced, less the cost of processing. An average steer hide would cure at approximately 70 pounds, the same steer should yield about 65 pounds of slaughter fat, which in turn should yield 60 percent of tallow, or the total tallow from this source per steer would be 39 pounds. If hides were selling at 25 cents per pound and tallow at 12 cents per pound, total value of these two items in the above-mentioned case would be $22.18. Today tallow is approximately 5 cents and hides in the neighborhood of 15 cents per pound. The total value would be $12.45 or a difference of $9.73. The other items which have been decreased in value due to present market conditions would undoubtedly bring this $9.73 difference to $15 difference, which, in my opinion, is the amount the value of a steer has been reduced by decline in tallow, grease, and meat scrap markets. Illinois Until about a year ago, we, as well as other renderers, were paying farmers for their dead animals. In this area prices ranged from $2 to $5 per head, which, added to the $2 service charge now in effect, means a loss to the farmer compared to a year ago of from $4 to $7 per head, all of which has been caused by the extremely low market on inedible grease, plus a drastic reduction in the prices of hides and meat scraps. I would estimate that only 50 to 60 percent of the animals are being handled by rendering plants as a result of these low prices. Of course, the animals not handled by rendering plants must be buried or burned or left to rot, thus causing a hazard to not only his own livestock, but to the stock of neighbors as well. Mississippi Reduced markets for grease, hides, and proteins have forced us to do the following: 1. Discontinue dead-stock collection service in 9 counties in Mississippi and 4 counties in Alabama. 2. Discontinue the use of 5 trucks entirely. 3. Discharge for lack of work 27 members of our crew. 1 Editorial from Jackson (Mich.) Patriot, February 26, 1953. 4. Discontinue payment for chicken offal which reduces the income of chicken plants in the area by more than $1,300 per month. 5. Discontinue service of collection to two large plants entirely because trucking and processing was more than the value of the finished product. 6. Discontinue the acceptance of collect calls for dead-stock collection service. Pennsylvania Our company has been in the rendering business for 114 years. For the past 30 years we have collected dead stock. Due to the conditions, which we consider beyond our control, we decided the 4th of February of this year to discontinue the service of picking up dead animals. We have taken 7 trucks out of this service, which means quite a saving in our costs, but it is still not a sufficient amount to overcome the loss in handling raw fats and bones. To break even on operations in handling just fat and bones is a real problem today and not many are able to do so. As a matter of fact in our area alone 1 small renderer quit business last summer and within the past month 2 other small operators have closed their plants. Nebraska We had a rendering plant which serviced an area that handled 1 million cattle. This plant was closed about a year ago for the reason that it was losing money. At the present time there is no rendering service in this area and the animals that die remain where they die, unburied. We have a very large plant in another part of the State. We have pulled in our routes about 25 miles and discontinued a good many phones. Oklahoma We closed our small plant a couple of months ago because it was losing money. At our larger plant we have discontinued a good many routes and have reduced the distance we will go for material. Kansas We understand the State of Kansas now has only 1 and possibly 2 rendering plants in operation. (Whereupon, at 3: 45 p. m., the hearing was adjourned until 10 a. m. Monday, May 11, 1953.) TRADE AGREEMENTS EXTENSION ACT OF 1953 MONDAY, MAY 11, 1953 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to recess, at 10 a. m., in room 1102, House Office Building, Hon. Daniel A. Reed (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. The committee will resume public hearings on the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1953, H. R. 4294. This morning the committee will hear testimony from the proponents of the provision of the bill imposing a quota limitation on importation of crude petroleum. The first witness is the Honorable Charles W. Vursell, Member of Congress from the State of Illinois. STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES W. VURSELL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS Mr. VURSELL. I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman and the members of your committee, for permitting me to come before you this morning in the interest of certain oil legislation that I recently introduced. I may say that some weeks ago I introduced a bill, H. R. 4688, which I would like to present to your committee for consideration at this time. The CHAIRMAN. Pardon me, do you have a copy of that bill? The CHAIRMAN. Would you like to insert it in the record? Mr. VURSELL. At the close of my remarks, I would like to insert it in the record. The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. VURSELL. The effect of my bill would limit imports of oil and petroleum products to about 10 percent of our domestic consumption or demand. Due to the fact that the volume of imports has steadily increased until we are now importing over a million barrels of oil a day, or 14 percent of our domestic demand, I feel, as do practically all of the independent and smaller producers who are suffering some hardships because of these excessive imports, that it would be fair and reasonable to limit the present imports to 10 percent of our market demand, which would still permit them them to import from 700,000 to 800,000 barrels of oil daily. I would like to say to the committee that Senator Carlson previously introduced the same bill in the Senate. I feel that the provision of this bill does not run contrary to the policy of the President, but in |