and regulations as it may deem necessary, investigations to assist the President in ascertaining the differences in costs of production in the United States and in foreign countries of articles covered by the dutiable schedules of the tariff act. The findings of the commission as the results of such investigations shall be reported to the President, who is authorized, when he finds that such differences are not equalized by the rates of duties prescribed, to determine and proclaim such changes in classification, or increases or decreases of duties, within a limitation of 50 per cent. thereof, as will effectuate such equalization. When the President shall find, however, that such proceeding will not equalize the said differences in costs of production, he is authorized to direct that ad valorem duties upon the articles covered by such findings shall be based upon the American selling price thereof as defined in section 402 of the act. Ascertainment of such differences in costs of production shall take into consideration differences in wages, costs of materials, and other items in costs; differences in wholesale selling prices of domestic and foreign articles in the principal American markets; advantages given foreign producers by foreign governments or others; and any other advantages or disadvantages in competition.

Section 318 of the Tariff Act approved September 21, 1922, provides that, in addition to the duties previously imposed upon it by law, the commission shall ascertain conversion costs and costs of production of articles in the principal growing, producing, or manufacturing centers of the United States, whenever in the opinion of the commission it is practicable, and shall ascertain such costs in foreign countries whenever in the opinion of the commission such costs are necessary for comparison with the costs in the United States and can be reasonably ascertained.

The commission is also directed to describe and keep on file samples of imported articles and articles of the United States which are comparable; to ascertain the import costs of such foreign articles, and the selling prices in the United States of such articles of the United States, and to ascertain all other facts affecting competition between domestic and imported articles in the principal markets of the United States. This section authorizes the commission to establish and maintain an office at the port of New York for executing any of its functions, and authorizes the commission to adopt an official seal which shall be judicially noticed.

Same; Investigates Unfair Competition and Importation Methods

The commission is authorized under section 316 to investigate unfair methods of competition and unfair acts in the importation of articles into the United States, or in their sale after importation. When the findings and recommendations of the commission, upon its investigation of such acts, justify the President in doing so, he is authorized to determine and assess additional duties within prescribed limits upon articles covered by such findings or, in extreme cases, to exclude such articles from entry into the United States, such additional duties or refusal of entry to remain in effect until otherwise ordered by the President. The testimony in every investigation under the provisions of this section is required to be reduced to writing, and with the findings of the commission constitutes the official record in each case. A copy of the findings is required to be

sent to the importer or consignee of the articles affected thereby and shall be conclusive, subject only to rehearing by consent of the commission or to appeal on questions of law only to the United States Court of Customs Appeals or to review by the United States Supreme Court on certiorari.

6. Same; Investigate Paris Economy Pact

To investigate the Paris Economy Pact and similar organizations and arrangements in Europe.

7. Same; Ascertain if Foreign Commerce Discriminates Against United States Commerce

Under the provisions of section 317 the commission is required to ascertain and at all times to be informed whether any foreign country discriminates against the commerce of the United States, whether by imposing upon it unreasonable charges or regulations not equally imposed upon other countries, or by laws, administrative regulations, or practices in regard to customs, port charges, classifications, or other like requirements which may be to the disadvantage of the commerce of the United States in such country or in any other foreign country. The commission is required to report to the President with its recommendations any such discriminations which it may find to exist, and upon such findings, when confirmed by him, the President is authorized to specify and declare upon articles wholly or in part the growth or product of any such country such new and additional duties as will offset such burdens, or he may exclude from importation articles from such country. Such new or additional duties are limited, however, to not to exceed 50 per cent. ad valorem. Articles imported contrary to the provisions of this section are made subject to seizure and forfeiture to the United States.

8. Litigation under Section 315

Importers have instituted proceedings for the judicial determination of questions arising in connection with the administration of section 315 of title III of the Tariff Act of 1922, relating to sodium nitrite and wheat flour.

(a) Sodium Nitrite.-In December, 1923, the Norwegian Nitrogen Products Company, an importing company, exclusive sales agent for a Norwegian manufacturer, filed in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia a petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the Tariff Commission to divulge data withheld from the public as trade secrets, or the processes the disclosure of which is forbidden under penalty of fine or imprisonment, or both, by section 708 of the Revenue Act of 1916.

This case emphasized one of the limitations under which the Tariff Commission makes its investigations. The Revenue Act of 1916, title VII, as amended by section 318 of the Tariff Act of 1922, empowers the commission, with the aid of judicial process when necessary, to obtain information from producers, importers, wholesalers, and other domestic agencies in regard to commodities competing with like or similar products in foreign countries. This right of the commission to invoke the assistance of the courts in obtaining information in its investigations obviously does not extend beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and the commission is therefore dependent

upon the voluntary submission of information to it by foreign competitors of American industries, or it must rely on data obtained indirectly, or upon estimates derived from sales prices and other sources.

(b) Wheat Flour.-Protests have been filed in accordance with section 514 of title IV of the Tariff Act of 1922 against the assessment by collectors of customs of the increased rate of duty, $1.04 per 100 pounds, levied upon wheat flour by virtue of the proclamation of the President, following an investigation by the Tariff Commission. The constitutionality of section 315 is involved in this litigation.

9. Authority to Obtain Information

The act of 1916 provides that the commission or its duly authorized agent or agents shall have access to and the right to copy any documents, paper, or record, pertinent to the subject-matter under investigation, in the possession of any person, firm, copartnership, corporation, or association engaged in the production, importation, or distribution of any article under investigation, and shall have power to summon witnesses, take testimony, administer oaths, and to require any person, firm, copartnership, corporation, or association to produce books or papers relating to any matter pertaining to such investigation. Any member of the commission may sign subpoenas, and members and agents of the commission, when authorized by the commission, may administer oaths and affirmations, examine witnesses, take testimony, and receive evidence.

(c) In carrying out the provisions of section 318 of the Tariff Act of September 21, 1922, the commission shall possess all the powers and privileges conferred upon it by the provisions of title VII of the Revenue Act of 1916, and in addition it is authorized, in order to ascertain any facts required by this section, to require any importer and any American grower, producer, manufacturer, or seller to file with the commission a statement, under oath, giving his selling prices in the United States of any article imported, grown, produced, fabricated, manipulated, or manufactured by him.

10. Power to Enforce Orders

The attendance of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence may be required from any place in the United States at any designated place of hearing. And in case of disobedience to a subpoena the commission may invoke the aid of any District Court of the United States in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence, and the court within the jurisdiction of which such inquiry is carried on may, in case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to any corporation or other person, issue an order requiring such corporation or other person to appear before the commission, or to produce documentary evidence if so ordered, or to give evidence touching the matter in question; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof.

Upon the application of the Attorney General of the United States, at the request of the commission, any such court shall have jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus commanding compliance with the provisions of this title or any order of the commission made in pursuance thereof.

11. Depositions

The commission may order testimony to be taken by deposition in any proceeding or investigation pending under this title at any stage of such proceeding or investigation. Such depositions may be taken before any person designated by the commission and having power to administer oaths. Such testimony shall be reduced to writing by the person taking the deposition, or under his direction, and shall then be subscribed by the deponent. Any person, firm, copartnership, corporation, or association, may be compelled to appear and depose and to produce documentary evidence in the same manner as witnesses may be compelled to appear and testify and produce documentary evidence before the commission, as hereinbefore provided.

12. Witnesses; Incrimination No Excuse

No person shall be excused, on the ground that it may tend to incriminate him, or subject him to a penalty or forfeiture from attending and testifying or producing books, papers, documents, and other evidence in obedience to the subpoena of the commission.

13. Witnesses; Immunity

No natural person shall be prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing as to which, in obedience to a subpoena and under oath, he may so testify or produce evidence, except that no person shall be exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in so testifying.

14. Inviolability of Trade Secrets

It shall be unlawful for any member of the United States Tariff Commission, or for any employee, agent, or clerk of said commission, or any other officer or employee of the United States, to divulge, or to make known in any manner whatever not provided for by law, to any person, the trade secrets or processes of any person, firm, copartnership, corporation, or association embraced in any examination or investigation conducted by said commission, or by order of said commission, or by order of any member thereof. Any offense against the provisions of this section shall be a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court, and such offender shall also be dismissed from office or discharged from employment.

15. Surveys, Reports, and General Investigations

These activities involve investigations in such varied matters as chemicals, oils, paints; dyes and other synthetic organic chemicals; American selling price of earths, earthenware, and glassware; metals and metal products; wood and wood manufactures; sugar, molasses, and their products; agricultural products, and provisions; cotton manufactures; flax, hemp, jute, wool; silk and manu

4 Eighth Annual Report of the United States Tariff Commission, 1924, pp. 10-37. Government Printing Office, Washington. Price 15 cents.

factures thereof; textile imports and exports; paper and books; coal-tar products; investigations in support of section 315 of the Tariff Act of 1922.

16. Co-operation with Other Executive Agencies

The act provides that the commission shall in appropriate matters act in conjunction and co-operation with the Treasury Department, the Department of Commerce, the Federal Trade Commission, or any other departments or independent establishments of the government, and such departments and independent establishments of the government shall co-operate fully with the commission for the purposes of aiding and assisting in its work, and, when directed by the President, shall furnish to the commission, on its request, all records, papers, and information in their possession relating to any of the subjects of investigation by said commission, and shall detail, from time to time, such officials and employees to said commission as he may direct.

17. Organization

The Commission is composed of six members, no more than three of whom may be of the same political party. The President annually designates the Chairman and Vice Chairman from the members of the Commission. The members are called "Commissioner." There is a Secretary of the Commission:

(a) The principal office is in the Old Land Office Building, F and Seventh Streets, Washington, D. C.

(b) Technical Staff.

(1) Chief Economist.
(2) Chief Investigator.

(3) Legal Division.

(c) The Advisory Board co-ordinates the following:

(1) The Transportation Division.-The Transportation Division furnishes the Commissioner's Staff with freight and express rates required in ascertaining the cost of transporting certain commodities by land and water; files over 1,500 current freight and passenger tariffs of rates of the various carriers; reports upon fluctuation of ocean freight rates; and handles all official travel of the commission's staff.

(2) Statistical Division. The duties of the statistical division may be summarized as follows: Compilation of various tables from wheat cost schedules; balancing sugar cost tables and calculating unit costs; calculations and compilations from sugar beet schedules; the compilation of import statistics from the coded tables, supplied to the commission each month by the statistical division of the Department of Commerce, New York; compilations and calculations on the dye census; general assistance, both clerical and statistical, on the Tariff Dictionary; the conversion of foreign statistics, values, and prices to the corresponding domestic units; monthly compilation, from coded statistics, of imports of cotton cloth by yarn counts, for the Textile Division; monthly compilation of average rates of exchange for important countries, based upon daily Treasury reports, and the preparation of graphs for the use of the commission.

(3) Division of Preferential Tariffs and Commercial Treaties.-The division