The Washington times., 1909-03-26
MANY NECESSITIES
RATED AS LUXURIES
Ad Valorem Duty Imposed
Upon Spices and Other
Condiments.
Continued from First Page,)

here. Now, the Payne bin proposes
that hereafter II shall pay not only
the present II cents specific duty,
but also 80 per cent ad Valorem duty
TO about cents. or 63 per cent. At
present the Speclnc duty figures out
S2.15 per cent ad ValOrem. Ii is to be
approximately doubled It Will make
cayenne pepper cost the user, by the
time the various profits on successive
investments are added in, something
ike 40 per cent more than it now
costs. On that one item the Payne bill
will collect $4,000 to the Govern
ment TeVenUe-and take two or three
times as much away from the people
Who eat cayenne.
Other Spices.
But this isn't a circumstance com
pared 20 what the Payne bill does to
other spices. OF Cassia and cassia
buds, cinnamon, cloves. ginger. mace.
imports about 5O,000,O00 pounds a
year Practically every item in this
list is now admitted free of duty. The
Payne bill, finding that all this is the
luxury of the rich, places an ad va
loren duty of 50 per cent on it. Half
a million of revenue or thereabOutS
viii be prOduced-and again the
people will pay the revenue and the
successive profits incident to its col
lection.
There is another series of items in the
same schedule OF the Payne bill, which
VIII interst at least the housewife who
IS just learning that the things she
has been wont 10 regard as necessaries
are hereafter to be claSsed-and taxed
as luXurleS- This list - eludeS clcOa, of
which over SO,O000CO ds are imported
annually II is ,,I the free list
1t isn't produced IN this country. It is
used by practically all the people. The
Payne bill places a duty Of 4 cents per
pound on IL, and expects to raise over
S3,200,O00 revenue from IL. Now, cocoa
costs the importer about 10 cents per
pound. 1t will cost him hereafter a.
and he, like the other importers, will
nave TO add profit on account Of his
investment in payment of the duty;
the wholesaler and the retailer will in
IN have to get a proportionate
it for the ike reason. and by the
---!e the consumer get his cocoa, the
>5.2OO000 Of additional duty will have
Swelled to 6.eoOO00 and probably con-
siderable more of added expense to the
user.
Powdered Chocolate.
Take, again, powdered chocolate.
The duty on il is raised from to %
cents per pound. And cocoa butter, of
which almost 35GO.O0o pounds is i'm
ported Its duty is raised from 31k TO
5i3 cents per pound
These are just a few samples from a
single schedule to indicate how the
Pay9e bill will increase the cost of eat
IN the country, all of whom eat. hey
90 II pretty regularly. when they are
able They viii pay tribute 10 the
Payne plan of revenue-raising every
time they eat.
But meanwhile the Payne bill removes
the duties from works OF art, and viii
allow many millions Of dollars worth
or paintings and Statuary now owned
Dy Americans abroad. to come into the
country free of duty
These and many other items in the
new trin bill are getting attention these
days from all parts OF the country. The
items mentioned here are of course
merely samples. The taxes imposed on
tea and coffee constitute vastly greater
1mposiuons Of burden on the cost Of Iiv-
ing TO all the people. But there are so
many Of the same sort that IL would be
a long and difficult task TO analyZe the
effect which the measure would have on
the cost Of living Protests are coming
from all parts Of the country, especially
rrom women and their organizations
against the tendency to impose the bur
zen or new revenue measured on the
household The women wonder why tea
goes Up while beer doesn't: why coffee is
TO cost more. but not beer