Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1891 — A COMPLICATED DUTY. [ARTICLE]

A COMPLICATED DUTY.

tom« of the Absurdl'i-s of the American Tariff Upon Lea t Ores. It was complained of one Roman Emperor that he caused the laws to be written in exceedingly small characters and hung high upon the pillars of publication, so that the short-legged and the short-sighted could learn the Emperor’s will only through tho courtesy of tall and far-sighted friends. Whother or not the Emperor had a grudge against little and weak eyed men this story does not say, but his evil design was to make it difficult for citizens to know the law, and betray them into crime in order that he might enjoy the spectacle of their punishment. Curiously enough, among modern nations, the free republic of the United States is one of several to emulate the practice of this Roman Emperor. It requires an export to know what are the tariff laws of this country, and private citizens are deterred from imporlipg foreign goods because St is so easy for tho importer to break tho law. The lead ore tariff is an admirable illustration of this very point. Ores of the precious metals are, and have always beeh admitted to the United States free of duty. But ores of lead pay a duty. Now, it happens that most of tho silver now produced is found in combination with lead. Mexico sends us a great deal of such ore. This being the case, it became necessary to determine what portion of the doubly laden ore should come in free and what portion • should pay duty on tho load contained. In 1880, says a Washianton correspondent, the Treasury Department decided, in a special case, that a silver-iron ore was entitled to free entry as silver ore, in which the value of the silver was “largely in excess of the value of the iron,” The principle involved in this decision was twice reaffirmed six years later in the case of ores containing silver and lead; the Senate Judiciary Committee also, in 1888, reported in favor of tho classification of such mixed ores according to the metal which predominated in value. Bearing in mind tho technical distinc-. tion between a silver ore and an ore of baser metal, even though the latter may have a modicum of silver in it, and that lead ores, and the lead contained in silver ores, pay a duty of one and one-half cents a pound, it is very important to find out, when a 16ad of ore containing both silver and lead comes into this country from Mexico, whether it is technically silver ore or lead ore; for, in the one case, duty must be paid on the whole bulk, while in the other it Is paid on a part only. Within a few days a Treasury circular came out announcing that “in determining the value of lead contained in Mexican ores, such values w r illbo computed at the latest known price of bar lead in the New York market, less 1% cents per pound.” This means that there has been a fresh onslaught by the owners of American smelting works to procure a change in the valuation established a year ago, namely, the New York price of bar lead loss 1 cent a pound. These men have been anxious to get the deduction from the New York price increased to 2 cents, while the few owners of American mines which produce silver-lead ore 3 that can be used in fluxing have worked hard to keep the old rate intact. The cent-and-a half basis is the result of a compromise between the two conflicting interests. One and one-half cents duty on a pound of lead ore means S3O a ton—a tax which operates as an absolute prohibition. Now, how is the question of classification settled? Specimens of the ore as it reaches the American port of entry are taken out of the cargo and assayed. The amount of silver in weight to the ton, is estimated from this assay, and also the amount of lead. The Collector then ascertains the New York price of silver, according to the latest available advices, and deducts 5 per cent from that —supposed t > be about equivalent to the cost of transportation across the United States, and thus to represent fairly the difference between the value of silver at the Mexican border and in . the metropolitan market. By multiylying this equalized price by the weight of silver to the ton of oro as shown by the assay, the silver valuation of the ore is determined. A like process is gone through with the lead in the ore, except that a specific sum per pound, instead of a percentage, is deducted from the New York price. If, on comparing the two results, it is found that the value of tho silver in a ton of the ore would be greater than the value of the lead in the same ton, the oro is treated as a silver ore t and admitted on payment of the duty of 1% cents per pound on tho lead which could be extracted from the ore. This Mexican ore business illustrates the charm of our protective tariff system as few other things can. Suppose a shrewd Mexican shipper to have discovered a loose joint here and thero in the method of handling ores preparatory to the assay, and to avail himself of this discovery by arranging his shipments so that only high-grade, samples shall fall into the hands of the assayer, while low-grade ores are really in the majority. It is not reasonable to expect that, with tens of thousands of tons of ore crossing the Mexican border every year, the utmost care can be exercised by the inferior enstoms force employed there. Moreover, the - Incen-

tives to corruption under the present regime are very great, and an unscrupulous mine-owner could well afford to smooth tho path of his low-grade ores into this country if he could find the right men on this side of the frontier to help him by picking their specimens knowingly. But, even supposing the matter to be honestly conducted, it has taken several days, let us say, for the-shipper to get his ore from the minss to the border. When it left tho mines, the price of silver was one dollar and two cents an ounce in New York, but, by the sudden unloading of speculators, it has dropped to ninety-five cents before the assayer gets a chance to pass upon tho specinuns: or load, which has boen three and a half cents a pound for some time, has mounted to five cents. Either of these things is liable to happen at any time; indeod, both might happen at once. Either accident would of itself be enough, in many cases, to change a sllv; r ore into a lead ore during the mere process of transporting a train-load of the stuff from mines to market.