Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1910-01-28
ORIGIN OF The Tariff
Pr ates Extortink Tribute
from Commerce Set the
Copied Example

The origin, growth and character
istics OF the tariff system, upon which
the republican party has been built.
is told in the Martin County Sentinel
in the following historical sketch sssttss
Along about 1912, Juan Macedess as
an inhabitant of the, prosperous little
town of Tarifa on the Strait of
Gibralter at the most southern point of
Spain. :.
The principal occupation Of the
inhabitants OF this town was tho
collection to q tariff levied by them
on the goods Of, the merchant vessels
which were forced to pass through the
narrow straits fronting the town.
When vessel appeared, boats would
put out from the village, the craft was
intercepted, the collectors swarmed on
the deck and exacted such tribute as
seemed to them proper. Some vessels
which rave up without too stormy
objections were let of easy, while
others, which put up too strenuous
fight, were robbed to the boards.
Among the most active in the collec'
ton of the duties was young Juan
Macedes, who was always among the
first to board stranger, and the last
to leave her decks. It was while
attending to his duties in this respect
that circumstances launched him INTO
the career in which he was to become
famous as "The Pirate of Tarifa -
Early one bright morning a trim
brig was sighted. and the town, as
was usual. sailed forth to collect the
usual tribute But the ships com
.pany put up strenuous fight to
escape payment, and it was only after
a bloody battle, in which many were
killed, that the crew was over
powered. But this stubborn resistance
SO enraged the good people OF Tarifa
that tho few survivors were put to
death with most exquisite torture, and
both ship and cargo were confiscated.
The capture Of the ship was Juan's
opportunity. Gathering about him
some two score cutthroats he en-
barked upon the high seas as pirate,
and for many years he was the real
thing IN the way of the "Terror! of
the Seas Starting with but one
small ship and less than half q
hundred men, by converting captured
vessels into pirates, and manning
them with buccaneers, as reckless and
as cruel as himself, he soon had q feet
which ravlshed commerce and enriched
himself.
For Macodes was thrifty rascal
He did not squander the bars of gold
and silver and the heaps of Jewels
which his strict attention to business
accumulated. No, indeed, but rather
he invested it wisely and we'll and
became the owner of vast estates in
Spain and the West Indies, the most Of
which paid him big returns. -
In time he died, rich in ships,
lands money and iniquity-all OF
which was inherited by his son, who
was tit representative of his illus
trious father, and who continued the
business at the same old stand. i
: But during all this time there were
those who envied Macedes b Co.. their
wonderful prosperity. aud insisted
that the pirate business should DO
regulated by the heavy hand OF the
law. The merchantmen and the
traveller believed they should have
some rights in the disposition of their
own property ana So, after Juan Junior
had been a pirating for few years, |
he was apprehended at the port Of
L.sbon, when he called at that city,
and was brought before the court,
charged with piracy on the high seas.
The Macedes family was thrifty, SO