Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-04-07
AMERICAN TARIFF LAWS
X-WaEker Tariff for Revenue Only
BY FREDERIC j. HASKIN

bate on the bill in the house started on
June 16 and continued until July ..
Nearly all the speeches were or the
"set" variety, and few of them con-
tanned a, syllable that was new;
The Journey of the measure through
the senatorial labyrinth was fraught
with many incidents. The high ana
low tariff forces were evenly divided
to a. man. The senator who had the
deciding vote was q protectlonlSt VINO
had been instructed by his legislature
to vote for low tariff-Senator Jar
nagin of Tennessee. on every posi-
bic preliminary motion he voted with
the protectionists, but when 1t came to
an essential vote he cast his for low
tariff His vote referred the bill TO
the senate committee on finance only
a week before congress was to adjourn.
The report which that committee was
Instructed to bring in would have
taken More than q week to prepare.
1t looked as IL the measure were lost.
The committee admitted In the SEN
ate the next day that 1t did not open
a single paper in connection with the
bill or dip a single pen in the INK 10
prepare the report, although 1t was
called together at o'clock IN the morn
ing for that purpose. Thereupon mo-
ton was made to take the bill out or
the hands of the committee and imme-
diately to consider 1t in the senate.
The Tennessee protectionist here de-
cded that 1t was incumbent upon MIN
to vote for this motion. and 1t carried.
Then q section of the bill was stricken
out, which necessitated sending 1t BACK
to the house for concurrence. Mean
while Senator Johnson of Maryland
moved to commit the bill to select
committee with instructions like those
given the discharged finance commit
tee. Senator Jarnagin withheld his
vote on this motion, and 1t was now
up to the vice president to decide 1t.
Vice President Dallas was Penn
sylvania high tariff Democrat of the
Sam Randall type. To vote for COM
initial would be to vote against the
bill-it would be a vote for the con-
tinuation of the Wing protective tariff.
To vote against committal was practi-
cally to insure the passage of the
measure. In doing so he would have to
vote against the two senators from his
own state against the majority of the
house delegation from that state,
against the protection for which he was
supposed to stand. But he did vote
against committal, and the result was
an early passage of the Walker tariff.
For the third time in the history of
the Union a vice presidential vote had
turned the scales on important legis-
lation. Calhoun had defeated the
Woolens bill of 1927 and Clinton had
defeated the recharter of the Second
United States bank. Protectionists
hold the action of Dallas up to pub
lie scorn to this day, while free trad
ers are equally Certain that he acted
from the purest of motives. He is
probably the only vice president who
ever broke tie and passed measure
that did not coincide with his personal
views.
The ad valorem system of duties did
not work as we'll in practice as it does
in theory. William e. Meredith, the
Wing successor to Walker as secre-
tary of the treasury gathered evidence
to show inequalities of appraisement.
He found that cord wood was admitted
at Boston at s1.5O per cord.-at Glouces-
ter at $1.25, and at Portland at 70 cents;
while samples of cotton goods prepared
and submitted as a test, were APP
praised at figures varying fully rs per
cent.
The prosperity OF the nation during
the era of the Walker tariff is one of
the turning points in all tariff argu-
ments. The protectionists assert the
times then were good in spite of the
tariff. They attribute those good times
to the discovery Of gold in California,
to the stimulus of the war with Mexico
and to foreign conditions. The low
tariff advocates promptly counter this
assertion with the statement that the
same might be said of the prosperity
era of the Dingley tariff period. They
find that gold discoveries in Alaska
and the west, and the Spanish-Ameri-
can war, the Boer war, and the Russo
Japanese war, all were features of the
latest era of prosperity. So the oppos-
ing ideas are no more able to find COM
mon ground as to the causes OF condi-
lions during the operation of the Wal
ker tariff than they are as to tariff
principles themselves. Historians gen.
orally agree that the country was
highly prosperous during the operation
of the Walker tariff, though some as
sert that certain industries did Ian
guish during that period.
Copyright 1903, by Frederic Hsskin)
Tomorrow-American Tariff Laws.
XI-The Morrill, Tariff.