Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-06-01

years of the American tariff system
there have been thirteen general revis-
ions of the tariff, as many more serious
attempts at general revision, and hun
dreds of minor changes. From Madison,
who wrote the first tariff act. to Serene
E. Jayne, who will probably see the
pending revision called the Payne law,
each new tariff has been fathered by
some praminent man. In rectnt years
it has been the custom to give the name
of the chairman of the ways and means
committee to the tariff acts, as, for in
stance, the Dingley act, the Wilson act,
and the Mckinley act. Prior to the Civ
il war a tariff law frequently got the
name of someone outside of the house.
The Walker tariff derived its name from
Robert ]. Walker, secretary of the treas
ury. The Clay compromise got its name
from enry Clay, then a United States
senator.
James Madison wrote Americas first
tariff law. No statesman has ever done
more audacious thing. 1t was while
straining at a gnat of per cent tar
if that the confederation went to pieces.
But Mr.. Madison proposed to make the
same colonies which composed the con-
federation swallow the camel of a much
higher tariff. He succeeded and the
encouragement of American manufac-
lures" to which the states would not
agree when members of the confedera-
ton, was meek acquiesced In when
members. of the United States With
Madison 1t was a case of everything
to gain and nothing to lose. He under
stood full we'll that If the government
could not levy a tariff on imports 1t
meant ruin anyway, and the test might
as well come then as thereafter. Madi-
son, Fillmore and Mckinley are the only
the authors of tariff laws who ever
reached the presidency.
Alexander j. Dallas, secretary OF the
treasury under Madison, was the virtual
author of the tariff of 1916. 1t had been
the custom for the secretary Of the treas
ury to be called on for a report show
ing the needs of the treasury and the
direction a change in the tariff should
take Hamilton had produced his report
on manufactures and Albert Gallatin had
done likewise, taking the opposite view
in the main. Dallas was born in the
British island OF Jamaica, and took the
oath of allegiance in 1888. 1t was on his
suggestion that the second National bank
was Incorporated in 1876 and his service
as secretary of the treasury during the
financially perilous times following our
second war with England have always
been regarded as of a high order.
1t is rather hard to assign the author
ship of the tariff of 1924 1t was report
ed by the committee on manufactures,
of which Mr.. Todd, of Pennsylvania, was
chairman, though the measure was franz
ed by the committee acting as a whole.
Mr.. Todd steered it through the house.
Silas Wright wrote the report on the
bill which was afterward distorted into
the Tariff of denominations. Chairman
Mallory. of the committee on manufac-
lures, managed the bill in the house, but
the probabilities are that the credit for
drafting the measure is largely due to
Silas Wright. Wright was a politicaI
power in his day, and as member of
the United States senate he made him.
self one of the leaders of the national
Democracy.
John Quincy Adams was the author
of the bill which furnishes the basis of
the tariff of 1882, and as such was the
only ex-president who ever drafted
tariff law. Madison, Fillmore and Nc
Kinley became president after their bills
became laws, but Adams was president
before He had to contend with a situa-
seen. The Protectionists were in the ma
jority, but were divided among them
selves. The advocates of the iron sched-
ule did not care what happened TO wool
ems, and the friends of the woolens
schedule were not concerned as to the
fate of iron. But Adams seized the
warning factions and figuratively repeat
ed that celebrated admonition: I'VE
must all hang together or we will have
\ H., ha
cured unity of action and Protectionists
were not hanged separately"
The feat of Henry Clay in efrecting his
famous tariff compromise of 1888 stands
out as one of the most remarkable polit-
ical maneuvers of all tariff history. He
saw that protection was doomed. and he
promptly set about TO insure its main
tenance as long as possible. He foresaw
that defeat was the portion which would
befan the doctrine, and he sought to get
the best terms the enemy would give.
He wanted the change to be a gradual
one, and thought nine years time enough
in which the manufacturers should be
asked to change from a high tariff TO a
low tariff basis One of the favorite
statements about his attitude that
he never expected that the low tariff.
which his compromise provided should
go INTO effect III 1917, SnOuiu DeCOIHe W
erative; that he expected a new high
tariff law to be passed before that time.
But such a statement does not seem to
do justice to the candor of the man.
Making the oil of protection to mix with
the water of free trade was a difficult
feat. but one which Clay was able to &C
complish. AS a compromises Henry Clay
stands out in first place among the
statesmen of the country, his compro-
mise on the slavery question in 1850 be-
ing no less remarkable than his tariff
of 1888.
Willard Fillmore, afterward president |
wrote the tariff of 1872 That year there
were two bills reported to the house. one
from the committee on manufactures, by
Mr.. Saltonstall, of Massachusetts. ana
the other by Mr.. Fillmore, from the