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TRUTH IN FABRICS AND MERCHANDISE MISBRANDING

BILLS

COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Tuesday, April 15, 1924.

The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Samuel E. Winslow (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The purpose of this hearing is to consider all bills which have been filed with the committee on the general subjects of truth in fabrics and misbranding. In the course of several years we have had bills on these subjects before the committee, and in the second Congress before this the committee considered a truth in fabrics bill.

As time has gone on, the interests of communities and Members of the House of Representatives have been directed toward these subjects until now we have a dozen of the two combined. They are more or less interlaced, and I think a study of them as we proceed will develop an appreciation of the fact that we could hardly take up any one of them without having to go back and ultimately perhaps modify our conclusions in the event of considering some of the other bills. There are about a dozen subjects involved specifically by name in these bills. Originally the truth in fabrics was pretty much of a straightaway bill and had the support of people particularly who were interested in wool known as "virgin wool," and out of that interest grew a desire to have woolens, particularly, marked as to their content so that the public would know what they were buying— at least, so far as the marks might give them information.

As the subject has developed, the misbranding question has grown out of the original intention and purpose of what we call here the French bill, until it has seemed wise to us to take up the two general subjects together. That conclusion has been reached after knowledge has come to us to the effect that some of those most interested in the truth in fabrics bill, heretofore, have indicated that perhaps a misbranding bill could be made up in such a form as to provide for their particular interests, and on the other hand, some of those who were opposed to the truth in fabrics bill as we have come to know it, have indicated that maybe a misbranding bill can be developed so as to meet their approval and cover efficiently the truth in fabrics subject. The chairman, under ordinary circumstances, is expected to lay out the line of procedure in a hearing of this kind, subject always to the determination of the committee, and so in order to get started the chairman has undertaken to make a beginning as to procedure.. There are many witnesses here and many to come, and they all have most pressing engagements as one can imagine and many of them can not afford to stay here after to-day. The result of that is tha,t they will probably all have to stay here more than to-day, with the exception of one or two who are residents here anyway.

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We might approach this subject by throwing the ball into the field and letting the people scramble for it and catch on as they can, but that in the long run probably would not work out as well as some sort of a think, have to indulge expedindulge expedition in order to get the line in which the minds of the witnesses may seem to be running. It is the chairman's hope that after we have opened the subject in such a way as to disclose pretty generally not so specifically as possible, but pretty generally what we are about to consider, that we then will be able to say to those who are representing particular features of either of these bills that we would like to have them get together or make up their minds as to their procedure, and maybe agree upon a spokesman or two, with the understanding that the others who agree in general with what the spokesman may say will be content with registering their presence and say "Amen Amen" to what may be advanced as argument in behalf of their attitude.

With such a general proposition in mind, we will ask Mr. French, a Member of Congress from Idaho, who is the original proponent of the truth in fabrics proposition, to address the committee in respect of his own bill, and any or all other bills which are comprehended in the list.

In order that you may know what is before you for consideration, as a matter of help in determining whether your special interests are likely to be considered, the chairman will advise you that the following bills have been selected, either in their entirety or in part as pertinent to the general discussion. These bills are all House of Representatives bills, and I will merely call the number as follows: 16, 65, 732, 738, 739, 742, 3225, 4141, 7758, 7822, 7965, 7997.

The bills which are essentially truth in fabric bills are: 732, 739, 4141, and even then some of their provisions may reach a little beyond strictly truth in fabrics.

Mr. French, we will now be glad to hear you.

STATEMENT OF HON. BURTON L. FRENCH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF IDAHO

Mr. FRENCH. Mr. Chairman, did you want at this time to make a list of those who are particularly interested in the phase of the subject that I am going to discuss?

The CHAIRMAN. That was not the purpose, Mr. French, at this moment. The idea was to see and I will outline what the chairman had in mind-the committee has had no opportunity whatever to know what is going to be before them, either as to witnesses or as to procedure, but the chairman's mind was to start in with the truth in fabrics and ask you as a proponent of that measure to make any statement you want to in respect of your own bill and the others go into the field of misbranding, if you choose, in connection with your bill-and follow you, maybe, by a witness who is especially in favor of your bill and partially opposed to some measures, who will represent the intermediate position as affecting truth in fabrics, and to find out if there is anybody here later on who is absolutely opposed on general principles and specifically to the whole idea of the truth in fabrics. That would exhaust the general features.

We can go into misbranding in the same way, but not so easily, but we can follow it. Meanwhile, after the general statements have been made so that the witnesses who are interested in specific subjects can see just where they fit in, we could ask for the various interests represented to organize themselves and perhaps approach the matter through spokesmen.

Mr. BARKLEY. Before Mr. French begins, let me make this statement. As the author of one of these misbranding bills I am naturally interested in the subject. I have been suddenly called home and will probably have to leave here tonight, but I do not know how long I will be away. I would like to reserve the right that if the hearings have not been concluded when I return, I may make a short statement to the committee on the subject.

The CHAIRMAN. Before concluding you mean before any decision is reached on the bill?

Mr. BARKLEY. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. How long do you expect to be gone, Mr. Barkley? Mr. BARKLEY. I may be gone a week.

The CHAIRMAN. I think your chances are very good for getting in before we finish.

Mr. BARKLEY. I simply wanted to reserve the right, if the hearings have not been finished, to appear.

The CHAIRMAN. We will have it further understood that we will not finish the bills until you get back, unless there is some objection. Mr. BARKLEY. I do not want any understanding of that sort, because if you complete the hearings before I return, I do not reserve any rights so far as I am concerned, but if they have not been completed, I would like to make a statement.

The CHAIRMAN. By all means, yes.

Mr. FRENCH. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee. there are quite a number of gentlemen present who have come into the room since the members of the committee began to assemble this morning, who are interested especially in truth-in-fabrics legislation, and who will want to be heard. I shall endeavor to indicate to you their names at a later time.

Let me say also that I have received numerous letters and telegrams upon the subject, and a great many of those who are interested in this legislation desire to register their approval of the representations that have been made heretofore before this committee and before the Interstate Commerce Committee of the Senate in support of truth-in-fabric legislation, and have felt that they could add nothing to what they have said, but desire that the expressions heretofore made be regarded as their present expression of judgment upon the

measures.

The bill, truth in fabric, H. R. 739, is the one introduced by myself in the House, and corresponds to Senate bill 1024, introduced by Senator Capper. These two bills are similar to the bills that were considered in the Sixty-seventh Congress, and upon which extensive hearings were held by this committee and also by the Interstate Commerce Committee of the Senate.

The hearings four years ago were held from March 19, to March 31, 1920, by the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Hearings on the same subject were held on the Senate side in 1921, from June 1 to July 8.

Hearings have been held this year by the Committee on Interstate Commerce of the Senate, between the dates February 28 and March 12.

In other words, this subject has been very completely presented to the committees of Congress, and we regard that the data that has been furnished to you upon the bill that Senator Capper and myself have introduced in Congress is rather encyclopaedic in character, and that which could be added at this time would be largely repetition and with the thought of directing your attention to that which has been most fully presented to the Congress heretofore.

This subject is not new. In fact, when we asked you to consider it four years ago it was not a new subject, although approached from a new angle. The question of misbranding fabrics was considered more than 20 years ago. It found expression through a bill introduced by General Grosvenor in the House of Representatives, in which it was sought to correct the abuses that we seek to correct. However, Representative Grosvenor at that time approached the question through the taxing powers under the Constitution, and sought through the Ways and Means Committee, by means of taxation, somewhat similar in principle to the handling of the oleomargarine manufacture, to handle this question.

Four years ago we attempted to handle the subject from the standpoint of controlling the branding of goods such as are referred to in the bill, through the Interstate Commerce powers conferred upon the Congress by the Constitution.

The first thing that addresses itself to members of the committee is the question: What is it all about? What do you seek to do? What is the purpose of the bill?

The other day, as I was going down Connecticut Avenue, I noticed in front of an antique shop an old spinning wheel. It was an antique, and yet, measured by the history of our people in America it does not go back to so late a period. That spinning wheel represented an industry, a type of life during three-fourths of the period within which white people have lived upon the American Continent. It speaks of a time when we did not need to consider a bill like this, because practically all, or all, of the fiber, the wool, or the cotton, that entered into clothing, entered into fabrics in its raw state as virgin material, virgin wool, or virgin cotton. It was largely the product of the home or of the small institution, and there was no occasion for considering the question of branding or labeling in order that the public might not be deceived. However, with the increase of population in this and in other countries, the demand for the different products for clothing became so great that we had to find ways of using clothing, blankets, and other cotton and woolen fabrics, fabrics that had been used before, over and over again, to supply the necessities of our people and the people of the world.

When you stop to think of it, the population of the world today and the great need of peoples for clothing, the fact that we have in the world approximately a little over 600,000,000 head of sheep, and within the United States approximately 50,000,000 head; when you think of the limited amount of wool that could properly be allocated to each person living in the temperate and frigid zones, you can realize at once the necessity for husbanding every bit of fiber of this character to the longest period of time within which it