New Britain herald., 1923-12-28
BY GEORGE II. MANNING

twashington Bureau Of New Britain Ilcrad)
 Washington, D. C.. Dec. 2S.--Now that Christmas is over and there IS no danger of spelling the holiday spirit, the American people can be told the sad fact that Christmas shoppers &C., tually paid nearly one billion dollars in taxes on the presents they bought, and few realized that they were do- ing if.
 The same people that would have raised a howl if congress had passed law putting such an enormous tax on the holiday shoppers, 10 be col lected during the past three weeks,
 seemed to accept the billion dollar
 burden saddled upon them very calmly. On practically everything
 shoppers purchased a tariff eNsction was included in the price.
 Christmas sales this year were es- timRted at about sG,o00.0 0.000,0O0 on
 which the tariff tax al Is per cent, which is regarded as q conservative estimate Of the average tariff, would amount to sgDo. ,0OO. Add an ad- ditional hundred thousand 10 cover profitecring by higher ups which is facilitated bv the tariff, and you have the billion paid ont in taxes on Christ mas gifts just bought
 Even santa Claus himself did moi escape the tariff for his reindeer were taxed l ! per cent as Hive ami mals not specially provided for" and iI Kris Kringlc chooses to discard his reindeer and get moro modern method Of travel for his next visit he will be pcnaIiznd q tax of four cents q pound on the meat of the decI when he tries to seli ii as yonison.
 < tariff tax Of 10 per cent was inn posed on Christmas trees, and Of 70 per cent on the tinsel decorations.
 On articles bought for presents. the tariff was collected principally by the manufacturers and certain mid- dlemen. Retailers, 1t is reported. got little benefit from them.
 Articles of wool and silk were dear er this year than ever before. Par ticularly were these higher prices noticed in hosiery. underwear. hand Eerchiefs and novelties, where women were the chief purchasers. Gloves. handbags and crystal were other merchandise upon which the tariff operated to increase prices beyond the level recorded any previous year.
 Just how thc Fordncy- McCumler tariT law operated on the pocket books of Christmas shoppers is seen in feW specific examples.
 Hid gloves were taxed at an aver age or s1 a pair. while cotton gloves paid duties Of from 20 cents to 50 cents pair. On Nooirn hose tho tsV was Ss cents A pound. and thus 70 cents on each dollar of value. The tax on silk hose was 5e cents on each dollar of value. Beaded bags were dear because fhe tariff makes beads pay co per cent of the value, which is also the rate for silk.
 Woo1en underwear is now taxed al from 3s cents to 45 cents a pound plus an ad vaiorem tax on the value tbat ranges from 4U to 30 per cent which means that garment weigh Ing a pound and valued ct s1 would have to pay tax of about % cents. 1 Those who bought silk bsndkerchiefs lad to pay about s1 for the ma .Arials and co cents for tariff. Linen ] bardkerchiefs carried a duty Of 35 per cent on each dollar of taiue rep resented.
 Combs were taxed at Jn per cent 1f value. crystal beads at sg per cent d Valorcm. which was also the rate 1 ,or imitation pearls and jewels Lin-