http://books.google.com/books?id=kCkuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1433&lpg BRIEF SUBMITTED BY MANUFACTURERS OF DOUBLE-BARRELED BREECH-LOADING SPORTING SHOTGUNS.
Hunter Arms Co., Fulton, N. Y.; Baker Gun & Forging Co., Batavia, N. Y.; J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co., Chicopee Falls, Mass.; N. R. Davis & Sons, Assonet, Mass.; The H. & D. Folsom Arms Co., New York, N. Y.; The Hopkins & Allen Arms Co., Norwich, Conn.; Ithaca Gun Co., Ithaca, N. Y.; Lefever Arms Co., Syracuse, N. Y.; A. H. Fox Gun Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; Parker Bros., Meriden, Conn.; Meriden Fire Arms Co., Meriden, Conn.; The Harrington & Richardson Arms Co., Worcester, Mass.
Washington, D. C., January 10, 1913.
In support of continued tariff restrictions on finished double barrel shotguns.
The cost of production of a double-barreled shotgun here, as compared with the cost abroad, is more than double (the difference in cost being made up almost entirely in the difference of wages paid in Belgium as compared with the wages paid in the gun factories in the United States). We cite Belgium, as seven-eighths of the guns imported into the United States are from that country. Any material reduction of the present tariff would be the means of crippling or destroying the double shotgun industry.
To establish the fact of difference in wages we quote from Daily Consular and Trade Reports issued in Washington by the Government, dated August 31, 1912, page 1117, the following:
"The wages paid in the gunmaking industries in Belgium vary from 77 cents to 96 cents per day for the ordinary workmen, and from 96 cents to $1.54 for skilled workmen. In spite of a steady advance in the cost of living there was a tendency to reduce the scale of wagea of the workingmen employed in gunmaking."
And, according to data published by the Beligum Government in the
Annuaire Statistique, which gives the official figures for 1910, shows the following daily wages:
"About 65 per cent of the men workers over 16 years earn less than 68 cents; of the women, 67 per cent earn lees than 39 cents, and 93 per cent less than 58 cents per day."
We mention the wage scale of women because a large percentage of work in Belgium gun factories is done by women and children. It is therefore a very conservative estimate if we assume that the wages paid in Belgium for this class of work is something less than one-third the wages paid for the same work in this country, and the cost of a gun manufactured in this country is composed of over 80 per cent labor.
For example:
A gun that costs the American manufacturer $20 to produce, represents: Material, $4; labor, $16; total, $20.
The same gun in Belgium would cost: Material, $4; labor, $5.33; total, $9.33.
The conversion of Belgian francs to U.S. dollars in 1900 was about 5 francs to 1 dollar. In Ferdinand Drissen's 1897-1898 price sheet, the complete charge for the replacement barrels and gunsmithing for '3 band Crolle' was 80 francs or about $16.
In 1900, Jean Lejeune of Nessonvaux listed the following prices for damascus barrels alone: 'Oxford'-16f, 'Boston'-10f ($2), and 'Birmingham'- 8f.
In 1914, Arthur Delvaux-Heuve of Nessonvaux offered '3 Band Boston' and 'Star' for 14 francs, likely before Germany invaded.
Lots of infro here, but no specific mention of how many hours went into producing a 'rough forged tube' or finished double barrel
https://docs.google.com/a/damascusknowle...DVe9ur3mCo/editI BET STEVE CULVER WOULD KNOW
