Rock Island Argus., 1903-01-27

to cut off from its benefits all who
may wish to import in small quanti-
ties. and who lack both the money to
advance. for no telling how long. in
payment of duties and knowledge of
the processes by which the money can
be recovered within a reasonable time
if at all.
1T is device also by which the
secretary of the treasury or his sub
ordinates may promote the interests
of favorites by making the rebates to
them promptly. while others are kept
waiting six months more or less.
Thus the device doubly favors the
formation of combines to limit i'm
portations and maintain extortionate
prices-first by restricting importa-
tions to men who have plenty of
money, and second. by freezing out
many who have money by official fa-
voritism.
I'm the second place. it is a device
which may easily defeat the ostensi-
BILE purpose-the relief of consumers.
Where the importers pay the duty,
and the number of importers is linn
tied in the ways above indicated the
duty is more than likely to
be added to the price and
paid by the consumer, while the
rebate. when it is paid, goes down into
I he pockets of the importers as so
much additional profit.
I'VE have seen how this works i'm
many Instances, notably in the cele-
brated hat trimming cases. where the
goods were made to pay very high
duty under one classification. and the
importers later obtained Il new classi-
| ficatiOn and much lower rate
| through the courts. The importers
secured a rebate of some $1,000. 900 in
| these cases after the goods had all
been sold to the consumers with the
highest duties added to the prices
| paid by them.
The importers made all that clean
additional profit and consumers got
no benefit whatever. Not improbably
the like will be the case under the
coal rebate bill. No doubt that the
bill provides for rebate instead of
the simple suspension of the duty in
order to shave to the coal men their
protection while pretending to do
some thing for the benefit of the con-
sumers.
The second section in like manner
takes the crooked instead of the
straight way. 1t does not repeal the
'smuggled' clause of paragraph 417
under which practically all coal is
made dutiable. 1t merely says it shall
not be construed so as TO make an
thracite dutiable. Since the clause is
left standing and must be supposed to
mean something. the secretary of the
treasury may feel bound to make it
mean something by classifying BIZ
luminous the coal we have been late
| ly importing as anthracite.
whether the bill is intended or cal
culated to afford relief to consumers
or not. it certainly makes a great
pretenSe of affording relief. 1t is,
therefore a most distinctive admis-
sion that the duty on coal is at once
"a tax on consumers and shelter of
| monopoly.
| IF ii is not a miserable fraud
throughout it is an admission
that our coal producers can survive
for year without cent of protec-
tion. If they can survive "A year they
can survive ten years or a hundred
years without protection.
1T follows that but for determi-
nation to shelter monopoly and eN-
tortion our republican statesmen
would have made their relief act much
shorter thus: Hereafter coal of
every kind shall be admitted from for
free of all duty"