Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-24
Ways and Means Committee
May Add Five Cents to Duty.
REVENUE WILL BE NEEDED
But the Man Who Consumes It
Would Have It to Pay.
PORTO RICO WOULD BENEFIT
And Brazil Might Be Brought to
Terms as to ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
cal Schedules Considered.

The plain people will begin to sit up
and take notice of the tariff revision work
OF Congress pretty soon, according to
present prospect.
Thus far the man in the street prob
ably has not paid much attention to the
work Of the ways and means committee.
He likely has looked upon it as something
technical. relating to steel bilets, angles,
beams and rails; or pottery in the rough.
decorated or porcelained; shoddy, burlaps,
or other commercial commodities In which
the ordinary citizen was not vitality inter-
ested.
But the tariff revisionists are now get
ting ready to strike the breakfast table:
likewise the midday lunch with the fra
grant accompaniment OF the slab OF pie,
together with the post-prandial cup that
cheers, but does not inebriate.
More Tax on Coffee.
1t is proposed to put a customs duty Of
b cents a pound on coffee.
1t is a certainty that the man In the
street-or rather the man at the table
will pay this additional cents.
The coffee which now the housekeeper
buys for 25 cents a pound Will retail for
50 cents. and those who are able to buy
3S-cent coffee would pay 43 cents for the
same, II this duty goes into effect. That
will be q case in which the tariff will most
assuredly be not only local ISSUE" as
Gen. Hancock termed 1t, but personal
issue to every good provider.
This proposition to increase the duty on
enc necessary of life may come as rude
shock to some who have been clamoring
for tariff revision Perhaps they construed
the term tariff revision to mean tariff re-
duction. No doubt a great many have
that impression. gained from speeches OF
the last campaign when every Ill that the
body polite Is heir to was ascribed to the
wicked. nonstrous and tyrannical customs
tariff.
The demand for tariff reduction Is to be
met by Congress, in good faith, but the
ways and means committee is confronted
by condition. and not theory" as
Grover Cleveland once put it, in this very
same connection. II the tariff Is re-
duced upon some items 1t Will have to De
increased upon others, or Uncle Sam Will
have to curtail his expenditures. 1t takes
money and lot of 1t to run this govern
ment and that money has to be raised by
taxation.
Big Deficit in Prospect.
BY June 80 next, in the estimate of the
Secretary Of tho Treasury, the govern
ment will face n deficit in it's revenues
amounting to $114,OO0,O0O. That is. Uncle
Sam will be short in his income compared
with his outgo to just that amount If
uation 1t is the duty of the ways and
means committee to suggest to Congress
a remedy.
1t Is estimated that duty of cents
pound on coffee would bring In about
$4,000. 600 a year. based upon the imports
of this commodity in 1903. That would
be quite q tidy little sum toward wiping
out the deficit.
But there are other reasons which com
mend this proposed tariff on coffee. 1t
would stimulate the production of coffee
In Porto Rico, one of our insular posses
stons, which produces good coffee that
comes in free of duty. OF course, in the
long run II Porto Rican coffee supplanted
the Brazilian and Central American bean
to great extent the revenue from GUS
toms duties would be decreased accord
ingly.
Brazil May See Light.
Another reason advanced for this in
crease of duty is that 1t would suggest
to Brazil the adyisabi1ity of entering
into reciprocal relations with the United
States by which she would transfer some
of her trade from Europe to this country.
At the present time we send annually
about $100.OO0,000 to Brazil to pay for
products purchased from her. Brazil
only buys $19,OO0.OOO worth of goods
from us and the rest Of our money she
sends to Europe for the purchase Of
supplies.
1t is argued that when Brazil finds
her coffee exports to this profitable
American market cut down she may
decide to talk the case over and buy
some Of our Yankee notions. steel, farm
machinery, -four. boots and shoes and
other North American commodities.
However while all these negotiations
are progressing the man In the street
or at the table will be paying that
cents a pound on his coffee and will be
taking decided interest in the tariff
question. Watch him, from now on, as
he keeps his eye on the ways and
means committee.
Changes in Chemical Duties.
The chemical schedule OF the tariff, on
which the subcommittee of the ways and
means committee is now considering
changes. is not likely to be radically at
fected by the revision of the present tar
IN law. Requests for changes in the pres
emit rates of duty are principally for GER
tain special articles and not for the sched-
ule as a whole Those seeking increases
are about numerous as those who have
argued for decreases.
Chloro-sulphonic acid. now assessed Is
per cent ad va'orem. used In the manufac-
ture OF saccharfne. and licorice paste used
in preparing chewing tobacco are wanted
on the free list by certain manufacturers.
Lower duties were asked for glue borax
and Tactic acid. strong protest has
been made against the placing Of a duty
on synthetic carnphor Both increases and
reductions are sought on certain extracts
for dyeing and tanning. A number Of
manufacturers want an equal duty to ap-
ply on all these extracts
More Tariff on These.
The committee has been asked to place
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