fixed determination upon the part of the
American people to build a nation within itself, independent of Europe
in all things essential to its safety. America had been obliged to
import all her steel of every form and most of the iron needed,
Britain being the chief seller. The people demanded a home supply and
Congress granted the manufacturers a tariff of twenty-eight per cent
_ad valorem_ on steel rails--the tariff then being equal to about
twenty-eight dollars per ton. Rails were selling at about a hundred
dollars per ton, and other rates in proportion.

Protection has played a great part in the development of manufacturing
in the United States. Previous to the Civil War it was a party
question, the South standing for free trade and regarding a tariff as
favorable only to the North. The sympathy shown by the British
Government for the Confederacy, culminating in the escape of the
Alabama and other privateers to prey upon American commerce, aroused
hostility against that Government, notwithstanding the majority of her
common people favored the United States. The tariff became no longer a
party question, but a national policy, approved by both parties. It
had become a patriotic duty to develop vital resources. No less than
ninety Northern Democrats in Congress, including the Speaker of the
House, agreed upon that point.

Capital no longer hesitated to embark in manufacturing, confident as
it was that the nation would protect it as long as necessary. Years
after the war, demands for a reduction of the tariff arose and it was
my lot to be drawn into the controversy. It was often charged that
bribery of Congressmen by manufacturers was common. So far as I know
there was no foundation for this. Certainly the manufacturers never
raised any sums beyond those needed to maintain the Iron and Steel
Association, a matter of a few thousand dollars per year. They did,
however, subscribe freely to a campaign when the issue was Protection
_versus_ Free Trade.

The duties upon steel were successively reduced, with my cordial
support, until the twenty-eight dollars duty on rails became only one
fourth or seven dollars per ton. [To-day (1911) the duty is only about
one half of that, and even that should go in the next revision.] The
effort of President Cleveland to pass a more drastic new tariff was
interesting. It cut too deep in many places and its passage would have
injured more than one manufacture. I was called to Washington,