Cork insulation; a complete illustrated textbook on cork insulation ...

36 CORK INSULATION
merit and an effort was made to put the new laws in force
in 1912, but all these efforts were without much success. In
Portugal, one of the restrictive laws that were passed made
it impossible to export from the country pieces of corkwood
larger than about 4x8 inches. That law, while almost never
enforced, still remains to harry the inexperienced buyer who
has failed to provide in advance for its temporary nonexist-
ence, so to speak.
26.—Effect of U. S. Tariff A.ct of 1913.—For one reason or
another, the governments of Portugal and Spain both failed
in their efforts to restrict the exportations of raw cork, although
the cork manufacturing industry remains very strong
in both of these countries, particularly in Spain. Consider-
able impetus was given the manufacture of cork <strong>insulation</strong>
in Spain when the United States Tariff Act of 1913, which
reduced the United States import on finished cork <strong>insulation</strong>
to a specific duty of Y^c per pound, became effective. The Act
of 1922 restored the former rate of duty of the Act of 1909,
or 30 per centum ad valorem*, but meanwhile several large
<strong>insulation</strong> factories were constructed in Spain and one in
Portugal and the size of these investments coupled with the
constantly mounting labor rate in the United States keeps
these foreign plants of domestic concerns operating at
capacity.
The United States Tariff Commission's Comparison of
Tariff Acts— 1922, 1913 and 1909—subdivides "<strong>Cork</strong>" into
eighteen groups, as follows
:
TARIFF SUBDIVISIONS OF CORK INTO GROUPS.
Paragraph under act of
Description 1922 1913 1909
<strong>Cork</strong>: No. No. No.
Artificial and manufactures of 1412 340 429
Bark, squares, etc 1412 340 429
Bark, unmanufactured 1559 464 547
Carpet 1020 276 347
Composition or compressed 1412 340 429
Disks 1412 340 429
Granulated or ground 1412 340 429
Insulation 1412 340 429
Manufacturers of. n. s. p. f 1412 340 429
Paper 1412 340 429
*Duties imposed by a government on commodities imported into its territory from
foreign countries are designated as specific and ad valorem—the former when fixed
at a specified amount, the latter when requiring payment of a sum to be ascertained
by a determined percentage on the value of the goods imported.