Wichita eagle., 1888-06-03
TARIFF LEGISLATION.
ITS HISTORY FOR THE PAST ONE
HUNDRED YEARS.

First Made Necessary by England's Oppo-
sition to the Establishment of Manufac-
lures In the Colsnies-Changes that Have
Been Made for Good and Bad.
Richard w. Thompson, of Indiana, was
conspicuous figure IN American politics
for many years before he became secre-
tary of the navy In President Hayes cabi-
net: The lively interest which he has
always felt In revenue and industrial sub
jects, coupled with the knowledge that
the tariff is the most absorbing issue now
before the people, doubtless fnpeIled him
to write q book entitled History Of the
Protective Tariff Laws" The fundameo-
tad facts and statistics upon which the
author has elaborated upon interestingly
and with as little bias as possible for q
man who is firmly convinced as TO the
right or wrong of the subject, have been
carefully CLEARED and complied from gov
ernment documents. histories, biographies
Of great tariff legislators and from. pro-
ceedingsof congress as found in The Con-
gressional Globe and The Congressional
Record. Here are some Of the salient
points of the work.
ENGLAND's SELF PROTECTION.
The more intelligent and public spirited
coloBists. even In the earlier days of Brit
ish domination in what are now the At
lantic seaboard states, were aware of the
benefits which would result to them and
their neighbsrS from wise and thorough
development Of such natural resources as
they saw the country contained. British
policy, however, prevented them from es
tabGshing any industries which would
offer competition to those existing in the
mother country. In 1899 parliament en-
acted that mo wool. yarn or woolen
manufactures Of the American plan*a-
tions shall be shipped thence, or even
laden, IN order to be transported, on any
pretense whatever" Twenty years later
parliament declared that the erecting of
manufactures in the colonies tends to
lessen their dependence upon Great
Britain" In 1742 the british board Of
trade reported to parliament that tho
Americans had begun to manufacture
paper. which, the board declared. Inter
feres with the profits made by the British
merchants" Other manufactures were
also begun in the colonies and that board,
learning of the fact, petitioned parliament
to do something to prevent this.
Then began the first positive measures
by the British government to stamp out
the enterprising spirit of the co'onists.
The colonial governors, on the direction
of parliament, began an inquiry into the
condition of American manufactures, and
reported that cloths for domestic use,
leather and 'Gttle poor iron" were made
here. This was deemed to be 'prejudicial
to the trade and manufactures of Great
Britain" Parliament therefore, in 1882,
prohibited the exploration from the colo
MES Of any articles which would interfere
with the sale of like articles in England.
Nobody who had not served an apprentice
ship was allowed to make hats here and
the number of apprentices was limited to
two ia each case Pig iron expectation
was permitted because English mill own
ers required il, but no mills for rolling
iron were allowed to be built in the col
onies.
HOW THE CoLoNIsTs WERE ROBBED.
The active opposition by England to the
establishment of manufactures in the
colonies, which was begun in 1T32, contin-
ued until the colonies gained their inde-
pendence. Heavy penalties were provided
for making any of the articles whose
was prohibited by parlia-
ment, and this interdict covered every
which could compete with
British made goods. The navigation laws
forbade the expectation from, or importa-
tion into, the colonies Of any articles ex-
cept in British ships. This regulation
was adopted to prevent the colonists from
building up a commercial marine. The
fixed purpose of England was to keep tbs
colonies in industrial servitude, and to es-
tablish and maintain a monopoly in the
mother country.
Under such adverse circumstances it
was natural that the manufactures Of the
country, even at the close Of the war for
should have been both
crude and insignificant. As a copse-
quence the country, as a whole, had to
buy abroad much more than it could sell
This is shown by the following table,
by British authority, giving
the amount of this country's exports to
and imports from England in the seven
years immediately following the revolu-
tioD-