Evening star., 1901-06-12
THE iNSULAR DECISION
REPRESENTATIVE PORTO RICAN
VIEW OF ITS NATURE AND EFFECT
Free Trade Trred-AnNiety a. to the
Refund Internal Revenue
Taxes Unpopular.

The San Juan News. in recent issues.
discusses the insuIar decision of the Su-
pr,-ur Court in a manner which may be
considered as representing the sentiment
of tIe island. Its purpose evidently Is to
alay anxiety. TO explain the nature Of in
evfJahIe DELAYS iE tn refuGd!u@ Of the Gus
toms wrongly collected and to stimulate
the demand for free trade win the main
land. The News of the -.iEh uitimo under
takes editoriaIIy tu indicate The necessity
of the legal restrictions upon claimants for
refund. pointing 5uJ that under the dccis-
ion only a small portion of the duties col
Iected are recoverable and that the statute
of recovery Is specific in its limitations,
The News continues:
These duties can he recovered only by
COMPLYING strictly with the law one Of
tie most important of these laws IS that
recurring the person VINO had mad" the
payment To also make ~ the time or be
fore the payment a WTitt-H protest. signed
by the claimant or his agent, setting forth
distinctly and specifically the grounds of
objection. This j. a requisite to the main
teuacce Of a suit To recover the amount
Claimant Must Preserve His Rights.
''Msre than this. the claimant cannot
sleep on his rights and expect 10 have the
money returned. He is required by the
statute To- keep protesting and if the board
OF appraisers l'' lFt'ELllE' HIS ~ III
he must appeal to the Secretary of the
Treasury If these provisions of the law
are not complied with the United States
IS not required To repay the amount. al
though il may have been Illegally eXacted.
Thus we see that the number of per
sons actually entitled 10 recover back these
duties may be comparatively small. al
though great many have complied with
the law anticipating the decision of the
Supreme Court. The law seems harsh and
unjust at first glance. but It is based upon
reason.
LAW Founded on Reason.
IF it Were not so there would be no end
q claims following such decision, many.
OF course fraudulent and in the aggregate
overwhelming, If the very foundation Of
our revenue system. which has been In
operation for several years should be de-
clared void upon a fine construction of the
Constitution. a rule of law allowing claim
ants to- recover their payments would be
the greatest calamity which could beset
'tGe nation.
The court held that that provision of
fhF Constitution requiring taxation To be
Uniform throughout the United States
does not apply To Porto Rico. If it had
been otherwise the internal revenue laws
oC the United States would be collected
here. which would impose a burden upon
tobacco and rum never intended for a coun-
trv pr"duciug these articles This tax
1uid be double what the present act ex-
acts and would be a burden difficult to
bear by our producers.
Thankful for Escape From Internal
Revenue.
May 81 the News opened its campaign 10
secure free trade with the main land. 1t
states. that whereas at first the decision
caused disappointment, when it was ex-
pla,ued that if Porto Rico had been ad-
mitted TO a full constitutional status the
-,r..
applied and the customs receipts turned
into the federal treasury the universal
sentiment was Of thankfulness.
Another thing which was very clearly
and emphatically expressed by every one
was the advisability of now removing the
tariff. All are In favor OF this action. In
fact the merchants and planters more
Interested in the tariff than anything
else. In the News cabiegram telling of the
decision which had been rendered it was
the trade and tariff provisions which at
traCted attention. Less did they care about
political status of the island, whether 1t
was called a territory or a foreign country,
than what the tariff was to be. This, in
fact was the root OF the disappoint ment.
that the tariff was to remain. As one
man said. Tell me one thing What is the
tariff TO be hereafter? That is all I want
to know. Fifteen per cent? Well that's
bad We should have free trade This is
the way they look at il, and with much
reason. Ii is true that the free trade re-
lations between the United States and
Porto Rico will be great boom for the
tslSnd
We are gratified to hear that the gov
ernor Is seriously considering the advisa-
biity of taking some action to bring about
free trade.
Time Ripe for Free Trade.
'As 1t appears to us the time is ripe for
a removal OF the tariff The budget
amsunts to 100000. The internal reve-
nue. receipts, the returns show, Will equal
about $4,000 a month which is roughly
over $4,000 for the year. The governor S
estimate Of the valuation of the island for
the property tax has proved correct and
will be about 10000 COO. One-half per cent
upon this is $500, 600. The customs re-
celpts from foreign imports amounts to
about 81 .OO0. 600 a year. This no doubt will
be ceduced somewhat by free trade between
the United States and Porto Rico. Deduct
ing % per cent for this. it leaves s750. .00C