The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-29
TWENTY Gents 4 TON
European Shipowners Think
Is Too Much Tax.
JOHN BULL Is GRUMBLING
Thereby Admitting the For
eigner Pays the lax"

| washington April zo.-F OrelSn govern
mentS through their representatives n
Washington. are beginning 70 show much
| concern over that feature Of the war tariff
| bill. now before congress, which increases
| the tonnage tax on transatlantic ship
| ping to % cents per ton. It Is said this
| increase is about 500 per cent. the pres
emit rate being about 3 cents per ton. and
| that nearly the entire burden Of the 800
per cent increase falls upon the trans
Atlantic line Of Great Britain, Germany.
France and one or two other commercial
| nations. leading diplomatic official sta
ted today that. roughly speaking, the At
iantic trade was carried on by about 100
American steamships and about 1000 Brit
ish, French, German and other foreign
steamships, so that the heavy tonnage
tax would be practically Insignificant as
against American steamships, while IL
would be very onerous against foreign
shipping.
A transatlantic liner Of 1900 sons, he
said. would pay, at 20 cents per ton. $4,000
every time Il entered an American port.
Thus far, however, no Official action has
tons and il does not seem likely that such
official action is possible, as the heavy
tonnage tax is considered a war expedient
which foreign shipping must bear SO long
as they use American ports. There are
intimadons, however. that II may have
the effect of diverting shipping away from
American ports 10 Halifax. Montreal and
other Canadian ports. In other respects
the war tariff bill attracts little attention
in foreign quarters. as the main increase
Of taxation is on articles of domestic con-
sumption, while duties on foreign imports
remain practically unchanged.
New York, April 2s.-The Evening POSTS
London correspondent cables 20 that
paper today as follows:
"Engnshmen have received with very
wry faces the proposals before congress
respecting tonnage duties. The bill is re-
ceved with such newspaper headlines as
Yankee Cuteness: The World, and Es-
pecially England. TO Pay for the War
Liverpool and other English ship own
ers grumble greatly. They say this mo-
ment of increasing Anglo-American ac-
cord is of all moments the least oppor-
tune. and especially for penalizing Brit
ish shipping. Other ship owners resignedly
reflect that the extra due will be simply
added to the freights. The government is
being approached by the Liverpool mem
bers OF parliament with a view of repre-
sensations to Washington.
at is stated here that the German gov
eminent has asked the British foreign
Office what steps. il any, are to be taken
to protect British interests in the Philip
pines in view OF the possibility of an
American attack. The German govern
ment apparently is DESTROYS Of co-operat-
Ing in such steps with Great Britain. see
ing that the commerce of Great Britain
or Germany in the islands far outweighs
that of Spain itself.
TONNAGE IN PARLIAMENT
London. April 2S-In che house Of COM
mons today Mr.. Balfour. replying 70 a
question on the subject, said no Degotja-
lions were at present proceeding on the
subject Of an arbitration treaty between
Great Britain and America
Charles Macarthur. member Of parlla-
ment for the exchange division Of Liver
pool. pointed out in the house OF com
mons today that the bill before the United
States congress providing for increasing
of the tonnage tax on shipping viii be
injurious to the British trade and ship
ping Mr.. Balfour replied that the gov
ernmsnt would do all Il could TO protect
the interests Of ship owners.
deputation Of members OF parlIa- |
ment, representing the shipping constitu- !
ency. waited upon the president of me |
board Of trade. Mr.. r. c. Richie. and en-
phasized the Importance Of the proposed /
increase in the tonnage tax declaring that (
ship owners and traders were greatly
alarmed at the measure. One delegate
said his firm alone would be mu!cted an I
additional $50 ooo yearly. Mr.. Richie re-
Piled that the government was awake 70 4
the Importance OF the matter. They had /
communicated with the British ambassa- /
dor at Washington and with the Euro 4
pean power on the subject. and the pres I
ident OF the board OF trade added. joint .
representations viii be made on the sub
feet. pointing out the onerousness Of the 4
proposed measure on European trade