Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1900-1903, 1902-11-05
The DUTY ON COAL.

To the Editor Of the Hartford Times:
Will you be kind enough to publish
in the Times the law in regard to the
duty on coal, and define 1t clearly
enough so that the general public can
understand it. and oblige,
READER OF THE TIMES.
Winsted, October 81, 1902.
We have already given the facts, but
willingly give them more fully, as it is
very desirable they shall be known by
all citizens.
In 1862 duty Of 60 cents bon was
imposed on anthracite coal. Two
years later this was reduced to 40
cents q ton. This continued until 1870,
when anthracite was placed on the
free List. 1t so continued until the
passage of the Dingley tariff bill 1897.
Bituminous coal, which had paid q
duty at one time as high as $3.50, was
scheduled at $1.25 in the time OF the
civil war. The rate was reduced to
rs cents in 1872, and 80 continued until
1894, when it was reduced to 40 cents
ton in the Wilson law. The miners
of bituminous coal naturally demand
ed a return to the 75-cent rate, when
the republicans undertook in 1897 to
give everybody everything that was
asked for In the way of tariff rates. 1t
was finally decided to make the rate
67 cents, because that was the rate
which Canada collects on coal import
ed from the United States.
While the Dingley bill was under dis
cussion new coal interest put in an
appearance at the federal capital This
was the aggregated coal mining COM
panies of the states of Washington and
Oregon, which had begun to produce
coal in considerable quantities These
mine owners complained that the ships
which sailed from the Pacific coast to
Liverpool with wheat brought back
cargoes of Welsh coal at very low
rates. and, although the merchants and
manufacturers of California strongly
objected, the ways and means commit
tee determined to do something for the
brethren in the far northwestern states
who demanded duty on the Welsh
coal. These mine owners sent an agent
to Washington who declared that they
were entirely satisfied with duty Of
only 40 cents a ton on bituminOus coal,
but they wanted the same duty on an
thracite. they said, because it would
soon be coming over in large quantities
to all our ports The owners kept
their California interests as much as
possible in the background.
The manner in which their object
was finally accomplished was ingen-
ious. What the Pacific coast people
asked was that there should be no in
crease in the duty on bituminous, but
that uniform rate of 40 cents ton
should be levied on all coal. The re-
publican majority disliked to let it be
said that any rate was sufficiently high
as fixed in the Wilson law, and, there
d, L.. - IL - n
all coal 81 cents ton, while nominal
~ leaving anthracite coal on the free
list. This was the action which Secre-
tary of the Navy Moody lately referred
to as a piece Of 'sneak" work. Imme-
diately after saying that anthracite
coal should remain on the free list. the
bill provides that any coal containing
less than 90 per cent of fixed carbon
shall pay duty Of 81 cents. The dis
tinction means simply this, that the
Welsh coal is not to be regarded as an
thracite coal entitled to come in free
of duty. In fact, there is no coal
available for import from anywhere
which contains over 90 per cent of
fixed carbon. Thus the law was Jug
gled, and many innocent persons, like
President Roosevelt, went on believing
until few weeks ago that there was
really no duty on anthracite coal. IL
any country could send us as fine a
grade of hard coal as comes from
Pennsylvania it oculd come in free of
duty. But actually there seems to be
no such supply Of coal, and the law
was expressly framed to exclude all
the coal which is obtainable in England
and Wales or anywhere else, irrespec-
tive Of the name that may be applied
to it.
In short, the fact about the duty is
this: The Dingley law says that an
thracite coal may come III free pro-
yided it is only as good as Pennsyl-
vania. but if it is not quite as good
THAT is if it does not contain 92-1OOths
of fixed cargon) then it must pay the
67-cent duty. The World Almanac
and other manuals are entirely wrong
in their manner of stating the tariff on
coal as "anthracite. free; bituminous,
81 cents a TOM Paragraph 523 in the
free list of the Dingley act reads:
ssCoal, anthracite, not especially pro-
vided for in this act and coal stores
of American vessels, but none shall be
unloaded." Turning back to schedule
N Of the Dingley act we find that it
reads as follows:
415. Coal, bituminous, and all Goals
containing less than ninety-two per