s the judgment of experts in commerce as well as in statistical
knowledge of industries and government necessities. While in any country
the existing tariff is presumed to have been established to meet public
need, the fact that there is necessarily a restriction upon freedom of
exchange makes it always open to question. The tariff laws, like all laws
restricting freedom of action, must always have evident reason for
existing. The burden of proof rests with the one who defends such laws.
This is especially true with reference to tariffs, because the trend of
civilization is certainly toward greater freedom of intercourse in all
directions. The barriers between nations are generally giving way before
the introduction of ready transportation and quick communication. The
statesman who maintains the necessity of restrictive tariff must always
stand ready to explain this obstacle to more complete association. For
this reason we have the constant agitation of tariff questions and the
impossibility of permanent settlement in any particular.

For the same reason there are always two phases of a tariff discussion.
The student of social science inquires chiefly as to the tendencies of
advancing society with reference to such restriction, and, seeing the
barriers becoming less and less, is likely to seek the final removal of
every such restriction. The statesman, busied with the immediate
conditions of the limited community whose interests he guards, is liable
to be for or against any particular restriction as it fosters or hinders
those interests. For this reason statesmen, of whatever party, are subject
to the bias of local interests, and have even been known to change their
views with a change of such interests. In our own country, when party
lines are drawn upon the tariff, it is quite possible that sectional lines
may also mark the party supremacy. In fact, it is possible for any man to
believe in freedom of trade as the ultimate condition to be sought, while
he favors in immediate practice restriction or even prohibition by a
definite tariff. The purpose in this chapter is to give a brief outline of
arguments for and against such tariff in general, leaving entirely to
practical statesmanship the decision of special questions.

_Reasons for protective tariff._--A system of restrictive tariffs is
thought to contribute to the welfare of an entire community by
artificially increasing the natural diversity of employments. If new