The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-03-15
pgRpLExIrIEs OF THE TARIFF.
Importers Claiming that the Duty on
"Chnrges" 4. Already Repealed.

NEW YoRK, March 1.-THE Tariff bill,
as it was finally passed, provides in section
I, "that sections S,0O7 and 2,90S Of the Re-
vised statutes OF the United States, and Sec
tion IA Of the act entitled An act to amend
the Customs Revenue laws and to repeal
moieties, approved June %, 1874. be, and
the same are, hereby repealed, and hereaf-
ter none Of the charges imposed by said
sections, or any other provisions Of existing
law, shall be estimated in ascertaining the
value Of goods to be imported, nor shall
the value OF the usual and necessary sacks,
crates, boxes or covering of any kind be
estimated at part Of their value in determ.
lining the amount OF duty for which they
are liable" This provision is held by
many importers. especially Of. china and
crockery ware, on which the Charges"
which the old law added to the market
value OF imported goods, made large item,
TO have gone into effect on March 8, and
many are now paying duty on these
charges under protest with view ofeven-
tually recovering the amount paid on them
from the Government3 .tfsts Is I
Mr.. Charles Vogt, heavy importer OF
fine French china, when his attention was
called to this production yesterday, said
III the Government adopts the pisw that
duties on charges ceased to be payable on
March 8, 1t will, OF course, make a great
difference to the amount which importers
OF French china will have to pay to the
Custom. House for the next three months.
The charges swell the value OF the invoices
OF china very considerably. Here is an in
voice Of decorated china, the total value
of which, on which duty was paid is
Is, 200f., or about 5000. Now, Of this
sum, 608f. were for packing charges, 231f.
for shipping from Limoges 10 the vessel in
which the consignment came to us, and
SILT. for. commission, making a total OF
,2l4f., or about $243, or about s per cent OF
the total amount, on which we were
Obliged under the old law to pay duty.
Here is another invoice OF white china,
the total value Of which, forthe purpose ol
the tarilf, is 10, l00f., or about 5000. The
charges included in this amount were 705i.
or about $3.50, about per cent. l did not
know that tho law abolished the charges as
soon as 1t was passed. fit does, OF course
We shall only be too happy to reap the ad.
vantages OF it." --- -g.s-sg
"Will notimporters be likely to take ad.
vantage Of this clause, and import enough
stock in the next three months TO do them
for long time to comeP" asked the re-
porter. lJil gL7fIGF
at will be impossible to do that in our
line Of business" ssid Mr.. Vogt "There
ia not stock enough on the other side OF
the water to enable US to 20 into any ex-
pertinent Of that kind" -.
Mr.. o. A. eager, one oithe largest i'm.
portersoi china and crockery in the city,
said: at is question how the Secretary
Of the Treasury will interpret the law
abolishing duties on !charges.' !, with
several other importers, am paying the
duties under protest, claiming that this
portion Of the new Tariff law went into
effect according to its terms. on March 8.
OF course, we can't tell how the Secretary
Of the Treasury will decide the matter,
but by protesting when we make our pay
nents we place ourselves on the safe side,
80 that we can recover the duty paid on
charges should the decision be In our
favor. There will probably lie a test case
made, and then we shall know where we
stand don't think this question win
have much influence on the amount OF
china and crockery that will be imported
during the next three months. The orders
for French china are all behind hand now
on account OF the recent strike at Limoges,
and the manufacturers are turning out all
the work they can 10 fill standing orders.
Abolishing the duty on Charges will make
difference of6 or 8 per cent on the
average cost Of goods, and as the new law
increases the duty 10 per cent, you can
easily see that6n china will increase In
coat gnaer the new tariff from TO 5 per
Oent.n Efi'lJ ! 'EflHE+iLA "