bits
of cloth, each pearl being wrapped separately. Usually, there are a few
white ones, a few yellow, a few pale pink, occasionally a few of a very
beautiful rich pink, and once in a great while a fine, large pearl
appears. Many of these pearls, commonly the inferior ones, are sold in
the West Indies directly to the tourists who wish to purchase
something in the country through which they are traveling, with the
result that better prices are generally obtained than would have been
secured if the pearls had been sent to the great markets.
The
tariff on pearls at present operative in the United States is so
indefinite as to have led to much serious misinterpretation and
misunderstanding, as well as to an endless chain of lawsuits, often
resulting in serious loss to the dealer or client who imports. As a
consequence of the enforced outlay of large sums for unexpected and
additional duties, the importer, who was both ready and willing to pay
what seemed to him a just duty, often found that, where he had quoted a
price to a customer, he was a loser by the transaction; and if, to
escape this loss, he endeavors to dispute the payment of the duty, he
becomes involved in an expensive and occasionally unsuccessful
lawsuit. On the other hand, a private buyer who has paid all that he
feels he can afford at the time for a necklace, expecting to pay a duty
of 10 per cent, and interpreting the law to mean a duty of 10 per
cent., may be called upon to pay a duty of 60 per cent., or have the
notoriety of a public lawsuit, because the pearls have been strung, or
because it is held that they had recently or at some former time been
assembled as a necklace. In other words, if the pearls constituting
such a necklace are bought at various times from various people, either
here or in Europe, and not as a necklace, the duty is held to be 10 per
cent., but if they are sent in one shipment, a duty of 60 per
cent, is levied. As it is held that pearls assembled in the form of a
necklace have a greater value than before they were so assembled, the
purchaser might naturally expect to pay the 10 per cent, duty on this
higher value, but instead of this a 60 per cent, duty is demanded on
the higher assembled value.
The
ambiguity of this clause of the tariff is such that a logical ruling
should be made by some superior official such as the Secretary of the
Treasury. As the law is now interpreted, a pearl worth $20,000 can be
brought in with a duty of 10 per cent. ; the addition of a simple gold
wire makes it a piece of jewelry, with a duty of 60 per cent. It would
seem that an amendment might be made to the tariff by which an
importer, whether a private buyer or dealer, could be called upon to
pay a 60 per cent, duty on a high valuation of the setting of the ring,
brooch, or jewel, such as $20, $25 or $50; while the contents of the
ring or ornament, whether a pearl, diamond, emerald, or a collection of
stones, should pay a duty of only 10 per cent. This
