on certain manufactured articles with the purpose of raising their price as much as domestic producers’ costs are raised by a tariff on their raw materials.  Examples are a duty on woolen goods to offset a duty on wool, or a duty on shoes to offset one on hides.  They may be intended to be partial or complete or more than sufficient, and are likely in any case to work either more or less to the advantage of the domestic producer than was intended.  It may be that the conditions of supply are such that the home price of the raw materials is raised little or none by the tariff while the price of the finished product is considerably raised, or vice versa.

Sec. 4. #The tariff, 1789-1815.# The main difficulty of government in 1781-1789 under the Articles of Confederation was lack of the power to obtain revenues by taxation.  The separate states alone could levy duties, and a good many tariff restrictions on freedom of trade among them developed in this period.  The Constitution established the principle of entire freedom of trade among the states.  The first act of Congress under the Constitution levied a tariff, primarily for revenue purposes, but clearly having a protective purpose, in the view of some of the representatives.  However, most of the separate rates, as well as the general average rate, were the lowest ever levied by Congress, except that there was no free list and that 5 per cent was imposed upon all goods not otherwise enumerated. Ad valorem duties up to a maximum of 15 per cent (that on carriages) were laid upon certain articles of luxury, and low specific duties on a few articles such as glass, nails, iron manufactures, hemp, and cordage.

From 1789 until 1812, thirteen tariff laws, all told, were passed.  One after another many rates were raised to get larger revenues, but some goods were put upon the free list.  The foreign trade, in both imports and exports, grew largely and with considerable regularity, rising then rapidly to a maximum in 1807.  Then followed troublous times, with British Orders in Council and our embargo and nonintercourse acts until 1812, and war until 1815, trade falling off at first to one-half, and at last (in 1814) to less than one-twelfth of the former maximum.  Just as trade was, in the war period, sinking to the vanishing point, the tariff rates were doubled in hopes of getting increased revenues needed for the war, but in vain.

[Illustration:  FIG. 3.  IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED STATES. 1821-18565

Many statistics bearing upon tariff history are graphically brought together here.  This figure should be carefully studied in connection with the following sections.  Observe how invariably in the years following a crisis, the amounts of dutiable imports and of duties collected have diminished, whether the tariff meantime was changed or not.]