The San Francisco call., 1897-02-17
W|NEMEH OPPOSE
4 LOWER TARIFF
They Will Also Guard
Against Reciprocity
Treaties.
Their Convention Warmly Dis.
cusSed These Matters
Yesterday.
A Committee Appointed to Act in the
Interests of Ca ifor MIA
Growers,

growers and dealers or California met In
convention this morning, under the
auspices OF the College of Practical With
culture, for the purpose primarily of dis
cussing the pending reciprocity treaty
between the United States and France
and of determining the advisability OF
taking action in opposition thereto, as a
measure calculated 10 injure the wine
industry of this State. The result of the
! conventions deliberations was a resolu-
| tion empowering the chairman to appoint
a com mittee OF five to look after affairs in
| Washington. in conjunction with the
| Eastern represen tatives and to take the
necessary steps TO oppose reciprocity in so
far as it is likely 10 injure the State
| wine industry. The State Legislature will
also be requested 10 forward resolutions to
| Washington and 10 see that the interests
of the wine-growers are properly repre-
| sented. An amendment was added to the
foregoing, to the effect that IN view of the
fact that the finer and older varieties of
California wine are seriously suffering
under the present tariff regulations, this
committee should be instructed to
earnestly advocate judicious increase in
the present schedule of our wine tariff.
Among the members present were the
| following: Arpad Haraszthy, Charles A.
Wetmore, Clarence Wetmore represent
ing the Livermore Valley interests), John
| SWEET, Mr.. Croft. William Scott, A. Sbar-
boro, A. ?. Hayne of the State University,
P. DevauI of Mission San Jose, William
| Palmtag of HoIlister and the San Bemto
| County region. B. II. Upham of Contra
| Costa County, E. +. Sagar of the Esen
! Vineyard Company, Emil GARNER of Emil
GARNER & Co., P. I. Morgan of the Cali
| fornia Wine Association, Charles Bund-
schu of the Gundlach-Bundschu Wine
Company, }. J. jacob of Laehman &
jacob, Peter Streitf OF the Santa Cruz
| wine depot, K. w. Lemmer of st. Helena,
+. Jordan and r. Jordan Jr. of Napa,
| Paxton OF Sonoma.
President Arpad Hsraszthy called the
| convention TO order soon after IL o'clock
yesterday morning in the Chamber of
| Commerce hall, and briefly explained the
object of the gathering as stated above.
! 1t has been rumored," he said, 'snd
you have no doubt seen some slight init
nation In the newspapers that such a
| treaty was about to be established, and
| that Eastern importers would derive some
benefits therefrom, together with casual
! inference that the wine industry OF Cali
forna would suffer by the admission of
| French wines at much lower figures than
| heretofore.
This rumor has been confirmed by pri-
vate letters from the East, stating that ac-
ton is about to be taken by large Gamers
| such as Armour, for ths purpose OF intro
ducing tneir canned goods into France.
After having considered these matters, it
| is proposed to deal with the subject of
bottlng in bond. 1t has been suggested
that We should have some representative
sent East, and l also beg TO state the ad-
| visibility of either raising or maintaining
| "a m Ci
| would like TO hear from gentlemen pres
| ent on these subjects"
Charles Bundscher said he would like to
| know whether the convention had any
| other than newspaper information to pro-
| ceed upon. Some OF the local papers had
| contended that the old tariff schedule of
40 or so cents should be reinstated, while
| others urged that the present rate should
| be sustained.
J. J. jacob said that he had received a
letter from Congressman Loud, in which
! he stated that nothing had been done be-
! yond the committees recommendation
that the old Mckinley tariff should be re-
established. AS far as reciprocity was
| concerned they had heard nothing from
| Washington TO lead them to believe that
any decided action had been taken.
! Secretary w. Scott informed the con-
vention that he had a letter from the Wine
and Spirit Traders Society of New York,
i'll which he was informed that reciprocity
would be supported, and that the present
schedule OF 30 cents for dry wines and so
cents for sweet wines would be main
| tanned.
TIE chairman pointed out the necessity
for immediate action, as the Congress
| sional committees were now hard at work
on the reciprocity question.
j. j. Jacobi here moved for the ap-
pointment of a committee to guard
| against reciprocity affecting the wine in.
| n a otR II Cd 81.
that this committee of two or three
should have power to delegate lis func-
tions to others. People like jacob &
Browfeldt OF New FORK had access to the
Ways and Means Committee; they were
continually posted, and should the neces-
sity arise they could be in Washington in
ten or fifteen hours. Mr.. jacob did not
consider 1t wise to expose their hand in
this matter in the presence of the press.
Mr.. Bundsch believed they all op-
posed the scheme OF reciprocity, if con-
ditions were offered to Western packers
under which they could export their
meats to Europe, while the wine growers
here were sacrificed. But did the conyen-
tion desire to favor an increase in the
present tariff. or did it consider the pres.
ent duty satisfactory? lie thought that
the committee suggested by Mr.. jacob
should enlarge its scope so as to include
the whole question OF reciprocity and
tariff.
Mr.. jacob, however, would not accent
the amendment for the reason that under
the present tariff they knew they would
not be injured to any deadly extent,
though some might think it adyisa bic TO
restore the duty to what it was a few wears
ago. But Mr.. jacob held that 1t was a
bad policy to go into battle with divided
forces and he, therefore, wished to leave
the tariff question entirely in the back
ground. Reciprocity was such q serious
menace that they could not afford to bur-
den themselves with any other business
1t the Ways and Means Committee gave
Iithem 50-cent duty, or should the COM
mittee leave it at 30 cents, none of them
would DE seriously injured.
john SWEET considered il advisable to
appoint committee for one specific pur-
pose, but did not think the convention
should dodge any issue. Personally he
believed the tariff was as high as it should
be and that they conld DO fairly we'll
under 1t. though higher tariff might
benefit them temporarily. A second COM
mlttee should be appointed to consider
this question.
w. Wehmer said he had thought that
when they voted for Mckinley it was on
the assumption that the tariff would not
be lowered. 1t would certainly be a bad
thing to have both Mckinley and a lower
tar f. Laughter1
=. A Wetmore earnestly commended that
the convention should stand by its agree
ment with the New York Wine and Spirit