as met by
two kinds of opposition, one the blind party opposition of free
traders, led by Senators Beck and Vance, the other (much more
dangerous), the conflict of selfish and local interests, mainly on
the part of manufacturers, who regarded all articles which they
purchased as raw material, on which they wished the lowest possible
rate of duty, or none at all, and their work, as the finished
article, on which they wished the highest rate of duty. In other
words, what they had to buy they called raw material to be admitted
without protection, and what they had to sell they wanted protection.
It was a combination of the two kinds of opposition that made the
trouble.

The Democratic Senators, with a few exceptions, voted steadily and
blindly for any reduction of duty proposed; but they alone could
not carry their amendments, and only did so when re-enforced by
Republican Senators, who, influenced by local interest, could reduce
any duty at their pleasure. In this way, often by a majority of
one, amendments were adopted that destroyed the harmony of the
bill. In this way iron ore, pig iron, scrap iron and wool were
sacrificed in the Senate. They were classed as raw materials for
manufactures and not as manufactures. For selfish and local reasons
tin plates, cotton, ties and iron and steel rods for wire were put
at exceptionally low rates, and thus were stricken from the list
of articles that could be manufactured in this country. This local
and selfish appeal was the great defect of the tariff bill. I do
not hesitate to say that the iron and wool sections of the bill,
as it passed the Senate, were unjust, incongruous and absurd. They
would have reduced the iron and steel industries of the United
States to their condition before the war, and have closed up two-
thirds of the furnaces and rolling mills in this country. They
were somewhat changed in the committee of conference, but if they
had not been, the only alternative to the manufacturers would have
been to close up or largely reduce the wages of labor.

Another mistake made in the Senate was to strike out all the
carefully prepared legislative provisions simplifying the mode of
collecting customs duties, and the provisions for the trial of
customs cases. The tariff commission proposed to repeal the _ad
valorem_ duty on wool, and leave on it only the specific duty of
ten and twelve cents a pound. The chairman of the tariff commission
was himself the pres