COMMON SENSE AND THE TARIFF QUESTION. 435 



tion to the appropriations, except when the appropriations become 

 so extravagant as to hazard the success of the party in power. 



Such have been the conditions under which revenue measures 

 have been treated by the present Congress, finally resulting in an 

 act the avowed purpose of which is to diminish the revenue by 

 increasing taxation, and to divert the increase of taxation from the 

 Treasury of the United States to the support of private enterprises, 

 either by direct bounty, as is proposed in the case of sugar, or by 

 indirect contribution, as in the case of tin plates and other matters. 



What other description can be given to a revenue measure 

 framed upon the new theory of protecting — that is to say, of pro- 

 viding by public taxation the ways and means by which a specific 

 branch of private industry may be supported, with the incidental 

 purpose of yielding a lessening revenue to the public treasury ? 



It has therefore seemed to me expedient that one who has been 

 studying the financial questions of this country for more than 

 twenty-five years might rightly assume the functions with which 

 the permanent civil officers of the British Parliament are charged, 

 viz., that of preparing a budget by sorting national expenditures 

 according to their kind, and by placing specific sources of reve- 

 nue against the different elements of the public appropriations. 



The writer may not presume to rival the Chancellor of the Ex- 

 chequer or the Secretary of the Treasury. It is their function to 

 deal as statesmen with the facts that are prepared for them by those 

 who are conversant with all the existing financial conditions. 



The time has come when it is the duty of every man who may 

 be assumed to have some exact knowledge upon the subject of tax- 

 ation, to present his views when called upon in a simple, plain way, 

 without regard to his own private interests, whatever they may be. 



Before coming to the main subject, I beg to say that I should 

 myself find it somewhat difficult to characterize my essay by any 

 distinctive title which would be theoretically correct. I observe 

 that my work, my figures, and my views are quoted by one party 

 as often as by the other ; and I also find that exceptions are taken 

 to my presentation of this subject in about even measure by the 

 doctrinaires on the free trade and the intolerants on the protect- 

 ive side alike. I may perhaps characterize this essay as one 

 " upon the protection of domestic industry, and the development 

 of the home market by exemption from unnecessary taxation " ; 

 or, for short, I will call it " Common Sense applied to the Tariff 

 Question." 



The motive of this address may be given in the form of a 

 simple account current, which might be entitled " Uncle Sam in 

 Account Current with his People." We, his people, may rightly 

 charge Uncle Sam with the contributions which we are called 

 upon to make in order to meet the obligations of Government. 



