The dead President was taken to Cleveland, Ohio, the beautiful lake city near which he had been born and had always lived. Here, on a grassy mound overlooking the lake, whose waters now moan a perpetual requiem for the great dead, the body was laid to rest.

CHAPTER XIII

A CENTURY OF TARIFF LEGISLATION

THE period between the tragic passing of Garfield and the war with Spain presents no very striking features in our history, unless the constant agitation on the tariff question can be considered as such. Until the silver question temporarily pushed it aside, the tariff issue had been the most prominent political issue for more than a decade between the two great political parties, and it is deemed necessary, in carrying out the purpose of this volume, to devote a chapter to this important, but rather prosaic, subject.

A tariff is a tax imposed by a country on the exported products of its own people, or on the imports of foreign products; and as our Federal Constitution prohibits the laying of any tariff on exports, it is only with the latter we have to deal in this chapter.

In preparing this work we have carefully

avoided any discussion of living political issues from any partisan standpoint, nor shall this chapter furnish an exception to the rule. It is absolutely necessary, however, for the sake of those who may not have given the subject critical, dispassionate study, to make a few general statements on the subject in hand.

General Observations

A tariff on imports may be levied for two purposes revenue or protection, or for both combined. A tariff for revenue is intended to produce money, by taxing foreign imports, for the running expenses of the Government. If laid on goods produced in the country, as it sometimes is, it furnishes incidental protection. This method of indirect taxation is considered one of the easiest and most effective means of meeting the expenses of the Government. tariff simply increases the price of commodities, and this increase is paid by the consumer when he purchases them. The great majority of consumers do not attempt to keep track of the tax by which the price of the various goods is augmented, hence they pay this tax uncon

The

sciously. However desirable this method of raising money by indirect taxation, there is in it an element of injustice, deep and ineradicable, when it touches the necessaries of life, as well as the luxuries, as it usually does. For example, a man has a large family to support from the fruit of his daily toil. In purchasing food and clothing for his family during a year he pays, say, fifty dollars more than their real value on account of the tariff. His neighbor, who is worth a hundred thousand dollars, but without a family of children, may not spend more for the necessaries of life during the year than the laborer. Thus each pays the same as the other toward the expenses of the Government. Such a system is altogether unjust and inequitable, but as it operates without observation, it is in most countries a popular method of taxation. Of the hundred dollars paid to the Government by these two men the rich man should bear at least ninetyfive. Any system that places a burden on the worthy poor that could easily be borne by the rich is unjust and unfair. The remedy may be found in taxing luxuries, used only by

the rich, and by direct taxation on property and incomes.

A few words now about protection. A protective tariff is a tax laid on imports that are also produced in the country laying such tax, and the chief object of it is to encourage home manufacturing by refusing the foreign producer the right to sell his goods on the conditions enjoyed by the home producer. If a protective tariff is not prohibitory, it not only protects, it also yields a revenue. A protective tariff is beneficial in nourishing young industries, especially in a new country. Many kinds of manufacturing require large capital at the outstart, and at first it may be impossible for them to compete with the well-established plants and cheap labor of foreign countries. It is here that the real benefit of the protective system is felt, and many an industry has been built up by the protecting arm of the Government.

But many people overlook the fact that the system is subject to the most flagrant abuse. This would not be so, if all men were just in their dealings with their fellow-men. Manufacturers are human; they have largely in their