THE FARMER AND THE TARIFF. 297 



high and very unjust in their assessment, the public has been 

 able to meet tliem without great distress, and has done so. 

 All state and local revenue has been raised by assessing sucli 

 tangible property as could be found at a valuation fixed 

 according to the judgment of local assessors, supplemented by 

 the proceeds of licenses for transacting business. Much rural 

 property has been assessed relatively higher than its income- 

 producing power would justify, and practically all rural prop- 

 erty in well-peopled farming communities is listed, while 

 personal property in cities has often been assessed at relatively 

 low rates, and much has escaped altogether. Our system of 

 state and local taxation is unjust to farmers, and will be 

 further described in a later chapter.* 



Previous to the War of the Rebellion, our entire national 

 revenue had for a long time been produced by duties on im- 

 ports. In some countries duties are collected on exports. 

 These are forbidden by the Constitution of the United States, 

 and are gradually disappearing from the fiscal systems of all 

 nations. They are possible only in the case of commodities 

 whose production is confined to a few countries, and for which 

 the demand is greater than the supply. Brazil, for example, 

 has hitherto levied an export tax on coff'ee. When comjieti- 

 tion is active between difi'erent countries in regard to a com- 

 modity, an export tax operates to restrict or suspend exporta- 

 tion, and divert the trade to competing countries. As great 

 competition between countries now exists with respect to 

 nearly all commodities, exi)ort taxes are likely to soon be a 

 thing of the past. As levied in colonial times by Great 

 Britain in some of the colonies they were regarded as oppress- 

 ive, and were therefore forbidden by the Constitution of the 

 United States. 



Upon the breaking out of the Civil War national neces- 

 sities required a great increase in our revenue which import 

 duties could not supply, and Congress was compelled to impose 

 taxes on all commodities and all business transactions from 

 which taxes could be collected without too great cost. After 



*See Chapter III of this book. 



