Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-06-04

No other issue hat has ever confronted
fhe American people has stayed before
them with such logged persistence as the
tariff question. other issues, great and
small. have arisen. have been argued
and debated for a decade or q genera
ZION. and been settled finally and for
ever States rights. secession. slavery
free coinage, reconstruction, and gran
rerfsm have all been put out into the
dark night Of dead issues. But the tar
If question Is perennial; no verdict OF the
people. the court Of last resort, has ever
been accepted as final. and none perhaps
win be-
No other issue has ever lent itself so
admirably TO the exigencies Of American
politics as has the tariff. From the be-
rinning every period Of hard times oc-
curing under a free trade tariff has
been laid at the door OF free trade by
the protectionists. They have gone so
far as to draw a chart showing the coin
cidence OF free trade and hard times
from the beginning OF the government
down 10 the present II looks like Sc
ries OF stair-steps showing the ups and
downs OF tariff legislation and the ups
downs OF the times II is a remarkable
chart and TO the casual observer re-
narkable showing II is true that II at
tributes TO the tariff many seasons OF
hard times that are attributed by the his
forfans 10 other causes II is also true
that Il designates some OF the historic
tariffs as free trade tariffs. when. by
Its own showing. they were higher than
others which are designated as prOtec-
ton tariffs But in spite Of all this II
i stin chart calculated TO impress the
man who reads as he runs
George washington gave protection its
first great send-Olf. in his message to
congress. wherein he advised that the
tariff be used to encourage the manufac-
tnre OF those things essential TO the con-
duct OF war. The majority OF the peO-
pie OF all the states readily acQuiesced
III this policy. though most OF those who
did not were members OF the anti-feder-
alEst party. In the years that were to
come this was all 10 change. Gradually
the anti-federalists became the party of
protection and the federalists the party
OF free trade. until in 1Sls each party
found itself in the others camp. FEEDER
alIstic Massachusetts, was now a very
hotbed OF free trade. and under such en-
vironment Daniel Webster became a most
ardent free trader. In later years the
south was 10 become the stronghold OF
free trade and the north the fort Of pro-
lection
In the campaign OF 1874 all the presi-
Dental candidates were. or at least were
represented as being champions of pro-
lection Henry Clay had always been its
conscientious advocate. General Jackson
had saved the tariff bill of that year
from defeat on its third reading in the
senate. John Quincy Adams was in IA
vor Of It. During the next four years
there was much effort TO make political
capital out Of the tariff. James Buchan-
an and a group OF others sought to turn
the fight over the tariff OF denominations
70 the political advantage OF Andrew
jackson. and they were successful A
generation after that someone said that
there was yet another president in the
bloody shirt. and he might have borrow
Cd the idea from the other man who said
that they were trying TO make a presi-
dent out OF the tariff Of denominations.
In the election Of 1870 the Wings decid-
ed that IL would be best not TO play too
much on the protection horn They had