The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-01-03
might CONSIDER
FORMER TARIFFS
This Has Been Suggested
To the Ways and Means
Committee.
TARIFF ONLY FOR REvENUI
IN CIVIL WAR PERIOD THIS WAS
ALL IT WAS USED FOR THE
TARIFF HAS ALWAYS BEEN A
TROUBLE MAKER

Washington, Jan. 2-While endea-
voring to reach decision on tariff re-
vision. it is being pointed out to the
ways and means committee of con-
gress might with profit consider the
conditions under which our forefath.
er statesmen were led to impose the
first high tariffs.
Before the civil war the tariff sys-
tenn had been devised to raise reven-
ne principally, the protection Of do
nestle industries from foreign compe-
tition being only a secondary issue.
place a temporary tax on foreign
goods" had been the plea Of the man
ufacturers, simply to enable us to
get our factories up and business go
ing. Once we are on our feet You
may take away the tariff. We will
then be able to face the world on
even terms"
So the acts of 1924, 1928 and 1882
Germs a chance to get on their feet.
When the civil war broke out tar
IN was relied on solely to raise rev.
enue. The governments expense ran
up to 100000 a day. and it was
found expedient to take everything
and everybody. Conditions SO far as
taxation was concerned were very
a RI ~ "a
land after the Napoleonic wars, when
there were taxes upon every article
which enters the mouth or covers the
back. or is placed under the foot,
taxes upon everything which it is
pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell or
taste: taxes upon warmth, light and
looomotion; taxes upon everything
that comes from abroad, or is grown
at home"
Because of the taxes levied during
the war the manufacturers of our
country were In real danger Of being
exterminated. To save them from dis
aster congress placed high tariff on
imported manufactured products. prac-
tically giving the American manufac-
~,
These protective tariffs were consid-
cred by every one including the man.
ufacturers, to be merely temporary.
Tariff was understood to be purely
war time legislation-an unusual
measure to meet an unusual emer-
gency.
Immediately at the close of the war
TO
ernment's heavy expenses having be-
come diminished and the war tax not
being necessary. Logically, the tar
ms that had been arranged to enable
the manufacturers to stand these
taxes should have been lifted also.
But the manufacturers objected,
BY this time they had become very
powerful. From poor struggling con.
Germs at the outset of the war, they
had accumulated great wealth. 1t
was under the high protection tariffs
OF the war times the Oil trust, the sux-
ar trust and other monopolies that are
still In existence were born.
BY no means raise the tariffs" urr-
ed the special interests. Free trade
means ruin"
The trusts had already become
strong factors In politics, and so the
hen that laid the golden eggs was not
killed.
Every now and then, however.
some statesman with a personal con-
viction the tariff system as 1t re.
manned was not fair to the consumer
urged a revision. Gen. Garfield. re-
publican, in a speech on July 10, 1868,
said: There must be a rational and
considerate adjustment of the tariff"
President Grant, in a message to con-
gress in December, 1874 declared
those articles which enter into orr
manufactures and are not produced at
home. should be entered free
Cleveland devoted an entire mess
age to tariff revision. The keenest
grief in his life was that he was pre-
vented by political chicanery from re-
wishing the tariff In accordance with
the views of his heart.
Briefly Mr.. Cleveland wanted the
duties reduced on the necessaries of
life. He favored q tariff measure
that would give to American manufac-
turers free raw material, which he be-
Heved would enable them to produce
as cheaply as the foreigner and thus
enlarge the market for the American
made goods.
Calm and Unconditional as he was
Cleveland's pulse must have beaten
quickly when Mr.. Wilson, chairman
OF the committee on ways and means
introduced the now famous Wilson
BILL Had the Wilson bill been made
law - introduced. Mr.. Cleyeland's
entire after life would have been
more happy than it was. The meas
ure was no sooner introduced. how
ever. than it was set upon by the re-
publicans and denounced as free trade
legislation Although inclined to-
ward fresr trade, the Wilson bill to
day would be considered more or less
conservative. It removed entirely the
duties On wool, coal. iron ore. lumber
and sugar. both raw and refined. II
made moderate reductions in duties
ON WOODEN goods. cottons. linens, silks.
pig iron, steel rails. glassware and
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