oods
on the free list. The average rate on dutiable was over 43 per cent,
and on free and dutiable was 30 per cent.

The tariff was a leading issue in the campaigns of 1876 and 1880. In
1876, the Democratic party's platform contained a plank for "a tariff
for revenue only." It was a time of great industrial depression, and
as is usual in such cases a large number of the electors held the
party in power responsible for business adversity (as in turn they
credit it with any more or less fortuitous prosperity). The Republican
candidate Hayes, after a long contest in Congress, was declared
elected by a margin of one electoral vote. His opponent, Tilden had
received a quarter of a million more votes in the country as a whole.
In 1880, when business prosperity was rapidly returning, the party
in power was successful by a goodly margin of votes in the electoral
college, tho having a bare plurality of the popular vote. Garfield,
the Republican candidate, was known as one of the more moderate
protectionists and his opponent, General Hancock, who was without any
political record, declared the tariff to be a "local issue," to be
determined in the Congressional districts. The tariff issue was thus
not very sharply drawn. The tragic death of President Garfield left
no clear leadership. The tariff question from 1876 to 1884 was
politically in the doldrums.

Yet there was undoubtedly a somewhat growing popular demand for some
moderation of the very high duties. To this demand the friends of
protection who were in power felt compelled to concede something--or
to appear to do so. Congress appointed a Tariff Commission of which
the Chairman was secretary of the wool manufacturers' association, and
after a report the tariff act of 1883 was passed. The net results were
almost nil. Some rates were lowered, while others were raised with a
definite protectionist purpose. The average rates for the next seven
years, 1884-1890, were 45 on dutiable (an increase of nearly 2 per
cent) and 30 on free and dutiable (unchanged as compared with the
period ending 1883). In 1884, the Democratic party elected its
presidential candidate (Cleveland) and a majority of the House, but
as it did not control the Senate it could not pass any of the various
proposed measures for a "reform" of the tariff. In 1888 the protective
principle was a leading issue in the campaign. Altho Cleveland
received a few ten thousands larger popular plurality than he had
obtained