The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-20

reform the Philippines tarin laws Was
 welcomed with great joy by all those
 who have the material interests of the !lipino at heart. Everybody isagreed thet the new tarif law will bring un- | precedented prosperity to the people of | the islands. The only persons who re- gret Its enactment are the represent atives of foreign business houses, most | ly British and German. and that con- stantiy diminishing coterie of native
 politicians who are DO set upon inoe- pendence that they oppose prosperity
 because 1t will reconcile the people to
 the permanence Of American rule. Not all native politicians belong to this class which would cut on It's nose to spite It's face, and the majority of even the independence party is favorable to
 the new tariff.
 The new law gives the Philippines free market in the United States for the principal products of the is- lands--sugar, cigars and tobacco. The limitations set upon the amounts of
 these commodities which may be ad-
 mitted free of duty to the ports of the
 home country, for the time being, do
 not concern the business men or the
 islands. The country does not now
 produce 150,0o0.o00 cigars and 1t will
 number for export even if the Ameri-
 can taste is educated to the enjoyment
 of the aroma of Manilas.
 Three hundred tons of sugar is .
 practically unapproachabie limit for
 the Philippines at this time, as no su-
 gar of e kind salable in the Unfted- States is produced. The tariff law will
 aid to build up genuine sugar indus.
 try of the modern type on the ruins of
 the antiquated system now obtaining
 The imposition of duty on rice in the
 interests of the rice growers of the
 Southern States causes c smile in the Philippines, because the islands do not grow enough rice for their own con-
 sumption and annually import millions of pounds from Indo-Chinaa
 The new tariff law will stimulate the tobacco industry, will bring capital to the Philippines to build up the sugar industry, and will in many other par ticulars give the Fflipinos a chance to compete with other peoples in the com mercial and industrial world upon an approximately equal basis. At the same time, the law is So framed that the revenues of the country will not public improvement inaugurated by the American administration will go forward.
 The law contains revenue feature unique in American law-making ex- perience. The Constitution of the United States inhibits an export tax. But the Philippines. since the earliest days of Castilian rule, have had an ex- port tax on hemp, tobacco, copra and sugar. That experts tax has been re- enacted into the present law, and 1t has been extended to shells. Thus, when he has the amount of this export tax levied on the goods he gets from the Philippines, the American is again reminded that the Constitution does not always follow the flag.
 The retention of these export duties is explained in a most plausible way. It was at one ttime decided to levy a tax on real estate. But only small portion of the land of the islands was profitable enough to permit tax upon 1t. With the alternative of selling nearly all the lands of the Islands at tax sales, 1t was decided to let the law die quiet death. In its stead there was an export tax levied upon the pro- ducts of the land. By the same reas- oning through which the Supreme Court of the United States reached the conclusion that a tax upon rents is a tax upon land, the Philippine govern ment came to the conclusion that tax upon the things that grow on the land, the usufruct from the soil, Is a tax upon the land itself. and therefore an indirect compliance with the land tax statute.
 Hence, under the new act Americans will pay an export tax on the enumer- ated products of the Philippines, while allowing them to come into the United States free of duty. Some assume that the farmers who grow the products Upon which there is levied an export duty are the ones who bear the bur den of the export duties, but most peo- pie think it is the man who buys them. It all depends on the point of view. The export tax upon the commodities coming from the Philippines Is a com paratively light one. On hemp 1t amounts to 76 cents for each 221 pounds. on sugar cents for the same quantity, and 10 cents on copra. On tobacco 1t amounts to Sl.3o for each 221 pounds, and on stems. clippings. and other wastes 50 cents on each like quantity.
 Under the new law the Philippines can enter everything into our ports free. except that if they send us more than 150.000,000 cigars. 100000 gross tons of sugar, 800, 900 pounds of wrap per tobacco and 100000 pounds of filler tobacco 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 Wnlch mas JuSt been repealed the total revenues of the in sular government amounted to about $ll 1000, 900, of which eS,000,000 came through the custom house. It is esti- mated that the new tariff law will cause a shrinkage of @ million dollars in the custom house receipts, by rea- son of the fact that hereafter pro- ducts of the United States will enter the islands free of duty. The internal revenue laws have been amended so as to counterbalance this loss of cus- tom receipts. and the American Com missioners say that the financial con- dition of the Philippine government is such that 1t can stand without embar- rassment the loss of a million dollars year in revenue until such time as the beneficent effects of the new law begin to be felt.
 The hearings on the Philippine tar If bill brought out many interesting points. It was developed that the Fil- ipinos are great users of cigarettes. There are S,00O.000 people In the is- lands, and they smoke Il, ,0000. 900 cigar cites a day If the American people smoked as many In proportion they would consume 35.00O, 100000 of them year. They do not smoke many ci- gars. They use nearly a quart and 8 half of proof spirits a year per capita, as compared with one and third gall Ions per capita by the American peo- pie; yet their liquor has in 1t only about half as much alcohol as ours. The new internal revenue tax on ci- garettes amounts to 50 cents per 1, ,000; at that rate it Ia only half az much