Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-16
Commercial Treaties and Revenue
Reform.

Advocates OF the cOIlucfclal bFtdLlce ldtttl
negotiated with Mckee. Spain and Santo Do
mingo claim that. by the provisions Tor re-
ducing or abolishing duties on certain OF our
imports. these treaties are steps in the direc-
ton of revenue refOrm-reyenue reform be-
ing the question OF the hour
Rut on looking into the proposed changes OF
tariff under these treaties and the mOue OF
making them, il is very plain that they are
directly opposed. both in spirit and In opera
ton to every true principle OF revenue re-
form. whether judged by experience or the
Orv. - .. -,
not offer any adequate reciprocity 20 this
country for the vast concessions the state
ID spariment proposes to grant to spain in L
hitting sugar from Cuba and Porto Rico free
has been pointed out frequently and cOnclu-
sively. 1t is only needful here 10 repeat the
statement. that for every dollars worth OF eX-
ports we should pay to the sugar producers OF
those islands 50 to s. in bounty.
Now. the duty on sugar and molasses Is
about one sixth of all our import duties
an immense sum indeed-and reform In re-
gard 10 50 important part OF the tarlH should
assuredlv be undertaken with the utmost
care. We have large communities producing
sugar. and some of the most extensive estab-
lishments in the world engaged In refining II,
both Industries employing many Workmen
and large amounts Of capital. III we would
profit by the experience OF others, how did
Great Britain set about revenue reform IN re-
spect to her sugar dutiesl twas in 1874 that the
principle Of free trade was introduced, but not
until 1870 years later-was sugar admitted
n ee. after gradual reductions made from time
to time during that long period. Sugar. in fact
was retained as dutiable almost. if not quite,
as long as England had any tariff at all upon
imports other than spirits and tobacco. This
was the procedure in free trade England.
With us there may be said TO be no free
traders. for nothing is more certain than that
we must have large revenue, except perhaps
the fact that all agree our revenues shall
come chiefly, if not wholly, from duties on
imports.
The recent change in our sugar duties, made
by the last Congress, Is an instance OF now 70
do il" together with the removal or the dlI-
ferential duty of 10 per cent. on imports from
east of the Cape of Good Hope. These meas
ures while lowering the duty. Widened the
scope OF our sugar trade until II embraced
every sugar producing country on the globe.
Wherever sugar was at any moment cheapest
there and then could we supply ourselves.
The pOlarIscope indicated dutlable value, and
the No. ls d. 5. marked. by the nearest APP
DrOachable line, the division between refined
| sugar and the raw material. The consumer
| has had. during the past year, his refined
sugar cheaper, in comparison with the quoted
| price OF raw. than ever before. The rehner,
| buying raws to best advantage, could be IN a
| position. oftener than ever before, to keep
down, amid the competition OF manufacture
| ing. the refined product to minimum price.
in order to learn chow not to do II" 1t is
| only necessary to turn TO the so-called re-
| cprOclty treaty, which Presluent Arlhuf
/ mentions in his message, but does not recon-
mend. and which Secretary McCull0ch by i'm
| plicatiOn condemns. Not IN the Ways ana
] Means Committee OF the House OF sen
tatives. nor even in the Treasury Department,
was it carefully framed by minds familiar
with the moulding of the very laws IL pro-
poses TO set aside. Privately IL is first negO-
tiated by the State Department with shrewd
foreign nation whose colonies are in desperate
financial straits. Next the plan IS Tor the
Senate to pass it in secret session. Then, cut
and dried, it comes TO the House.. Inc inter-
ests behind the treaty are indicated in the
published market reports from Havana. The
last mail brings the fOllOwingi
ain the event of the Spanish American
treaty being ratified by the United States
Government, we venture to say that so soon
as it goes into effect it will completely change
the present unsatisfactory condition OF affairs,
restore confidence and cause business here
Immediately to revive. Since the es-
seuce of the treaty has become known and
appreciated, holders are more confident than
ever, and some refuse now to sell at any
price"
The l-embracing scope of our sugar trade
il to be narrowed rigidly and fettered to one
market, Tor Cuba and Porto Rico can, with
stimulus of two cents per pound from us,
raise all the sugar we could consume. 1t VIII
only be necessary for those islands to sell Us
at a slight abatement from the enormous
profit we propose to allow them over other
nations. and the other nations, one and all,
would have to stop competing.
What the disturbance to trade is while the
secret and open agitation Of such radical and
far-reaching changes is going on, can scarce
~ be imagined. The Spanish treaty,
it is said, may become become 81; operative dv
gress. There are now allOat from
the East Indies for this country thousands Of
tons of sugar, which cannot arrive for several
months; and those distant markets must be
practically closed to further business with us
while the agitation lasts.
Without touching upon the bounty. which 1t
is proposed by some of the advocates Of the
treaty to grant to Louisiana, or the blow
dealt TO American sugar refining by the free
admission of foreign refined sugars between IL
ana 10 d. S. in color, while machinery, etc, is
taxed, or the hindrances to reform of the
tariff as a whole in diminishing very greatly
the revenue from single article, II must be
plain that a more perniclOus and fatal scheme
Of revenue reform" could not well be de-
vised.
If all the objections to the Spanish treaty
are not so plainly apparent in the Mexican
treaty it is only a question OF degree. The
principle is the same. As the Hawaiian
Ireaty-that stupendOus scheme of private
enrichmeut--led to the Mexican treaty, so the
Mexican leads to the Spanish and Santo Do
mingO treaties-and there is said to be now in
Washington an English commissioner negO-
tiating an English treaty!
The only true revenue reform is all provided
for in our familiar methods of legislative pro
cedure. Why should we not adhere to them?
Let us have none of these cut-and-dried tariff
acts called treaties" by courtesy Of the state
Department. l.. Z. M.
PhiLddeLDhid. Dec. 3. 1854.