New-York tribune., 1908-12-28
THE DUTY on COFFEE
DTvergent Fissrs of Those Who
Fq7or Specific or I'D VoIorem Dutu.
-F-orr t1e T-sl,,,re R,,-ea,, J

washington. Dec. s7-Discussion Of the plan to
ussce 3 specific duty Of cents on coffee in the
rex tariff bill has developed several divergent
views The assertion that such q dutx would
zreld large revenue seems to be undisputed in
<zc-. the statistics CT coffee Importation warrant
1hs conclus,on that each cent OF specific duty on
7ou-5 of coffee viii yield Al annual revenue Of
saa0aa. that the proposed DUTY OF cents .
pound would yield 3 revenue Of SO 0o0ooo year.
That such duty would materially stimulate the
rroducJion OF coffee IN the insuIar possessions is
sroUrly upheld by some persons chief Of xnora is
-utio LsrrInaEz- Resident Commissioner from
Porto Rico and IS strongly controverted by others
rcs less interested in the insular possessions
The fixing Of specific duty IS condemned by
srlu others economic and political grounds
TEsse maintain that It Should be an ad valorem
6lcy Of say. 50 per cent which would Distribute
- burden according 10 the ability Of the con
s--cer - pay without materially IesseninE the
rsve1ue. and would obviate an inir7icaI political
e-ect which they faink would follow Ievytng q
EPecldc duty
The necessity OF additional revenue has already
beer sU11c1enIly elaborated n the columns Of The
T-ibEne. s-d The views Of Commissioner Iarrfnaea
hare beer SCI forth The arguments advanced h
ttose who maintain that in addition 70 reven1e
producing feature cf the proposed duty there would
he much Incidental production the insulaT
possessions are worthy q some attention. It is
trEe6 thar thls country now sends to Brazil ar-
prozi1atey s-ooccoooo year. almost entirely for
cc1ee and rubber. OF which than tIs.-
ef1Gt9 comes hack for the purchase Of American
goods whereas the exports 20 Porto Rico equal
TIE imports from that island. Hawaii purcha ses
-ro-, This country everything imported except
tain japanese products and fertilizers. uitrates.
eTcs which this country cannot supply. and i'm
Do-rs from and the exports the Philippines are
To-- about equal But they declare that the
F-l1prl-ss now import from other countries
chiefly Great Britain. goods to the amount of
douhie 1ne value Of those bought IN the United
States and that with free trade with The islands
which IS regarded assured. the other 81 1-s per
cent Of Philippine imports could Be supplied by
th-s country
Z Is pointed out that the exports OF Philippine.
CcEes st ore time reached the aggregate OF
3 600 for the years 1sSz 1855 Certain insect
Ead fungus pests then practically destroyed the in
6-E--y- but the obstacles encountered IN
JsTs- and there the scientific work Of the govern
--e1- experiment stations revealed remedy which
has since been applied successfully. Z IS reason
sble - assume that these pests could be ss ef-
fec-i-ElE co-nba1sG n the Philippines The quality
~ rhe Philippines coffee vas particularly fine.
r1z-- regarding i as equal 70 Java and it
brought the vicinity Of 10 cents q pound in TIE
Islands must have been % h.gb grade. The cor
re-roz that the imposition Of any considerable
6-y co1ree brought into the United States from
g. foreign nations would materially stimulate the
tu6Csr-v The tnsular possessions is supported ~
s--ik-E- 7 not conclusive arguments but there
Sc some vel Informed officials who take the oppo-
STE view
= Is urged b- these that the co,z71rnp+ion Of
cctfse = governed b. taste rather than price and
INK C1lT z duty which would prove almost pro
-ta-r-~e v-o1-d result n educating Americans
over, -Lst B-azl now imposes 2 consi6era bic ex-
Tor 6-ry IN coffee, and while the imposition Of an
--rC-1 duty would divert this revenue from the
E-zzl1z- treasury 70 that of the United States u
7-u= operate automatically 50 10 lower the price
~ --e Brazilian product % enable II II compete
rs present with that Of Porto Rico Again.
r is rot--=d out that The Cuban reciprocity treaty
fsE obtained for Porto PI-o materially higher
r--es fer coffee Of Which that island now supplies
zh7lr 2a@r19J9 pounds. or o-e-haIf Of Clba's i'm
ro-r Cnder 1le Cuban treaty the Porto Rican
ro-=e ENJOYS d-Terenrial OF y per cent TO
r=--5 = pound-pracricellv al of which. II IL
=s--e5. Is en7oved b. the Porto Ricans The strhns
highly favored coffee q Porto Rico Is preferred in
EUbs Those Who believe that Jhe tariff would
a1r-d Itttle beneft 70 Porto Rico urge that the
t-hzc treaty Ds srne11ed that Coffee would
-=~e -hs highest diHe-eutiaI4n per cent-which. II
IS -lz5--z1ned- Cuba would be II position 70
while zhe Increased profit would prove Of great
e=-=6r % TIA Porto Ricaus-
E-perrs ca Philippine affairs maintain that the
rcpe OF building ~ the coffee industry n 1hs
-1toeaEo Is ch1-uer1czL They insist that. while the
-1a-1c conditions are favorable 10 its production.
zss1du1ty which necessary combat the insect
s16 fungus pests IS wholly foreign 70 the FILIPINO
aiding that h Is TOO slack n his methods
s16 100 ezsily discouraged 70 raise z crop n The
fzoe of such Obstacles would confront him and
are successfully overcome IT Java While there
* -ezzo- fo- che belief thar Industry might he
d=-eloped = Hawai- 1t least II 80 tsr IS SOL and
-'t-zzuic conditions are concerned the industry
-Ls-e has never assumed very large proportions.
z-E u Rrzl --o-ld still continue supply the
bulk O TIE American trads through the expedient
- -sduced export duty the effect on Hawaii
z11Id naturally b the =su1s IS on Porto Ricn-
EszeH hzs had Of course, the advantage offered
~ -s Cuban treaty. but has not thus far great
r z-1uU-s-ed the industry. EaTats eEportatlon
- co1Eee has exceeded 2 80 40 pounds
These who urge a vzlo-eu1 duty. instead OF z
rr-czEc 6-v- point the material difference hs-
rEeen -ne Price q the high grade co1ees and t1aI
= -he 1c- g-a6e. The wholesale PRICE of Porto
Kan co4<es II New York is around Z cents z
rcu-z- o Java about 1sz cents. Of sJanoaro no
- cents: OF Brazil fair to prime * cents
While admitting The difficulty Of the equitable
szsssz-e-- o. zn vaIorem dUtv and The induce
--e-- 70 fraud they maintain that II would Be Z
v-s-.fesr Injustice impose a d-ry which VouL1
=r1o1--r u nearly 100 per cent OF the cc-ee con
r-r,ed bv Cke poorer classes, While thai consumer
NJ those far better able 70 pay would be taxed less
-Ez- g 1-S uer cent They submit that 1ne cu1y
you-5 be sdds6 70 the cf the coffee b. Ihe III
o--z- -tz- he job5er and The retailer would eacn
zlcuz-e his profit the original cost e-1o I1s ctIF
zrd that n rhe end The burden o. the consumer
z-o -ow BUYS z coffee for from B 20 . cents re-
-sN would be trordinsrs and would result IL max
ny -he rz-11 bill and ths party rssPonslois tor II
5e-scedEy unpopular with class U-nlcn contrns
lsrze peroz,Lzgs the votes cast