Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-04-09

60 and fine-cut chewing tobacco or cis,.
cites described by law shall be permit,
to have packed in or attached to or cor
nected with them amy articles or th.ng
Whatsoever other than the manufacturers
wrapper and labels. the internal r.ven,,SS
stamp, and the TOBACCO or cigarette ~
spectiyely,, put up therein on which tsy
IL required to be paid under the inter-
revenue laws; nor shall there he am
to or branded, stamped, marked writIsn
or printed upon SAID packages or IN
contents any promise or offer o. or am.
order or certificate for. any Gift n,iaS
premium, payment or reward '~e'
That broke up the prize business which
remained in a state of Collapse till JIM, !
1877, when the DingIcy clause was 80
celled and the following was suhstj,,',an-
No packages of manufactured tobsc1aa'
snuff. cigars Or cigarettes prescribed S.,
law. shall be permitted 10 have packed ~
or ATTACHED to. or connected with tn
nor affixed to. branded stamped man.
written or printed upon them. am T,araI'
certificate or instrument purpor:Inp 10 ~.
or represent ticket, chance share or in
terest in, or dependent upon. the even, -,
"a lottery, nor any Indecent or irnnoroi
picture, representation, print or wnrds.
and any violation Of the provisions q;
this paragraph shall subject th. nffa,doti
70 the penalties and punishments IRA.
vlded by section thirty four hundred ana
hfty-six of the Revised Statutes.
This provision. IL was argued world
avert the gambling and other eviIe .,
which the Dingley paragraph was aimed
without Icing so sweeping and posgift,.
oppressive. At once new traffic in III.
miumS sprang into being in conn.ctinr
with the products of the trust: IN nacL
ages Of tobacco and cigarettes wern a.
serted advertising COUPONS. and aronn1
the body of each cigar was slipped a na
per ring: clearing mousse in the gulse OF
q tag company was set up for Inc RI
demption of these evidences or nurrb.sa
which We're made interchangeable IN ,
scale OF comparative values. and "a
deemed in quantities with a variety N
Articles. ranging from objects of consid.
cradle worth down to cheap Jack knives
\ year or more ago. nearly all the irda
pendent manufacturers of tobacco AMI
,shrs We're in arms against the WHOLE
idea. Now the bulk of them seem To nav.
Withdrawn their opposition Yer the
hearings which the committee have had Z
on the bill indicate that the same argI,-
i incnts Wiich were used in the last Con-
SresS are Just as potent now. The most
practical of these is that the premium
system is running to such extremes that
competition will soon consist wholly in
originating novelties in the way of prizeS
or in the method of distribution. and that
the cost of all this illegitimate warfare
comes out of the consumer who ALREADY
pays, at the elaSt, five per cent. more than
ne need for his goods 1t Is further urged
that as the proportion of tobacco traffic
Influenced by the premium system il
somewhere between ninety and ninety
seven per cent. this Introduction into til.
trade an element hostile to the ,nainten-
anCe of high standards of quality: that
1t encourages the eXtravagant and iniuri-
Gus consumption cf tobacco by an i'm.
mature class who ought to be shielded
from il; and that ii is an incentive to dis
honesty on the part Of statesmen. who not
only push off trust-made goods upon liz.
norant customers. but actually steal the
rings from the cigars and the tags from
tobacco plugs before wrapping I'D q pur-
chase, unless watched.
There are constitutional questions in
voired. nevertheless, in 50 radical a meas
ure rs that proposed by Mr.. Tawney. II
may be essential to the efficient exercise
OF the taxing power that Congress shall
de allowed to prescribe what shall go into
or upon. a taxable package of tobacco. Il
may even go SO far as to forbid the re- 9
turn to the manufacturer of any STAMPED
box or wrapper which might possibly be
used again in violation of law But
whether its powers extend to the point Of
preventing the offer or gift by any in
dependent person or company for. say.
a collection of the labor certificates
which the proposed act authorizes. is
quite another question. IF Congress is GO
ing into this sort of prohibition as 4 mat.
ter of pure principle. why should it not
make the business through and exclude
al kinds of tags. labels and certificates
even those that brand a manufacturer as
duly obedient to the trade unions ?-BOs-
ton Transcript.