18 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



CUBAN WRAPPER DUTY INCREASES 



Tlirough the publication of the semi- 

 annual tobacco import and export tables on 

 April 2d, it was disclosed that in the last 

 year there has been a 100 per cent increase 

 in the amount of Cuban wrapper leaf, on 

 which full wrapper duty is paid by Ameri- 

 can importers. 



The tables mark the first practical sta- 

 tistical account of tobacco imports under 

 the new regulations of the Treasurj' De- 

 partment, made after the country-wide in- 

 vestigation of the tobacco importation 

 business by the customs officials. 



"A year ago," says the New York 

 Tribune, "the wrapper tobacco imports, 

 especially from Cuba, from which comes 

 by far the greater bulk of the tobacco im- 

 ported, were very small, and the basis of 

 the government's investigation was the 

 allegation that much of the tobacco leaf 

 that was actually used as wrapper for 

 Havana cigars came into this country as 

 filler tobacco, and hence paid a much 

 smaller duty than it should. 



"The final result of^ the country-wide 

 investigation was an order to customs 

 officials that tobacco should be subjected 

 to a 100 per cent examination. Before 

 that, it had been the rule to examine only 

 one bale in every ten. Tobacco importers 

 scoffed at the complete examination, claim- 

 ing that the custom's force would have to 

 be increased to an impossible degree." 



In an interview on April 1st with Wm. 

 Loeb, Jr., collector of the port of New 

 York, which, with Tampa and Key West, 

 imports the bulk of the Cuban leaf, he 

 said that the 100 per cent examination had 

 been accomplished, with nothing more 

 than a negligible increase of employees, 

 and the increased duties accruing to the 

 government had far more than paid for 

 the trifling increase in cost of examination. 

 In figures, the tables show that there 



were 6,638 pounds of Cuban wrapper leaf 

 tobacco imported in January, 1912, as 

 apainst 1,407 pounds in the same month 

 of last year. The valuation of the 1,407 

 pounds on which wrapper duty was paid 

 in 1911 was $2,743, while the valuation on 

 the 6,038 pounds on which wrapper duty 

 was paid in January, 1912, was $17,715. 



During the seven months ended with 

 January, 1912, according to The Tobacco 

 Leaf, 31,848 pounds of Cuban wrapper leaf 

 was levied upon as wrapper and was 

 valued at $64,170, whereas during the seven . 

 months ended with January, 1911, before 

 the Treasury Department's investigation 

 and new ruling, 19,009 pounds came into 

 this country as tobacco upon which wrap- 

 per dutv was paid, and its valuation was 

 set dovvn as $30,466. 



Comment upon these figures by leading 

 importers of Cuban leaf was all to the 

 effect that they are now paying wrapper 

 duty on Cuban leaf which they cannot use 

 for wrapper, and some importers asserted 

 that the maximum percentage of wrapper 

 leaf in the bales they import from Cuba 

 was not above 40. 



The tariff law specifies that if more than 

 15 per cent of the leaf in a bale is found 

 to be "suitable for cigar wrappers," the 

 whole bale shall be assessed as "wrapper 

 leaf." Before the investigation the custom 

 of examining only one bale in ten was held 

 by the government officials to make the 

 examination almost farcical. 



Collector Loeb's only comment upon the 

 claim of the importers that under present 

 conditions they were paying duty on 

 wrapper leaf that they had to use for 

 filler was that his records disclosed that 

 such bales were usually invoiced at some- 

 thing in the neighborhood of $250, and 

 that it was highly improbable that importers 

 would pay wrapper prices for filler leaf. 



PIANOS IN CUBA 



Hardman, Peck & Co., the piano manu- 

 facturers, recently decided to enter the 

 piano trade in Cuba, and with a view to 

 creating agencies in the larger cities of the 

 island, will send J. H. Parnham, of the 

 sales staff, to Havana to establish head- 

 quarters. He expects to reach Cuba in 

 the latter part of this month and arrange 

 for a dozen agencies. 



Cuba as a field for the retailing of 

 pianos has not been explored to any great 

 extent by American piano manufacturers, 

 says Music Trades, of Xew York. The 

 greater number of sales of American 

 pianos there have been made through 

 commission houses having extensive busi- 

 ness connections there. 



Spaniards in Havana are petitioning the 

 government to permit the return to Cuba 

 of Francisco Arnal, who was deported sev- 

 eral months ago on the charge of being an 

 anarchist. They declare the expulsion 

 unjust. 



Congressman Hobson in an interview in 

 the Knoxz'ille (Tenn.) Sentinel recently 

 said regarding the necessity for a larger 

 navy: "Take as an illustration the question 

 of Cuba. If we had had control of the 

 sea, liberal policies toward Cuba would 

 have prevailed without war. The reforms 

 in Cuba would have been prosecuted and 

 policies settled by diplomacy, but as we 

 were not in control of the sea, war resulted. 

 Three more battleships and there would 

 have been no war." 



