The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-05-23

W ACh NHO4O COunIIy lduSu6u
Hancock for saying the tariff was To-
cal issue, the country was curiously
misled. The persons who laughed I'M
derstand that now. The tariff is even
narrower than local issue. 1t is per-
sonal issue.
AS a local issue the tariff is log
rolling measure of the worst kind. Be-
fore the bill gets out of the senate it
will have been cut and hacked to suit
the taste of this member and that &C
cording to the demands of his constitu-
ents When the margin in favor of a
bill is small, it is at the mercy of every
highwayman of the dominant party.
The tariff is personal or individual
measure in this-most men judge it by
its effect on the prices of things they
buy. The Dingley law is being anathe-
matized now by thousands of men who
have not read it. Why? Because they
hear on every hand shopkeepers saying
that the price of this and the price of
that will be higher under the new law.
am not defending the Mckinley law,
or the Dingley law, or the protective
tariff system. | am merely calling your
attention to curious fact which came
to my notice when the Mckinley law
went into operation and which promises
to be repeated this summer. had warn
ing before the Mckinley law went into
effect that shopkeepers with whom I
traded were going to put up the price of
certain commodities Everything is
going to be higher under the Mckinley
law" they said. Now, it was true that
many things were found to be higher.
But it seemed to me that the advances
threatened were exorbitant. So | looked
into one or two of them, and / found,
first, that the wholesaler had raised his
price 20 or 80 per cent more than the
amount of the advance i'll the tariff
rates; second, that the retailer had add
ed the additional wholesale cost to the
retail price and then, tackled on few
cents or few dollars extra, according
to the value of the article i'll cents OF
dollars.
The wholesaler was saying to himself,
"The manufacturers shan't be the only
beneficiaries under the new tariff" And
the retailer was saying: 81 may as well
add little more and put the difference
in my pocket. My customers will never
know
We are going to have like experience
this fall. If you don't believe me, get
copy of the tariff bill when it is printed
and see just how much it affects the
articles you buy. Then watch the dealer
and see how much he will overcharge
you. 1t is worth while as study in po-
litical economy, even if it save you no
money.
Diamond Smuggling.
Nature has placed curious limita-
tion on tariff taxes Whenever tariff
rate is made so high that it pays to risk
smuggling government receipts from
that article begin to fall off. For that
reason under the last administration
they seriously considered the advisable
ity of reducing the rate of duty on dia-
monds. There is nothing of equal value
SO easily concealed as diamond. For
that reason diamond smuggling has al
ways been rather active. But under the
Wilson law it has risen to enormous
proportions The rate of duty is so high
that a man could afford to take the risk
of seizure for the sake of the saving he
will make if he gets his goods through
safely. The same thing is true of other
imports, and the treasury experts in 60
ing over the new tariff law must take
that into serious consideration.
One curious line of smuggling is car
ried on right under the eyes of the gov
eminent at Washington. Dispatch bags
for the foreign legations here are deliv-
cred without examination. All the
young attaches of European legations
are importuned by their friends to have
gloves and perfumery sent over to them
i'll these dispatch bags. Almost all of
the bags received are laden with pur-
chases of this kind in which the attaches
have acted as agents. The amount saved
by the young women who encourage
this practice isinconsiderable, but they
think it is just too deliciously daring
to smuggle gloves and fans.
Official Effects.
The legation people, by the way, sell
dom fail to make IA profitable specula-
ton on furniture and bric-a brac out of
their term of service here. Whenever a
foreign minister is transferred to anoth-
er station he announces an auction sale
of his magnificent collection of art OBJ
jects, fine furniture and wines. )" OF all
these he has "a very large stock, which
he brought into the United States free
of duty us part of his official effects So
ciety tlocks to the auction. The second
hand man or speculator i'll auction goods
stays away. There are no bargains to
be had at legation auction, and the
professional buyer knows it.
Women of wealth, who would scorn
to buy anything at u secondhand store,
go TO the minister's auction and pay
more than the retail price for the we'll
worn articles which are offered. Thread
bare carpets actually sell for the usual
price of new ones. The minister, who
has had the use OF these articles for the
season of his stay i'll Washington, makes
the difference between what he paid for
them and the American retail price
that is, about the amount of the duty
he would have paid if he had been any
one but dinlOmat Even the president