The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-06

Ne other Issue that has ever con-
fronted the American people has stayed
before them win such doggsd persist
ence % tho tariff question. other Is
sues. great and small. have arisen, have
been argued and debated for 3 decade
or . generation. and been setflsd nm
ally and forever. States Rights, 6e-
cession, Eree Coinage. Reconstruction
and Granxerism have all been put out
into the dark night Of dead issues. But
the tariff question 10 perennial; NO ver-
dict Of the people. the court of last re-
sort. has ever been accepted as finai'
No other Issue has ever lent itself
so admirably TO the exfgencies Of
American politics as has the tariff
From the beginning every period Of
hard times occurring under o free trade
tariff has been laid at the door Of freq
trads by the protectionists. rhey
have gone 30 far as to draw q chart
showing the coincidence Of free trade
and hard times from the beginning Of
II looks like . series Of stair-steps
showing the UPS and downs Of tarifr
LEGISLATION and the ups and downs Of
the times. II II . remarkable chart
and to the casual observer q remark
able showing. It IL true that It at
tributes to the tariff many seasons Of
hard times that are attributed by the
historians to other causes. 1t II also
true that II desiKnates some Of the
historic. tariffs as free trade tarins,
when, by its own showing, they were
higher than others which are desig-
mated ~ protectoin tariffs. But in
spite OF ali this It Is still q chart cal
culated to impress the man who reads
a. he runs.
George Washington gave protection
its first great send-off. In his message
to Congress-, wherein he advised that
the tariff be used to encourage the man
the conduct Of war. The majority Of
the people Of all the States readily
acquiesced in this policy, though most
OF those who did not were members
of the Anti Federalist Party. In the
years that were to come this was all
to change. Gradually the Anti-Feder-
aiists became the party Of protection
and the Feder61ists the party Of free
trade. until In 1915 each party found
itself In the others camp. Federalistic
Massachusetts was now avery hotbed
Of free trade. and under such environ
ment Daniel Webster became q m Oldest
ardent free trader In later years the
South was to become the stronghold
Of free trade and the North the fort
Of protection.
In the campaign OF 1874 all the Pres
idential candidates were. or at least
were represented a. being. champions
Of protection. Henry Clay had always
been its conscientious advocate. Gem
eral jackson had saved the tariff bill
of that year from defeat on It's third
reading In the Senate. John Quincy
Adams was in favor Of It. During the
next four years there was much effort
to make political capital out Of the
tariff. James Buchanan and group
of others sought to turn the fight over
The TariH OF Abominations to the po-
litical advantage OF Andrew Jackson.
and they were successful. "A genera
tion after that someone said that there
was yet another President in the bloody
shirt. and he might have borrowed the
idea from the other man who said that
they were trying to make a President
out Of The Tariff OF Abominations.
In the election OF 1870 the wings de-
cided that II would be best not to play
too much on the. protection horn. They
sought. TO avoid the repetition of their
I'll fortune. 90 they sidetraeke9 Henry
Clay. out-and- out protectionist and re-
sorted 10 that expedient which often
had been turned to. good advantage--
dominating a war hero. OLD "Tfppe-
canoe Harrison Justified their hopes,
ana through the Generalization OF the
tariff as an issue in the campaign they
were able to get q majority in Con-
gress which resulted IN the passage OF
the highest tariff the country had ever
known.
Four years later--to borrow an ex-
preston ifnmortalized two-thirds of
century afterward--the Wings decided
to stand pat on the tariff OF 1912.
and nominated protectors greatest
living exponent. Henry Clay. The
Democrats nominated James X. Polk,
ana the campaign that followed was
full of wonders. In the South Polk
was regarded as an advocate OF a low
tariff. but in the protection centers Of
the North he was held up as a better
protectionist than Clay, and the Wings
were dared to touch the tariff of 1912.
Polk was elected. and the projections
lists who had voted for him were hor-
rifed when he appointed as his Secre--
tary of the Treasury. Robert J. Walk
err. Pennsvlvanian who had become
a Southerner and an out-and- out free
trader. The result was the walker
tariff of 1916. q bill not at all satisfac-
tory to most protectionists. But good
times accompanied its operations. and
the masses cared little for high or
low tariff so long az there was pros
perity.
In the following Presidential year
the Wings concluded to try the game
that had worked so well in 1870 when
they had nominated a hero and won
with him. This time Gen. Zachary
Taylor was nominated and elected. He
was not as thoroughly grounded In
the. doctrine of protection as some OF
the protectionists could wish. but that
was q secondary consideration. His