22 FLAX CULTURE 



average. In 1857 raw flax was again re- 

 stored to the free list, and it there remained 

 until the war tariff of 1861 which imposed 

 a uniform duty of fifteen dollars per ton. 

 This figure ran the gauntlet of some six- 

 teen tariff bills, until 1870, when raw flax 

 received a most vigorous taxing. Flax 

 straw, which had never hitherto had any 

 duty imposed on it, was now taxed five 

 dollars per ton, a prohibitory duty. The 

 duty on the tow of flax, which had been 

 five dollars per ton, was doubled ; and a 

 curious distinction, which had never been 

 thought of before, was made in the forms 

 of flax fibre. The duty on the undressed 

 fibre was raised from fifteen to twenty 

 dollars per ton ; but dressed or " hackled " 

 flax, which is the fibre with the chaff and 

 tow combed out, practically merely cleaned, 

 was taxed forty dollars per ton. These are 

 now the present rates of duty. 1 



We have seen that the tariff killed one 



1 These figures are taken from the "Tariff Compilation, 

 1884," 48th Cong., ist session, Sen. No. 12. 



In this connection, the following quotation from a letter 

 of a manufacturer to the Secretary of the Treasury in 1886 



