Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-04-20
AMERICAN TARIFF LAWS
WALKER TARIFF FOR REVENUE ONLY
By FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN.
OF coincide with his personal views.

not coincide with his personal views.
A remarkable feature Of the Walker
tariff was its brevity. 1t had less than
5000 words in 1t, and yet 1t went into
greater detail than any other measure
that had yet been enacted. 1t remained
In force unaltered longer than any 9TH
er tariff except the Dingley law. The on
ly changes made in the eleven years Of
the life of the Walker tariff were those
providing for reciprocity with Canada,
and the exemption from duty of books
for the use of congress. Another signi-
ficant feature of the bill was the change
from specific to ad valorem duties. Early
frauds against the customs houses had
led to the adoption of specific duties-
so many cents per yard, pound, or gallon
This time the conclusion was reached that
frauds from differentiation could be cir
cumvented, so the ad valorem-or percen-
tage of value-duty was substituted
The warehouse system also had its be-
ginning under the Walker tariff. In the
first half century of national existencs
the importer could bring his goods In
and pay the duty whenever he sold them.
In 1912 this practice was legislated out
of existence, and the importer had to put
UP the money to cover his duties duties
before his goods could cross the dead line
Of the tariff wall. This aroused a great
deal of complaint. As a compromise. the
Walker law provided for q SYSTEM OF
warehouses, where imports could be
stored for a year before paying duty.
This warehouse system proved a godsend
to importers in after years.
The advalorem system of duties did
not work as well in practice as IT does
in theory. William z. Meredith, the
Wing successor to Walker as secretary
of the treasury, gathered evidence to
show inequalities of appraisemenx. He
found that cord wood was admitted at
Boston at $50 per cord, at Gloucester at
$1.8 and at Portland at SIS; while sam
pies of cotton goods prepared and sub
mitted as a test, were appraised at fig
ures varying fully Is per cent
The prosperity Of the nation during the
era of the Walker tariff is one of the
turning points In all tariff arguments
The protectionists assert the times then
were good in spite OF the tariff. They
attribute those good times TO the dis
covery of gold in California, to the slim
illus of the war with Mexico, and 20 for
eign conditions. The low tariff advoca-
ton promptly counter this assertion with
the statement that the same might be
said OF the prosperity era OF the Ding
ley tariff period They find that gold
discoveries in Alaska and the west, and
the Spanish-American war, the Boer
war. and the Russo-Japanese war, all
were features OF the latest era OF pres
perity. So the opposing IDEAS are no
more able TO find common ground as to
the causes OF conditions during the oper-
alton Of the Walker tariff than they ara
as to the tariff principles themselves
Historians generally agree that the coun-
try was highly prosperous during the
operation Of the Walker tariff, though
some assert that certain industries did
languish during that periodic Copyright,
1903, by Frederic ]. Haskin)