The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-08-08
NJ l.
A Great North Carolina States.
man of Whom Too Little
Is Known

rs the NdihCA I"A AAAOA
properly should be known as the
Valker-MacKay tariff, due to the pub
7cat1on of the reasons given by SEN
o-or william II. Haywood why he re-
sionad his seat in the Senate because
he could not support that bill, a
called attention to the fact that North
Carolina gave to Congress that en-
acted that tariff the chairman Of the
Navs and Means Committee, Gen.
lanes Iver Mackay, a statesman OF
Ifaden county. One Of the best stu
dents of North Carolina history gives
General MacKay a place among the
ablest constructive statesmen North
Caroline has produced. Certainly he
was chairman of the Ways and Means
that drafted the best tariff
act that ever vas enacted in America,
so wise and just a hat it
was retained for years, n when the
Wings came into power, although they
had criticised it severely, 1t a
worked so we'll and under it the cOun-
trv had prospered so generally hat
there was not ever a suggestion from
any high SQUIRE for it's repeal. In
his celebrated book Mr.. Blaine avs
that ii was the most satisfactory act,
and he tells of the approval of it
which came from the country at large
regardless of party. Of course, Mr..
walker, then Secretary Of the Treas
ury. played an important part in the
framing of that bill and his hand ap-
pears in many Of it's schedules. No
tariff bill was ever written by one
man. General MacKay, of Bladen
county, N. c., who was chairman Of
the Ways and Means Committee, is
the author of that tariff just as Mr..
Mckinley was the author Of the Nc
Kinley tariff and Dfngley was the
author Of the Dingiey tariff. In each
instance, the Treasury Department
furnished much Of the information
from which the tariff bill was drawn
and its experts helped the Ways and
Means Committee to draft the bill.
The difference between the Walker
or MacKay tariffs or other tariffs is
that MacKay called on nobody to help
him except public officials who were
interested IN securing reduction of the
rates, whereas In the case Of the Ding
ley n Mckinley tariffs 1t often hap
pened that the tariff schedules were
suggested or prepared in part by
those who would become the bene-
fciaries of the act.
Too little is known of General Mac
Kay in North Carolina. The truth
is that Walker followed him rather
han he followed Walker. His re-
port as chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee in 1914 was a long
and able document from which the
following extracts are taken:
Extracts From Report of General Mac
Kay. Chairman Committee Ways
and Means 1914
They (the committee) begin by
stating that they consider III lowest
possible duty necessarily protective
to its extent, though it may be i'm
posed with the single view to reve-
nue., and may be a revenue duty in
the strictest sense Of those terms.
Commencing at this point, they think
that the duty on any given article
should be considered, and is properly
called, a revnue duty SO long as an
increase in the rate will increase the
amount of revenue derived from the
importation of the article. This con-
clusion is based on the simple fact
that up to this point the way to In
crease the revenue from the given
article is to raise the rate Of duty;
and, although the degree Of p%rotec-
ton afforded by the duty is increased
with the increase Of the rate, yet that
Is an incident, and an Unavoidable in
cident, and cannot change the nature
and character Of the duty, as a duty
10 raise, to increase Pas
that point and raise the rate Of duty
so high that it's prohibitory action
~
!ected under it, and it's h aracter is
changed. The protection afforded by
1t is increased while the evenue it
Yields is diminished; thus giving pro-
lection as it's chief fruit, n revenue
as the incident. Continue to raise
the rate until the prohibitory action
of the duty becomes perfect, all i'm
portations of the article cease, and
no revenue is realized from the duty.
Then, certainly it cannot be con
sidered or called "a revenue duty, and
It's exclusive object must be protec-
uon. It must be, therefore, a protec-
i've duty in the strict sense Of the
term; and in the opinion of the COM
mlttee it is clearly entitled to that
appellation from the point where it's
prohibitory became paramount to it's
revenue powers and its increased
rate ceases to increase the amount
OF revenue raised under it.
This conclusion is founded upon
THIS equally simple fact tina at this