The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-22

ECauJ " wy otA AVA sAWASa Sve-S tective duty in the ,tarin of the pre- principle was early brought into the House. Its appearance there was the signal for one of the most dramatic of all the battles that have been waged in the long-continuing tarih war. The Protectionists realized that they were outnumbered. but they re. solved to stand like the Spartans at Thermopylae. They were angerea ,o think that the action of a single state could overturn their favorfte policy, just as Mir. Roosevelt was angered when California threatened. by her in dividual action, to precipitate trouble with Japan. The Protectionists ac- cused the advocates of revision Of be- ing towards before tho state of South Carolina.
 The low tarin people promptly re- sented the imputation. They pointed to the fact that seven of the states had appealed to Congress to put an end to protection, two of them the New England states of Maine ana New Hampshire. Their spokesman asserted that 1t was neither right nor just that taxes should be imposed on states which believed them to be op- pressive and unconstitutional.
 After q prolonged debate on the bill reported to the House 1t was found that it could not muster the ne- cessary strength for passage. Then numerous other propositions were brought forth. but they suffered like lack of strength. At last mo- ton was made by. Kentucky member that all after the enacting clause be stricken out, and that in lieu thereof be substituted the bill drafted by Senator Clay, which. 1t was under stood. could pass the Senate. This measure was accepted almost at once, and passed the House with substan- tial margin.
 This bill had previously been intro "in the hope-perhAps vain hope-of reconciIing conflicting opinions in this country on the subject to which It related" The bill was drawn to be "a protective tariff that leads to ul- timate Free Trade" and provided for gradual reduction of duties until 1s42, when the last vestige of Pro- tection should be wiped or the sta ute books and complete tarlff for revenue only should then take its place. The first reduction was not to take place until nine months after the approval of the measure. and all du- ties were to be brought down to horizontal level of 20 percent. by such gradual steps that 1t would require nine years to complete the reductions thus giving every manufacturer q chance to adjust himself to the new
 The measure was unique among tariff measures in that 1t sought to tie the hands of future congresses. In the years that followed the plea was frequently heard that the act amounted to an inviolable promise by Congress to abide by that measure. hoA to Int xvtf fn repeal the odious salt tax. would in- volve bad faith on the part of the na- tional legislature.
 When the bill was brought into the Senate with the sanction of the House upon 1t, MT. Clay promptly took the floor as it's champion. His speech was perhaps the greatest conciliatory him rank as the greatest of American conciiiators. He first referred to the dissensions that had grown up be- cause of Protection. and said he felt that all differences ought to be har- monized and reconeiled. Then he as- serted that Protection stood in inmi- nent danger, and drew an appalling picture of the c0nsequences that would follow 8 sudden change to Free Trade. He took the view that his measure would effect the change that seemed inevitable. and would &C., complish 1t in A way that would re- duce to minimum the evils of change. As for the permanency of the measure. he thought the Protec- tionists would not seek to reopen the question for fear Of @ worse fate, and that the Free Traders would not seek to overthrow a measure they had helped enact.
 He said ne felt that the manufac- tmrers could well afford to give the concessions his measure exacted from them. in exchange for the nine and half years of legislative peace and certainty they would enjoy. As to the assertion that he was led to frame the bill by the nullification acts. he said that so long as South Carolina threatened by force to oppose the laws of the nation, he had been an ad- vocate of harsh measures; but since he found that she meant only to try to accomplish her ends by law and not by the sword. there was no longer necessity for harshness. While he thought the experiment was rash. incorporate. and even dangerous one, still, 1t was time for reconciliation and not for extreme measures. He now believed that South Carolina had been putting up her fists merely to see what the United States would do about 1t. and with that view In mind ho could no longer see that he was yielding in the face of threats when he conceded all he could to the Pal metto state.
 The sudden change of front on the part of Clay at this time, constitutes one of the most remarkable moves in the history of politics. Here was the Lion of Protection ready to lie down with the lamb of Free Trade. His motives have been variously interpre- ted It Is true that he yielded prac- ttcaliy every fundamental of the doc urine he had preached so long. Those who know the man best assert that Clay's motives were of the highest. Consistent Protectionist, he saw that the enemy had all but taken the very citadel. and that to withdraw at leis- ure, with the honors of war, was to be preferred to unconditional surrender. More tritely put. he assumed that half loaf was better than no bread. Some have asserted that he took the course he did because he wished to prevent trouble with South Carolina. which might give Jackson an oppor- tunity to wield military power. 9th CTS assert that he expected to stem the tide of Free Trade by promising when the time came to ignore the promise
 But if Clay was inconsistent, there were others not less so. Daniel Web ster had been the father of the argu- ment that Protection was unconstitu- tional. He had elaborated that doc trIne in a speech in 1920. and had giv- en 1t all the vitality 1t possessed. Yet he was now as firmly convinced of the constitutlonality of Protection as he had been of its unconstitution-