The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-03-31
THE SENATE MAY
TAKE THE DUTY
From COFFEE
Export Duty From Brazil Can.
not be Suspended by That
Nation
MEXICO COULD OvERSIOCK
AMERICAN LEAD Market
The Cost Of Raising Sheep Has In.
creased Until the Present Tariff Is
Completely Consumed in the Diff.
ference Here and Abroad,

Completely Consumed in the DIFF.
ference Here and Abroad.
Washington, March 31-The indica-
tlons today are strong that rnle
Will be brought into the house next
Monday fixing April 10 as the date
for voting on the Payne tariff bill. 1t
is understood the rule will provide
for committee amendments and the
opening of the lumber, tea and coffee
schedules to amendments for placing
these articles on the free list,
Devoting his entire remarks largely
to discussion of the lead and wool
schedules Representative Hamer, of
Idaho, in the house today discussed
the tariff from the western stand
point. He deplored the proposed pro-
vision to permit the entry from the
Philippines free Of duty of 100000
tons Of sugar as establishing a bad
precedent and declared that the pro-
posed tariff reform may mean free
lumber, which, he said would be
concession to cult of so called po-
litical philosophers, but would not
mean a dollar in reduction to the
consumer. In advocacy of continued
protection for lead, Mr.. Hamer said:
THE most formidable competitor
we have in the production of lead, be-
cause of accessibility. including cheap
ness OF transportation to our markets
the abundance and low cost of labor
and the unusually large values Of sill
yer contents in the ore is Mexico.
I do not think it is an exaggeration
to say that Mexico has within her
borders the richest lead mines now
operating in the world.
"At the present time the lead
mines of that country, owned and
controlled by single American cor
poration, are producing 5000 tons per
month or production of 10000 tons
per annum in excess of our own"
That the cost Of production in the
west Is steadily increasing each year
and that it would seem absurd to
contend that lead mining can be pro-
f1tably prosecuted in this country
without the aid Of a protective tarif,
We're contended by Mr.. Hamer. He
argued that the claim that the So
called lead trust" fixes the prices of
lead was untrue; that the American
Smelling and Refining company re-
fined only fifty per cent of the total
production of lead in the United
States.
Asserting that the cost of raising
sheep has increased to such an ex-
tent that the present duty on wool
has been completely absorbed. Mr..
Hamer said that the protection af-
forded by the present tariff is more
than Offset.
Mr.. Hamer said that the cry of a
trust" had been raised also by the
advocates Of free lumber. He as
serted that If he believed in the ex-
istence of lumber trust" or that
the reduction of the present tariff in
lumber would result in lowering the
prices to the consumer he would vote
to put lumber on the free list"
The Coffee Duty.
Recognizing that Brazil is power
less to suspend her export tax on
coffee because for the next several
years at least this tax Is indissolubly
linked with her foreign debt, the SEN
ate committee on finance today de-
cided to strike out of the bill the coun-
tervailing duty proposed. Members of
the committee said today that If the
Payne provision is adopted in effect
It would place duty on coffee i'm
ported from Brazil equal to the export
tax assessed by that country and the
consumer would be compelled to pay
the difference in cost The RESPONSE
bility of such result could not be
shirked. it was said, and congress
would have to answer to the people
for this assessment against q necessity
of life.
Secretary of State Knox sent to the
committee some confidential data sup
piled to him by the Brazilian embassy
in which it was shown beyond contra
dictioR that Brazil, from which coun-
try most OF the coffee used in the Unit
ed States is imported, could not repeal
its export tax as foreign loans were
secured by that tax. Undoubtedly that
information had great deal to do in
aiding the finance committee to reach
it's decision, as the data contradicted
the theory of the house ways and
means committee that. II the counter
vailing duty were adopted. 1t would
force Brazil to remove the export tax
so far as 1t applied to importations
by the United States.
The senate finance committee Is
considering various systems of regu-
lating tariff intercourse with other ma
tions. While the senate committee
has 1t in mind to give the executive a
margin in the application Of rates. as
between friendly and unfriendly coun-