The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-09-20
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL !,
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
TREDERIC ]. HASKIN, pixectox.
THE FREE PORT QUESTION.
Washington. D. G.


Washington, d. C. Sept. lido we
want free ports? After a complete
investigation of this question, during
which the testimony OF hundreds or
American business men was heard, the
United States tariff commission has
reached the conclusion that we do. A
report embodying a recommendation
to this effect will shortly be submits
ted to congress, where bill providing
for the establishment of free ports has
already been introduced. In the
meantime. many people. confused by
vague definitions. are demanding to
know what a free port is, anyhow.
4 free port is not. as some mistaken
individuals have claimed, an institu-
ton that will enable us to buy food as
cheaply as they buy it in Europe, or
that will permit us to import French
tapestries and Brazilian diamonds free
of duty. 1t will not affect most of us
at all, except indirectly thru the pro-
motion of our national prosperity, and
we will be kept out of it's precincts by
q strong armed guard. A free port is
merely barred zone adjacent to a
port, where goods may be landed
without any customs formalities;
stored for indefinite intervals, and re-
exported Between it and the main
land are the regular customs author
tiles who place the usual taxes on all
goods being shipped into the interior.
In other words, a man may bring a
sh1pload of Panama hats into a free
port; put American hatbands on them
and ship them to Great Britain with
out paying a cent of duty. But the
same hats consigned firm in the
United States would have to pass thru
the hands of the customs officials and
pay tax.
| The chief object of the free port,
therefore, is to facilitate foreign trade
The end of the war will see this coun-
f,f 1a,
chant marine, and with machinery for
production out of all proportion to the
demand OF our domestic markets. An
outlet for the surplus must be found
| in the markets of Europe, where ma
| terials will be scarce for years to come
AT least. so argue our economists, who
| urge that the nation begin at once
preparations for this large volume of
foreign trade that Is certain to follow
| the war.
One of the first obstacles to be elm
mated, II we are to build up a large
foreign commerce, is our clumsy GUS
toms collection machinery. Something
must be done to speed up the unload
| ing and reloading of cargoes. Under
present conditions. for instance. every
vessel arriving at the port Of New
York; must secure preliminary per-
nit before 1t can dock and unload its
goods. Furthermore, this permit must
| be in 3 ships possession twenty-four
hours before docking. While a pre-
urinary permit may be taken out by
the ships agent in advance of its ar
rival. In many instances this is not
done, and the usual twenty four
hours delay ensues.
| Then the vessel is allowed to dis
charge its cargo on the pier. but here.
| too, 1t Is held up until samples of each
shipment may be examined by the
customs authorities and sent to the
| customs appraisers. A great deal of
the merchandise must be weighed
/ while on the pier, and a mass of red
| tape makes the loading Of lighters FOR
I delivery to other piers, tremendous
| task. The result is pier congestion.
Cargoes become piled up; other ships
are delayed in docking for want OF
room to place their goods, and the
piers are centerS of noisy confusion,
with importers. captains. ships agents
and customs officials rushing madly
around, losing their tempers and i'm
portant papers. A representative OF
one large steamship company declares
that its Sh IG are often delayed at the
piers for fodr or five days at a stretch
If goods are to be marketed imme-
t'dlately, the duties are paid as quickly
as possible and permission to remove
them from the piers secured. If they
are not to be marketed immediately,
they are usually placed in bonded
warehouses, so that the duties do not
have to be paid at once. Certain fees
are charged by the warehouses, and
innumerable papers must be filled out
The sale of goods stored in these bond
ed warehouses is extremely difficult
Purchasers can examine it only under
the careful scrutiny of the customs of
ficers and usually under adverse con-
ditions, in a place where the light is
dim, where the articles are hard to gel
at, and where the background is any
thing but lovely. Under these circum-
stances, the most expensive luxuries
sometimes appear dingy, and the mild
est customers obdurate.
In cases where firms import certain
european materials and combine then
with American materials for reship-
ment, as in the case of the Panams
hats and American hatbands, the.
usually use the drawback system. II
other words, they pay duty on tht
goods, and when they reship it ths
government returns them 80 per cen
of their payment, known as a draw
back" This system has many disad
| vantages, also, for there is many sliI
betwiXt the manufacturer and thu
drawback. He must have all the pa
pers incidental to the first payment O
duty. and If merchandise has come il
, on different ships in different con
, slgnments, these amount to a small
; volume. Every bill of goods must b,
located on the customs records ant
authorized.
These are only some of the Difficult
ties enumerated by business men a.
reasons for the establishment of FIRE,
ports. Separated from the rest o,
the port by natural or artificial bound
| aries, a free port has its own wharves
a warehouses, factories, and all the lat
est mechanical equipment for the ex
peditious handling Of cargoes. Ship
= can dock there without q permit, pre-
lininary or otherwise; land their good
= without delay. and forget that there i
such an unmitigated nuisance as a Gus
j toms regulation. Firms with factorie
y within the free port can unload thei
= goods directly from vessel to show
room. arrange it for sale in their ow
private salesrooms. or reship it when
e ever they get ready.
e The worst objection to the free por
Bis its German origin. hut as nne mt q