The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-12-15
Discriminating Duties to Be Placed on Articles
Imported from Countries That Have Not
Negotiated Reciprocity Treaties
China, Japan, Hawaii and Argentina
Will Be the Most Seriously Affected.
Proclamation to Be Issued on the 1st of jan
uary-France and Germany Will Try to
Secure Repeal Of the Sugar Bounty.
RETALIATORY DUTIES.

Important Section of the Reciprocity Clause
of the Tariff Law About TO Be Enforced.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 14.-President Har-
rison is about to take a most important
step in the commercial dealings of this
country with others, and the first public
announcement of the step will be made in
this dispatch. 1t is nothing short of
proclamation now being prepared, prac-
tically placing an embargo against all
countries which have not made reciprocity
treaties with the United States under the
provisions of the Mckinley act. The
proclamation will be issued on the 1st day
of January next. which is less than three
weeks off, 1t will attach retaliatory duties
upon sugar. molasses, coffee and tea i'm
ported from those countries which have
failed to take advantage of the reciprocity
clause.
This proclamation will be of more impOr-
tance in It's commercial effect than the ne
gotiating OF q dozen treaties, for it affects
many countries. and practically closes our
custom houses against the chief articles of
export of several nations. The reciprocity
section which empowers the President to
with a view to secure reciprocal trade
with countries producing the following ar
tlcies, and for this purpose, on ana after
the 1st day of January, 1892 whenever and
so often as the President shall be satisfied
that the government of any country pro-
ducing and exporting sugars. molasses. cOf-
fee, tea and hides, raw and uncured, or any
Of such articles, imposes duties or other ex-
actions upon the agricultural OF other
products of the United States which. in
<,ff fraf froa tv,fv voAr n ion Of ouah
molasses. coffee. tea and hides into the
United States he may deem to be recip-
rocally unusual and unreasonable he shall
have the power, and it shall be his duty, to
suspend. by proclamation to that etfecy,
the provisions of this act relating to the
free introduction Of such sugar. molasses,
coffee, tea and hides, the production of such
country. for such time as he shall deem just,
and in such case, and during snch suspen..
sion, duties shall be levied. collected and
paid upon sugar. molasses coffee. tea and
hides, the product of, or exported from
such designated country, as follows"
The act then specifies the discriminatory
duties which may be imposed. These are
seven-tenths of 1 cent per pound on sugars
not above No. Is Dutch standard, and 1B
cent per pound on sugars above No. 13
Dutch standard. On coffee the discrim-
inatory duty is 8 cents per pound; on tea,
10 cents per pound. and ON all kinds of
hides Ia cent per pound.
The proclamation will be mainly impor-
tant In its effect on the great tea imports of
China and japan, the enormous hide prod
ucts of the Argentine Republic, and the
sugar and coffee products of Uruguay, Par
aGuay and several minor southern coun-
tries. China and Japan might have secured
aremission of this 10 cents per pound duty on
tea, but they have failed to take advantage
of the reciprocity clause. and the proclama-
tion will be specially directed against them.
The Argentine Republic is the great ex-
porter of kIdes to this country. The aver
age value of importations is seldom short
of 81, 0OO. 900. Other countries which will
suffer by the proclamation are Hsyti and
the Hawaiian islands, with their great
sugar products. and the Danish, Dutch and
French colonies to the south of this coun-
try.
The proclamation will also be important
in securing to the countries which have
embraced reciprocity the full advantage of
the United States markets in sugar, tea,
coffee and hides. The countries which
have thus far accepted reciprocity or are
now negotiating treaties to that end are
Brazil. Santo Domingo Costa Rica, Brit
ish Columbia. Porto Rico. British Guiana.
Guatemala, Colombia, British Honduras,
Venezuela, Ecuador. Peru. Mexico. British
West Indies and Nicaragua.
Aside from the commercial Importance of
this proclamation. it will popularity be ac-
cepted as offsetting the recent criticism
directed at the Presidents message be-
couse it wholly failed to mention reci-
procity. This has been widely construed as
an effort on the part of Mr.. Harrison to
ignore Secretary Blaine's reciprocity plan.
1t appears. however. that the President
fully agrees with Mr.. Blaine on tho I'M
portance of reciprocity programme; so
much so that he desires to treat it specially
IN the proclamation of Jan. rather than
cover 1t up III q general message.