Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-08-17
THE TARIFF.
BREAD LOAF INN, Ripton, VT,
Aup. II. 1883.

EDITOR REGISTER-D6uT DT iii yOui
last paper begins very probably a discus
sion of the tariff; for the time has come
when the people wish to examine this
subject thoroughly, and when they will
so examine it.
Your longest article last week was that
of Gov. Stewards, and to this / wish to
make some reply, but before doing so, in
order that this whole question may be
discussed intelligently, l give a review of
the Free Trade movement in England cpl
tomised from a history of that movement,
of the highest authority, by Augustus
Mongredien. England alone of all the
countries of the earth has adopted Free
Trade, and therefore we must look to her
for a study of its workings.
The Preface of the history referred to
begins as follows:
England stands in a peculiar position
with respect to the Free-trade system.
Its theoretical soundness and practical
advantages had been proclaimed by scien-
titic adopts for nearly a century before it
was adopted and brought into actual use
by the government of any country and
then, it was only by the government of
one country. That country was Eng
land. In all other states, the amateurs
of the science of political economy have
set at naught the conclusions of its pro-
f~essors, and the action of statesmen with
regard to Free Trade has been the very
reverse of that advocated by the best
thinkers and writers upon the subject.
Scientific men still persistently advocate
the principle; while statesmen (save in
the case of England) persistently act in
opposition to it. How came England to
form that exception? This, we think,
should afford an interesting subject for
inquiry.
''It was in 1852 that David Hume laid
the foundation of the science of political
economy by the publication of his lumin-
GUS essays on Commerce. Money,
Balance of Trade Taxes etc. His
treatment of those topics and of Others
incidentally discussed, such as Free
Trade Paper Money ETC., was at once
logical and lucid, and exhibited his com
plete mastery over all these subjects.
The conclusions at which he arrived re-
speeding them were, indeed, in almost
perfect accordance with those of the most
advanced economists of the present day.
Twenty-four years afterwards, Adam
Smith followed with his great work on
the wealth of Nations which appeared
in 177G. Almost simultaneously. much
of the same ground was broken in France
by Quesnay and Turgot, whose novel
views as to the freedom of commercial in.
%tercourse attracted much attention. From
that period to the present time, hundreds
of eminent men have made the science OF
! political economy their special study, ant
all have c%oncurred in ~denouncing the in
furious effects of the protective system OF
l the wealth of nations.
"But, so far, England is the only coun
, try in which the voice of science has beef
listened to with any practical result
There is, indeed, in many other %countrie,
, a large and increasing band of thinker;
who know the truth, propagate the trutl
and work for the truth; but they are, fol
the present, over-ridden by the indif1eren
many and the interested few"
From the history itself we extract:
"During the quarter of a century tina
elapsed between the years 1924 and ISL
N pnnat ato, r1o h1a rauo1,t;or tool ,l,,,
in the commercial policy of England. u
to the year 1921 our system had beei
strictly protective. We had all but pro
hibited the admission of foreign article.
of food; we had, by excessive import du
ties, discouraged and curtailed the impor
tation of all other foreign commodities
and we had practically, by our naviga
n ton laws. restricted our foreign trade t.
the use of British ships. BY the close o.
the year 1919 we had adopted a diametri
cally opposite policy. We had admitted
foreign grain free of all duty, except
small nominal one for registration puf
! poses; we had abolished import duties OIL
nearly every foreign article; and we hat
repealed those old navigation laws OF
which OF maritime prosperity had 81
|, long been supposed to depend. " \
;. In 1924 the fiscal regulations by which
our commerce with the world was con
: trolled and restricted stood as follows:
, There was hardly an article obtainabl
from abroad that was admissible here
without the payment of import duties
always heavy, sometimes excessive, ant
in certain cases all but prohlbitory. |
mattered not whether it was a raw mater
d ial or a manufactured product, whethe
it was an article of luxury or of universe
: consumption, whether it came in masses
like cotton, or in driblets, like orchilla-
everything foreign which an Englishmal
might use was withheld from him till it
cost had been EXCHANGED by a customs
duty. The tariff list of the united king