Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-01
McCleary Inclined to Favor a
Duty on Coffee.
ITS PROBABLE EFFECT
WOULD ENCOURAGE INDUSTRY
IN INSULAR POSSESSIONS.
Lowering the Tariff to Induce I'M
portation Does Not Appeal
to Him.

Representative McCleary of Minnesota
probable chairman OF the committee on
appropriations in the next House, has been
consulting treasury officials and documents
for the purpose of informing himself fully
as to the condition of the governments ex-
chequer. The heavy deficit that is prac-
tically certain this fiscal year calls for
careful consideration by House leaders Of
both parties.
Ny McCleary has been In. Europe for q
number OF months and has not given deep
thought to the measures that will be neces-
sary to correct the deficit evil, but he Is
inclined to turn to Il tax upon coffee the
best plan II investigation shows that eco
nomical pairing of expenditures cannot
bring the outgo within the income.
Four Important Questions.
porter for The Star. lis that this deficit
problem will have to be approached in four
ways:
Il. How far can we retrench In our ex-
penditures without Gripping the business
and growth of the government? l mean
by that a reduction of expenditures along
sane and reasonable lines.
- How much of our present eXpendi-
lures are temporary and will. after a year
or so. no longer become part of the expense
account of the government thereby giving
us an idea of how permanent are the pres
ent expenditures and how long they are
likely to remain that way:
% What are expenditures on &C
count of permanent Investments and now
long will these continue?
~ If. after all these have been consia-
cred there still remains Il serious diHerehce
between the total receipts and the to.ai
expenditures, then look Tor the pest way W
increase the revenues.
'If a sensible man finds that the OK
De nditurcs of his house or place OF busi-
ness exceed the income ne Will FIRST tur.l
to see where and how he can decrease the
expenditures without depriving his home
o. the essentials or without Gripping ms
business. After he has done that he Will
next turn to the best method of increasing
lis income. Our investigations may snow
US that it will not be necessary to increase
our revenues at ALL and that proper econ
Cmy will enable us TO get along with he
sources of revenue now available.
Remedies Suggested.
''In case this is impossible there are many
ways talked of to bring in more money
Some of them may be mentioned briefly:
l. Revise the tariff in such IA way as to
reduce the duties on some articles and
thereby cause their Importation. resulting
in larger customs income for the govern
ment. .. The imposition of taxes on bank
checks stocks. bonds. deeds. mortgages.
patent medicines. etc, as was done during
the Spanish war g. Additional taxes upon
tobacco whisky. beet. etc 4. A tax on
coffee. Various other Ideas.
The first proposition would be the last
one OF all that would appeal to my mind
II the people of a country are to be en-
couraged to send their money abroad for
goods merely that the government may
have a larger income we probably would
not continue the prosperity We have had
so many years. That Idea is fallacious and
ought not to be attempted except as
49, I,aG md cfYcc pei inn m
not prepared now to express a decided opin-
ion. As TO the third | am not definitely
committed. but II seems to be that al
these articles are at present bearing their
share of taxation burden, inasmuch as
main part of the revenue of the government
is derived therefrom. As to the fourth
suggestion ! am thrashing Ii over in my
mind and there is something that appeals
TO me about II. OF course. l may change
my mind later, but ] believe that a tax on
coffee would be a great thing for this
country.
The Duty on Coffee.
During the civil war We imposed a duty
OF cents a pound on coffee. A few years
after the war We reduced the duty to 3
cents a pound and In the 70s the duty was
abolished altogether. 1t didn't save the
people a cent. Brazil. from which country
get about all our coffee, Immediately
placed an export duty of about 8 cents
p"uhu on Gomez with the result thal the
consumers of this country paid much for
81 as they did before Since those days
there have come into our possession some
countries la which splendid coffee can be
grown. l refer to Porto Rico and the Phil
ippines. If we place duty of to ) cents
a pound on coffee we will encourage the
raising OF all need In the islands that
belong TO us. and | would not be surprised
TO see Brazil take off her export duty on
that article so as to prevent home compe-
1itinu. Brazil reanS benefit of mil
lions year on her export duty, and the
people of the United States pay il into Bra
Zlrs treasury. To tax coffee would be in
line with the protective tarin policy of the
republicans. which all of us believe to be
right and proper. II we will give coffee
raising in Porto Rico and the Philippines
Il chance We will in a few years make every
pound of coffee we use. and probably have
some to spare to send abroad. Porto Rico
produces the finest coffee in the world"