The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-24
VALE-.-ROOSEVELT:

deciding vote was a protectionist, who mad been instructed by his Legisla- ture 10 vote for a low tariff-Senator Jarnagin of Tennessee. On every pos- sible preliminary motion he voted with the protectiontsts. but when 1t came to an essential vote he cast his for low tariff. His vote referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Finance only week before Congress was to adjourn. The report which that Com mittee was instructed to bring in would have taken more than a week to prepare. It looked as if the meas ure were. lost.
 The Committee admitted in the Sen ate the next day that 1t did not even open single paper in connection with the bill. or dip a single pen in the ink to prepare the report, although it was called together at o'clock In the morning for that purpose. Thereupon motion was made to take the bill out of the hands of the Committee and i'm mediately to consider 1t in the Senate. The Tennessee Protectionist here de- cided that 1t was incumbent upon him to vote for this motion, and 1t carried. Then a section of the bill was strick en out, which necessitated sending 1t back to the House tor concurrence. Mean Whiles Senator Johnson of Maryland, moved to commit the bill to a select committee, with instructions like those given the discharged Finance Commit tee. Senator Jarnagin withheld his vote on this motion, and 1t was now up to the Vice President to decide 1t.
 Vice-President Dallas was a Penn sylvania high tariff Democrat-of the Sam Randall type. To vote for com initial would be to vote against the bill--it would be a vote for the con- tinuation of the Whig protective tariff. To vote against committai was practi- cany to insure the passage of the measure. In doing so he would have to vote against the two Senators from his own State, against the majority of the House delegation from that State. against the protection for which he was supposed to stand. But he did vote against committal, and the result was an early passage of the Walker tarin. For the third time in the his tory of the Union a vice-presidential vote had turned the scales on import ant legislation. Calhoun had defeated the Woolens bill of 1927 and Clinton had defeated the recharter of the sec ond United States bank. Protectionists hold the action of Dallas up to public scorn to this day, while free traders are equally certain that he acted from the purest of motives. He is probably the only Vice-President who ever broke a tie and passed a measure that did not coincide with his personal views.
 remarkable feature of the Walker tariff was Its brevity. It had less than 5000 words in it, and yet it went into greater detail than any other measure that had yet been enacted. It remain ed in force unaltered longer than any other tariff except the Dingiey law The only changes made in the eleven years of the life of the Walker tariff were those providing for reciprocity with Canada, and the exemption from duty of books for the use of Congress Another significant feature of the hill was the change from specific to ad va lorem duties. Early frauds against the customs houses had led to the adoption of specific duties-1so many cents per yard, pound, or gallon. This time the conclusion was reached that frauds from under-valuation could be circum- vented, so the ad valorem-or per cent ages of value-duty was substituted
 The warehouse system also had its beginning under the Walker tariff. In the first half century of national exlst ence the importer could bring his goods in and pay the duty whenever he sold them. In 1S42 this practice was leeis- lated out of existence and the import CT had to put up the money to cover his duties before his goods could cross the dead line of the tariff wall This aroused great deal of complaint. As a compromise, the Walker law pro- vided for a system of warehouses. where imports could be stored for a year before paying duty. This ware house system proved a godsend to im- porters In after years.
 The ad valorem system of duties did not work as well in practice as it does in theory. William E. Meredith the Whlg successor to Walker as Secretary Of the Treasury. gathered evidence to show inequalities of appraisement. He found that cordwood was admitted at Boston at $1.50 per cord, at Gloucester at $l,25, and at Portland at 75 cents. while samples of cotton goods prepared and submitted as test, were appraised at figures varying fully 25 per cent.
 The prosperity of the nation during the era of the Walker tariff is one of the turning points In all tariff argu- times then were good in spite of the tariff. They attribute those good times to the discovery of gold in California, to the stimulus of the war with Mex ico. and to foreign conditions The low tarif advocates promptly counter this assertion with the statement that the same might be said of the pros- perity era of the Dingley- tariff period. They find that gold discoveries in Alas ka and the West. and the Spanish American war, the Boer war, and the