raised to 25 per cent; where it is now 10 per cent, it is to be raised to 20 per cent; and where it is now 21⁄2 and 4 per cent, both are to be raised to 5 per cent. On this Specific duties are to be proportionately raised, but it is impossible from the message to state just how or to what degree. point, the executive power says: With regard to specific duties, the increases fixed in the project are based on an average taken from the values fixed in the law in force. With regard to the proposal made by the press here to abolish the export duties now in force upon agricultural products, the message says: Compelled from the same considerations (referring to the reasons given for continuing the extra 10 per cent tax), I see myself, says the Minister of Hacienda, obliged, in opposition to a strong personal desire, to sustain the duty established upon the exportation of cattle and sheep products. I should have liked to propose the repeal of that duty, which falls on the gross production of the principal industry of the country, placing it at a disadvantageous position to compete with like articles in the consuming markets abroad, but the necessity of meeting the payment of the debt contracted to prepare for the national security, as well as the duty of proceeding to the construction of works called for by imperative considerations of hygiene and general progress, prevent me at present from realizing this wish. The export duty will continue to figure in the revenue which makes up the national treasury. WILLIAM I. BUCHANAN, BUENOS AYRES. May 30, 1899. Minister. TARIFF CHANGES IN SALVADOR. Consul Jenkins, of San Salvador, under date of June 12, 1899, sends translations of recent tariff decrees, as follows: DECREE OF APRIL 28, 1899. The National Assembly of the Republic of Salvador, considering that, in order to protect the industry of the country, it is necessary to make some alterations to the tariff of custom-house duties (tarifa de aforos) now in force, using the faculties granted by the constitution, decrees: The tariff now in force is hereby altered in the following terms: Cotton, in drills of every description........... Pesos. U.S. cur.* ..per kilogram... o. 75-$0. 332 Cotton, in stuffs (as mantadril), white or colored, striped or checked, per kilogram....................... Cotton, in towels, bedclothes, napkins, tablecloth or stuffs therefor, Linen, pure or mixed, in white or colored drills.........per kilogram... .75.332 60= .265 60= .265 * Taking the peso valuation of the United States Director of the Mint, July 1, 1899, as 44.3 cents. DECREE OF MAY 26, 1899. The President of the Republic of Salvador, considering that it is to the interest of the Republic to facilitate the importation of raw materials employed in the industries of the country and to tax the introduction of those produced or manufactured therein, decrees: ARTICLE I. The introduction of the following articles will be free of duties and taxes: Manure. Cotton, raw, white or colored, for weaving or in yarn. Iron vessels for balsam. Filters and distillers of every description. Scientific instruments of every description. Printing and lithographic inks. Prepared chalk for use in schools. ART. II. There will be a 50 per cent reduction of the duties on the following articles: Steel in bars, sheets, or plates. Sulphur in pieces. Cotton tape, plain or twilled, white or colored, for shoemakers and saddlers, and tape commonly called "de castilla." Tar of all kinds. Empty common bottles and demijohns. Whalebone, finished or raw. Buttons of mother-of-pearl, silk, wool, or of any description not specified. Copper and brass in bars and sheets. Glue of every kind. Cork in all forms. Tanned leather, dressed sheepskin, morocco or chamois leather for shoes, upper leather, and any other kind of skins, dressed and unvarnished, not specified. Elastic for shoes or other uses. use. Rushes, straw, and palm for furniture. Thermometers and test tubes for liquors. Cardboard for bookbinding, lithography, photography, or any other industrial Paper for making flowers. Grind or whet stone, for sharpening razors or tools. Ramie in thread or raw. Silk, twisted or raw, and every kind of silk thread, on spools or cardboard, and silken network for sieves. Soda, or caustic potash, for use in industry. Poison for tanning skins. ART. III. A 50 per cent surtax will be charged on the following articles: Cotton bedclothes, towels, cloaks, hammocks, napkins, and tablecloths. Cotton lace, cloth, and embroidery. Cotton shawls, and stuffs to make them with. Pillows and mattresses of feathers, wool, bristles, or any other material. Plows, machetes, and cutlasses, to be used for work. Coffeepots, napkin rings, tumblers, candlesticks (candeleros y palmatorias), of tin. Manufactures in tortoise shell of every description. Preserved meats and shellfish. Wax candles. Locks and keys for doors. Candies and preserves. Envelopes. Manufactures in leather, shoes, leggings, boots, belts, with or without trimming or ornaments of gold or silver, including those of patent leather, patent or common leather straps of every description, saddles, stirrup leathers, harnesses, headstalls, halters, cruppers, pistol pockets, reins, powder flasks, cases, gear of leather, rugs, hides, pelts, and, in general, any article manufactured of tanned or patent leather. Sweets. Iron spurs. Artificial flowers. Flowers of any kind. Fireworks. Bridles of any kind for horses. Sirups of any kind, without alcohol. Furniture of wood, with or without parts of marble, of any description. (Wood prepared in pieces for furniture will be considered as furniture and taxed as such.) Iron daggers and poniards, picks (picos), axes, and pieces for connecting saddle bows. Implements or articles for domestic use of tin. Combs of every description of tortoise shell. Bunches of feathers prepared as dusters. Tallow candles. Silk, pure or mixed, in shawls, capes, waists, and jackets. Cheese and butter. Vinegar. ART. IV. This decree will be applied on all kinds of goods coming into the Republic from the 1st of next September. SUGAR INDUSTRY IN TRINIDAD. Minister Loomis sends from Caracas, under date of June 14, 1899, a clipping from the Port of Spain Gazette, setting forth the condition and prospects of the sugar industry in the island. Trinidad, says Mr. Loomis, is one of the most successfully governed and prosperous of the British possessions in the West Indies and is a model colony. The largest cane factory in the West Indies is the Usine. St. Madeleine, referred to in the article. About nine-tenths of the machinery with which the factory is equipped came from the United States. The article reads, in part: The last crop season has presented some remarkable features, well worthy the attention of others beside planters, because they are indications of material progress. First, there has been the expansion of the cane-farming system to a degree which will be best realized from its financial side. Over $100,000 have been paid * * * to cane farmers during the last four months, and this, with other expenses entailed, accounts for the dearth of notes and gold at the Colonial Bank. The flux and reflux of money in the colony indicates a more prosperous condition of things than was previously the case. In view of the fact that no abnormal change has taken place in the cocoa production, it must be due to the improved prospects of the sugar industry. * * The study of this material change for the better presents some interesting features. We first perceive that this year's sugar crop is a large one, exceeding the average of 56,000 tons. Nearly one-fourth of the crop has been made by the Usine St. Madeleine, whose output to the closing day this week is 13,000 tons-an increase of 1,500 tons over the output of last year. This Usine is the premier central factory in the West Indies since the war in Cuba, where previously the Constancia factory and two others exceeded the output of the local Usine. A characteristic of the crop operations has been not only that farmers' canes have been plentifully bought by the factories, but that one or two estates which were threatened with abandonment have continued to exist by also selling their canes to the factories. * Another notable feature of the sugar crop this year was the effect of the American countervailing duties, in putting new life into the local and Demerara sugar industry. The same result has been reported in the case of Mauritius in consequence of the imposition of the Indian countervailing duties. The planters of that island are now shipping sugar at renumerative prices to India. And yet, there has been no great rise in the price of sugar to startle the American or Indian consumers; but a fair market has had its inevitable result for an industry enabled in the nature of things to hold its own, and only prevented from doing so for some years past because of markets artificially rigged by the European bounties. This affords a clear demonstration of the beneficial results that would accrue to the West Indian sugar industry if countervailing duties were imposed by England. COFFEE IN JAMAICA. Consul Dent transmits from Kingston, under date of April 25, 1899, a letter to a Connecticut correspondent,* containing a short report on coffee, prepared by a well-known planter in the island, as follows: COFFEE GROWING. I have been coffee planting for the last twenty years, and during that time I have twice seen a fluctuation of prices of 60 per cent; and the average prices I have realized have varied from 89s. 6d. to 42s. per cwt. ($21.78 to $10.22 per 112 pounds). This large difference in values, combined with a very great uncertainty as to crops-these being dependent upon the proper distribution of the rainfall and not upon the cultivation-makes coffee planting difficult. When I say the crop is not dependent on the cultivation, I mean that, however good the cultivation may be, without proper weather there will be no crop. With practically the same acreage as now-i. e., 330 acres-my crops have ranged from 22 casks of 850 pounds to (in one year) 154 casks. The best seasons may be said to be: A dry January and February to rest the trees after the previous crop; showers to bring out blossoms-the best is a general bloom in April; then good rains in May and a not too hot July and August. If the latter months are hot, the crop is likely to be burnt before it is mature. The low prices are attributable to the immense production of coffee in Brazil. *To whom Advance Sheets have been sent. When once coffee growing is well established, 4 cwts. (448 pounds) per acre may be expected, and this return should last for fifteen years at least. It may vary considerably from year to year; thus, after a very heavy crop, say 6 cwts. (672 pounds) or even 7 cwts. (784 pounds) per acre, the return would be proportionately small; still, 4 cwts. per acre should be about the return in good land, and without fertilizers should last fifteen years. In this part of the island, we expect coffee to bear for twenty years after the first bearing, say twenty-five years from the time of planting. COST OF CULTIVATION. Speaking roughly, the cost of land, fencing, planting, cultivation, and all other charges should come to £15 ($73) per acre by the end of the fifth year—that is, the year when one may reasonably expect a crop; a small crop would be reaped possibly the third or fourth year, but it is not good for the trees. I think that a fair estimate of the cultivation, reaping, and curing of the crop per acre, including 10 per cent for supervision and 10 per cent for extras, is £5 ($24.33) for a return of 4 cwts. of clean coffee fit for sale. The price of land varies very much, but, generally speaking, £1 ($4.8665) an acre has been considered fair value. Of course, there are lands to be had at much lower prices; the Government lands sell at about 5s. ($1.22) per acre. In short, there is no regular price, values being determined by the situation. It would be useless to undertake coffee planting unless there is plenty of labor, as much is needed for weeding, pruning, and reaping.. As to the price of land in coffee, I should imagine that about £20 ($97.33) an acre for old and £30 ($146) for young coffee would satisfy most people. Rye crops could not be planted between the rows of coffee trees, though orange trees might be planted at this altitude (2,200 feet) in place of other shade trees. During the first three years, some sort of shade is necessary, and it is the custom to plant yams, cassava, cocoa, etc., but this should be done sparingly, as undergrowth is not good for the trees. WEATHER. The climate here has averaged 72° F. in the shade for years. In the summer, it rarely goes above 80° F. We have two rainy seasons-one in May and one in October. It is always healthy in the coffee-growing districts, as the best altitude for that industry is between 2,000 and 4,000 feet. In this parish (Manchester), we are dependent for our water supply on rain caught in tanks. PLAN FOR CONTROLLING COFFEE MARKET. Minister Loomis writes from Caracas, June 3, 1899: I inclose an article from the Venezuelan Herald, published in this city, which sets forth a plan for controlling the coffee output of the New World. The project is interesting as an evidence of the hard straits in which coffee growers in this and some other countries find themselves, by reason of the extremely low price which their product commands. |