The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-15

NO other question of governmental policy has been % persistently . polit- teal issue as the tariff. By refusins to remain down 1t has made every oth- CT question of American politics seem but . short-lived affair. 1t began by figuring as Q prominent factor in the breaking down of the Confederati ton two colonies would not submit to a national tariff law. and each colony wanted to have . tarfn against the others products. Then 1t proved to be prominent argument for the ma Constitution. From that day to this 1t has been more or less an issue. Sometimes 1t has been overshadowed by other questions. but its eclipse has always been temporary.
 Well might the tariff be an issue. From tho time when the first law went into effect down to the present date 1t has put nearly eleven billion dollars into the coffers of Uncle Sam. comes from. The high tariff man de- clarss with conviction that the for eigner pays the tax" and the low tar If man is equally sanguine that the consumer pays the freight" What ever the truth of the matter is. the fact remains that foreign goods com ing into the United States have had to. pay eleven bilNon dollars for the privilege of getting in--exactly like one has to pay to set into the theater.
 That is the direct result of the tar if. But greater even than this has been the indirect result. The high tariff man believes that 1t has made the country richer by multiplied mill lions of dollars. He looks at the su- perab bounding prosperity of the nation and says that 1t Is the result of the protective tariff. He says that while 1t has yielded eleven billion dollars in much in increased national wealth. The low tariff advocate comedies that we are a rich nation, but with a pos- itiveness equal to that of his high tar if friend. he asserts that 1t is in spite of the tariff. and mot at all because of 1t. John Sharp Williams disclaims the idea of high tariff being respon- sibie for prosperity by telling the sto- ry of woodpecker that was pecking at q tree when the wind rose and blew the tree down. He says that to this day the woodpecker believes that 1t felled the tres.
 Between these two extreme views one finds the doctrine Of President Garfield. When in Congress. and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. he discussed the tariff and dhaay SCu tuC5C bWo FlCWot IoiAOWIHS the analysis with the declaration that the truth lay between them in the shape of protective tariff that leads to ultimate free trade." He wanted the infant industries to be nourished up to the point where they could hustle for themselves and then withdraw the government stimulant.
 The reasonable man knows that there Is argument on both sides, but 1A Nx e. strength of the arguments each side can muster. An incident which hap pened last winter will illustrate this. The present Vice President, Mir. Sher- man, had printed in the Congressional Record parallel columns of figures. comparing the condition of the coun- try under Democratic rule from 1893 to 1897. and under Republican rule since then. It was an impressive ar- ray Of statistios. and seemed convinc- ing enough for anyone.
 The eye Of Representative Lloyd of Missouri fell on this campaign doca- ment. and he proceeded to counter in true political prize ring style. He made some calculations as to the rel ative growth of the country from, 1850 to 1880. under @ low tariff, and He presented figures showing that savings bank deposits had increased 246 percent in the low-tariff decade: all bank deposits 1s6 percent. as oom- pared with 1e0 percent: exports 1s3 percent as compared with 7s percent. Ills figures set up the claim that the national wealth had increased 100 per cent during the ten free-trade years. as compared with less than so percent during the high tariff years. Ac- sording to the Lloyd figures wheat was worth an average of more than double as much. and corn more than halt more.
 To all this the Republicans answer that the 1850-isso period was 6 hap py accident; that the country was simply enjoying that prosperity which resulted from the Mexican War and the discovery of gold in California, just as the Democrats insist that the panic of 1893 came from Republican misrule in the Harrison administra- tion. So there you are. This series of articles will not attempt to settle even a single point of this muiti-sided controversy. but to tell the history of the tariff from the time that 1t first began, showing its interdependence with all other questions and portray ing the many changes of front by men and parties. It is the most thrilling story Of American politics. story