The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-19
rALMAGz's ATTACKS ANSWERED.
The New York Rice Importer Shown
in His True Colors

Editor morning NetOS. The SCurIIlOu
attacks made by Mr.. Dan Tal1nage on tn
rice planters of Savannah in his reporte
interview, appearing in the MoRNIN,
NEWS of April 10 and the Charleston Neto
and Courier of April 13, demand notice
even at the risk of giving him mucl
greater prominence than he properly de
serves.
As he has made himself somewhat know
to the public by his frequent pronuncia
mentos in the papers on the subject of rice
varied to suit his purposes, in accordanc,
with his desire either to buy or sell. and a,
his natural ability and cool effrontery ha.
enabled him to appear as high authority il
his line of business, it seems only proper
that his bold assertions at this time should
be met by simple statement of the causes
which led to the meeting referred to by
him and of the occurrences which took
place.
planters of Georgia, being in New York a
few days since on official business as a rail
road commissioner casually met MIR. Tai.
mage, and earnestly pressed by him, was
induced to telegraph to Savannah requesting
that no committee be sent to Washington
until he (Mr. IT, could come here and have
all interview with the members of the Rice
Planters Association for the purpose of per-
suading them to unite with him in urging
upon Congress that the definition of un.
cleaned rice" in the recently reported tariff
bill be stricken out
When that telegram was received by Col.
Cinch, President of the association. Mr..
Buchanan 1odS on has tOdy to WASHINGTON
as our representative.
Mr.. Talmage, finding on his arrival here.
that delegate had been sent on, contrary
TO his desire, makes the offensive charge of
''evident bad faith.n As he evidently in
tended by this movement to reach Wash
ingtOn first, in case he should not succeed
in his object, and thus anticipate any &C
ton on our part, he was proportionably
disappointed at discovering that "the mar
row-minded" parties here had not been
entrapped by his designing artifce, hence
his charge of bad faith"
At this interview with his Southern
friends" brought about at his own earnest
solicitation, Mr.. Talmage was received
most pleasantly and courteously by all
parties present, consisting of planters,
merchants and millers, and invited to pre-
sent his views in full. E
Assuring us of his ''strong friendship" a, t
evidenced by his past association and of hi t
intention to be perfectly frank and open r
all he had to say, he presented his views ]
an hour or more, and was listened to utl- q
terruptedly, neither question nor comTht r
being made by any one, although full use t
for both was to be found in both the utter a
ard manner of his remarks.
Shorn of their redundant verbi,e, his il
propositions may be epitomized thr,- e
l. THE adoption of No IS or NO. IA
sieve, in place Of No. 10, is theessential
matter to the rice interest to T'Eent the f
frau ulent importation of so-cled gran
lated rice" q
2. The cost of preparing foyrnarket the c
so-called ''uncleaned rice" beg u OF cent G
per pound when added to tb import price i
and duty, makes that compd,ty equal In u
cost to clean, imported ricewlth Its higher a
rate of duty. O
The amount of ''uneaned rice" i'm t
ported in 1867 being ally 1000, 900 of Q
pounds, as against 80, 10000 of clean i'm a
ported for the same tim, makes it COM a
paratively small questil and of no i'm b
portance or injury to te home product. t
In support of his fird proposition he re- /
ferred to the large Importation of 'granu- n
lated ricen and assered most positively that b
it was palpable evasion of the tariff, and 4
that large quantities of broken rice were b
thus introduced which being separated c
here, the largest portions were mixed with d
whole rice and pit upon the market at a t
reduced price, vile the smaller, or strictly 7
granulated porlon was disposed of to the t
brewers. Withthese views we had every a
reason to coincie fully and as Mr.. Tai "
mage's ability, .cuteness and thorough ia C
miharity with Ii the devices practiced by O
Importers mae him a highly competent e
witness, his testimony was accepted with Il
cut cayil s
Our information as derived from him leads b
is to the conclusion that the so-called O
granulated ice" is imported and manipu- d
ated by brolers, who sell the smaller pOr- "
ions to brewers, that being all which they o
lesire. Wehave no wish to antagonize the t,
,rewers or o deprive them of the just OPP "
,ortunity 70 procure what is useful for il
heir trade at the cheapest rate consistent t,
Nth our rightful protection against the II
buses of 5he tariff, and if they import di- "
ectly, aud use what they import in their
rewlng operations, any reasonable safe
uard against abuse would be satisfactory
0 US, such as the maintenance of the No. '
sieve prescribed by Secretary FOlger.
His second proposition, however, was not
cordially accepted. He asserted the cost
the importer of preparing the so-called
unclaimed rice" for market to be ID of a
emit per pound. The Superintendents of Il
be three mills here, who had been engaged n
handling the cargo of the Hos placed the
1st at Is of a cent and fraction, that being =
le actual charge made by the mills sc. U
Of oushel OF sixty pounds.) Il
he asserted the loss in weight while pass c
. S"A ONSoh bhC mn ~ val ing lIOIll .tj-
EN- to twenty-five per cent. The millers 0
serted, upon actual figures from their re- L
oectlve mills, that it did not exceed 81 to o
q per cent, and as there is no chaff and
Ut minimum amount of -four, this would Il
em more nearly correct. n
AS Mr. Talmage, in order to sustain his O
'Sertlon, is of course interested In making Z
le cost as high as possible, while the !
hliers could not pronounce it lower than it u
ealiy was, as they could be confronted with 81
he bills, an intelligent public can readily o
eclde which of the two statements is most u
ltltled to credit. 1t would thus app ar 81
lst Mr.. Ialmage is either grievously mis- q
1ken IN his figures, or that his little ''se- u
revive" mill cannot do the work as cheaply a
IL should be DONE But Mr.. Talmage u
horaces cost of barrels, storage insurance q
nd perhaps brokerage in order to u
Dthpiete his item of cost. These are V
ot included in the statement OF the o.
lliers and for obvious reasons. Barrels b
re simply matter of choice with the inn 81
orters, as | am informed, that this rice
1uld just as readily be replaced in the d
'cKs III which it is imported at infinitesi u
al cost, and then be in the same shape as h
10 clean" when imported, while all the u
'her items would attach equally to any n
-her rice he might hold and contribute to -"
cost. Should the importation Of this II
ass OF rice continue in the same proper I,
ohs as 1t has done during the past year u
luer the manipulations of the Northern u
ms now operating and in process of con- Il