The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-05-08
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TARIFF LEGjSLATiON
Brief History OF It from the H2%iiin'ng q
tl:e Government 10 the PRESENT
Time.
(lilrriclu kcnnnnli,t


a CORES pondcnt writes I" Us from
Louisville, Nv, asking whether !,c is right
in maintaining hat ''previous 10 1851 the
United States did no; have Protective
Tariff! for Il sufficient number OF years in
succession to demonstrate iuliy its good
effects" and that "thc Protection given
was not 50 high and comprehensive AS it
should have been
In the beginning ct the Government
means of transportation and Of communI
cation between the old and the new
world were so costly and dangerous that
low Tariff rate WAS quite as elective in
keeping OUT foreign wares is was rate
many times higher, after the Atlantic
cable and the day steamship came to
reduce cost. time and risk involved in
overseas commerce. The duties which
the First Congress adjudgcd sufficiently
Protective woald afford almost no Protec-
ton now, when foreign goods can be
brought here so cheaply, quickly and GER
tainly. Science and invention have al
most aunihilatcd the natural Protection
extended to American industry in 1859 b.
the wide and terrible Atlantic Besides
it was not practicable TO levy extremely
HIGH duties before the new Industries haC
sufficiently developed to insure an adc-
quatc supply'o domestic products. y;
our productive capacity expanded, The
Protective system, in accordance with tho
policy outlined by Alexander Hamilton il
his report on manufactures, was extended
bv subsequent acts to the number of four
teen before the way of 1872 broke out
Still our industries we're yet Young, anC
Tariff legislation up to this time, in mos
instances, had been only approaching th'
efficient Protection which Hamilton rec
commended, so soon as supply o
domestic products was assured to thu
people.
During the war of 1872, and for seycra
wears after, Tariff legislation, while in thu
main Of Il decidedly Protective character
was too radical and uncertain to produc
the best results. The Tariff of 1916 wa
intended to be protective, and its princi
pie of lcvying imposts was perhaps NOR
truly such than that of any prcccdin:
! Tariff But extraneous conditions-nota
blv the sudden transition from the cxces
sive war Tariif'of the years just preceding
it, and abnormally low prices abroad
which came in lis wakc-ncutralized it
effect so that it disappointed the expec
taiions of it's friends. Nine supplement
tary acts of more or less Protcctiv
character were passed in the succccdin
years, tie last in 1882. Under such con
ditions, the fullest benefits OF Protectio
could not reasonably he expected.
In 1888 the course of Tariff legislatiu
was reversed, and for the first time tend
ed toward Free Trade. The movement
resulted in the panic Of 1881. Popula
sentiment compelled ! return to Prote,
ton in 1912. Then came the Free Trad
Tariff of 1871, made more radical by tn
act of 1851, which continued to the en-
actment of the Morrill, Tariff in 1861.
1t appears, then, that our correspond
cnt is quite right. Never before the wa
, had the country enjoyed undisturbed ali
adequate Protection for so long tim
accompanied by so reliable assurances {
its permancncy, as has been the cas-
since the enactment of the Morrill, Taril
And no other Tariff period can boast
, results so gratifying and glorious.