836 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



be subsequently used for larger manufacturing, as a feature of protec- 

 tion to its domestic industry, but rather as antagonistic to and destruc- 

 tive of such industry ; and that while such taxation in the United 

 States had undoubtedly built up some industries and enriched their 

 owners, it had been a great restraint on the development of a much 

 larger and higher class of industries, employing many more workmen 

 and paying much higher average wages ; a taxation imposed then 

 and now, for example, of from thirty to forty millions per annum on 

 the importation of crude and partially manufactured articles, being 

 a tax of ten per cent on a product of three or four hundred mill- 

 ions of finished products, thereby excluding them from all sales in 

 the markets of the world, in competition with similar products not 

 subject to such price enhancement. And, secoiid, that the countries 

 of Europe — like Russia and Austria — in which the average rates of 

 wages are lowest, were the most clamorous for protective duties on 

 foreign imports ; and that high wages in any country, conjoined 

 with the extensive and skillful use of machinery, instead of being 

 evidences of industrial weakness, were evidences of great industrial 

 strength ; inasmuch as no employer can continuously pay high 

 wages unless his product is large, his labor most effective, and 

 his cost of product, measured in terms of labor, low. These per- 

 sonal experiences in respect to European industry, coupled with 

 a subsequent study of our customs system, and a complete re- 

 drafting of our whole tariff rates under instructions from Congress 

 through the Secretary of the Treasury, gradually, and greatly against 

 all his preconceived ideas, led Mr. Wells to a complete abandonment 

 of his original position as a strong protectionist, and to the adoption 

 of the belief that free trade, made subordinate to revenue and pro- 

 gressively but tentatively entered upon, was for the best interest of 

 the whole country. 



The announcement of these views, and especially the publication 

 of his report for 1869, created great opposition among the protection- 

 ists, and Horace Greeley publicly charged that Mr. Wells had been 

 corrupted through British gold distributed through the agency of Mr. 

 A. T. Stewart. Mr. Stewart, exceedingly angry at being brought into 

 this matter, desired that Mr. Wells should at once institute proceed- 

 ings for libel, and several leading members of the New York bar vol- 

 unteered to take charge of the case. But Mr. Wells felt that it was 

 not necessary to vindicate his public or private character by any such 

 action, and refused to become a party to it. The story, nevertheless, 

 found extensive credence, and is undoubtedly believed by many per- 

 sons at the present time who are unable otherwise to account for such 

 a change in the economic o[>iiiions of the Commissioner so shortly after 

 his return from Europe. 



A draft for a very com))lete revision of the tariff, prepared by 

 Mr. Wells in accordance with instructions, together Avith a full and 



