The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-24
AMERICAN TARIFF LAWS X-.WaLker Tariff fo. Revenue Only
By Frederic J. Haskin.

When the Twenty-ninth Congress met. the free traders were able to count a safe majority, and 1t was not long in getting down to the serious business of revising the Whig tarfn of 1S42. That law had proved great revenue producer, and the treasury was piling up too big surplus for the financial health of the nation. The demands for a revision of the tariff had been heard the year before, but nothing in that direction was done by the Twenty eighth Congress-fur- ther than to discuss the matter in an academic way. A bill reducing duties was introduced, but was promptly ta- bled by vote of 1o6 to ss.
 The election in 1844 was perhaps the greatest go-as-you-please race the country has ever seen. Polk had re- cefved the nomination for President by the operation of the two-thirds rule in the Democratic Convention, while Dal- las. thought to be a high tariff man. was made his running mate-in order to make sure of the Pennsylvantaa vote. Clay was the Whig candidate. and in protection centers Polk was held up as a better pretectionist than Clay. In Pennsylvania the Democratic rally ing cry was Polk and Dallas and the Tarin of 1S42." The Pennsylvania Democrats even went so far as to as- sert that the tariff of '42 was a Demo- cratic measure, and the Whigs were dared to repeal it, transparencies in torchlight processions showing this challenge. On the other hand. the South thought Polk & free trader. Polk and Dallas were elected by large majority in the electoral college. all though they failed to poll majority of the popular vote.
 If inc pennsylyania people voted for Polk and Dallas under the impression that they were voting for the tarin of 1S42, they soon found out their mis- take. About the first thing Polk did was to appoint Robert j.. Walker. a native of Pennsylvania, but a Senator from Mississippi, his Secretary of the Treasury. He was as much Of free trader as ever John Dalzell or Pig Iron Kelly was a protectionist And the first time Dallas was called on to cast a deciding vote, 1t was cast for free trade. Walker sent to Congress his report, which is to the free traders what Hamiltons Report on Manufac- lures" Is to protectionists. He took the ground that no more money should be collected from the people than was essential to an economical administra- ton of the Government; that no duty should be imposed upon any article above the lowest that would yield the largest amount of revenue; that be- low this point protection could be ap- piled; that luxuries should pay the maximum duties and the necessities of the poor the minimum; and that ev- erything should be taxed on a per- centage basis, abolishing all specific duties.
 This report was regarded as such a notable paper that even the British House of Lords had 1t reprinted for the use of Parliament. It was shock to the protectionists, especially those who had voted for Polk. on the as- sumption that he was better protec- tionist than Clay. They felt. that Walker had offended against the pro- prieties of office in using his annual report as a vehicle for a preachment of free trade doctrines. The free traders responded that 1t was no more than some of his protection predeces- sors had done.
 When Congress got down to its work of changing the tariff the first thing done was to hear argument on a resolution offered by MT. Stewart of Pennsylvania, to refer the tariff ques- ton to a committee with instructions that no changes should be made in the tariff of 1S42. There was such little support given to this proposi- ton that the proponent did not press It to a vote. II WOulQ nave peSh iiAO asking the Congress that made the Dingley tariff to reaffirm the Wilson tariff
 The Ways and Means Committee re- ported a tariff revision bill In due time. A Democratic Senator said in the course of the debates that the measure had been drawn in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, and that the Committee had merely fla thered what others had done. The de- bate on the bill in the House started on June 16 and continued until July 3. Nearly all the speeches were of the set" variety, and few of them con- tained a syllable that was new.
 There was one interesting passage in the House debate. A Northern member had brought In statistics con- corning savings under the Whig tariff, showing how the deposits in Massachu setts savings banks had increased. A Southern member was prompted there by to make the charge that the North ern free laborer made more money out of his labor than the Southern slave owner made out of his slaves, and used that conclusion as a justi1cation of slavery, and at the same time as proof that the tariff was so high that 1t practically robbed the Southern slave owner of the earnings of his slaves labor.
 The Journey of the measure through the Senatorial labyrinth was fraught with many incidents. The high and low tarifH forces were evenly divided, to a man. The Senator who had the