COMMON SENSE AND THE TARIFF QUESTION. 605 



into another class, or on which, duties would have to be main- 

 tained because of their close relation to finished products of a very 

 similar kind. So long as we maintain a duty upon spool cotton, 

 for instance, it would not be safe or judicious to remove all duties 

 upon fine cotton thread which could be imported in the skein and 

 reeled here. But these are all small matters of detail. Suffice 

 that the revenue which is now derived from spirits, tobacco, beer, 

 and sugar, from silks, furs, and fancy goods, and from laces, em- 

 broideries, and the fine textile fabrics which are articles of luxury 

 rather than of utility, is so large that it would suffice to meet all 

 the ordinary and all the extraordinary expenditures of the Gov- 

 ernment. 



But there is another element to be considered. When a reform 

 of the English tariff was laid down on these lines under the direc- 

 tion of Sir Robert Peel, even he could not anticipate the prosper- 

 ity which would ensue from the removal of the little petty ob- 

 structions to the commerce of the globe, which had yielded only a 

 small part of the customs revenue. He expected a deficiency in 

 the revenue from the duties on imports in consequence of the 

 abatement of the duties on the articles made free ; and to meet 

 this expected deficiency he carried a temporary income tax for 

 three years, beginning in 1842 to end in 1845. But such was the 

 stimulus given to industry, trade, and commerce with all the 

 world, that the revenue on dutiable imports soon rose to the same 

 amount that had been yielded before the reform. By 1845 the 

 previous deficiency in the revenue had been surmounted and the 

 Treasury of Great Britain had a surplus to dispose of for the first 

 time in many years. 



But the lesson had been learned. Opposition to tariff reform 

 almost ceased ; in 1845 another list of articles of more importance 

 was added to the free list. Still it could not be conceived that 

 the revenue would not be diminished and the income tax was 

 again imposed for the term of three years. But again the revenue 

 from dutiable imports increased rapidly, again the consuming 

 power of the people had increased with their prosperity. Then 

 came the Irish famine. The corn laws went by the board by Or- 

 ders in Council, afterward justified by act of Parliament. The 

 prosperity of England went forward by leaps and bounds. And 

 in 1853 Gladstone completed the work that Peel had begun. 



We have yet to learn how to increase the public revenue by the 

 abatement of obnoxious and obstructive taxation ; even the sim- 

 ple system which is herein presented, under which even an excess- 

 ive expenditure can be met by a very simple system of taxation, 

 under which every necessary article in our domestic manufact- 

 ures will be free could it be put in force, would be immensely dis- 

 appointing, and in the same way in which Peel and his coadjutors 



