TARIFF REVISION 457 



TARIFF EEVISIOX FEOM THE IMPORTEE'S STANDPOINT. 



By FRANCIS B. HAMILTON 



NEW TOEK CITY 



THE exchange of commodities between the inhabitants of this world 

 began at the point of time when original savagery first felt the 

 influences tending toward semi-barbarism, and the purely physical 

 control of man over his fellowman began slowly to yield to less brutal 

 methods. 



From that day, many thousands of years ago, until the present time, 

 the advancement of civilization has been accurately measured by the 

 state of commercial development, so that we now classify nations not 

 by the numbers of their fighting men, but rather by the magnitude of 

 their trade. 



For a long period the free exchange and barter which sent Joseph 

 and his brethren from Arabia down to Egypt and brought the Queen 

 of Sheba to King Solomon's gates, ruled the known world over, and the 

 caravans of Kenghis Klian or the sailor merchants of Cleopatra 

 bought where they could buy the cheapest and sold where they could 

 sell the dearest — duty free — be the market at home or abroad. 



As the centuries passed and the people became less nomadic, the 

 various nations were known each to each as producers of specific 

 articles or classes of merchandise, and the tides of commerce began to 

 flow in more fixed channels as the years ran. The spices of the east 

 came westward for sale to the nations of Europe and the Atlantic coasts, 

 while the stuffs and tapestries of Germany and Italy and the weapons 

 of Spain found markets in both England and Asia. Except when some 

 despot, requiring the gold to fill an empty exchequer, sold the privilege 

 to trade in particular goods and thus created a monopoly, all the 

 merchandizing from the beginning of the Christian era down to about 

 1600 was free and untrammeled of duty, either import or export. 



From that time on, however, it was found that in various countries 

 and with regard to various commodities, some restriction in the market 

 and the method of their sale was necessary or the production languished 

 and the goods disappeared. 



The first duty laid upon goods coming into this country went into 

 operation August 1, 1789. 



The necessity for providing a national revenue was the first con- 

 sideration with the new congress. 



Within seventy hours of the opening of the organization James 

 Madison introduced the subject of the Tariff, in part by the following 

 words : 



