Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-10-21

bon makes il clear that the Dingley
act puts n duty of ca cents per ton
on all coal. This conclusion was
stated by Senator Vest when the
Dingley bill was being discussed in the
senate and is in accord with the de-
cision of the board of general apprais-
ers Jan. II, 1898, and of the circuit
court of the United States, both of
which declared that n shipment of
anthracite coal from Wales was duti-
able.
Apparently the Christian men" of
the anthracite coal trust to "whom
God in His infinite wisdom" consigned
the hard coal mines of Pennsylvania,
became satisfied in 1897 that they
might, at some future time, need, in
their business. duty on anthracite
coal. They confabbed with the chair
man of the finance committee and he.
as usual. said:
Certainly, / am always ready to OBJ
| lige the trusts. As you gentlemen are
going to perfect and strengthen your
trust and regulate production and
prices, my sympathies are with yOn.
perceive that there may come a time
Ewhen the price of your coal gets very
high, when some cold unpatriotic per-
son might wish to import the anthra-
cite coal from Wales. Now if. as YOU
say. Wales coal never shows. on any
average test. % per cent of fixed car
bon, think can fix you up without
even attracting the attention of the
public. Perhaps you will permit me
to reduce the duty on bituminous coal
r
an appearance of fairness. you know,
when extending the duty to all coal"
Thus the trick was done and not
one in a thousand of our people knew
that anthracite coal had been made
dutiable. Even our strenuous presi-
dent made mistake because he didn't
happen TO read the Dingley act before
he began to lecture on it.
He may have been fooled by the
treasury reports on commerce and fl
nance, which still declare anthra-
cite coal is no the free list, though
only single ton got into this country
under that classification in 1901. and
302 tons in 1902, while in 1896 149,74S
tons were imported. 1t is clear that
some of the coal classed as btumin-
Gus in the treasury report is anthra-
cite, and il is probable that fifty
times as much anthracite is imported
with a duty as without one. Does
the treasury department keep this
matter dark at the suggestion of the
coal trust?
The Standard Oil company joined
the long list of protected trusts in
much the same way as did the anthra-
..4
doors and the secret committees of
congress. These trusts don't make
any fuss and cause needless discus
sion when they want duties or extra
duties on their products. They simp-
| ly go quietly to Washington and see
the managers-those who know where
the funds came from in 1896 and 1900
that saved the country.
Although the hundreds of products
of the Standard Oil company have
been dutiable as manufactured arti-
cles, vet petroleum appears to have
been unmentioned in tariff acts until
1897. In the original Dingley bill both
crude and refined petroleum were put
on the free list but with the following
proviso:
provided, That if there be import
ed into the United States crude pc
troleum, or the products of crude pc
troleum produced in any coun-
try which imposes a duty on petrole-
um, or its products exported from
the United States, there shall be
levied, paid, and collected upon said
crude petroleum or its products so
imported 40 per centum ad valorem."
This practically made all of the
Standard Oil products dutiable at 10
per cent for all countries which eX
port these products impose an import
duty on them. But it was not enough.
The friends of this trust in the SEN
ate (and they are not scarce) changed
the duty from 40 per cent TO a duty
equal to the duty imposed by such
foreign country"
Russia produces about as much pc
troleum as does this country. and
both together produce "a per cent of
the worlds production. As Russian
producers are the chief competitors
of the Standard Oil company it is the
Russian duty on petroleum and its
products which measures the tariff
protection of the Standard Oil com
pany.
The Russian import duty on kero-
sene .,benzine, gasoline, naphtha and all
distilled products of petroleum, is one
ruble (51H cents per pood (36
pounds). This is IA cents per pound,
or about 10 to - cents per gallon ON
the import products of petroleum.
The average annual export price of
refined oil is about 6h cents per gal
lon. Russian oil being inferior, is
worth 1 or 2 cents less per gallon. Ii
is evident. then, that the principal
product of the Standard Oil company
is protected by duties of from $50 to
$50 per cent. The duty on paraffin.
nh In x.ls eIine etc is r.lllnIns. 1nnl. |