The Monitor., 1890-04-25
wa.n.mxton s.ea,er.
(rrom our regular correspondent
W.survaToN ID G. ApriI 81. 1890

|
The Pan American concluded its labors
and sent in its report, and now after the
new tariff bill has been reported our
national Legislators find themselves con-
fronted with problem. The Conference
of eighteen Southern Republicans was in
vted by Congress and presided over by
Secretary Blaine. The Southern dele
gates expect that the recommendations OF
the conference will be complied with by
their several governments, from which
they were sent not on junketing tour,
but more in the character Of ambassadors
to negotiate terms of commercial inter
course for the mutual benefit of the ma
tions of this hemisphere, and most of them
will be astonshed if Congress does not
take some action in respect to their report
Congress has the habit of authorizing
Diplomatic discussion without ratiiyi1g
| the results, and though both parties are
demanding now that the recommendations
| of the Conference be made operative, it is
very doubtfal If anything " ill be done.
There are suggestions Of vital interest to
American commerce in the report that
should be attended to 1T once; correction
of abuses at Southern ports, and impos-
| tions by Custom House officers that would
| make New York boodlcrs blush. A curl
Gus example of the lack Of harmony be-
tween tariff legislation and Pan American
diplomacy is nstanced in the fact that
| while Secretary Blaine was striving for a
| free trade between Brazil and the Argen-
tine Republic the Ways and Means Com
mittee prepared bill greatly increasing
the duties ell important exports OF those
countres-wool and hides. One hardship
to American shippers proposed to be cor
rected was to dispense with consular GER
tification regarding ships cargo. This
occasions great delay and expense when it
| is considered that steamers S time is worth
$1,000 day 1t is proposed to establish
an International bank with U. s. charter
and branches in each of the contracting
countries. There are no banking facilities
between North and South America; a want
|
between the two continents. In England
there are eight large banks maintaining re-
latons with South America, and are known
to the merchants OF the Southern coun-
tries. AS bank is the only disnterested
source of information it follows that there
can be no system of long credits such as
are demanded in South America, and all
drafts and letters of credit, etc, must be
upon these English banks for which they
charge a commission of p per cent. This
greatly retards trade as it absorbs the
profit of the manufacturer in the United
| States. The settlement OF disputes between
the extradition of criminals is recon-
mended; and authors artists and inventors
are to be sole proprietors of their produc-
tion by filing their patents within one year.
urgent but the new tariff bill will have
| precedence, probably, and after several
more months of labor on this bin the
chances are that Congress " i'll fail to ratily
| Although the tariff bill is reported favor
| ably by majority of the Ways and Means
| Committee, it is not received favorably by
a majority of the House There it finds
antagonists amongst both Republicans and
| Democrats. Members of both parties fail
to comprehend the inserutable wisdom of
putting sugar on the free list and paying
producers a bounty of tw o cents per pound.
1t is hard to see why sugar producers
| should be given this bounty and hides
should De put on the free list when the
| only plausible but very candid reason is
the importantly Of interested parties. The
| minority report that during the long dis
| cussion before the committee it was not
between the individuals and corporations
who received the taxes and the people who
paid them. as these were seldom heard,
but between the representatives. of the
variously protected interests, each CON
tending for higher rates on its own pro-
ducts and lower on the products of others.
| This is what General Hancock meant when
he declared the tariff question "a local
issue. The majority give as reason for
| their action on the sugar question that but
| one.eighth of the amount of sugar con-
sumed is produced in this country, and
seven eighths imported; therefore 'twould
| be cheaper to pay bonus TO the producers
of the one-eighth of home raised sugar to
encourage the industry, and import the
other seven-eighths at the cheaper foreign
prices. On the other hand the minority
object to the policy Of partality and dis
elimination, also prefering tariff to a
bounty, as a tariff lessons as the pToduc-
| ton 1t encourages grows and finally van