Importation of Sisal and Manila Hemp

Mr. SPENCER. It does not say, "value for exportation"-" of the exportation."

Mr. FISHER. Yes; of course it is the price given when the stuff is exported.

Mr. SPENCER. It means the price paid in Progreso. That is what they tell me; I do not know any more about it than you do.

Mr. FISHER. All I tell you is that it does not say so in the document. Mr. MAYER. It so states in the document. We will show that by the witnesses who will testify.

Mr. BAYLEY. As a shipper for 25 years, may I make an explanation of that, Mr. Chairman?

The CHAIRMAN. State who you are, please.

STATEMENT OF MR. EDWARD B. BAYLEY, OF HENRY W. PEABODY & CO., BOSTON, MASS.

Mr. BAYLEY. Mr. Chairman, my name is Edward B. Bayley, of Henry W. Peabody & Co., who have had an office in Yucatan for 25 years, and whose agent Mr. Arturo Peirce is. These statistics are made up monthly. The names of the shippers and the consignees as shown by the bills of lading and the destination of the steamers and the names of the steamers and the amount of bales are accurate. The weight is largely estimated, for the buyers' returns are often not added up until after the shipment has left the port-until after the steamer has sailed. It is merely a quantity put on to comply with the regulations. The price is also purely estimated. Progreso is not a market for the sale of hemp; Merida is a market for the sale of hemp. The Agencia Comercial is merely a shipping house, and in order to complete their statistics they throw in any price that seems good to them as representing the average price for the month. It has no other value than a mere guess as to what the price of hemp was for that month.

The CHAIRMAN. How do you know that, Mr. Bayley?

Mr. BAYLEY. From our experience, sir, of 25 years.

The CHAIRMAN. You have been there yourself for that long?

Mr. BAYLEY. I have been down there twice; not during that period. I went there to establish the agency in the first place.

Mr. MAYER. How long ago?

Mr. BAYLEY. I went there to establish our agency in 1890. In 1891 I went down there to establish our office in charge of Mr. Arturo Peirce, who has been there ever since.

The CHAIRMAN. How long did you remain there during those two visits?

Mr. BAYLEY. A few weeks each time. Since then, our business being to be closely in touch with prices, we have noticed that these pieces have had little relation to the actual market price in Merida.

Mr. SPENCER. Our information, on the contrary, is that these prices are made up from the official documents which these people turn into the Treasury, on which they pay their taxes. Therefore, it is the price at which they sold their sisal, because the tax is based upon that price.

The CHAIRMAN. I think that for the information of the committee there ought to be at least a sample page put in the record. You have a synopsis ?

Mr. SPENCER. A compilation of that, Mr. Chairman, which gives the month and the year, the number of bales of sisal exported from Progreso during that month, and the average price per pound in Mexican currency in Progreso, beginning, as you will see, with January, 1900. The prices in these sheets pasted in this book are in Mexican currency per kilo. We have now reduced it on this exhibit to Mexican currency per pound.

Senator GRONNA. You have taken it from this particular page here?

Mr. SPENCER. Yes, sir.

Senator GRONNA. Suppose we have that page printed in connection with this?

Mr. SPENCER. I only took certain information from this page, Senator.

The CHAIRMAN. That goes through a number of years?

Mr. SPENCER. All the years.

The CHAIRMAN. One page would be enough, would it not?

Mr. MAYER. Let me say, we would not have gone into this had it not been for these side questions.

Senator GRONNA. If the tax is paid on henequen, is that based upon the quantity of hemp or on the price?

Mr. MAYER. On the price; the law expressly so provides.

Mr. ORTH. To which tax do you refer?

Mr. SPENCER. The tax imposed by the Government of Yucatan in the decree creating the Comision Reguladora.

Mr. ORTH. I understand that tax is based on the price of hemp? Mr. SPENCER. Yes, sir.

Mr. ORTH. I shall testify as to that later.

Dr. RENDON. I have here a copy of the decrees, translated.
The CHAIRMAN. We will put that in later.

Mr. FISHER. I assume that these books, if we are going to have an abstract of them, will be left here?

The CHAIRMAN. That is exactly what I was saying; so that you gentlemen can examine and compare them.

Mr. FISHER. I call your attention at this time to the fact that, of course, even if the contention of counsel is correct, it would not throw any light whatever upon the price paid by a particular purchaser. It is the average price of the total amount.

Mr. SPENCER. That is it. It is the average price. You probably paid less.

Mr. FISHER. Of course, we must always assume the probabilities are against us, otherwise you would not have any case.

(The summary referred to by Mr. Spencer is as follows:)