The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-05-03
TARIFF ODDITIES
Congressman G. BraggFie1d-
er Has Skeletons Placed
on the Free List.
VOLCANOES AND ICEBERGS ALSO FREE.
Ingredients Of Jersey City Restau-
rant Coffee Taxed--There Is
No Duty on Punk.

no means SO uTy u uOCutiAoue % 70 PVPu
supposed. On the contrary, the observant
person may skim through it and pick out
here and there solid chunks Of entertaining
and even joyous information.
Take the item Of skeletons, for example.
At the request of g. Bragg Fielder, they
have been placed on the fres list, being re-
garded as necessaries. Obviously, no one
can get along without q skeleton. To the
poor man it is even more essential than to
the rich man, inasmuch as the former Is
compelled to work for his living. while the
latter, if boned like q turkey, might still
repose comfortably in a fauteuil and be fed
by his valet. About 1900 skeletons are i'm
ported into this country every year. nearly
ali of them from Paris, where the art OF pre-
pairing such osseous remains Is understood
better than anywhere else In the world.
They cost $40 each, but one can buy a nice
skull for SD. !,
Turtles are free, too, as well as snails and
shrimps. So are fish skins and fossils. Peo-
pie must nave fossils, and there would be no
sense in making them expensive by a tax. 1t
is the same way with the eggs OF all kinds OF
insects. They will pay no tariff. Imported
varieties of bugs are thus brought WITHIN
easy reach Of anybody who wishes TO raise
them. Bees will come in without duty IN
der the head OF sanimals imported for breed
ing purposes" -
likewise joss-sticks. Congress has no desire
to make religion a luxury, to the Chinese IN
this country. Two familiar volcanic prod
ucts. lava and purnice, will not be required
to pay customs tax. Inasmuch as there are
no active volcanoes worth mentioning in the
United States, no infant industry is threat
ened by this provision. No duty is placed on
ice, though it has been suggested that ice
bergs might be lowed down from Labrador
to Boston or New York to be broker up for
market. Unfortunately, the water OF the
Atlantic shore is SO shallow as to render this
plan difficult Of accomplishments.
One observes that the metals iridium, os-
MUM, palladium and magnesium-al OF
them more valuable han gold-are free.
On the other hand, aluminium leaf must
nav thirty per cent. ad yalorem. The foil OF
this new metal is coming into use to a con-
siderable extent. A like duty is assessed on
gold leaf. One dollars worth of gold will
make 100 leaves of ordinary commercial size,
three by three inches.
FOURTH OF JUL NOISE TAXED.
Fire crackers are set down at fifty per
cent. ad valorem. All of them are made in
China-that is to say, the small ones OF
familiar pattern. Attempts have been made
| to manufacture them by machinery IN this
| country, but without success. They could
be produced, but had the disadvantage that
they would not explode. For this purpose
| the most artful mechanism fails to do work
| that REQUIRES the deft manipulation OF human
| fingers. At the Chinese factories each little
cracker passes through the hands OF sixty
persons before it is finished and tied up with
a bunch for market.
There is a duty also on magic lantern
| slides. These little paintings on glass are i'm
ported in great Quantities from abroad,
where they are produced at an incredibly
cheap rate, Some of them are done in water
colors, but the best are in transparent oils.
Maps are. assessed at twenty-five per cent.
Ali of the pasteboard ones come from Ger
MANY. The method of their manufacture is
vsry simple. A comic face is modelled first
in clay, and from this q plaster mould is
| taken. In the mould the mask is formed by
| successive sheets of moist paper pressed into
| it, the final process being the painting.
There will be a tariff on snuff, of course.
| The consumption OF tobacco In this form IN
| the United States Is enormously larger than
most people imagine, mounting to millions of
| pounds annually. The old-fashioned Ger
mans in this country take snuff, and Cana
| dian French girls, who are employed in cot
| ton mills, particularly in New England, have
| the habit almost to a pima Blu the
| greatest demand is by poor whites n ne
| process consists in moistening a stick, dipping
| it in snuff, making a little ball and putting
the latter between the lips and teeth.
Soft felt hats must, pay duty. These are
| made of rabbit fur usually. Chiefly to sup
| ply material for this purpose 1900 bales of
| rabbit skins are shipped to London annually
| from Australia and New Zealand. In this
way some small benefit Is got out Of the
| plague in those countries. The fur is cut off
BY machinery and passed through a blower,
| which throws 1t upon q revolving copper
| disk. As it a~ccumulates it adheres together
and forms q sort Of cloth.
SENATORS LOG U FOR THEMSELVES,
Evidently there is more sporting blood in
| the Senate than might nave been imagined.
| That body has cut down the tariff on dice
and billiard balls, as well as on playing
| cards. Shaving may or may not be regard
| ed as a luxury. ANYHOW, razor blades are
required to pay duty; Immense numbers
| put on them here and 70 be sold under the
names of various manufacturers. Lenses,
| brought over in the rough, for spectacles
| and other purposes, are likewise dutiable.
This applies to great telescope glasses,
| which are fetched from abroad in a rude
state, to be subsequently ground into form
with emery and rouge, the final touches
being done by rubbing with the bare hand.
Human hair must pay twenty per cent.
| Women wear so little that Is not their own
| nowadays, comparatively speaking, that the
quantity imported is only a small fraction of
| WnQt IL USED 10 De- lu6 uiSuUHS VI q
quarter of a century ago, by the way, were
| said to be composed largely of hair from
the heads of African savages. Quite a good
| deal of the hair that comes to market Is
made up into artificial boards and mus
taches. One can buy a mustache OF real
human hair for q cent, though for a first
| class mustache the price rum up to 81.
A duty Is set IN coal tar dyes. 1t seems
| astonishing that all the colors of the rain
bow should be obtained from such a sub
| stance, though not more SO than that the
| same material should be made to furnish
such a great variety Of medicines as are now
| on the market with names ending in Zine"
| or ssol.n The latter fact Is due to the cir
| cumstance that coal tar is an ideal organic
base for the chemist to work with.
The Senate has pared down the duty on cut
diamonds from thirty per cent, to fifteen per
| cent. There is no use In putting a high
an extra inducenent to smuggling. Precious
arily impossible for customs inspectors to
veyed across the ocean in cakes of soap, boot
Unable. At a pinch they may be swallowed.
| formation has been communicated usually
from abroad in the shape of a warning sent
i to the Government in advance to the effect
that so-and-so was intending to smuggle GER
| tain Jewels. 1t is said that such warnings
| are sometimes forwarded hy employees In
foreign houses that deal il precious stones.
The suggestion, IL a mistake, costs nothing
to the person making it. X by chance il
1890. o,ra f1,o iUfornnan< nrofu 6fxv r,,.