The Washington times., 1913-03-24
CITRUS FRUIT TARIFF
WILL CAUSE BAT TIE
Florida Delegates Have Worked
Valianty to Preserve Pres
ent Rate on Imports.

OHc VI t1t UdIlIes
scheduled for the coming session OF
Congress, it became known today, will
be that to be waged before the WAYS
and Means Committee against reducing
the tariff rates on citrus fruit.
The decision of the committee will be
of especial interest to Washington, owing
to the unusually large quantity of grape
fruit. oranges, and lemons consumed
here.
1t is understood that the committee
will cut in half the duty on imported
oranges, and will lift entirely the duty
on incoming lemons. This will be done
in spite OF the work of William Chase
Temple, OF Tampa. Fla, representing
the Florida Citrus Exchange. who has
worked valiantly for the retention of
existing rates, and who has made a
a favorable impression on the commit
tee.
Permit the present duty to remain
for five years" ne declared. ''and at the
expiration of. that time. you may cut in
half the duty At the end of another
five years, the entire duty may be lifted
By that time the Florida aid Southern
growers will be in a position TO COM
pete with the outside world. fairly and
sQuarely."
Watch Tariffs.
Three big citrus fr,ait producing coun-
tries, Italy, Spain. and Palestine. stand
ready tc erter and assert possession
of the American markets the moment
tariffs are lowered or removed. These
three countries are among the greatest
citr.Is producers OF tie world. and are
favored by extremely cheap lahor,
cheap land, cheap material. and yielG.
Even with the present tariff restric-
tions. these three countries ship to the
United States annually in competition
with home grown fruits, mililons ..
cases of oranges, lemons, lines ard
grape fruit. Aside from their big pro-
duction are the less extensive citrus
groves of q half dozen or more other
countries in both the Eastern and West
ern hemispheres, that would be given
access to the American markets by 4.
lowering of the duties. Jamaica, Cuba.
and even Japan and China have estab-
lished citrus fruit industries.
Frequent reports on the citrus fruit
production and trade of the big pro-
ducing countries on the Mediterranean
are gwen IN the daily consular reports.
These reports show a surprisingly cheap
production cost abroad and heavy ship
nnents to New York from the Valencia
district are recorded. Valencia oranges,
with tariff of I cent pound levied
against them, and a 90 per cent ad
vatorem charge for containers, come
into New York in competition with Or
anges from Florida and California.
Eighty-fve Cents.
On the average case of oranges the
the figures of the Bureau of Foreign
and Domestic Commerce. This same
rate of duty applies on grapefruit, tan
gerines, and lines. Lemons have to
pay duty of IL cents, or on the aver
age Sl.S5 a case
A year ago, during season of high
prices abroad Sicilian lemons of the
first quality. brought only s3.6s per l20
kilos, or 965 pounds, on the Slciltan
markets, and paid good profit, ac-
cording to Consul fernando de Soto at
Palermo. This is estimated by Ameri-
can experts as much below the prodIC-
ton cost of lemons in the United States.
Consul de Soto gives a resume of
labor costs in the Sicilian groves that
shows labor costs to be less for expert
encsd men than shops girls receive in
America. The custodian or superinten-
dent of a grove receives a wage between
So and - cents day, or less than = "A
week. Ordinary laborers receive a wage
that averages about 80 cents day.
Women, boys, and girls average l9
cents Packing house wages are In pro-
portion.
Among the orange groves of Palestine
in Turkey during the last season. the
average price of oranges was 81 cents
box, as compared with labor cost
alone CT Florida oranges of between 90
and 20 cents a box. In a report on the
subject, Consul James Oliver Laing
says that large orchards in Palestine
producing a9oe0 boxes OF oranges show
expenses of only s2-ss5 TO be paid from
SIS, 400 income
More Than Million.
THE cost for fertilizer, water, and
labor averages" he says, 81, %. an
nually for an orchard of 15,ooo trees"
The output of Palestine is more than
100 .eoJ boxes
TyD Roatest orange producing center
OF ATd World is the Valencia dis
trict IN Spain. Hundreds of thousands
of cases of oranges are exported every
season. Here. too. according to Consul
Robert J. Frazer. jr., production, labor,
and packing costs are small.
II costs only 63 cents in Valencia 90
produce on the trees a box of oranges
of the Valencia standard, which is 1S5
can standard of about seventy-fiVe
pounds. The total cost of production
on an American box of oranges in
Valencia Is but about 81 cents.
With the present duty on lemons of
Il. cents a pound thousands of cases
from the groves of Sicily are shipped
TO New York, where they are entered
in competition with American oranges
after paying this import duty in addi-
ton to the ocean freight Exact statis-
tics on the number are not available.
according TO American consular officers
but the exports are heavy.