The Washington times., 1901-07-31
NEW PORTO RICAN PUZZLE
Custom Officials at Sea as to Liq-
u0rs and Tobacco.
Information Wanted to Articles
Dutinbic Under the Internal Rev
enue Laws-DeveIopment of the
Rum Sugar and Tobacco Trade.

NEW YORK. July sO-The customs Off
cials >afe somewhat perplexed over the
question of Porto Rican imports They
know, of course, in a general way the
merchandise from Porto Rico will be ad-
mitted hereafter fFse-pf tariff duties and
they know also that whatever articles are
subject to any internal revenue tax in
this country are subject to the same tax
if they are made in Porto Rico.
But the customs officials want to know
more about Porto Rican products which
may be subject to the internal revenue
tax. They know that tobacco, cigars
cigarettes. and rum are the chief imports
that will be subject to the internal reVe-
nue. tax, but they want to know If there
are any others. IT seems that not very
much is known about Porto Rican rum
in this port, even by the liquor dealers.
An old-time liquor dealer said
Heretofore we have not seen much
Porto Rico rum in New York. | am in
clined to think we shall see much more of
it now that the tariff has been taken off.
The rum made in Porte. Rico does not diff
fer materially from Santa Crus rum. 1t
would serve as an excellent substitute in
the making of punches and summer
drinks. 1t can be bought much cheaper
than the Santa Cruz rum and / have no
doubt that dealers will begin to import it
in large quantities"
The best coffee in the world is grown In
Porto Rico. 1t sells for the highest price.
Most of it has been sent to Austria and
sold in Vienna. 1t is because Vienna cof-
fee is made from the Porto Rico bean that
the expression Vienna coffee" has come
to be synonym for finest to be had. a
man who has made a study of coffee had
this to say about Porto Rico coffee today:
Now that the tariff has been taken off,
1 expect to see large shipments OF coffee
brought to New York. Whether 1t comes
here or not will depend on whether the
Porto Rican coffee growers can sell their
crops at as great a profit here as they
can abroad. The probabilities are that,
tariff or no tariff. we shall have to pay
more for Porto Rican coffee than we do
for Java and Mocha. know, however,
: that once a New Yorker becomes accus-
toned to Porto Kican coffee he would not
drink another at any price
| In speaking of the sugar situation an
authority on the question has this to
say:
Il am inclined to the belief that taking
off of the tariff on raw Porto Rico sugar
will materially affect the sugar situation
in the United States. Mr.. Havemeyer
wss quoted the other day as saying the
Sugar Trust has it's eyes on Cuba and
Porto Rico and that all that was needed
was the removal of the tax on the raw
product. The tariff on Porto Rico sugar
has now been removed and you may ex-
pect the American Sugar Refining Com
panys to be a larger importer of Porto
Rican sugar.
This will. OF course, enable the trust
to get good raw sugar much cheaper than
it has been getting il. Whether or not
the price of refined sugar will be reduced
in consequence may be doubted 1t will
depend entirely upon trade conditions
No satisfactory conclusion can yet be
arrived st as ton the effect on the price
of Porto Rico products sold in this coun-
try. which the removal of the tariff will
bring about. Ii seems to be the opinion
that the price at which Porto Rico prod
ucts will be sold here will depend largely
on how Intimately they, come into compe-
tition with American. products and how
RI in