The Portland daily press., 1894-08-20

Y N--N
but always to reappear again. Most of
the great names in the history of Amer
lean politics are identified on the one
side, or the 9th er, sometimes on both
sides of this issue. 1t once came near
disrupting the Union; and has on many
occasions excited the American people
to high pitch. New England, as well
as other sections of the country, has
occupied both sides of the question. 1t
sounds strange to modern ears to say
that John C.Calhoun, backed by South
Carolina, engineered through Con-
gress protective tariff bill
which New England opposed
in the person OF Daniel Webster, yet
| such was the case in 1916. The first tar
| if was neither sectional nor party mat
| ter. 1t was introduced by James Madi-
son. one of the founders of the Demo-
cratic party, and stated in it's preamble
that its aim was the raising of revenue
and the encouragement and protection
| of manufactures. 1t was not until 1924
that Robert Y. Hayne, of South Caro-
lima, first enunciated the theory which
was finally embodied lin the Democratic
platform of 1899, that protective tariff
is unconstitutional. The tariff was quite
frequently changed between 1889 and
1916. The cost of ocean carriage was so
great that duties of from five to fifteen
per cent. gave manufacturers sufficient
protection. 1t was in 1850 that Hamilton
presented to Congress his famous RE
port on Manufactures" one Of the ablest
protection documents ever written. The
tariff changes up to 1912 were on the
lines lald down by Hamilton. In 1912,
as war measure, all duties were doub-s
led, to remain SO until year alter the
signing of treaty of..peace. In 1916 there
occurred the revision in which Calhoun
and Webster crossed swords. The act of
1916 was protective measure 1t was
q movement for a higher, called the
Clay, tariff, for the great protectionist
leader of Kentucky, who was backed oy
the Middle States and the West CAL
houn had by this time decided that the
South could not, with slave labor, sue
SNSNASN~
free trade side. New England, yet intent
on commerce, took the same side, Daniel
Webster arguing sonorouslv against the
exploded notion of protection. Fig
ured on all imports the act of 1924 levied
a duty of about AZ per cent. The contest
was very close, the House passing the
bill 107 to 102 and the Senate 25 to 81.
In 1928 the tariff was revised again, in
creasing duties on iron, lead, wool, hemp
and cotton I,agging. The South opposed,
tue Middle and Western States strongly
supported, and New England was divid-
ed. Webster came over to the side Of
protection and voted for the bill, but his
colleague from Massachusetts, Senator
John Davis, supported by Senator .Peleg
Sprague, OF Maine, opposed it. The bill
had bitter enemies who denounced it,
not as eliminating atlocity" but as
tariff of denominations In the early
Thirties came the notification revolt of
South Carolina and the Clay compromise
tariff bill which cut duties on sliding
scale at intervals of two years, the inten-
tion being to have all duties down to ten
per cent. in ten years. 1t was during the
operation of this tariff that the panic of
1887 occurred. In 1S42 the Wing party was
in power, and passed higher protection
act, by the close votes of l05 to 1O3 in
the House, and "a to 20 in the Senate.
Senator George Evans, of Maine, was
the leader in putting this bill through
the Senate, as he was also the leader in
the memorable tight against the passage
of the tariff of 1916, when the bill passed
the Senate by the casting vote of Vice
President Dallas. The tariff of 1s42 had
been unpopular in the South, but was
SO popular in the industrial States that
Pennsylvania was carried by
the Democrats with the cry
"Polk, Dallas and the tariff of '42n
But Folks administration was no sooner
in than Secretary Of the Treasury
Robert j. Walker, Missssippian, at
tackled the tariff of 1912 in an elaborate
report, and, by aid of Polk, dragooned
Buchanan and Dallas into helping over
turn the very act of AZ which they had
made their battle cry in PENNSYLVANIA.
tolIuOu SduCIOu udu shouted FOLK.
Dallas and the tariff of AZ" with the
rest, but he stood by his convictions,
bolted the regular Democracy. and laid
the foundations of his political power SO
deep that he was able to transmit it BY
inheritance. The tariff of 1916, with its
lower duties, was followed by period
of prosperity; and in 1857 there was a
general movement for still further re-
duction. The New England members
were divided, but generally favored the
reductions, Mr.. Sumner, Republican
Senator from Massachusetts, standing
with the fre-eating Democrats of the
South. A very serious business panic
followed this tariff act, and was produc-
ing reaction in favor of pro lection.
when the civil war came on. The Nor
rill tariff of 1860 was a war measure.
and was modified during the war to
meet its exigencies, and after the war as
conditions changed. 1t was not formally
superseded until 1888, when the Repub-
licans passed new act, which remained
NE T.