A Patriotic Work. All students of Economic questions, all persons interested in the discussion of the Tariff which so vitally affects the commercial interests of our country should read what the foremost writers of the world say upon these subjects, in the documents published by the American Protective Tariff League. These documents are short, terse and to the point. They are interesting and instructive, and embrace discussions of all phases of the Tariff question. The League publishes over fifty different documents, comprising nearly 700 pages of plainly printed, carefully edited and reliable information. documents are: Hon. James G. Blaine. Wm. McKinley, Jr., Governor of Ohio. Among the authors of these Senator Casey, of North Dakota. Hon. E. A. Hartshorn, of New York. David Hall Rice, of Boston. This complete set of documents will be sent to any address, post paid, for Fifty (50) Cents. Address, Wilbur F. Wakeman, General Secretary, No. 135 West 23d Street, New York. INTRODUCTION. In order that there may be no misunderstanding between the reader and the writer of the following pages, relative to the meaning of certain terms and phrases, it may be well to define them here. A TARIFF is a system of duties imposed by the government of a country upon goods imported or exported.* There are but two kinds of tariff in the United States: 1. A Free Trade Tariff. 2. A Protective Tariff. A FREE TRADE TARIFF is simply a tariff for revenue only; and revenue derived therefrom is intended for governmental expenses exclusively. It is the system which is in operation in England. Since it is designed for revenue only, its duties are nearly all levied upon articles (except luxuries) that are in great and certain demand. It so happens, that the articles thus levied upon (except luxuries) are constantly required by the common people in their household economy, and that they can not be raised or produced profitably at home, such as tea, coffee, etc., etc.; and therefore, cannot come into competition with home productions. A PROTECTIVE TARIFF not only provides revenue for the expenses of the Government; but, also, so discriminates its duties that they are levied principally upon imported articles that come in direct competition with home industries, and so adjusts the rates that such competing foreign productions cannot be placed upon the home markets at prices less than the fair and reasonable home-market price. By this means the high wages of our home laborers are maintained, and need not be reduced to the low level of cheap foreign labor; and under this tariff, articles of necessity for the common people in their household economy, and which cannot be raised or produced profitably at home, are admitted free of duty, such as tea, coffee, sugar, etc., etc. In the United States there is no duty on exports. Nowhere on earth does actual and literal free trade exist between two civilized nations, by virtue of which all custom houses, revenues and revenue officials, have been wholly abolished; nor has it ever existed in that form between two such nations. An able writer on Protection says: "All the prosperity enjoyed by the American people-absolutely all the prosperity, without any reservation whatever-from the foundation of the United States Government, down to the present time, has been under the reign of protective principles ; and all the hard times suffered by the American people, in the same period, have been preceded, either by a heavy reduction of duties on imports, or by insufficient protection; thus refuting all free trade theories on the subject."-D. H. MASON. I will not here state whether or not I agree with this statement; but it is my purpose in this treatise to give inquiring readers an opportunity for judging for themselves whether or not the foregoing statement is and I shall do this by no labored argument of mine, but by an HISTORICAL STATEMENT OF FACTS in our Colonial and National experience, which, in themselves, may constitute an argument at once convincing and irresistible. true; The proposition which I have quoted above is an exceedingly important one; for, if it be true, then we have discovered the correct principle of economic action, for our nation at least; and the one which should be made plain and clear to all our people to the end that protective principles may become the settled and permanent rule in our economic policy. And if it be false, the sooner its falsity is proven, the better; for then we can take our reckonings anew, and start afresh in search of the truth. Let us carefully examine the facts, and let them determine which is true. THE AUTHOR. AMERICAN TARIFFS: FROM PLYMOUTH ROCK CHAPTER I. FIRST FREE TRADE PERIOD, 1620-1789-1. UNDER THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT-2. UNDER THE CONFEDERACY. SINCE 1620, and through our Colonial history, but especially since the Treaty of 1783, by which the Revolutionary War was closed, and our Independence established, we have tried and thoroughly tested all the different phases of this economic question, from extreme free trade, under the Confederacy (1783 to 1789), to the high protective tariff, under the rule of the Republican Party, since 1861. FREE TRADE UNDER THE CONFEDERACY.-It is an historical fact, though comparatively few of our people seem to be aware of it, that during the Confederacy, the period preceding the adoption of our Constitution, we made for the first end only time in our history a full and fair trial of free trade, of practically unrestricted imports. England boasts of being the great free trade nation of the world, but she has never had a free trade system that approaches the one we "enjoyed" from 1783 to 1789. How much we enjoyed it appears hereafter. CONGRESS UNDER THE CONFEDERACY.-Under the Confederacy, the States were held together by a rope of sand. The powers of Congress were exceedingly limited, especially on this question. It had no authority to enact a general tariff on imports without the consent of every one of the thirteen States, and such consent was never given. The States thought that they were, individually, competent to manage those matters for themselves, and that they could protect their separate rights better than Congress could do it for them. Each State had the right to regulate its own trade, and each imposed upon foreign products, and upon the products of the other States, such duties as it deemed best. Each strove to secure trade for itself, without regard to the interests of any other State. JEALOUSY OF THE STATES-Jealousy of each other seems to have been the underlying motive of their unfortunate actions. Pennsyl vania established a duty of two and one-half per cent., but even this was an ineffectual remedy; for New Jersey opened a free port at Burlington, where the Pennsylvania merchants entered their goods, and took them clandestinely across the river to Pennsylvania, without paying any duty. New Jersey voted to allow Congress to impose a general tariff, while New York, on account of her situation relative to Connecticut and New Jersey, and the advantages this situation gave her in the matter of importations, refused to do so. New Jersey, thereupon, withdrew her consent, and, in order to annoy New York, established a free port at Paulus Hook, opposite New York City, and New York merchants repeated the tactics of Philadelphia, and got their goods free of duty. Hamilton urged upon the States the necessity of stopping this suicidal policy and of vesting Congress with full power to regulate trade, and he contrasted the "prospect of a number of petty States, jarring, jealous and perverse, fluctuating and unhappy at home, and weak by their dissensions in the eyes of other nations," with a "noble and magnificent perspective of a Great Republic;" but it was years before he and others could persuade the States to do this. As just stated, Congress had no power in itself to lay duties or to regulate trade, and as the States would not agree upon a uniform rate of duty, each sought its own advantage at the expense of its neighbors, and, as a necessary consequence, the country at large fell an easy prey to foreign nations, which lost no time in passing such laws as they judged most likely to destroy our commerce and extend their own. GREAT BRITAIN'S BARBAROUS POLICY.-Especially was this true of Great Britain, then as now, the most selfish and grasping commercial power on the earth. And her conduct during this period of the Confederacy was in conformity with the policy she has always maintained. HOW GREAT BRITAIN TREATED THE COLONIES.-In 1699 Parliament decreed that "after the 1st day of December, 1699, no wool, yarn, cloth or woollen manufactures of the English Plantations in America shall be shipped from any of said Plantations, or otherwise laden, in order to be transported thence to any place whatsoever, under a penalty of forfeiting both ship and cargo, and £500 ($2,500) for each offense. " In 1732 Parliament prohibited the exportation of hats from province to province, and limited the number of apprentices to be taken by hatters. In 1750, the erection of any mill or engine for splitting or rolling iron was prohibited under a penalty of $1,000 for each offense; but pig-iron could be exported to England, duty free, in order that it might be manufactured there and returned to the Colonies. Later, Lord Chatham declared that he would not permit the Colonists to make even a hob-nail or a horse-shoe for themselves, and his views were subsequently carried into effect by the absolute prohibition in 1765 of the export of artisans; in 1781, of woollen machinery; in 1782, of cotton machinery and artificers in cotton; in 1785 (when the States most needed them), of iron and steel-making ma |