New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-04-03
archives Reveal
Tins and Downs of
American Tariff
60, Congress Faced Same
~" problem as the Sixty
..yenth, That of Adopt
IND Schedule of Duties

r.sprNGToN. April 2.-Many a
-, .ddity Of forgotten tariff stat
As' ~. been turned up by search Of
W. " c.o.tol archives. This has dis
-. .l.,.d that the first Congress assem-
s s. under the Constitution faced the
Nv ,,oblem as the Sixty-seventh--
~. Il snac,ins tariff Law.
'' -. arst tariff act was passed on
,'.l 1889. It's formal title state
w. w, Al purpose--"fcr laying o duty on
-. ~.res and merchandise imported
,.,e the United States carried a
s WV which statesmen for the next
ss,ir,d years were to avoid.
a., !. necessary for the support Of
=. government" this first Congress
=, .for the discharge of debts of the
r.;,.d States and for the encourage
s.,t and protection Of manufacturers
~. duty be laid upon goods, wares
'a i m.rchandisc imported
az :. ~.s lust 100 years. the compila-
-" shows. before such a straightfor-
."oa a Al cement Of purpose about ZEN
.n,.sinr and protecting manufacture
~ you'd be made again in an import
statute. though the purpose was
wI.ntly behind most of the scores
soilawing acts. SO simple was the
" xiii that it required only two
s ~. 81 the committee print against
~. than 100 for the Payne-Aldrich
:. AZ 1909
IA simple, it probably was, for q
y later-August 10, l7e0-Congrcss
....d IAN act making further pro-
mon for the payment of debts of the
United States
Barbary Pirates Hit
More deity the purpose OF the next
.,ye bill as it passed on March 2,
,rss. was stated to be "for the raising
~, farther sum of money for the
.,o,.tticn of frontiers evading any
marks about protection of industries.
=. duties were increases, and one duty
s,,ssed was ION coal, per bushcl,
sae"
troubles arose ard Congress, on March
"a 1894, passed IAN act to protect the
somnerce and seamen Of the United
states against the Barbary powers"
mis- act slapped on general increase
| Il ~ and 10 per cent ad valorem
mites The statute stated itself to be
.mporary, for one year, but the title
,royed to be too good to be wasted.
Yur by year after, clear up to 1915.
Csnrress reiterated its laudabie pur-
| rose, re1nactcd its increased schedules.
md announced it was going after the
h.bary pirates with Continuation Of
he tariff for another twelve-month.
In 1918. however the nation Went
| +. war with Great Britain, and in g
hasty and brief paragraph of statute,
Congress- announced IAN additional
duty Of 100 per cent on all permanent
duties" to be collected for the dura-
ton o, hostilties. The tax on i'm
ported salt incidentally, got up to 20
cents a pound.
This was about the end Of the early
tariff era, according to the compila-
ton. For the next forty years most
Of the acts were labeled ito reduce
duties" This they plainly did, for the
salt tax was placed st 10 cents a
hushel. Congress was fruitful of enact
ments TO release from duty iron pre-
pared for railways" and the like.
Tariff Comes Back
Presidential proclamations reduced
nhedues even further. One dated
February Is. 1858, roted that vessels
and subjects Of His Holiness the Pope"
we're no longer 20 be charged higher
tvston, rates, because reciprocity with
the Holy Sec had been arranged.
but the tariff came back with the
beginning Of the Civil War. Congress
aa March 2, 1851, passed "An act tc
provide for payment of outstanding
Treasury notes" 1t was composed Of
tssnty-six pages of tariff schedules.
This length foreshadowed the modern
en-.
|. With misplaced optimism on July
H. 1852, Congress asserted it had
passed An act increasing, temporarily,
the duties on imports" The succeed
ing war enactments took the word
temporary completely out of the Con-
s'ssNena! tax-laying vocabulary.
win the end of the Civil War acts
'eaueins import duties went into
snest. but on March 8, 1853, when the
noaern political controversy over tariff
va well under way, the title was
as poiitely eVaslVe as the YER
sIOn about the Barbary pirates. 1t
was called AN act to reduce internal
taxation"
one or two measures designed as re-
auctions interviewed and then Congress
came pack, after century, to speak as
sn!lslshtforwardly under President Nc
Aln.ey in 1897 as 1t had under Presi-
wa, Washington. The tariff label off
sai'y was AN act to encour-
- the industries of the United
Msses. The Payne Aldrich law, en-
.sssa some sixteen years later, used
utmost exactly the same words, while
ns!iminary drafts of majority pro-
pssa's to come before the new Con-
ti.ss which meets a week hence indi-
we that the McKinley-Washington
Mssedent will hn xaanaa4l .aa;