Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-12-06
Want DUTY ON COFFEE
PORTO RICO DELEGATE
SHOWS JUSTICE OF IT
PRICE OF COFFEE TO CONSUMER
NOT REDUCED BY FREE
TRADE-wHAT HAWAII
WANTS.

4
Senor Antonio Mariani, VINO represent
ed Porto Rico at the International Cof-
fec Conference recently held in This
city. the convention ceas I'd its ,abors
without having accomplished any def
mite result. The problem OF reg'ilat-
ing the supply and demand was left 10
be solved by future conference which
Brazil is invited to convene ds soon
as possible In Sac Paulo, the center of
itn coffee producing district.
While expressing his hope that the
coffee producing countries may arrive
at some solution OF the pr,,aicm az this
future conference. meanciinc, Seror
Mariani says. his country, which is
a part Of the United States, no matter
how small a part 1t may be, is left 10
suffer and face ultimate ruin.
He believed 1t is incumbent on the
United States, by all means its duty, to
protect this bit of territory and save
II from that ruin which threatens its
coffee industry.
He cites the fact that the sugar and
tobacco industries of the United States
are protected by an import duty and he
can see no reason why coffee should
not be protected by a similar duty, ex-
cept that sugar and tobacco were pro-
duced in the United States before the
acquisition Of Porto Rico.
The argument is used against put
ting duty on coffee, that It would af-
feet the interest of 20, ,000. 900 people in
order to favor the interest of very
few, but the fact that these few, repre-
sented by the people Of Porto Rico. are
Obliged to obtain their goods from the
United States, owing to the high pro-
tective tariff on foreign imports, is lost
sight Of
When the island belonged TO Spain,
the planters pair their labor In Span
ism silver and could obtain their sup
plies from European markets at a
much lower price than at present, and
consequently they could produce their
coffee much cheaper than they can pro-
duce II now under the protective laws
OF the United States. which obliges
them to make their purchases from the
United States, and pay their labor In
the equivalent of American gold.
Consequently Porto Rico finds her
self In the position of having to COM
pete with the Latin American coun-
tries in the production Of her principal
crop without enjoying the economic
privileges of those countries
To-, fprp,ar uaaro tho I.ttaa c.u.x.
collected an import duty on coffee, but
upon the representation that coffee was
not luxury but necessity to the la
boring classes. and that 1t should be
placed within their reach at as low a
price as possible, the duty WIS removed
since when 1t has been free of duty.
But the removal of this import duty
did not cheaper the product to ,he peo-
pie of the United States at all, for the
producing countries. especially Brazil,
took advantage Of this removal Of the
import duty in the United States TO
put on an export duty in their coun-
tries, thus collecting a revenue at their
end equaling that formerly cole tied
In the United States. The result Is
the people Of the United States pay the
same price for coffee as formerly.
In view of this result, Senior Mariani
believes that II the United States were
to protect the Porto Rican coffee by
means of duty on foreign coffeos, the
Government would only be aiding by
this protection the coffee growers Of
Porto Rico, but those countries which