Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-04-19
The Puerto Rican Tariff Argument.

The Puerto Rican Tariff Argument.
The New York Tribune gives Secretary
Longs defense of the Puerto Rican Tariff
scheme which may be taken as the
official argument Of the Administration.
The Secretary says
The Puerto Rican Tariff bill is misun-
derstood. That the bill works discrimina-
ton against OF hardship upon Puerto Rico
is not true. Full knowledge of the bill
will remove any such impression. 1t re-
lieyes the island from all direct taxes and
all internal revenue taxes. Ii reduces the
custom tariff from 100 10 II per cent. Far
Their, ii returns to Puerto Rico all the IN
come from the meagre taxation, instead OF
landing it in the United States Treasury.
If this is dlscrimiuati0n,it is discrimination
against the United States and in favor OF
Puerto Rico Thus the island fares better
than ever did any of our Territories, all OF
which had to pay their own way, internal
taxes and all, every dollar of which went
into IJucle Sam's Treasury"
What " Territory" was ever shut off from
the rest of our country by tariff, great or
small?
Bat the natural question of the sensible
citizen who reads above, would be: why
put on even this Is per cent of Tariff while
we are doing so much to help that famine
stricken people get on their feet And es-
pecially when we are to be at the expense
of collecting it merely to be at the further
expense of giving it back to the island ?
The real reason for the Tariff, and the
one which has caused the President and
all his patronage influence in Congress to
be turned with such tremendous effect
squarely against what he had told this
very Congress was our plain duty" was to
help the Sugar and Tobacco Trusts keep up
their plumber of the American people
That, and nothing else.
To open our markets free as both the
President and General Miles had promised
to the products OF Puerto Rico, would cut
off one-half the profits of those two Trusts,
and would reduce sugar and tobacco prices
in this country 80 that millions a mr. nth
would be saved to the people here and
some of those millions lost to the election
fund of the Trust party here this year
1t happens that even Is per cent. Of the
Dingley Tariff rates would be as much as
the cheaper grades of tobacco are sold for
in Puerto Rico, and nearly the same with
sugar.
The operation of this outrageous act
upon the people whom we induced to wei
come our flag, is to cut off the sale OF
their crops and perpetuate their misery
and beggary.
Under the Spanish yoke, though they
felt its severity and were subjected by il
to gross impositions in various ways, yet
they had an open market in the Spanish
dominions
But now they have the prohibitive bar
rier of the Dingley Tariff put up between
them and all the rest of the world, and at
the same time are cut of from this country
too, with which they had been solemnIy
promised free, full chance to enjoy the
advantages of their soil and climate.
What good to the Puerto Rican people lie
it, if they cannot freely market crops in
any direction, that we use the customs
revenues to pay for keeping carpet-bag
officials quartered on them from Washing
ton, to govern them That is the only
way in which we make returns to Puerto
Rico" of this Tariff tax, which Secretary
Long tells our people is SO benevolent We
pay it in salaries and Injurious living for
the Administrations patronage pets.
Democratic State Delegate Con-
vention.
The Democratic State Committee met at
Newark last Saturday and fixed Thursday
May 81. as the date for holding the State
Convention to select four delegates large
to the Democratic National Convention to
be held at Kansas City, Mo, on July
The Convention will be held at Taylor
Opera House, Trenton. The basis of rep
resentation will be one delegate for every
two hundred Democratic votes cast at the
last Gubernatorial election, or majority
fraction thereof Every polling precinct
however will have one vote.