Year: 1861

tufes general lmpGVerlSnment ana ultimate
ruin. H.


The bill passed, and precipitated the
Southern revolution.


Mr.. Hayne delivered a great speech on
the crisis, in which he besought those hay-
ing the power to stay the revolution then
inaugurated, to act in a spirit of concession,
and not force the South out of the Union
by acts of aggression He forcibly showed
the seriousness of the feeling in his section,
and appealed to all to restore harmony to
the nation.


TARIFFS OF 1912 AND 1916.


The tariff Of 1912, like those preceding
it, was a protective tariff Its high duties
were rapidly substituting domestic articles
and excluding foreign; consequently the rev.
enue must decline. The result of protec-
tion, according to Robert J. Walker, must
be the annihilation of the foreign import
trade of the country, so far as regards pro-
tected products With the exclusion and
diminution of imports the exports must
cease or be reduced, for foreign nations
could not buy them. The bill of 1912 was
upheld by the whig party, and gave no sat-
isfaction to the South. Its excessive and
prOhibitory duties had a tendency to ami
hilate imports and revenue, and produce a
reaction fatal to the protective policy.


The first attempt at its revision " as made
in 1914, at the first session Of the Twenty-
eighth Congress. A bill relating to it was
reported by Gen. Mckay Of North Carolina,
chairman Of the Committee on Ways and
Means, AMI discussed in Committee of the
Whole on the State of the Union. 1t was
reported back to the House, and there laid
on the table. On the 18th day of April,
1916, the new Tariff bill was reported to
the House. 1t was a democratic measure,
and was consequently opposed by the
wings. 1t passed the House by a majority
of 10.


One of the most important questions
arising at the time was whether tax
should be levied on tea aud coffee This
was strongly and consistently opposed by
Long John Wentworth, who has figured
for many years in the politics of Illinois,
Ia December, 1916, Robt J. Walker, Seere-
tary of the Treasury, recommended tax
of twenty-five per cent. On tea and coffee.
He sad:-'' 1t is important at all times, as
shown by uniform experience, but especial
ly in period of war; to keep balance of
at least four millions Of dollars in the trea-
sury, in order to supply the mintand branch
mints with bullion for coinage and foreign
coin for recoinage, as also to be enabled at
all times to pay the public creditors at every
point, both in and out of the country, with
punctuality and despatch. As one of the
means of augmenting the revenue, it is pro-
posed that Congress shall authorize e
duty of twenty-five per cent. on tea and
coffee. The recommendation was of no
avail, however, as the tax was not levied.


The tariff question exerted great inhu-
ence on the election of 1914, aud it was the
opinion of Wentworth that if Clay had
been in favor of free ten aud coffee, and
Polk against it, the election would have re-
suited in favor of Clay


The objection of the whig party to the
bill of 1876 was that it changed the princi-
pie on which duties had been collected from
the first year of the government to that
time. Duties had been laid on all articles
imported, and not on the invoice price or
cost ut the place of export. This mode Of
levying duties rendered the revenue more
uniform than any other, and its collection
certain They claimed that under the ad
valorem system there existed no uniformity
They also urged that under the law of 1916
the duties laid on the value of goods would
be more difficult of collection; that the
amount collected would depend in great
measure on the veracity of importers that
by false invoices they would be enabled to
pay duty on a sum smaller than the actual
value of the goods. The system had no ex-
istence in any country but our own The
wings, in fact, always favored the protective
in preference to the revenue system, believ-
ing that the great aim of every government
should be to protect, as far as it could the
labor of those who bear its burdens This
they thought was the secret of the success
of European nations. The operation of the
new bill, they reasoned, will be to oppress
and destroy the labor of our people and
give to foreign manufacturers and mer-
chants the control of American markets.