The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-09-05
TARIFF With CHINA NAME FOR A DRINK
CONTINUED from page one)

this Manchester-Lond tariff. This
made the rate for American goods al
most double that of England The Brit
ish representatives insisted that the
provision for the commission had been
eliminated from the Protocol and that
l had therefore no standing in the mat
ter of the prepare don of this tariff.
Informed the assistant commissioner
with whom | conversed on this point
that l would not agree to this tariff
that had been prepared in Manchester
and London being accepted, and if It
was insisted upon, / would prepare a
tariff myself and carry it to Peking
and file it with the Chinese authorities
with protest on the part of the Unit
ed States against the acceptance Of
any other tariff.
This was teegraphed to the British
minister at Picking who communicated
with the home authorities Within ten
days or two weeks, l was requested to
meet the British minister on board II
B. M. S. Talbot At that conference
he Informed me that his home govern
ment had agreed to my proposition
and the international commission was
revived. l was requested to prepare a
tariff for discussion, which ! did, and
when the commission met each of the
items was discussed. Whenever an ar
ticle of purely American manufacture
was reached there was invariably a
combined attack made by all the other
commissioners, but after an extended
session lasting four months the tariff
prepared by myself was finally agreed
to by all the powers without a change
in any instance in the provisions
THE tariff is more favorable to the
United states than to any other coun-
try, and l am certain that 1t will mean
that our exports to China will rapidly
increase. August was the date set
when the tariff was to be signed by
China and the nations interested, but
in the evening of that date at fare
well banquet rendered to me- / was in
formed that the Chinese authorities
had declined to allow their commission
er to sign.
Il at once cabled home and received
permission to leave China and return
to Washington. Upon hearing this in
formation the Japanese and German
commissioners waited upon me and
begged that cable my government for
instructions to remain until the tariff
had been signed. This course 1 declin-
ed to take whereupOn Great Britain,
Germany Japan, Austria, The Neither
lands, Belgium, Spain and the United
States met and signed the tariff as
completed, pledging themselves that no
change should be made in any of it's
provisions. France, Russia, Portugal
Italy and China will sign later on.
with regard to the treaties between
the several countries and China, one of
the provisions in the English treaty
was to abolish the Lilxin tax and sub
stitute therefore an import duty Of
121a per cent on imports. Inasmuch as
the United States rarely paid this Lik-
in tax, such a change would, in my OPP
inion, have been only disastrous to our
interests. The commissioners from
England and China paid a visit to the
Viceroy at Nankin and secured his
consent to this feature of the English
treaty. Five or six days later the U.
S. S. Monterey was placed at my dis
posal and carried me to Nankin where,
| after a conference with the ViCerOy, l
received his assurance that until he
had been advised whether the matter
, would be satisfactory to the United
! States, he would not sign the treaty.
/ This assurance was carried out, for on
the following day. he cabled the Throne
that he had declined to sign the treaty.
Such was the condition of affairs when
L left China"
In the opinion of General Sharretts,
i, will be of much benefit to the Chinese.
1t will net them between 2O,UUO, UUU and
80, 900 taels annually with which 10
| pay the Boxer indemnity. The United
| States has been favored in the new
| tariff above all other nations, ana the
| inevitable result will be that there will
be a constantly increasing demand for
our goods. Whatever the other com
missioners might have been toward the
American interests, General Sharretts
says that he found the Chinese Govern
ment to be very friendly toward the
United States. He is confident that the
tariff treaty as signed by the various
powers will be put into effect. The
strongest coalition is sponsor for it,
and there is little doubt but the other
| nations will swing into line
General Sharretts was appointed a
member of the Board of General APP
praisers in 1890 by President Banjamin
Harrison, when the board was first
created. General Sharretts was vice
president of the board for seven years
and was also president. He has been
invited to address various Chambers of
Commerce on the Pacific Coast in Chi
cagO and in Baltimore, his home.