Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-19
AMERICA i'm THE PHILIPPINES
XTX-The New Tariff Laws
BY Frederic j. HaSkin

bacco and 100000 pounds Of filler to-
bacco in any one fiscal year, they must
pay regular duties on the excesses
above those amounts. There is one
other exception-rice. which will not
be admitted without the payment of
the regular duty.
Under the law which has just been
repealed the total revenues of the in
sular government amounted to about
$11,000,000, of which $S,000,000 came
through the customs house. 1t is es-
timated that the new tariff law will
cause shrinkage of a million dollars
in the customs house receipts, by rea-
son of the fact that hereafter products
of the United States will enter the
islands free Of duty. The internal
revenue laws have been amended so as
tc counterbalance this loss of customs
receipts, and the American commits
sioners say that the financial condition
of the Philippine government Is such
that 1t can stand without embarrrass-
ment the loss of n million dollars
year in revenue until such time as the
beneficient effects of the new law be-
gin to be felt.
The hearings on the Philippine tariff
bill brought out many interesting
points 1t was developed that the Fill
pinos are great users of cigarettes
There are 100000 people in the islands
and they smoke II, 100000 cigarettes
day. If the American people smoked as
many in proportion they would consume
thirty-five billion of them year. They
do not smoke many cigars. They use
nearly a quart and a half of PROOF
spirits a year per capita, as compared
with one and a third gallons per capita
by the American people, yet their
liquor has in 1t only about half as
much alcohol as ours. The new in
ternal revenue tax on cigarettes
amounts to so cents per thousand; at
that. rate it is only half as much as the
tax in Porto Rico, and a third as much
as the tax under the Payne law.
The Americans in the Philippines say
that the new tariff relations with the
islands will constitute no menace to
American industries So far as the
farming question is concerned, John S.
Hord, the collector of the internal rev.
enue for the islands, says that after
travelling over tho whole archipelago ne
is persuaded that patch farming VIII
continues that during a recent trip in
the farming sections he found i've
siyths of the live stock dead from RIM
derpest and surra, the farms mortgaged
to the last cent: and every condition
for profitable agriculture wanting. He
says that the limits of free importa-
tions of hemp, tobacco and sugar are
not likely to be exceeded for many
year to come. He doubts II 1t can be
brought up even to the standard of the
Spanish regime in full decade
With all that the American people
have done for the Philippines they to-
day get only a scant sixth of the trade
of the islands England and the
French East Indies get 3S per cent of
their trade, while the United States
gets only 16 per cent. Under the new
tariff it will be different. American
goods will have considerable advan-
tage when they meet the foreign goods
at the customs houses. They will find
the doors of the Philippine tariff wall
swinging ajar for them, while foreign
goods will have to pay to get in.
Cotton goods, the largest single item of
import into the islands. furnishes
notable instance The duties that will
be levied on foreign goods at the GUS
tom house will be more than sufficient
to handicap such wares to the extent
of any advantage that they may other
wise have over American goods, and
It is believed the result will be great
cotton trade in the Philippines.
The cigarmakers of the United States
are fearful that the free admission of
15o. 900 900 cigars into this country will
upset the wage scales of the American
cigar workmen. Tariff experts do not
think so: but elaborate precautions are
to be taken to make sure that what ci-
gars do come are safe to use. The
Filipino cigar factories will at all times
be under careful inspection, and cigar
makers suffering from dangerous dis
eases will not be permitted to work on
cigars intended for export to the United
states. Each box of cigars will be so
labeled and tagged that the consumer
NAV know that the contents have been
produced under safe and sanitary con-
ditions.
1t will require some time, Of course.
for the benefits of the new tariff reg
ulations to become apparent in the
everv day business of the islands. Not
even new tariff laws make prosperity
out of thin air in an instant. The law
does. however assure the F'ilipinos
of a market for the products of their
fields and factorfes-something they
have not had since the Stars and Stripes
first waved over Fort San Diego. The
new law is the greatest of the many
good gifts which the Americans have
given to the Filipinos, and 1t is the
crowning event in the career of Will
liam H. Taft as the guardian angel of
the little brown brother"
TomorrOw-"America In the Philippines"
XX-"The Native COnstabulaTy."