Speech #500145064

On the contrary. the more importations the more revenue. and revenue was the paramount object of Federal taxation during the war. Had there been no war there never would have been any suggestion from any quarter that as much as 40 per cent. duty on any imports was necessary to protect American manufacturers against foreign competition. Suppose the Government of the United States now had no bonded debt and no pension obligations to meet. and no other use for revenue except to defray the necessary current expenses of legitimate government. would we have everheard of the claim that at least 40 and on many articles 200 per :cent. upon imports was necessary to protect American manufacturers against foreign pauper labor or any other disadvantage? Any claim like that we have heard in thrilling appeals all over the land for such protection would be heeded no more in the conditionI have supposed than if it emanated from the inmates of an insane asylum. I challenge a denial of the fact I now state. that it was the necessity for revenue and not the necessity for protection that required the levying and the collection of the present rate of tariff duties on imports.