30 



THE CUBA R E V 1 E W 



THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY 



COUNTERVAILING DUTY ON CUBAN 

 TOBACCO 



A substantial coiitervailinfi duty is here- 

 after to be collected on iinjjorted Cuban 

 tobacco and cigars, according to a ruling of 

 the Treasury De])artment. The Depart- 

 ment has been informed that under the terms 

 of customs circular 49 of the Ciovernment of 

 Cuba on Novemlier 9 last, issued under the 

 authority of a Cuban law, a bounty is being 

 paid on the exportation of tobacco and cigars 

 by the Cuban Government. 



The pertinent parts of the Cuban bounty 

 law follow: 



"Article 1. — The executive is authorized to 

 grant a bounty of $10, official money, for 

 each thousand manufactured cigars, which 

 an established factory sends to a foreign 

 market. 



"Article 2. — The exeuctive is likewise autor- 

 ized to grant a bounty of 5 per cent ad valorem 

 on raw tobacco shipped to foreign markets by 

 wholesale houses established in Cuba. 



"Article 5 — -The bounties referred to herein 

 shall be granted for six months, but the Execu- 

 tive may renew them for two periods of six 

 months each, if on the expiration of the first 

 and later, of the second period, the same con- 

 ditions exist as at the present time." 



Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Peters 

 has consequently given the following instruc- 

 tions : 



"Collectors of customs are therefore hereby 

 instructed that, in accordance with the pro- 

 visions of paragraph E., section IV, tariff act 

 of Otober 3, 1913, additional duties equiva- 

 lent to the export bounties paid by the Gov- 

 ernment of Cuba on tobacco and cigars should 

 be collected on those articles when imj)orted 

 either directly or indirectly from that country. 



"The additional duties herein declared are 

 not subject to any deduction under the reci- 

 procity convention with Cuba (T. D. 24836), 

 but shall be collected in full." 



sented to the Department that whereas the 

 Cuban Executive has been "authorized" to 

 pay the tobacco bounty, this bounty has actu- 

 ally never been paid, therefore the United 

 States should not imj^ose the countervailing 

 duty. 



In view of this statement the Treasury 

 De])artment has asked the State Dejiartment 

 to make an investigation for the purpose of 

 finding out whether or not the Cuban tobacco 

 bounty has ever been paid. In the meantime 

 the countervailing duty will not be imposed. 



COMMITTEE OF TOBACCO WORKERS 

 MAKE PROPOSALS 



The committee of tobacco workers has 

 addressed a letter for presentation to the 

 President offering suggestions as to the way 

 members of their union could be employed. 

 One proposal is that work could be found for 

 them either in Havana or some other city in 

 doing street cleaning, such as now is carried 

 on by the Sanitary Department. They also 

 think that work could be found for many of 

 the out of work tobacco men in the Depart- 

 ment of Pubhc Works. 



ARGENTINE TOBACCO CROP SHOWS 

 ENORMOUS INCREASE 



According to figures supplied by the great 

 daily paper La Prensa of Buenos Aires, Argen- 

 tina is rapidly destined to become a rival of 

 Cuba in the cultivation of tobacco. It is 

 shown that last year the national production 

 of cigaretttes reached a total of 550,000,000 

 boxes, while three hundred million cigars, and 

 4,500,000 kilograms of leaf tobacco were man- 

 ufactured. It is believed that this industry 

 is yet only in its infancy, and is destined to in- 

 crease enormously within the next few years. 



COUNTERVAILING DUTY ON CUBA TOBACCO 

 SUSPENDED 



It is understood that the Treasury Depart- 

 ment will instruct the collectors of customs 

 not to impose the countervailing duty on im- 

 ported cigars and tobacco from Cuba in ac- 

 cordance with a recent circular from the cus- 

 toms division, until further notice. The De- 

 partment was informetl that the Executive of 

 Cuba was authorized by a legislative act of 

 the island government to pay a bounty on 

 Cuban cigars and tobacco exported. In view 

 of this act the Department felt called upon to 

 impose the countervailing duty provided for 

 in the tariff act. Since the publication of the 

 original notice, however, it has been repre- 



TOBACCO MANUFACTURERS WANT 

 COMMERCIAL TREATY 



The Union of Tobacco Manufacturers have 

 held another meeting at which the result of 

 the steps they are taking to secure better 

 treatment from the governments of the 

 United States, Chile and Argentine for Cuban 

 tobacco were discussed. 



Their aim is to secure a reduction of duty 

 from the United States so that tobacco made 

 up in Cuba shall obtain the same treatment as 

 tobacco shipped in bond, and made up in 

 Florida or some other part of the States. It 

 was agreed to present a statement of their 

 case to the Secretary of Commerce and Agri- 

 culture, so that he may take the matter up 

 with the Secretary of State. 



