The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-18
AMERICAN TARIFF LAWS
 IT--I4an,ilton Bldzss Protection's Day
By Frederic J. Haskin.

No great policy of any government ever had more splendid argumenta- tive foundation than was laid for the protection policy by Alexander Hamil- ton. Hs Report on Mansfactures." prepared while he was Secretary of the Treasury. Is the granary from which all protection speakers and writers have secured their fundamental arRu- ments. Although each of these speak, CTS and writers has striven to add some new thought to the subject, or to restate an old one in . more tell- ing way, those students who consider 1t with the impartial calm of the his torian. rather than the battle-f1ush bias of the politician. regard the Eam-s ilton report as covering every detail of protection.
 How this report came to be written is an interesting story. Congress was not satisfied with the condition of manufactures in the nation. and in January, l7eo. passed resolution calling upon the Secretary of the Treasury for detailed statement con- corning them.> together with sugges- lions for their stimulation. With a thoroughness never surpassed. and sell dom eQualled. Hamilton proceeded to collect all available data. He spent neary two years in the preparation of the statement. When he submitted 1t to Congress he gave to the world the Bible of Protection. Friend and foe of that doctrine alike admit that Hamilton stated the case in the most favorable light possible.
 The plan of his report Is very simple. Ffrst he states the case against pro- tection as clearly and concisely as any one could. Then he turns the guns of his argument upon the structure thus reared. and razes 1t to the complete he proceeds to rear his own ediflce of protection in its stead. and he uses every available piece of fact-timber to the best advantage. He gets right down to the wy fundamentals. And with remarkable fidelity the protec- tiouists eyer since have stuck to the Bible he gave them. Of course they have some heretics who refuse to &C., cept his statement that the tarin duty Is one of the ingredients which enters into the cost of foreign goods to the consumer. but other than that every protectionist Is orthodox, as measured by the Report on Manufactures"
 But the advocates of revenue tariff do not construe the Hamilton report as 1t isnow interpreted by their oppo- nents. In the first place, they assert
 
 not well taken. They say that even Hamilton never had any visions of protection being carried as far as 1t has been. Likewise. they insist that 1t did not represent the views of the nation. Dr. Henry c. Adams says that 1t fails to prove that either Hamilton on Congress were the high protection ists they are represented as being.
 At the beginning of the second ses- sion of the First Congress Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury. submit ted his estimates for the year. These called for nearly four times as much money for interest as was required for the maintenance Of the Govern ment. The estimates called for ss00.- 900 for expenses. and $2.239,o00 for meeting the interest on the domestic and foreign debt. Hamilton recom-' mended an internal revenue tax on spirits, liquors. wines. etc, in order to swell the revenue. But Congress was not willing, and this proposition was overwhelmingly defeated. Then tho bih to increase the tariff rates was taken up. debated; passed, and signed by the President, all within fifty days. the fact that parliament tary procedure was clumsy and un- wieldly in those days. this is almost record time for the passage of tariff law.
 Even this measure proved to be a makeshift. Just as the failure of the Supreme Court to uphold the income tax law Is held to have been responsi- ble for the collapse of the Wilson tar if, so the failure of Congress to pro- vide for an internal revenue tax to accompany the tarin act of 179o brought about deficit in the reve- nues, and third session of the First Congress came to the rescue with an internal revenue tax on spirits.
 Again in 17s2 the Government need ed more money to defend the from tiers, the expenditures exceeding the revenues by more than s60o.oo0. Con- gress once more called on Secretary Hamilton for a plan by which to raise more money. During the debate on the resolution one member said he opposed the manner of calling on cab inet officers for information, that not even the English Parliament was ESQ to ministers as some gen tlemen are to our secretaries. But the Secretary reported. estimating that the net amount necessary to be raised would be $526.00o. and that 1t could be secured by increasing the
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