of tariff duties. There are Republicans who deplore the existence of the Dingley Tariff and who agitate for a system of freer trade. I have therefore sought in this volume to present an array of concrete facts which condemn our tariff and to present them so fairly and so candidly that my readers, forgetting their party alliances, will remember only that they are citizens of this great democratic Republic which will live as long only as it secures to its people equality of opportunity and protection from oppressive monopolies.

Protectionists are wont in the discussion of the tariff to hold up before the citizen the wealth and industrial strength of our country as a proof of the benefits of their system. It has always seemed to me that our great natural resources and industrial strength presented the very reason why a protective tariff was unnecessary, and therefore the reader must not be surprised that I accept the contention of protectionists as to our superiority in production and quote their words as the basis of my argument against the Dingley Tariff. The writer who opposes the despoiling of the people by this species of legislation is declared by protectionists to be a theorist, an idealist,, a Utopian dreamer or a doctrinaire. Invariably he is charged with not basing his opinion upon facts. The difficulty is that men are given to accepting a partial presentation of facts for a complete one. General deductions drawn from superficial comparisons of the con

ditions of different countries are valueless. It is only by a wide survey of the tariffs of many countries and of their past and present conditions that we can hope to arrive at any correct conclusion on the matter. To the student the habit of appraising current events by their relations to the history of the past is most important. One who does not know the history of our tariff from the earliest days cannot fully appreciate its terrible abuses in our own day. One who has not carefully read the heroic struggle for free trade in England more than sixty years ago has omitted important history the reading of which will stir the pulse and fire the blood of every lover of justice. Therefore I have not only given many concrete instances and glaring examples of the inconsistencies and oppressions of our protective system, but have also added historical sketches of our own tariff history and of that of England and Germany, our present commercial rivals.

On such a subject, especially to one busily engaged in professional work, indebtedness to the suggestions of friends and works of others is necessarily very great, and it is impossible to do more than make a general acknowledgment of their kindness and aid; special reference, however, should be made to Professor Taussig's "Tariff History of the United States," to "The Free Trade Movement in England and its Results" by Professor G. Armitage-Smith, to “Protec

tion in Germany" by William H. Dawson, and to "The Truth About the Trusts," by John Moody.

New York, November 1st, 1906.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.