1894.· ~ -. Gongressi Onal ' Record-Sen:Ate~ · 60.49
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'. .. 1894.· ~ -. GONGRESSI_ONAL ' RECORD-SEN:ATE~ · 60.49 - .-Mr- .. -PERKINS. I ask the Senator from Missouri if it is not no doubt truly, by a responsible party, the consul-general of now advisable to strike out pa~agraph 213a? · · . Greece, shows that we ought not to make this discrimination -Mr; VEST. I am obliged to the Senator from California. I against that important product of Greece, the only thing we im- had intended to make the motion to strike out the present par- port from that country. - agraph 213a and make the next paragraph 213a. · - · As the vote has already been taken, I do not care tO move to Mr. ALLISON. The effect of that will be- simply to put cur- reconsider, because I hope Senators on -the other side having · rants under the general clause of 20 per cent. · the matter in charge will correct it. Mr. WHITE. No; it will not. There is no similitude in the use or cost of Zante currants and Mr. PERKINS. No; it will make currants H cents a pound. raisins. Raisins are worth 2, 3, 4, or 5 cents a pound; and the Mr. ALLISON. The Senator refers to the words" including raisins of California are very beautiful, probably the best raisins Zante currants" in paragraph 217. I understand that currants in the world. I have seen specimens of those raisins which are al'e 20 per cent ad valorem in paragraph 213a, and Zante cur equal to any produced in the world. To make such achan~e in rants in paragraph 217 are a cent and a half a poun,d . th~ ~uty on this article, which does not really compete with the . Mr. PERKINS. By striking out paragraph 213a, Zan~ cur ralSms of _ou!' own country,·seems to me at least extortionate, rants will be left at a cent and a half a pound. Zante currant is and I thmk 1t ought to be corrected. I should have no objec the commercial name for almost all the currants-which come tion, however, to putting a reasonable rate, an ordinary ad va from the L evant, from Turkey, and from Greece. 1 think the lorem rate, on raisins; but to·apply a specific rate to these- two word. " Zante" should be stricken out, and the word "dried" articles, which differ so widely in value, raisins being worth at substituted therefor. That would embrace all varieties of cur le~t four or five times as much as Zante currants, is not just to rants. a friendly country, especially to a small country which has an Mr. ALLISON. I am not sure whether that would p\lt them increasing commerce with our own. on the free list or in the basket clause at 20 per cent ad valorem, I hope Senators will take the matte1· under consideration so because the designation" Zantecurrants" only includes one kind that it may be called up again when the bill is reported to the of currants. I care nothing about it. I am willing to put them Senate. I call attention to it now, but shall not put the Senate on the free list, or to make them all half a cent a pound. to the trouble of taking a vote upon it. Mr. PERKINS. Does the Senator 'desire to ·make them all .Mr. WHITE. Mr. President, if the Senator from Ohio.[Mr. - half a cent a pound? SHERMAN] had been here when the subject wasbeingdiscussed, Mr: ALLISON. Whether green or dried. he would have known that some of the stg,tements he has made Mr. SHERMAN. If the Senator from Missouri proposes to are not correct. The statement that there are no Zante cur strike out clause 213a, I shall have something to say about it. rants raised in California and that this a,rticle does not come in If he leaves it as it is, after the vote just taken, I shall S!l.Y no direct competition is not true, whether it ia made by a man more about it. What is the question now pending~ from Greece or a man from anywhere else. This is acontest be The VICE-PRESIDENT. 'r-he Senator from Missouri wilr tween California and Greece, upon which the great protectionist please state his proposition. of the .United States, the Senator from Ohio, is on the side of Mr. VEST. I move to strike out paragraph 213a, lines 8 and Greece. I have voted for a duty upon iron ora; I expect to vote 9, on page 48, and to make the next paragraph 213a instead of for a small duty upon coal. I am sorry that I shall do so-- 213b. Several SENATORS. How about lumber? Mr. SHERMAN. On that motion I desire to submit some re Mr. WHITE. We shall see about that hereafter. marks. The Senator from Ohio is very glad to avail himself of the aid Mr. FRYE. Does the Senator from Missouri intend to place of such votes as may tend to givelprotection to the industries of currants anywhere else in the bill? · his State; but when California,·away over across the mountains, Mr. VEST. Of coursetheywillcomeunderthe basket clause. is interested and asks for a duty, which is less than at any time It does not change the duty. ~ heretofore has been imposed upon this iruit, and which also, Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. President, the vote taken when I was by the way, yielded a large revenue, we find ·the Senator here absent temporarily fixing a duty of H cents a pound on Zante talking about the poor man. The Senator from Ohio, and those currants seems to me a gross injustice to a country with which who are to-day talking as he is talking, have been, I suppose, we have considerable commerce, and with which we have an in- solicitous for the interests of the poor man when they formulated creasing commerce. - · a bill prescribing prohibitory tariff rates. I have some facts, which I have received· from the represent A cent and a half a pound upon all dried currants will be. no atives of that Government in respect to Zante currants. If the prohibition, as the experience of the country has shown. The statements are true-and I have no doubt theyare, because they duty upon raisins, no matter at what you put it, affords but com are verified from the market quotations in the city oi NewYork paratively asmallamountof revenue, and absolutely none of that it is a grossly outrageous duty on what is commonly called the protection, about which the Senator has so often talked, to the raisin of the poor. The statement I have shows conclusively raisin industry of California. · thatZante currants are now quoted in the market of New York I desire to say to my friend, the SenatorfromNewHampshire at about H cents a pound. This, therefore, would be a duty of [Mr. CHANDLER]-who spoke sometime ago, and whose remarks 125 per cent upon Zante currants, which are imported in large are so facetious, I understand, that he is unable to publish them in quantities, and which are used mainly by the poor people in his own paper-when he states thati n my canvass in California their puddings, etc., as a substitute for raisins. Large quanti I ever said anything on this subject different from that which I ties of currants of that kind are imported. I shall read what is state hera, is also making a declaration which would not lo said here in a communicg,tion which I have before me: well published in his newspaper, which I suppose, without a CONSULATE-GENERAL OF GREECE, lent stretcli of the imagination, may be called truthful. 33 SOUTH WIL"LLA.M STREET Mr. FEYE. · What is the question before the Senate? Ne·IJ!. York, May 12, 18Y4. Mr. WHITE. To strike out paragraph 213a . Sm: ·rn the tariff amendments just presented in the United States Senate (article 217), I notice that a duty of li cents per pound is put on Zante cur Mr. SHERMAN. I had the pleasure of hearing most of what .rants, which are produced exclusively in Greece. the Senator from California said in his previous speech, al This enormous duty 1s equivalent to 125 per cent ad valorem, the average though I was called out during a portion of the time. I say price or currants in Greece being about 1i cents per pound. They are sell1Iig now in New York from lito lt cents per pound. there is no such duty in the .McKinley law-- zante currants, now on the free list, are taxed 10 per cent ad valorem by Mr. WHITE. Will the Senator allow me? the Iiouse blll. In the Senate blll the duty was increased to 20 per cent; then Mr. SHERMAN. Let me get through. the Finance Commlttee increased it to 30 per cent, and nowin the amended bill a speclfic duty of It cents per pound is put thereon, equal to 125per cent Mr. WHITE. Very well. ad valorem, . · . Mr. SHERMAN. This rate of 125 per cent on an article wl:rich And yet it is a fact that Zante currants do not come into competition with does not directly compete with the raisins of California does not a.ny product of this country. A stnall raisin produced in California has nothing whatever to do with the Zante currants of Greece. seem necessary. We only demand justice. We do not compete with your products. We Mr. WHITE. That is an extraordinary statement. buy in the United States every gallon of petroleum that is consumed in Greece, as well as all our agricultural implements, and yet it is proposed to Mr.