Mr. BURKE. 455 One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Street, Rockaway Beach, N. Y. Senator MALONEY. Thank you very much. Mr. BURKE. I also appear for Local 1. I make this plea because our employers are having difficulty at the present time in receiving silver nitrate. Silver nitrate is very essential to the photoengraving industry, and the reason for that is, you must photograph all objects or images that come into a plant before a photo can be made, and while we use very little silver, it is really the heart of the industry. A photographer will make a negative, and that is as far as the silver goes, but when he is through with that negative, it must be printed on metal, it must be etched, routed, finished and proved, which means that a lot of men depend upon the small amount of silver nitrate we use. We believe we are essential to the war program, because we do advertising work for the Army and the Navy. We also photograph the Senators for publicity purposes. Senator MALONEY. That is not essential to the war effort. Only recently, to try to illustrate how essential silver is to the photoengraving industry I, myself, a photographer, made four negatives of the Army Air Corps, where they were making posters for recruits and cadets, and from these four negatives, red, yellow, blue, and black, a plate was made. It had to be plated and the color artist had to work on the particular plates for days, and in the end the cost amounted to four or five hundred dollars, so from that small amount of silver men receive quite a large salary. I might say in that regard our members average about $75 a week. I understand that at the present time they are trying to raise money to help defray the war, and our men are playing a big part in that regard due to the fact they average a good salary, and they are paying high taxes. I think it is essential at the present time, and I believe something should be done to release the silver so men can make a living, especially when it pertains to the war industry, plays a certain part in the war industry. or I don't say that we should disregard the war and keep the silver or give the silver out indiscriminately to all parties, but when even a little bit of the war is being helped, I think we should allocate the silver to these particular industries. In that regard I feel that possibly this committee can either recommend this bill or some bill where men in my industry can get some benefit from it. I think it would be unfair to say that we would have to stop making photoengravings. We realize that there will be a curtailment in photoengraving, and we have tried to assist in that regard by assessing our members $4 a week at the present time, whereby those unemployed will go to defense schools and learn other than photoengraving. We pay them benefits while they are going to these defense schools so that they can get into another industry, and we also subsidize them as high as $10 a week to make up the difference, whatever they receive at the defense plant and what they receive at photoengraving, because as a rule you start at about 65 cents an hour and work up to 70, and so on, so for a period of about 3 months we pay these men, and in that way we are trying to encourage the surplus man in our industry to go into defense. So, I think we are playing our part and trying to do all we can to help the cause, and in return we feel we should be given some consideration for the small amount of silver we use. That is all. Senator MALONEY. Thank you very much. Senator GREEN. I will call Mr. M. Fred Hirsch, Jersey City, N. J. STATEMENT OF M. FRED HIRSCH, M. FRED HIRSCH CO., INC., SILVERSMITHS, JERSEY CITY, N. J. Mr. HIRSCH. Gentlemen, I came down on behalf of the smaller sterling silver manufacturers, and since Mr. Wilcox so ably stated it, I believe whatever I have to say will merely be a repetition. Senator MALONEY. You just want to record yourself, you and those you represent, as being in favor of the bill? Mr. HIRSCH. Correct. Senator MALONEY. Thank you very much. Senator GREEN. As the last witness I will call Mr. G. N. Stieff of Baltimore, Md. He is a manufacturer. STATEMENT OF GIDEON N. STIEFF, THE STIEFF CO., BALTIMORE, MD. Mr. STIEFF. Gentlemen, I am just as anxious to get out of here as you are, so I am not going to take up much of your time. Senator MALONEY. Give us your full name, please. Mr. STIEFF. Gideon N. Stieff, of the Stieff Co., Baltimore, Md. I am only going to try to hit upon something that the rest of the gentlemen have not done. We are doing about 75 percent defense plant work today in our plant. Now, in order to do it efficiently, we have to have silver for the regular work that we have been doing, because in defense work there are periods when certain departments are more or less not working, through priority, not having steel or copper or something of that kind, and we can work those men on silver which is, after all, our regular business, and if that silver is taken away from us, it is going to make us less efficient. As I say, we are working 75 percent in defense work. Senator DANAHER. And you are apt to lose those men? Mr. STIEFF. We are apt to lose those men; yes. As a matter of fact, we lost 30 men in our place when silver was taken away from us. If we had had that silver, we would still have those men and probably be doing better war work. Senator MALONEY. And ready to move into it. Mr. STIEFF. Yes; there has been a gap there, that we have been just cut off. I am not going to touch on all these other subjects and I am not going to touch on all these phases, because these gentlemen have covered most everything I know of. Eventually I hope we will be working 100 percent on war work, and even if we work 100 percent on war work, there will be times when certain departments are not working, and we can have something else for those men to do while we are waiting for the material to come in. Now, just to give you one little illustration, we are working on a certain project, I guess you call it, for the Government, which I am not permitted to say what it is, in a certain department, where one man is experimenting with silver and some other material. Well, we have a number of men in that department who have to wait until this experimental stage is over before they can go on with it. they go on with it, this particular department of the Government thinks that this is going to be one of the biggest things toward the war effort that they have today. If Now, if we have to let these men go and that thing turns out the way we think it is going to and the way the Government thinks it is going to, we are not going to be able to go ahead with that proposition for them. These men are very skilled men, and when they go, they go into some other industry where their skill is not needed, and we cannot get them back, probably, or if we could get them back, fine, but it is quite a job doing that after they are once gone. So, I am not going to bore you gentlemen with any other information. That is just something that I experienced in my own plant. Senator MALONEY. I assure you you would not be boring. I think you have made a very important point and we thank you very much. Mr. STIEFF. Thank you. Senator GREEN. I was just told there was another witness here, and he asked to speak very briefly. He is Mr. Kinsman of the Towle Co. of Newburyport, Mass. STATEMENT OF MR. KINSMAN, TOWLE CO., NEWBURYPORT, MASS. Mr. KINSMAN. I would like to add a few words to what has already been said. Our concern would be represented as one of the smaller companies. We started in a year and a half ago on war work and we have been progressing rather slowly until recently we have been able to acquire machinery and war orders. One point that has not been brought out here is that it is not easy to go out and pick up war orders, particularly war orders that will fit into your own organization, and that has been one of our major jobs, the combination of machine tools and war orders. But, like all others, we are on the up, and we hope to be steadily on the up throughout the fall. During this process, as Mr. Stieff pointed out, you do have delays when the material is not coming in. You do have delays when one order has run out and the repeat order will not come along for 2 or 3 more weeks. It is during those interruptions that silver will play a very important part in keeping a lot of the medium-sized or smaller concerns operating. As one man said, we ought to have a little silver for knitting. Senator MALONEY. How old is your company? Mr. KINSMAN. About 1870. Newburyport has always been a silver center, going away back several hundred years. Senator MALONEY. I knew that. That was why I was curious to know how old the Towle Co. was. Mr. KINSMAN. I think it was about 1870. But, we do feel in carrying out the war project, as we are planning today and as we are doing, that some silver to fill in the gaps is very essential. Senator MALONEY. Thank you very much. Senator GREEN. May I just say one word in supplement to what Mr. Kinsman has just said. A good many of these small manufacturers have already gone out of business, and others will shortly go out of business. One of the reasons is this: They want to go into the war effort and do more production, but they need capital to change over to new machinery, perhaps rebuilding their plant. They come down to Washington and they go and try and get a war order. They say, "We cannot give you an order unless you have the facilities for filling it. Have you got the plant ready to build it?" "No, not yet. We hope to get it." So then they go over and ask for a loan of funds for getting the machinery. They will say, "Well, have you any orders, because we cannot give you any money for machinery or plant unless you have some war orders." "No." They will say, "We haven't any war orders yet. We hope to get them." Then they go home discouraged and quit, and that is one of the things they are up against, and that is one of the reasons why some of them have not been converted more quickly into the war effort. Senator MALONEY. Senator, I would like to compliment you upon the excellent manner in which you have arranged for the witnesses at this meeting. There was to be a representative of the mirror manufacturing industry and a representative of the American National Dry Goods Association. Did they want to be recorded in favor of the bill if they were here? Senator GREEN. They would like to be. Mr. Newton is here, and he said in view of the number of witnesses, he did not care to be heard. Senator MALONEY. I think he should be heard. Mr. NEWTON. I would like to be recorded in favor of the bill, if you please. Senator MALONEY. Please give the reporter your name. STATEMENT OF BENJAMIN NEWTON, REPRESENTING THE MIRROR MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY Mr. NEWTON. My name is Benjamin Newton. I represent the mirror-manufacturing industry. I am vice president of the Mirror Manufacturers' Association and I am an executive of the National Glass Distributors' Association. I also have the endorsement in this capacity of a large number of mirror manufacturers who are not affiliated with any association. Senator MALONEY. I thought you might wish to make your presence and your views at least a matter of record. Mr. NEWTON. Yes; I will be glad to do so. Senator MALONEY. We won't impose on you to make a statement, however. Mr. NEWTON. I would like to be recorded in favor of this bill. Senator BUTLER. Is there a written statement you can leave? Mr. NEWTON. No. I would just like to make a few brief remarks, if I may. Silver is essential in the mirror-manufacturing industry. No substitute has been found for it. Mirrors are used very largely in the home and to a limited extent in important commercial pursuits. They also have some application in war work, but that is not very great. Senator MALONEY. I might say that now since we have the WAACS and the WAVES, they will be used a little more. Mr. NEWTON. Well, I hope so. Our industry has already been seriously affected by restrictive orders, such as L-91, metal limitations, which makes it impossible for a great many of the industries whom we supply with material to continue their normal operations, so that we have already been pretty much diminished in volume. Everyone recognizes that mirrors are essential. They are essential to morale, if for no other purpose; that is, in addition to the more important uses for mirrors, and inasmuch as we are unable to operate without silver, we definitely advocate the passage of this bill. The value of the silver utilized in our industry as compared to the total output, is comparatively small. For 1939, the last census, as far as we can determine from the statistics at hand, we utilized about $300,000 worth of silver and produced an output totaling $18,500,000. The employment is fairly continuous. We are an auxiliary trade to a great many other lines in which mirrors are incorporated, and without the mirrors we supply these other lines too would have unemployment, and their labor would become tax consumers, being on the dole instead of revenue payers. I would be very glad to submit a written statement if it is desired, amplifying the point I have raised, but I think for the purpose of the record what I have stated is sufficient. Senator MALONEY. I thank you very much. Is there anyone here opposed to the bill? I assume all who desired to be heard have been heard. Mr. STIEFF. Senator, may I just say one thing. Senator Clark said something about being able to sell silver at 71 cents an ounce, at the top price that prevails today. I just want to make an observation. We sell teaspoons that weigh 1 ounce apiece at $1.25 retail and wholesale 68.5 cents, that is, the silver alone, so if we had to pay 71 cents for the silver, you can see how we are going to stand, with the work on it and everything else. We are selling that for 68.5 cents. Senator MALONEY. It would not be exactly triple plate, would it? I want to thank my colleagues on the committee, who have been so patient, and I hope they will remain for a few moments so that we can go into executive session. (Senator Theodore Francis Green subsequently submitted for the record a letter written by M. L. Woodward, secretary of the United Indian Traders Association, Gallup, N. Mex. This letter is dated September 19, 1942. The letter follows:) THE UNITED INDIAN TRADERS ASSOCIATION, Gallup, N. Mex., September 19, 1942. DEAR FRIEND: On July 29, 1942, the War Production Board issued Silver Conservation Order M-199 which placed restrictions upon the sale or delivery of foreign silver and upon the manufacture of foreign silver for restricted uses. Jewelry of virtually all kinds is upon the restricted list. Briefly, the order means that no foreign silver can be secured after this October 1 for the production of Indian jewelry unless an exemption can be obtained from the War Production Board. Action taken this week by the Treasury Department and War Production Board restricting domestic silver to war production uses seems to have eliminated that silver source also from the Indian craftsmen. The American Indians, particularly the Navajo and Pueblo, are confronted with the destruction of their silver craft. Hand-wrought Indian jewelry has |