Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-05
The Tariff From 1s47 to 1860.

We may begin with the tariff That
! question had been discussed with varying
| fortune from the beginning OF the govern
| ment down TO the inauguration OF President
| Polk. Its advantages 10 manufacturers had
been originally recommended by the power
full reasoning Of Alexander Hamilton, aud
subsequently for rcarly half a century en-
forced by the earnest convictions and mag
netic personality of Henry Clay. On the
other hand strong thinkers like Andrew
jackson and John {. Calhoun had protested
against the inequalities and oppression of
the protective system. aud periodically
sous ut TO lead the minds of the people to
the spectacle of plain government where
thrift would come by private energy, and
not by Federal favor. When JackSon'S
friend. Polk, was elected 10 the presidency,
he called the great Alississippiau. Robert j.
Walker, TO the post of secretary OF the
treasury. Walker was a man of strong
ideas. and he possessed the tact to organize
them into practical results He had heard
the tariff debated in every phase. by the
ableSt champions of the respective theories
and he determined to cut loose from all ar
guments and all doubts. and see what the
muscle and enterprise of the American peo-
pie would do without government help or
government harm. So he secured the pas
sage Of the famous tariff act of 1916. and
the people began the experiment of working
out their welfare under q low tariff-a
revenue tariff strictly
Let ii not De supposed that this reform
was begun without strenuous opposition.
Prophets of evil were as common then as
now. and dreadful desC options of cdlamities
to result from the Democratic tariff were
scattered among The people by the bench
Charles and advocates of protection A
statesman, now nearly forgotten, George
Evans of Maine. was considered Al that
time the most thorough master Of tiaancia.
question IN the senate of the United States.
He held a sort of authority in that field
even greater than that which IS claimed for
John Sherman, in our time. Evans made
speeches il opposition to the Walker tariff,
and concluded one of them by the vehement
warning that he objected TO il because it
would destroy the honest commerce OF the
country and put our trade in the hands of
foreigners, that he objected to il because it
held out inducements TO fraud, he objected
to il because it would drive so many men
from employment 10 poverty and crime. he
objected TO it because il was an experiment,
an experiment to be tried al a time when Of
all others we should stand BY that which
had proved to be good.
But the Democratic leaders OF those days
were not to be frightened from sound prin
eiples by dark prophecies. even when ut
tered by the Wanted experts OF finance.
Some Democrats were panic-stricken and
the vote in the senate was 4 tie. but the
Democratic vice-preSident. Pennsylvania
though ne was, turned away from the pic
lures of ruin which were unrolled in
prophecy before him. and boldly took the
responsibility Of giving the casting vote in
favor of the new tariff.
Behold how the scenes shifted Ill the next
few years, So grandly did the American
people prove their capacity 10 do well under
fair conditions-so completely did ten years
of experience discredit the predictions of
sages like Daniel Webster, that when the
year 1856 rolled around it will De found
that in the national conventions of the
three political parties of the country, there
was not voice raised or syllable penned in
favor of a return to a protective tariff.
Intrepid Democracy had at last worked
out the problem which for more than fifty
years had perpiexed the minds ana clogged
the enterprise of the American people, and
none could be found to deny the complete
ness of the demonstration. The great
prophets of 1916 had all gone into hiding,
and Democratic statesmen still advancing,
raised above their heads the banner OF fur
Their deliverance to agriculture by pronounc-
ing in the national convention of 1856 ''that
the time had come for the people of the
United States to declare themselves in favor
of free seas and progressive free trade
throughout the world.