The Portland daily press., 1891-06-02
THE MONUMENT FIGURES.
They Will be Shipped from New York
Tomorrow.

The detention of the bronze figures for the
Soldiers Monument seems to be due to
doubts about the amount of duty, IL any, to
be paid at the New York custom house. Mr..
ID. b. Brown, of the executive committee
said yesterday that this was tie cause of the
delay; and as has already been announced
Mr.. Q. W. Roberts, superintendent of bonded
warehouses in the custom house, has gone to
New York to see about it. He is expected
home today.
The law upon this point will of course be a
matter for the customs authorities to con-
strue. But to the lay mind the spirit
of the tariff law seems plain, although there
Is some doubt about the letter. Section No.
759. the tariff law specifies that there shall
be no duties on works Of art. collections in
Illustration of the progress of the arts,
science or manufactures. work in terra Gotta,
parian, pottery. or porcelain. and artistic
copies of antiquities in metal or other ma
terial hereafter imported in good faith for
permanent exhibition at fixed price by any
society or institution established for the en-
couragement Of the arts or of science and all
like articles imported. In good faith by any
society or association for the purpose of
erecting public monument, and not intend
ed for sale, nor for any other purpose than
herein expressed; but bonds shall be given
under such rules and regulations as the Sec
rotary of the trasury may prescribe, for the
payment of lawful duties which may accrue
should any Of the articles aforesaid be sold,
transferred or used contrary to this pro-
vision.'
There is still another section of the free
list that in spirit is evidently intended to
secure the admission OF such work as the
Portland monument. This is section No.
CIT, which is as follows: 'Statuary, casts of
marble, bronze, alabaster, or plaster of
Paris; paintings, drawings and etchings.
specially imported in good faith for the use
Of any society or institution incorporated or
established for religious, philosophical
educational, scientific, or literary pur-
poses, or for encouragement of the
fine arts. and not intended for SALE"
Should it be held that Mr.. Simmons is i'm
porting the statuary for sale to the Portland
Society, there would probably be greater
chance for a controversy, as the paragraph
relating to such cases seems hardly to in
clude one like the present. Section 757 of the
free list specifies as free "works of art, the
production of American artists residing tenn
porariiy broad. or other works of art. includ
ing pictorial paintings on glass, imported ex-
pressly for presentation to national insti
tuition, or to any State or municipal corpora
ton. or Incorporated religious society, col
lege or other public institution, except
stained or painted window glass or stained
or painted glass windows"
The language of this could hardly be
claimed to include the figures for the monu-
ment. In fact the language of all the sec
tions cited fails in any case to hit exactly
the conditions existing with reference to the
Portland monument.
Later advices state the figures will be
shipped on the New York steamer for this
port Wednesday, and will probably arrive
Friday.