Col. George C. Tichenor's views on revisions of the tariff and customs laws

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GEORGE C. TICHENOR

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INTRODUCTORY.

Having been requested by many friends of my father, the
late Colonel George C. Tichenor, to publish his correspond-
ence and views upon the tariff — a subject to which he had
devoted the best efforts of his life — I have decided to make
public such of his correspondence with Vice-President Garret
A. Hobart, Senator William B. Allison, Congressmen Samuel
J. Randall and Nelson Dingley, Jr., as I think may prove
of interest at this time. To this I have added extracts from
his numerous reports on the tariff and customs laws and a
sketch of his work in framing the Randall, Allison, Mc-
Kinley, and Dingley tariff bills, in order to present a con-
nected view of our later tariff legislation.

Henry D. Tichenor. ^

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UNIVERSITY

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AS this is designed only to present a resume of Colonel
Tichenor's views and recommendations upon the
tariff and customs laws and of his work in framing
such laws, a very brief outline will be given of his earlier
career previous to his entering the civil service of the Gov-
ernment.

His ancestors were French Huguenots from Alsace, who
migrated to this country in 1642 — first to New Haven, Con-
necticut, whence they later removed, with Governor Treat
and others, to Newark, New Jersey. Here they became large
land owners and influential in business and political affairs
in the new colony. His great-grandfather, Daniel Tichenor,
was an officer in the Revolutionary War, brother to Honor-
able Isaac Tichenor, a graduate of Princeton College as A. B.
in 1775, and who received the degree of A. M. and LL. D.
from Dartmouth in 1779, and later served as Governor and
Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont and as United States
Senator.

George Carter Tichenor was born at Shelbyville, October
8, 1838'. He received his early education at Louisville, Ken-
tucky, and Terre Haute, Indiana. He moved to Des Moines,
Iowa, in 1858, and was soon made clerk of the United States
Circuit Court there. In 1862 he enlisted as a private soldier
in the 39th Iowa Volunteers, and was made first lieutenant
and adjutant by Governor Kirkwood, July 31, 1863, and
soon after became aide-de-camp, with rank of major, on the
staff of General Grenville M. Dodge, with whom he served
throughout the remainder of the war, being promoted suc-
cessively to lieutenant colonel and colonel "for gallant and
meritorious service."

Upon resigning from the army in 1866, he returned to
Des Moines, Iowa, and for a while engaged in the lumber

(3)

219185

business. He served as postmaster of Des Moines for two
terms, 1867-1874. As chairman of the Republican State
Committee of Iowa, he was largely instrumental in the de-
feat of United States Senator Harlan and in electing William
i5. Allison as his successor.

In 1874 he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he became
prominent in the grain business. Losing almost his entire
fortune in the panic of 1877, he was appointed by his friend,
Honorable John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury, to
the position of a special agent of that Department, represent-
ing the Secretary in many semi-confidential matters.

Believing that the tariff was the most important national
and international question affecting our industries and the
people generally, he early set out to familiarize himself as
much as possible with this subject. In 1881 he was sent
abroad, with instructions from the Secretary of the Treasury
to "investigate generally the subjects of undervaluation of
articles exported from Europe to the United States, the costs
of production of such articles in Europe, etc." He carried
from the Secretary of State, Honorable James G. Blaine, a
general letter of instruction to our consular officers abroad,
to "afford him such facilities and assistance as may be proper
to promote the object of his mission."

He remained abroad most of the time for the following
four years, devoting his time to the investigations as directed,
and to study of the tariffs and customs administration of
foreign nations. As a result of his investigations and re-
ports to the Treasury Department during that period, many
of the most flagrant undervaluations of imported articles
were discovered and remedied, especially in silks, velvets,
gloves, china, and other articles subject to high ad valorem
duties.

In 1882 he was requested by the Secretary of the Treasury
to "formulate his views and impressions generally resulting
from his experience abroad, as they would prove of value to
the Treasury Department and possibly to the Commission

then engaged in gathering information preparatory to the
revision of the tariff" (framing the tariff of 1883). In this
very exhaustive report, which was printed by the Govern-
ment, it is interesting to note the following views and recom-
mendations :

1882.

Report of Col. George C. Tichenor on the Tariff and
Customs Administration.

"The information resulting from my inquiries has mainly
been communicated to the department in the numerous re-
ports I have transmitted from time to time. These reports
abundantly show that the ingenuity and depravity alike of
the Old World and our own have been ceaselessly employed
in devising means and perfecting plans for defrauding our
revenues and evading our customs laws. There is scarcely
any kind or description of merchandise, subject to ad va-
lorem duty, imported into this country from beyond the
seas but has been, or is being, undervalued more or less. I
would not be understood as saying that all of any class has
been undervalued, but that some of all classes has been, even
of regular purchases, while those consigned to agents for
sale on commission, notably from the continent of Europe,
have been and are being as a rule considerably undervalued.

"The impression appears to prevail in most countries of
Europe that our rates of duty on most articles produced in
those countries are so high as to be oppressive and un-
friendly, and our tariff laws as a whole hostile, iniquitous,
and contrary to that comity which it is understood should
govern commercial intercourse between friendly nations;
hence it is more a duty than sin to avoid and evade them.

"While the ad valorem system appears most equitable and
just, all experience has shown that under it the dishonest
importers prosper, while the honest ones and the revenues
suffer, and it has proved to be most expensive to the Govern-

6

ment and people, and vexatious and demoralizing to customs
officers and employees.

"I do not hesitate to say that I am entirely convinced that
the only safe and sure remedy for undervaluation in all its
forms is specific duties, and I believe that after careful con-
sideration and preparation on the part of those charged with
the revision of our tariff, the same will be found applicable
to most articles of import. In order, however, to obtain the
data and information necessary to perfect a tariff according
to such system, considerable time and preparation would be
required. It would, I apprehend, be necessary to have all
the classes of merchandise now subject to ad valorem duties,
and to which it was contemplated to apply the specific sys-
tem, carefully weighed or measured, as the case may be, and
accounts' kept of such weights or measure, and of the value
of the merchandise, for such length of time as would safely
determine the relations of weight or measure to the value.
I have been told that the French experimented in this way
for some years before the promulgation of the uniform
specific system of general tariff which they but recently
adopted.

"Our faulty system, or lack of system, of civil service in
itself renders an ad valorem system of duties difficult and
dangerous to us. It is requisite to the safe, equal and effi-
cient assessment of duties according to value that we should
have trained, honest and faithful experts to examine and
appraise the merchandise, and to classify the same correctly
for duty. In the nature of things we cannot have such offi-
cials as matters now stand. If a competent and reliable man
happens to be appointed, his tenure is so uncertain that his
time and thoughts are too apt to be employed in casting
about for another engagement when he shall be bade to 'step
down and out/ instead of giving his best thoughts and efforts
to the Government. If, therefore, the ad valorem system is
to be perpetuated in our tariff, provision should be made for
the appointment or employment of honest and competent

experts as appraisers and examiners, whose tenure shall be
fixed and be dependent alone upon their efficiency and good
behavior. A man may be an excellent butcher, blacksmith
or bricklayer, and a very poor examiner of silks, embroider-
ies, or chemicals.

"It is often the case that the entire importations, especially
of consigned goods, of particular classes, which come into
the country, come to but a single port and are passed upon
by but one and the same examiner. This is notably the case
at the port of New York, where vast and entire lines of goods
are entered there and at no other port, and are examined
and practically appraised and passed by a particular ex-
aminer, who, if he be incompetent, careless, unfaithful or
corrupt, can injure the revenue and legitimate trade beyond
measure without being detected.

"Provision should be made for some responsible, regular,
and efficient supervision of appraisers of merchandise, both
as relates to the determination of dutiable values and the rate
of duty or classification of merchandise. As matters now
are, each appraiser is a law unto himself, and as a conse-
quence the dutiable values, and at times classification, of the
same articles, differ at different ports according to the intelli-
gence, fidelity, efficiency, fancy, or temper of the appraising
officer. Cases of this kind are of frequent occurrence, as is
well known at the department, and they not infrequently
relate to important articles of import. The evil results of
such inharmony need not be detailed.

"It has occurred to me that it might be well to clothe the
board of general appraisers with such supervisory functions
as would be requisite in the premises. I am of the opinion,
also, that the number of general appraisers should be in-
creased to seven.

"If the dutiable value of merchandise — subject to ad va-
lorem duty — is to be based upon the foreign market value,
the law should more clearly define what shall constitute such
foreign market value. It should, in substance, declare that

the same shall be that price or value at which such merchan-
dise is, at the time of exportation to the United States, freely
and regularly offered to all desiring to purchase, in usual
and ordinary wholesale quantities in the principal markets
of the country from whence exported.

"No matter upon what basis duties are assessed, all prac-
ticable means should be adopted to secure the correct and
true invoicing of goods, both as to value and their actual and
recognized trade descriptions and designations. All invoices
should be required to be certified by the United States con-
sular officer nearest to the port or place of purchase and
shipment, and the declarations to all such invoices should
be required to be sworn to before officers or persons au-
thorized to administer oaths which are valid and binding in
the higher courts of judicature of the country.

"It is scarcely necessary for me to refer to the troubles
which constantly afflict the department and custom officers
as well as importers on account of the ambiguous phrases,
vague descriptions, loose and uncertain definitions, imprac-
ticable and indefinite distinctions, contradictory terms, and
conflicting provisions which abound in our tariff laws. These
weak and assailable places in our armor often serve to de-
feat the manifest purpose of the provisions, and open the
way to abuses and frauds. In a very large number of in-
stances they have proved loopholes through which imported
goods are passed, to the serious detriment of our home manu-
facturers, whose products it was the probable intention of
the law to protect against such competition.

"It is the constant study of foreign producers to take ad-
vantage of such provisions, while the department is being
literally besieged to make decisions in disregard of the law
or to cure its defects, until it has finally come that the de-
partment's decisions are looked to rather than the tariff as
enacted.

"Plain, simple and definite terms only should be em-
ployed in constructing a tariff. Mere fancy, arbitrary or

9

fashionable designations should be avoided, and as far as
practicable generic terms or descriptions adhered to.

"In closing my observations concerning the tariff, I trust
I may be pardoned if I remark that no one single interest
should be protected at the expense and to the detriment of
other and greater interests, and that protection ceases to be
protection when it is carried to the extent of pampering an
industry into slothfulness and beyond the reach of the whip
and spur of competition. As 'necessity is the mother of in-
vention,' so is competition necessary to the development and
enduring prosperity of any industry. I am an ardent be-
liever in the theory of protection. Yet having given some
attention to the manufacturing industries of the Old World,
I cannot overlook the fact that their perfection in system,
economical organization, and the cheapness and excellence
of their productions has resulted in no little degree from
the development of our manufactures and our high rates of
duty. We as a people are famous for ingenuity, and I doubt
not that if put to their 'mettle' our manufacturers would
prove as skilful as any in the world. While fixing such rates
of duties as shall appear necessary to fairly protect our
various industries, we should provide such means as will
insure the exact and uniform collection of such duties.

"Having reference to the action of certain foreign govern-
ments in interdicting and otherwise hindering the importa-
tion and sale within their dominions of certain products of
this country, I would suggest the advisability of a statutory
provision authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to retali-
ate upon any foreign nation that shall, without good cause
either by legislative enactment or arbitrary measures of any
kind, interdict or hinder the importation and sale of any
American product within its dominion, by forbidding the
admission into this country of such products of that country
as he may, for the time being, deem proper."

10

As a result of his study of the tariff and customs laws and
the administration thereof at home and abroad, and of his
wide experience in investigations regarding undervaluations
and other methods of evading our tariff and customs laws,
Colonel Tichenor believed that the only safe and sure means
to prevent undervaluations was the adoption of specific duties
in place of ad valorem rates wherever practicable, and that
the many other changes and improvements of our customs
laws suggested by him would further tend to prevent or
greatly restrict evasion of our tariffs and secure greater uni-
formity in the appraisement and classifications of imported
merchandise.

While stationed at the Treasury Department in Washing-
ton from 1885 to 1889, where Secretaries Manning and Fair-
child could avail themselves of his general knowledge and
advice regarding customs administration and tariff matters,
he succeeded in so impressing both Secretaries with the im-
portance of obtaining the changes he had proposed in our
tariff and customs laws that many of his recommendations
met with their approval, as shown by their special reports
to Congress in 1885 and 1886, and were also adopted by
Representatives Hewitt, Mills, and Randall in the adminis-
trative sections of their bills.

The Randall Tariff.

While at Washington during this period, Colonel Tich-
enor became a warm friend and admirer of Hon. Samuel J.
Randall, and devoted much of his time from 1886 to 1888
in framing the Randall Tariff Bill.

His expert knowledge of the subject and the data gathered
by him during his investigations abroad regarding foreign
tariffs, costs of production, materials, etc., proved of great
assistance in preparing this new tariff. To improve the tariff
in the manner he desired, however, it was necessary:

1st. To frame a new and more harmonious and scientific
general framework, grouping the various articles into more

11

systematic arrangement of sections or schedules, according
to materials, general character, etc., with proper numbering
of paragraphs (to which no attention had been given in
framing previous tariff acts) .

2d. To correct the many inequalities and incongruities
and eliminate the ambiguities abounding in the previous
tariffs, owing to haste and carelessness and lack o«f expert
advice in their preparation.

3d. To secure the necessary data for properly transposing
various rates of duty from ad valorem to specific, and to
retain or better secure the proper relation between such rates
as were to be imposed on the numerous related or inter-
dependent articles, taking into proper consideration the rates
on raw or semi-raw materials, partly finished products, etc.

4th. To properly analyze the many conflicting recom-
mendations of different interests affected by such tariff
changes.

In order to obtain much of this data of a technical nature,
the advice and assistance of the leading and more reputable
manufacturers, chemists, and importers was sought and ob-
tained, as is always proper and necessary to do in such im-
portant legislation affecting their interests, a course also pur-
sued by the German and French tariff commissions in re-
adjusting the tariff schedules of their countries.

It will be readily seen that the amount of work involved
in the preparation of this new tariff was enormous, covering
about a year and a half, during which time Colonel Tichenor
worked day and night, as indicated by a few of Mr. Ran-
dall's notes to him, as follows:

Washington, D. C, Dec. 15, 1886.

My dear Colonel : —

Part of the number of speeches I sent you have been re-
turned to me. I want you to give me a further list of articles
which can go in the free list not produced in the United
States that are now taxed. I suppose you will know from

12

Mr. Dawes' speech what I need to meet his views in this
particular.

Truly, Samuel J. Randall.

Washington, D. C, Jan. 2, 1887.
Dear Colonel: —

I was much disappointed not to have seen you. I was
called home by telegram and had to leave New York city
by 2 p. m. train on Thursday.

Please read enclosed and return by next mail with com-
ments. I submitted to our Philadelphia friends your list of
articles to go to free list.

Yours, Samuel J. Randall.

Washington, D. C, Jan. 14, 1887.
My dear Colonel: —

Your letter received through Mr. Maher.
I am sorry to hear of your enfeebled health. I will call
on you Saturday a. m.
Yours truly,

Samuel J. Randall.

Washington, D. C, May 5, 1887.
My dear Colonel: —

Enclosed is interesting as to chicory and would seem fully
to confirm your judgment in relation thereto. This letter is
important; please retain for use on floor of the House. I
hope you are well.

Truly, Samuel J. Randall.

Washington, D. C, Jan. 23, 1888.
My dear Colonel: —

I am now ready for chemical schedule and iron and steel
as well. Can you come to my home tomorrow evening? I
will have my carriage go for you and take you home. The
hour most convenient is 7.30 p. m. to begin.
Yours truly,

Samuel J. Randall.

13

Washington, D. C., Jan. 23, 1888.
My dear Colonel: —

Please read enclosed and bring with you tomorrow eve-
ning. Where shall I send my carriage for you, say at 7
p. m.?

1. Bring administrative clauses.

2. Tobacco schedule based upon total repeal of tobacco
taxes.

3. Copy of explanations of the first preparation of reduc-
tions.

Yours truly,

Samuel J. Randall.

Washington, D. C, March 11, 1888.
My dear Colonel : —

I find several corrections needed, which will immediately
occur to you on reading.

I dislike to disturb you on Sunday, but will, if you are
willing, call this evening and have your corrections so as
to introduce corrected bill tomorrow and have official print
accurate. I will call 7 p. m. if this will suit you.
Yours truly,

Samuel J. Randall.

While not agreeing with all of Mr. Randall's ideas re-
garding the advisability of reducing the surplus in the Treas-
ury and customs revenues, they had the same general ideas
regarding fair protective rates for our domestic interests, as
is shown by an examination of the Randall Bill No. 8383,
as introduced March 12th, 1888. It will be seen that for the
first time in our tariffs protective rates of duty were provided
for tin plate, and that specific rates were more largely used
in place of ad valorem.

14

Allison Customs Administrative Bill.

During this period, 1885 to 1887, his assistance was also
sought by the subcommittee of the Senate Finance Com-
mittee having charge of the preparation of a new and im-
proved Customs Administrative Bill along the lines pre-
viously proposed by him in his many recommendations upon
this subject. Senator Allison, as chairman of this subcom-
mittee, from his home wrote him as follows :

Dubuque, Iowa, Aug. 1, 1887.
My dear Colonel : —

I had arranged for a meeting of my subcommittee August
6th, but owing to the illness of Morrill and the absence of
Aldrich, the committee could not meet. We have now post-
poned meeting until November 10th at Washington.

I wish I could have a couple of weeks with you at Wau-
kesha, or even a week. Joseph tells me you will be up there
until September 1st. I do not know that I can do it, but
thought I would like to know how busy you are and what
you think of it.

I am glad to hear that you are rapidly growing stronger.
Very truly yours,

W. B. Allison.

Dubuque, Iowa, Aug. 12, 1887.
Dear Colonel: —

I telegraphed you today I was so situated that I could not
go to Waukesha, and that I would write.

I have communicated with all my subcommittee and they
agree that we should meet at Washington on November 10th.
In that view, I do not know that I ought to do anything per-
sonally until that time. I want very much to consult with
you about a great many things, but I think the committee

15

would feel that they ought to have the benefit of your views
as well as myself.

As I am now to be busy for the remainder of the fall,
until after the election, I do not see how I can spend much
time on the work. We have gone over a great many matters
and have had printed for the use of the subcommittee some
sections which we proposed to incorporate in the law, and
I send you by today's mail a copy of these projected sec-
tions, which I will be glad to have you look over and make
such comments as occur to you. I. would also like to have you
suggest other sections which you think necessary to the
proper administration of the customs law, and any amend-
ments to the sections I send you as occur to you as neces-
sary.

If you are not to be in Washington in November in the
ordinary discharge of your duties, I think I shall ask Secre-
tary Fairchild on behalf of our committee to have you there
during the time from November 10th up to the meeting of
Congress.

Very truly yours,

W. B. Allison.

Upon his return to Washington, as above requested by
Senator Allison, Colonel Tichenor devoted a large part of his
time in the fall of 1887 in assisting the subcommittee of the
Senate Finance Committee in framing the new Customs
Administrative Bill, which, when completed, embodied his
former recommendations and was reported to the Senate by
Senator Allison on December 20, 1887, known as Bill No. S.
977, "A bill to regulate the importation of foreign mer-
chandise and to secure uniformity in the classification and
valuation thereof, and for other purposes." This bill finally
passed the Senate, March 16, 1888, and was reported to the
House March 21, 1888, and referred to the Committee on
Ways and Means, where it remained until 1890. It was then
taken up by Major McKinley, upon the urgent solicitation

16

of Colonel Tichenor, as will hereafter be shown, and intro-
duced by him in the House. It soon passed both House and
Senate, was approved by the President, and went into effect
June 10, 1890.

Allison Tariff Bill.

Owing to the intimate friendship that had existed between
Senator Allison and Colonel Tichenor, dating from the time
of Mr. Allison's first election to the United States Senate as
successor of Senator Harlan, Colonel Tichenor, with the as-
sistance of his friend, Mr. A. K. Tingle, early in 1888,
undertook the task of preparing a tariff bill for Senator
Allison, which they hoped would prove the most harmonious
and scientifically adjusted protective measure of its kind that
had ever been introduced in Congress. Using the Randall
tariff, which Colonel Tichenor had drawn, as the basis, they
succeeded in working out still greater improvements, in
equalizing the rates generally, conforming with their ideas
of fair and conservative protection, as neither Colonel Tich-
enor nor Senator Allison belonged to the school of extreme
or "ultra protectionists."

The following letter from Senator Allison indicates that
he doubted the advisability of increasing the rates in his bill
to the extent which some of the other Republican members
of his subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee
deemed expedient:

Aug. 3, 1888.
My dear Colonel: —

You have seen that the constant tendency here is to in-
crease rates. How would this suit our people in the West?
I send you today two copies of the Mills Bill as it passed.
Now, I want you to take up this bill and analyze it fully,
your analyzation to be embodied in our report to the Senate,
showing its effect upon our industries.

17

I hope you are improved by the waters and by the rest
you are having.

Sincerely yours,

W. B. Allison.

Owing to his broken health, Colonel Tichenor was at this
time at Waukesha, Wisconsin, resting and recuperating from
his arduous work of the preceding year. Upon receipt of
the above request he succeeded in having his friend, A. K.
Tingle, special agent of the Treasury Department, sent to
Waukesha to assist him, and at once began preparing the
desired "Analyzation of the Mills Bill," showing its effects
on our industries, etc., and at the same time revising or read-
justing certain of the schedules of the Allison Bill.

On October 3, 1888, Senator Allison reported his tariff
bill to the Senate as a substitute for the Mills Bill, and on
October 4, 1888, Senator Aldrich submitted a report thereon,
containing Colonel Tichenor's "Analyzation of the Mills
Bill," and described the improvements in the Allison Bill
over previous tariff acts (by reason of the adoption of Colonel
Tichenor's new general tariff framework, revised schedules
of specific rates, new classifications, etc.), as follows:

The Substitute Proposed by the Finance Committee.

"The House Bill (H. R 9051) under consideration was
received by your committee July 25, and was immediately
referred to the following subcommittee: Messrs. Allison, of
Iowa, chairman; Aldrich, of Rhode Island; Jones, of Ne-
vada ; Hiscock, of New York ; Beck, of Kentucky ; Harris, of
Tennessee, and Voorhees, of Indiana, who reported the same
back, September 25, to the full committee, with an amend-
ment in the nature of a substitute, which was adopted by the
full committee and reported to the Senate this day by Mr.
Allison.

"In the preparation of the substitute submitted for the
consideration of the Senate, it has been the purpose of your

I

18

committee to present a measure which would as far as possi-
ble fulfill the important requirements of revenue revision
which we have enumerated. The numerous failures and de-
fects of the House bill rendered the task of amending that
bill impossible, and made the preparation of a compre-
hensive and consistent measure of relief and revision neces-
sary. We submit this substitute to the judgment of the
Senate, and invite for it full and careful scrutiny.

"In the revision of the dutiable schedules and the free
list submitted, constant effort has been made to correct the
inequalities arid to eliminate the ambiguities of the existing
tariff.

"In pursuance of our general plan to lessen the evils of
undervaluation; to secure more certainty, uniformity and
equality in the collection of duties as well as economy in
administration, specific or compound rates have been sub-
stituted for ad valorem rates wherever practicable or when
the necessary data could be obtained. Whenever changes of
this character have been made, they have been adjusted upon
information obtained from customs experts or from other
reliable sources.

"It will be observed that all of the tariff schedules have
been thoroughly revised, rearranged, and greatly simplified.
They have been divided into paragraphs and numbered con-
secutively, in order that in the future amendments may be
made to a single paragraph or schedule without a general
re-enactment of all the schedules, as is now necessary to pre-
vent confusion. The number of paragraphs has been re-
duced from 495 in the tariff of 1883 to 440 in the substitute
submitted."

The report also contained a most able argument for in-
creased protective rates on wools and woolens, as a result of
which the original Allison rates in this schedule were raised
considerably.

19

The bill finally passed the Senate practically as originally
drawn, except for the changes in the woolen schedule, ori
January 22, 1889. It was reported in the House and re-
ferred to the Committee on Ways and Means, January 26,
1889.

A comparison of the Allison Senate substitute for the
Mills Bill and the McKinley Bill shows that the former was
used by McKinley as the foundation or basis of the McKinley
Bill, the latter, however, being more extensive in its high
protective and in some instances prohibitive rates.

Appointed Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
Department.

Owing to his work in framing these new tariffs and cus-
toms laws, Colonel Tichenor had by this time reached a
point where he was regarded by the leaders of both political
parties, and by the leading manufacturers and importers,
as the greatest authority in the United States on tariff and
customs matters.

Acting therefore upon the advice of the Republican mem-
bers of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways
and Means Committee, as well as other influential members
of Congress and large business interests, President Harrison,
soon after the selection of his Cabinet, appointed Colonel
Tichenor, March 11, 1889, Assistant Secretary of the Treas-
ury in charge of customs and internal revenue, etc.

Few appointments ever met with greater approval from
manufacturing interests, the better class of importers, and
the business community generally. The press throughout
the country, regardless of political beliefs, united in declar-
ing his appointment most fitting. This is shown by the fol-
lowing extracts from a few of the articles appearing in the
papers at that time:

20
New York Herald.

"The request for his appointment comes from the mer-
chants, who have long known his prominent qualifications
for this important place, and is urged by the Republicans
of the two revenue committees because they had full experi-
ence of his great knowledge, in the help he had given them."

New York Post.

"He has aided in the preparation of all the tariff bills
since that time. He was one of the leading experts for the
Senate Committee on Finance and for Mr. Randall in the
preparation of his bill."

New York Press.

"Colonel Tichenor has for many years been the highest
authority on all tariff matters."

New York Star.

"There has been scarcely a tariff law passed in the last
fifteen years in which Mr. Tichenor's handiwork does not
show."

Washington Capitol.

"The appointment gives general satisfaction. Colonel
Tichenor has fairly won the honor by the hard work done
during the past four years on the tariff."

Chicago Times.

"The choice is highly commended by men of both parties.
Mr. Randall says, a man better fitted for the position could
not have been found in the whole country."

21

Chicago Inter-Ocean.

"Colonel Tichenor owes his promotion only to his con-
spicuous fitness."

Springfield Republican.

"He is regarded as the most expert tariff man in the
country."

New Orleans City Item.

"The wisdom and sound business sense of this appoint-
ment cannot be questioned."

As Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in charge of cus-
toms, he prepared that part of the Secretary's Annual Report
to Congress of 1889 which related to the tariff and customs
revenues, etc., in which it will be seen that he again urgently
recommended the adoption of those improved administrative
features of customs laws for which he had contended and
labored so continuously and which had been incorporated in
the Allison Customs Administrative Bill, No. 977, of Decem-
ber 20, 1887, and in the Allison Tariff Bill of October 3,
1888, both of which had passed the Senate, but were still
held by the Committee on Ways and Means of the House.

The report of 1889 reads in part as follows:

Tariff for Revenue Only.

A tariff for revenue only contemplates such an adjustment
of duty as will yield the largest amount of revenue at the
lowest rates. It means the largest possible quantity of im-
portations consistent with the amount of customs revenue
required to defray the expenses of the Government.

If, under a protective tariff, $300,000,000 of importations
would pay an annual revenue of $100,000,000, to produce
the same amount at half the rates, under a tariff for revenue

22

only, would require $600,000,000 of importations. The re-
sult of this policy, in the case supposed, would be to take
from American producers their home market for $300,-
000,000 of products and transfer it to their foreign com-
petitors. While it would thus deprive our workmen of em-
ployment, it would also deplete the country of gold to pay
for foreign labor and material, which should be supplied at
home.

Revision op the Tariff.

Whatever differences of opinion there may be with regard
to the best method of disposing of the surplus revenue,
and preventing the accumulation of money in the Treasury
beyond the proper needs of the Government, and however
diverse may be opinions as to the abstract question of tax-
ation for revenue purposes, customs and internal, there is
general agreement that a revision of the tariff and customs
laws is urgently needed.

I believe it to be the dominant sentiment of the country
that, in the adjustment of duties on imports, protection to
home industry should be a governing consideration. While
there is a wide divergence of judgment on this proposition,
it can not well be denied that it is the settled policy of this
Government that such duties shall be so levied as to result
in the protection of labor, employed in domestic industries,
from destructive foreign competition.

One of the fundamental objects in the levying of duties
on imports, declared in the preamble of the first tariff act-
passed by Congress in 1789, was the encouragement and pro-
tection of manufactures. The doctrine thus proclaimed has
broadened with our advancing civilization and growth, and
its wisdom has been demonstrated by the marvelous develop-
ment of those industries, protected by the high duties, de-
manded by the necessities of the Government incident to
civil war.

It should, however, be remembered that the prime object
in the imposition of these high duties was the raising of

23

revenue, and rates were adjusted to that end, rather than to
the protection and development of domestic industries. It
came about, therefore, that the measure of protection was
capricious and unequal, and some industries were greatly
prospered, while others, equally favored by natural resources
and conditions, either languished or failed of development.

Inequalities.

The tariff act of 1883 was hastily considered and passed.
While intended as a protective measure, it was based on
former tariffs, and perpetuated many of the inequalities and
other defects with which those acts abounded, and which
have not only been directly hurtful to certain domestic in-
terests, but have afforded opportunities for evasion, and
provoked constant dispute and litigation.

Certain of these inequalities and defects in the present
law, arise also from the changed conditions of trade and
manufacture since its enactment.

Appeals and Suits.

Uniformity of assessment at the several ports, and often
as between importers of like merchandise at the same ports,
has not been secured. Doubts as to the meaning of many
of the separate provisions of the tariff schedules have led
to constant appeals to the Secretary of the Treasury. Thus
domestic producers and importing merchants are deprived
of a stable basis for their business calculations, and trade
and commerce, as affected by the tariff, is thereby disturbed
and unsettled. There were 25,349 appeals by importers
from the decisions of collectors of customs, chiefly from the
port of New York, during the last fiscal year, and there are
now pending in the United States Circuit Court for the
Southern District of New York 4,497 suits, which relate to
more than two hundred and fifty different articles concern-
ing which the classification is disputed.

24

As a result of this increasing practice of making protest
and appeal, in all cases where the meaning of the statutes is
in any sense obscure, the public has come to look rather to
the Secretary of the Treasury than to Congress for relief
from real or imaginary hardships attributed to the tariff.
Indeed, the Secretary is constantly importuned to make
rulings equivalent to tariff legislation.

All this is subversive of commercial and official morality,
is destructive of legitimate trade, and appeals to the judg-
ment of all fair-minded men for correction.

Conflicting Provisions and Ambiguities.

It is therefore urged that in revising the tariff schedules
care be taken to avoid conflicting provisions and ambigui-
ties, which have been productive of the evils mentioned;
also that rates be so adjusted as to avoid the inequalities of
the existing law so hurtful to domestic industries.

Extension of Trade.

Furthermore, in the construction of a tariff law in its
broader sense, reference should be had not only to the
changed conditions of our domestic commerce and manu-
factures since the enactment of previous tariffs, but also
to the cultivation and extension of our trade relations with
those countries whose geographical situation and resources
are such as to make intimate commercial intercourse with
them particularly desirable.

Undervaluations — Systems of Duty.

In order that Congress might have the intelligent opinion
of expert officers charged with the enforcement of the tariff
laws at the principal ports, I caused to be submitted to them,
for examination and criticism, three important tariff bills
which were considered by the last Congress, viz., House

25

bills 8383 (Randall Bill) and 9051 (Mills Bill) and the
Senate substitute for the latter (Allison Bill). The reports
of these officers are contained in the appendix to this report,
and are commended to the attention of Congress. Particular
attention is invited to the statements therein, showing the
alarming prevalence of undervaluations. As a remedy for
this evil the substitution of specific for ad valorem duties,
wherever feasible under our tariff system, is generally advo-
cated. In this I concur; and this view is sustained not only
by the fact that the commerical countries of Europe have
discarded the ad valorem and adopted the specific system,
but also by the opinions of a long line of my predecessors.
Under high ad valorem rates pure and simple, or the more
objectionable system of specific rates based on value, not
only do discriminations occur between individual importers
at the same port, always in favor of the unscrupulous, but
different amounts of duty are collected at different ports
upon merchandise of the same value. The inevitable result,
as experience shows, is, that the honest trader is driven out
of business, and domestic producers are insidiously deprived
of the protection which the law intends to give them and
upon the faith of which their business ventures are based.

Adjustment of Tariff to Changed Conditions.

It is obvious that as the conditions of protection and
trade change, particular provisions of a tariff law may be-
come inapplicable and even harmful. While legislative in-
terference should not be so frequent as to unnecessarily dis-
turb the commercial and industrial interests of the country,
it is suggested that reports at stated periods, by expert offi-
cers specially designated for that purpose, upon the opera-
tions of the tariff laws, and indicating needed changes, would
prove valuable.

26

Customs Administration.

The difficulties so embarrassing to the customs officers
and the department, growing out of the infirmities of the
tariff schedules, are intensified by the inadequacy and faulty
character of the laws relating to customs administration,
which also needlessly and seriously annoy and hamper our
citizens engaged in foreign commerce, and in many ways
operate to neutralize or nullify the purposes of the tariff.
These laws are derived from two hundred and sixty-three
acts of Congress passed during a period of ninety years. The
act of 1799, the nucleus of the customs system, was at the
time of its enactment, and has since been found to be, as has
been well stated, "a marvel of clearness, conciseness, and
accuracy." It was admirably adapted to the conditions of
the period of its passage, and these did not materially
change within the succeeding half century. But since then
the course of commerce, the usages of trade, and the condi-
tions of commercial transactions generally, have so changed,
and the volume of business has so expanded, that many of
its provisions are ill-suited to the present time. The intro-
duction of steam navigation, its conduct by great companies
with large fleets and regular service, communication by
ocean cables, and other changes in the commercial world
wrought by these and other agencies, render desirable a re-
vision of the statutes governing customs administration so as
to adapt them to existing needs.

It is true that the statutes relating to this subject were
included in title XXXIV of the Revised Statutes of 1873,
but this was rather a codification than a revision, as the com-
missioners of that revision were debarred from materially
changing the phraseology of the laws, or introducing new
matter. By the segregation under one title of sections de-
rived from so many distinct laws, the revisers were una-
voidably led into many errors respecting the relative arrange-
ment of these sections, so that the imperfect character of the
existing statutes is in some cases magnified by this disloca-

27

tion of their parts. Since the enactment of the Revised
Statutes, numerous amendments and much new and frag-
mentary legislation have added still further to the difficulties
of construction.

No matter upon what lines the tariff schedules may be
revised, or whether revised at all, it is hoped that Congress
will recognize the urgent need for such a revision of these
statutes as will remedy the evils mentioned. The reports of
the customs officers, contained in the appendix to this re-
port, afford much information concerning these difficulties
and indicate remedial legislation thought to be advisable.

Invoices — Consular Authentication.

There is urgent need for radical reform in the system of
appraisements. Under the present law it is practically im-
possible to secure uniform and just valuations. The pro-
visions relating to the form of invoices and their consular
authentication should be amended so as to give appraising
officers in all cases more definite information of the actual
transaction which the invoice is claimed to represent than
is at present required. The invoice should contain an ac-
curate description of the goods ; it should be made out in the
currency of the country of export, or the currency actually
paid; and where goods are obtained otherwise than by pur-
chase, the declaration should state that the invoice repre-
sents the actual market value of the merchandise in the
principal markets of the country whence exported, instead
of the time and place when and where procured or manu-
factured, as now required by the statute ; so that the declara-
tion may conform to the legal basis of appraisement.

Reappraisements.

The system of appointing merchants to act as members
of reappraising boards, although it may have worked satis-
factorily in former years, when the volume of importations

28

was comparatively small, and importers owned the goods
imported, and when disputes as to value were rare, has be-
come, under present conditions, not only ineffective, but pro-
ductive of serious abuses, scandal, and contention, and is
injurious alike to the revenue and legitimate trade. The
remedy generally suggested, and which appears to have met
the approval of reputable merchants throughout the country,
is an increase in the number and an enlargement of the func-
tions of general appraisers so as to devolve upon those officers
the sole duty of hearing and disposing of appeals from orig-
inal appraisements. I am of the opinion that such legisla-
tion is imperatively needed.

Revision of Customs Laws.

Many of the reformatory changes in the customs laws
above suggested have been embodied in one form or another
in bills introduced in the last Congress. These were the re-
sult of careful investigation and consideration by the appro-
priate committees, and their general features are understood
to have had the approval of my immediate predecessor. It
is not improbable that these or similar measures will be again
introduced, with better promise of enactment. Believing
the changes thus proposed would greatly benefit customs
administration, I urgently recommend them to the early and
favorable consideration of Congress.

While recommending this legislation, I earnestly invite
attention to the necessity for a complete codification and
revision of the customs laws, to include such modifications
and new provisions as practice and experience have demon-
strated are required for the efficiency of the system.

Materials for such a codification and revision have been
collected and partially formulated, under my direction, by
competent officers of this department. These materials are
intended for and will be at the disposal of Congress.

29

McEinley Tariff and Customs Administrative Act.

During the winter of 1889-1890 Major McKinley, then
chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the
House of Representatives, spent much of his time conferring
with Colonel Tichenor on tariff matters, which gave the
latter opportunity to again impress upon him the importance
of introducing the Customs Administrative Bill, which, as
previously shown, had originally been introduced by Senator
Allison, passing the Senate March 16, 1888, and referred
to the Committee on Ways and Means March 21, 1888.
It was Major McKinley 's desire to incorporate these admin-
istrative features in his tariff bill, but upon the urgent solici-
tation of Colonel Tichenor he finally introduced the bill as
an independent measure, January 14, 1890, under the title
of the Customs Administrative Act, which soon was passed
by both House and Senate, approved by President Harrison,
and became the law June 10, 1890, thus securing at last the
many improvements of our customs laws for which Colonel
Tichenor had labored continuously for some seven or eight
years. Notwithstanding the political changes of President
and Congress and the attacks against certain features of this
act, it has since remained as the principal law governing
the collection of our customs revenues without any impor-
tant change having been deemed necessary or advisable.

As previously shown, the Allison tariff, as passed by the
Senate January 22, 1889, and referred to the Committee on
Ways and Means January 26, 1889, was adopted by Major
McKinley at Colonel Tichenor's suggestion as the foundation
for his tariff bill, and a comparison of these two tariff meas-
ures will show that they only differed by reason of certain
increased rates, particularly in the woolen schedule, and in
placing raw sugar on the free list and providing for a bounty
on raw sugar for our domestic producers. In increasing the
rates, Major McKinley had in view still greater protection
for the American producers and manufacturers, and the con-

30

sequent reduction of our Treasury surplus and customs reve-
nues, by making the duties on certain classes of goods suffi-
ciently high to practically prohibit importations thereof, the
purpose of his bill being expressed in its title, as follows:
"An act to reduce the revenue and equalize duties on im-
ports, and for other purposes."

Colonel Tichenor was strongly opposed to these extremely
high rates and to the general idea of reducing the surplus
in the Treasury in such manner, as is later shown by his
correspondence and recommendations on the subject when
framing the schedules of the Dingley Bill.

Appointed General Appraiser.

As a fitting recognition of his work in framing and secur-
ing the enactment of the Customs Administrative Act, he
received from President Harrison, July 16, 1890, the first
appointment made thereunder as a general appraiser, and
soon after went to New York, where he was selected to act
as president of the Board of General Appraisers, which posi-
tion he retained as long as his health permitted.

In 1894 his assistance was sought by William L. Wilson,
chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and Daniel
Voorhees, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, re-
garding various schedules and provisions of the Wilson Bill,
as shown by the following letters :

Nov. 19, 1893.
Dear Sir: —

Yours enclosing additional suggestions for amendment of
tariff laws has reached me. The committee will give careful
attention to the paper, as we have already done to your
previous papers, for which, as for this, we are greatly your
debtor, as we have derived much aid from it.
Sincerely yours,

William L. Wilson.

31

At one time, the wording of the Wilson Bill would have
legislated the Board of General Appraisers out of office, but
the fact being discovered by Colonel Tichenor in examining
the proposed changes, he called Mr. Wilson's attention to it,
and this feature of the proposed law was therefore remedied.
Mr. Wilson wrote him as follows :

Dec. 2, 1893.
My dear Sir : —

The committee had no intention of legislating the Board
of General Appraisers out of office, or in any way affecting
their tenure under the existing law, and the final draft of
the bill when reported to the House would provide against
any such construction. The bill as made up simply gives
the result of our labor, and several clauses of the kind you
suggest are to be added.
Sincerely yours,

William L. Wilson.

The Dingley Tariff.

In January, 1896, he began the preparation of some
schedules to be incorporated by Honorable Nelson Dingley,
Jr., in his revenue bill, intended to cure some of the most
glaring inequalities and deficiencies of the Wilson Bill. Mr.
Dingley wrote him in this connection, January 3, 1896, as
follows :

Dear Sir: —

Please forward me the suggestions in the line indicated.
Many thanks for your kind offer.
Yours truly,

Nelson Dingley, Jr.

32

January 6, 1896.
Hon. Nelson Dingley, Jr.,

Chairman Committee on Ways and Means,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.
My dear Sir : —

I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 3d
inst. When I wrote you on the 24th ult. I had in mind cer-
tain amendments to the present tariff act designed to cor-
rect some of its most striking inequalities, and which 1
thought might be embraced in the emergency bill you were
then preparing. Immediately after writing you, however,
I learned that it was not intended to amend any of the
schedules, and therefore I decided to defer the completion
of my suggestions until I could have time and opportunity
to enlarge their scope for use by your committee in a more
comprehensive and needed revision of the present law. This
will necessarily require considerable time, for the present
Wilson tariff abounds in inequalities, incongruities, and
absurdities, not only hurtful to domestic interests, legitimate
commerce and the revenues, but which go to preclude orderly
administration and invite fraud and abuse.

It is my purpose to present my suggestions in the form
of definite amendments or modifications of each paragraph,
following each with the reasons therefor in extenso. Their
chief purpose will be to simplify and prevent frauds and
abuses in administration, to be supplemented only by the
transfer from the free list to the dutiable list of articles that
are legitimate subjects of revenue, which would yield many
millions of dollars in duties. Really, the whole law should be
revised, and the ad valorem rates made specific or compound
wherever practicable, in the interests of common honesty.
In all my experience, I have never known the honest busi-
ness public so earnest and determined as it is now on this
subject.

If in view of what I have said you deem it worth while

33

to await my action for say a month or so, please advise me
accordingly.

Very truly yours,

George C. Tichenor.

The following letter from Senator Allison, which he re-
ceived about this time, showed that it would be impossible
for any tariff bill to pass the Senate during that session of
Congress, and he therefore decided not to proceed any further
in the preparation of the bill for Mr. Dingley :

Senate Chamber,
Washington, D. C, Feb. 29, 1896.
My dear Colonel Tichenor: —

I have your esteemed favor of 28th inst. and note contents.
It is utterly impossible for any tariff bill to pass the Senate
at this session. We lack one of a majority with all our
members in and all united, Populists and Democrats having
one majority in any event. Every Democrat is opposed to
any bill at present, and I take it the Populists also, and with
the dissatisfaction among Republicans, my judgment is that
it is utterly useless to make any attempt to revise the Dingley
Revenue Bill or to start a new one in the House of Repre-
sentatives. So believing, I do not advise you to make any
preparation for it, as it would be effort lost, at least for the
present.

Very truly yours,

W. B. Allison.

The following correspondence with Hon. G. A. Hobart
shows how thoroughly convinced Colonel Tichenor was at
that time regarding the importance of an early and complete
revision of the tariff, that would be so adjusted as to afford
proper protection to domestic producers and provide sufficient
revenue for our increasing Government expenses. He first
took up the subject with Mr. Hobart in March, 1896, as

8

34

shown by the following correspondence. (The allusion to
"Iowa and New Jersey working together" was due to his
hope, and that of many others at that time, that the Republi-
can ticket would be Allison and Hobart.)

March 6, 1896.
My dear Tichenor: —

Your interesting letter of March 4th I have just received.
The question of what is best to be done in the future for
honest importers and our domestic interests as to the method
of levying duties is so intricate and delicate a subject that I
have no personal opinion to express upon it, but I will swear
by what you say about it, and when your plan of tariff
revision is promulgated in 1897 it will go through. Whether
it shall be Iowa and New Jersey working together in the
high place or not, it will be Iowa and New Jersey as hereto-
fore working in the lowly places.
Always your friend,

Garret A. Hobart.

Aug. 25, 1896.
My dear Mr. Hobart : —

*******

I make the statement with deliberation and from such
careful study as few men indeed have given to the subject,
that under our system of high duties it is utterly impossible
to assess and collect ad valorem duties as a rule at all regu-
larly or uniformly without the most severe inequalities at
the custom-houses of the country, with the resulting injury
to domestic industries and honest importing merchants, as
well as loss to the revenues. With fairly and carefully ad-
justed specific rates of duty in place of existing ad valorem
wherever practicable, together with a judicious transfer of
articles from the free to the dutiable list, we can secure all
needed protection and revenue without general or material
actual advance in rates as would even cause a murmur from
thin-skinned Republicans or reasonable low-duty Democrats.

35

This is not a mere conjecture of mine, nor is it the expression
of an economic doctrinaire, but is the result of the most
careful practical study and observation of the operations of
tariffs for the past fifteen years, to which I have given prac-
tically all my attention. Major McKinley is himself aware,
as are also ex-President Harrison, Senators Sherman, Allison,
Aldrich, Morrill, Spooner, and others, that I urgently ad-
vised against those particularly high rates and features of the
McKinley tariff of 1890 which were most criticised and
caused such a revulsion in the country. I am quite as strongly
averse to such legislation now. I am as certain, how-
ever, that if the Republicans should secure the passage of the
so-called Dingley Revenue Act at the coming short session,
and should not secure a complete revision of the tariff, or at
least attempt such revision at an extra session to be called by
President McKinley, or at the furthermost at the regular ses-
sion, the Republican party will be defeated at the ensuing
general election and in 1900 as I am that the world exists.

In the first place, the wool-growers of the country have
been promised and will demand that a duty be put upon
wool, perhaps not as high a rate as they had formerly, but at
least a rate of 6^ or 8^ a pound on better-class wool and 3^ or
4^ a pound on low-grade carpet wools, and the Government
needs the $10,000,000 or $15,000,000 of revenue from this
source.

To my mind our surest and only means of winning back to
the party the Republicans of Washington, Montana, South
Dakota, Utah, and even of Colorado, is by such revision of
the tariff as will give fair protective duties upon wool, sheep,
cattle, lead, lumber, and others. of their products, and I be-
lieve our only sure way of recovering Nebraska and some of
those Western States is by wise protective measures of some
kind for their beet-sugar interests.

One of the features of the McKinley tariff of 1890 was the
transfer from the dutiable to the free list of jute, manila,
sisal grass, sunn, istle, and other textile grasses and fibers, for

36

the express purpose of encouraging and fostering the manu-
facture of burlaps, bags, bagging, canvas, jute carpets, cord-
age twine, and other articles made from these substances, and
enormous plants were established for this purpose, all of
which have gone to the wall and most of them are standing
idle since the passage of the Wilson-Gorman Act making bur-
laps, bagging and binding twine free, and with ruinously
low rates on the other manufactures of these substances.
Furthermore, in our very liberal classification for duty by
customs officers, and the courts, nearly every article under the
sun, whether fine, coarse or otherwise, made of jute or other
substances, is being admitted as burlaps or bagging, while
every description of twine and cordage comes in either free
or at the nominal rate of 10 per cent.

So it is with the free admission of braids, plaits, laces, etc.,
which were originally intended to be limited to those made of
straw, chip, grass, etc., but under which provision all manner
of braids, laces, etc., made partly and sometimes wholly of
cotton and other vegetable fiber in imitation of straw are be-
ing admitted free of duty.

The provision for the free admission of paintings and
statuary has been taken advantage of by the free introduction
of all manner of things having no artistic quality or merit
whatever, and calculated rather to corrupt than encourage
art or culture, the revenues being thereby deprived of enor-
mous sums of money and injury done to our own domestic
mechanics, artisans and artists.

And so on through the whole gamut of the free list, a rigid
overhauling of which would give us many millions of dollars
of needed revenue, and afford protection where protection is
needed.

I have in mind a tariff scheme and amendments of admin-
istrative laws which I believe would meet our needs, and
which I think I could prepare and bring to completion,
along with reasons in extenso for all changes suggested,
within three months from this time at furthest, and which I

37

will undertake in case I should be assured by yourself and
Major McKinley, as well as perhaps Messrs. Dingley, Alli-
son, and Aldrich, that the same would receive proper consid-
eration ; otherwise I would not be inclined to enter upon the
task, it being tiresome work and additional to my official
duties, which are ordinarily sufficiently exacting.
Sincerely yours,

Geo. C. Tichenor.

August 31, 1896.
Dear Mr. Tichenor: —

I have received your very full and interesting letter. I
have not yet had time to even digest it, but I am impressed
with the importance of what you say as to the tentative
scheme of tariff revision.

Just as soon as you are able to come to the Committee
Rooms, do so, and we will talk it over.
Always yours sincerely,

Garret A. Hob art.

Nov. 9, 1896.
My dear Mr. Hobart : —

*******

In the preparation of the Hon. Samuel J. Randall's Bill,
introduced by him as a substitute for the Mills Bill, the
chief things sought to be attained aside from protection was
the getting rid of the surplus then in the Treasury and pre-
venting its accumulation. I prepared the measure for Mr.
Randall and also most of his report on it, although differing
from him as to the advisability of reducing the surplus or
providing against its accumulation in that manner, and
President-elect McKinley is well aware that the controlling
idea in the preparation of the McKinley Bill was to dispose
of and prevent the accumulation of surplus revenue. It was
in that view that duties upon certain articles were made
prohibitive, upon others higher than they would otherwise

38

have been, and that numerous other articles (proper sub-
jects of revenue) were put upon the free list. Therefore, in
constructing a new tariff these prohibitive and excessive du-
ties should not be imposed, and the articles transferred from
the dutiable to the free list should go back to the dutiable
list. In this way we would not only avoid reasonable com-
plaint of prohibitive or excessive rates, but would also secure
needed revenue thereby and an addition to the revenue from
articles transferred from the free to the dutiable list. This
would include among other things diamonds and other
precious stones, rough or uncut; drugs of various kinds,
floor matting or Chinese matting; various fruits and nuts;
various oils ; potash and other alkalis ; acids of various kinds ;
sugar, and other articles. Add to this wool and goat's hair';
bagging for cotton; burlaps, bags, etc.; binding twine, mo-
lasses, turpentine, lumber, and other things improperly on
the free list of the present act, and we would have nearly if
not quite all the revenue we needed, it being understood, of
course, that specific rates should be substituted for ad valorem
and the full revenue imposed by the law honestly collected
and none of it unlawfully remitted or refunded.
Sincerely your friend,

George C. Tichenor.

Nov. 18, 1896.
My dear Mr. Tichenor: —

I have your valued letter of the 9th inst. and am very
much interested in the facts you set forth and the remedies
you propose. With your permission I will send it to Presi-
dent-elect McKinley unless you will send a similar letter to
him.

Your letter shows such a grasp of the existing situation
and you, better than any other man, understand the question
more clearly and can more quickly and wisely adjust mat-
ters to the needs of all parties concerned, including the
Government, that I shall be glad to give your carefully writ-

39

ten and exhaustive letter the practical attention and direction
it deserves.

With my kindest regards, I am,
Very sincerely yours,

Garret A. Hobart.

Dec. 9, 1896.
My dear Colonel: —

Your letter of Dec. 7th received and read with interest.
I hope your expressed determination will not interfere in
any way with the plan outlined in your former letters, which
I have sent to Major McKinley with the request that he com-
municate with you if your views coincide with his own. He
certainly ought to appreciate the value of your long ex-
perience in tariff matters and special knowledge of that com-
plex subject. I do, to the fullest extent.
Yours very truly,

Garret A. Hobart.

As Colonel Tichenor's idea on the subject met with the
hearty approval of President-elect McKinley, Vice-President
Hobart, and other Republican leaders, and on their assurance
that his general plan of tariff revision would receive their
support, he went ahead formulating his schedules along the
lines proposed, communicating later with Hon. Nelson Ding-
ley, Jr., upon the subject, as shown by the following letters:

House op Representatives,
Washington, D. C, Dec. 24, 1896.
My dear Sir : —

I was about to write you on the subject to which your
letter refers, and to ask you to do just what you suggest. I
wish you would go through with the schedules just as you
have stated and send them to me before the hearings of the
same if possible.

I wish you would give particular attention to devising a
specific basis for clothing, wool and woolens.

40

If you could do so I should like to have you come over
here next week, or if not then by Jan. 12th, and sit down
privately with members of the subcommittee and suggest
and explain, and stay here part of the time at least for
several weeks.

I am heartily with you in the effort to make our tariff
specific. The iron and steel schedule and also the cotton
schedule is now nearly all specific.
Very truly yours,

Nelson Dingley, Jr.

Dec. 26, 1896.
Hon. Nelson Dingley, Jr.,

Chairman Committee on Ways and Means,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C,
My dear Sir : —

I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
24th inst.

In accordance with your suggestions, I will send you the
remaining schedules (and free list) as rapidly as possible,
and they will be accompanied, as those already sent you
were, with as full explanatory notes as my time and data
will permit.

I will do the best I can with the wool and woolens schedule.
However, I see what appear to be insuperable difficulties in
the way of carrying out my ideas with respect to it. While
I am an earnest advocate of the rights of our western wool-
growing friends, I realize that most of them are thoroughly
unreasonable in their demands. In times past, as you are
perhaps aware, I gave a good deal of thought to the subject
of wool, and had the benefit of some little experience abroad
concerning it, with the result that I have imbibed the notion
that the duty on wool, "class 1" and "class 2," especially,
should be compound, namely, say 4 or 5 cents per pound
specific and an ad valorem feature to make one average rate,
say 7 cents to 8 cents per pound, and that this rule should

41

apply to the article when washed or scoured, as well as in
the grease. The rate on the wools of class 3 might be wholly
specific, say 3 cents a pound, or it might be like that of
classes 1 and 2, compound, say l1/^ cents per pound and
the remainder ad valorem. As to yarns, I hope our manu-
facturing friends will be able to furnish a proper basis for
duties according to spinners' numbers. As to dress goods,
woolen cloths, knit goods, ready-made clothing and wearing
apparel generally, and the small wares, I can see no way now
other than to make the rates compound, to wit, per pound
and ad valorem, but we must make them as simple as possi-
ble, avoiding if we can the system of progressive ad valorems,
that is to say specific and ad valorem based on different
values. The simpler the rates can be made the better, for
these progressive rates really furnish more opportunity for
undervaluation than straight ad valorems, and the Lord
knows, the latter are intolerably bad. Then again, we must
avoid differentiation as much as possible. We have done
too much of that in the past, thereby affording opportuni-
ties for evasion, disappointment to our domestic people, and
hurt to the revenue.

I shall be pleased to visit Washington and to render your
committee all the assistance I can, after I have got through
with formulating and sending you the schedules, etc., but
fear I shall be unable to do that and to finish some neces-
sary official work so as to be there before about the 10th to
15th of January. Meantime if you should find it con-
venient to ask Assistant Secretary Hamlin to authorize me
to visit Washington on public account, and to have my
private secretary, Mr. H. J. Webster, accompany me, I shall
be very glad.

The partially paralyzed condition of my hands makes it
necessary for me to have my own private secretary with me
if I am to do any work.

Wishing you the compliments of the season, I am,
Very truly yours,

George C. Tichenob.

42

Dec. 29, 1896.
Hon. Nelson Dingley, Jr.,

Chairman Committee on Ways and Means,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.
My dear Sir: —

I enclose herewith proposed schedule for silk goods, with
quite copious explanatory notes attached. This schedule has
involved an amount of labor that I scarcely apprehended at
the outset ; consequently was unable to send it along with the
others in time for the hearing today. I desire very much
to subject the articles embraced in the proposed paragraphs
413 and 414 to specific or compound rates, or at least to a
small specific rate, combined with ad valorem, and hope to
have the data to enable me to make a recommendation in
that direction by the time I shall visit Washington. Mean-
time, however, I can say that the enclosed schedule is a vast
improvement on anything that we have had heretofore, and
we can get along with it if we cannot do better. I have made
my explanations quite full, at the risk of wearying you and
your brother Republican members of the committee.

I enclose also the cotton cloth paragraphs from the act of
1894, modified and changed in certain respects, to which
attention is fully called in explanatory notes attached. This
enclosure was omitted from my letter of yesterday.

I enclose Schedule D, wood and wooden wares, but slightly
modified in two or three particulars, and not sufficient to
require, I think, any "explanatory notes.' '

I had hoped to be able to send you the paper schedule
(Schedule M) today also, but was unable to get certain de-
sired data respecting the same. I shall try to send it to you
tomorrow, together with the sugar schedule, which latter I
hope to make purely specific.

I will hurry forward the other schedules as rapidly as I
can, but you must not be impatient if they are delayed some
little time. I want to make them as complete as possible.
Sincerely yours,

George C. Tichenor.

43

Jan. 1, 1897.
Dear Sir: —

I am in receipt of yours enclosing suggestions as to silk,
cotton, wood and paper schedules, for which I thank you.

We shall not be ready for you as early as I hoped, as we
desire to take time first to look over the hearings.
Truly yours,

Nelson Dingley, Jr.

House op Representatives,

Washington, D. ft, Jan. 8, 1897.
Hon. George C. Tichenor.

Dear Sir: Enclosed find the silk and cotton schedules
which you desired to have returned for revision. Please
return as soon as possible.
Truly yours,

N. Dingley, Jr.

Jan. 18, 1897.
My dear Sir: —

I am in receipt of yours enclosing jute schedule and ac-
companying papers, and also your new cotton and silk
schedules, for which accept thanks.

I hope your suggestions as to specifics in jute schedule will
prove all right. The woolen schedule is the one that needs
specifics the most. We want to give about 50 per cent pro-
tection outside of compensatory duty for manufacturers of
wool. If we could get specifics that would not fall anywhere
below 40 per cent nor above 60 per cent the plan would
answer.

I think you had better keep on working on your schedules
until you complete them, and then come over here. If we
need you before then, I will write or telegraph you.
Very truly yours,

Nelson Dingley, Jr.

44

Jan. 29, 1897.
My dear Sir : —

It is understood that the present Wilson law was satis-
factory to iron and steel industries, with the exception of
tin plate, cotton ties, and some advanced manufactures of
iron and steel, on the basis of 40^ per ton on iron ore. In-
deed, the schedule was made by iron and steel men. Nearly
all the iron and steel men we have met have said the present
schedule is satisfactory with these exceptions, although a few
wanted pig iron increased. 1%$ will probably do all right
on tin plate.

Hastily yours, Nelson Dingley, Jr.

Jan. 30, 1897.
My dear Sir: —

Yours enclosing suggestions as to tobacco schedule just
received.

I send you by this mail the hearings on metal schedule.
You will notice by these hearings that the manufacturers
ask only 1%$ on tin plate and generally few changes. The
Eastern manufacturers want iron ore kept at 40$ and the
Western ore men want it advanced to 60$. We expect to
cut nearly all our duties considerably below those of the act
of 1890. The metal and cotton schedules of the present law
(Wilson Bill) were really made by the manufacturers, except
as to a few items.

Your sugar suggestions received. It is claimed that
German beet sugar cannot be properly tested by the polari-
scope exclusively and that it must be treated differently from
cane sugar. What do you say as to that? The New York
importers claim that 3/100$ is the proper increase of duty
for each degree. Can you send us the foreign value of sugar
for each degree from 75 degrees to 96 degrees?

It is perhaps better for you to do your work at present in
New York until you get through your schedules, and then
come here.

Very truly yours,

Nelson Dingley, Jr.

45

Feb. 1, 1897.
My dear Sir : —

I have been thinking over the tobacco trouble and possibly
a remedy for the existing evils might be found in placing so-
called Sumatra wrappers in one classification with a high
duty, and Havana wrappers in another with a duty of $1 to
$1.50. I understand the value of Sumatra wrappers is two
or three times that of the Havana wrappers. The tobacco
growers are insistent on the high duties of the Act of 1890
on Sumatra wrappers but care little for the Havana. How
would that work?

When will you be able to send me your suggestions as to
the earthenware schedule?
Yours very truly,

Nelson Dingley, Jr.

Feb. 5, 1897.
Dear Sir: —

It will be in time to take up any changes in the chemical
schedule when you come over. It would be well for you to
come over if practicable by the middle of next week, or if
it is necessary for you to remain at New York longer to com-
plete your schedules you could do so. We would like to have
you here however by Wednesday if possible.
Truly yours,

Nelson Dingley, Jr.

Feb. 8, 1897.
Dear Sir: —

Yours saying you desire to complete the schedules before
coming here is at hand.

If you prefer to wait in New York a week longer we will
accommodate ourselves to the situation. Try and be here
by a week from Monday or Tuesday.

I am in receipt of your suggestions as to Schedule B
(earthenware).

Yours truly, Nelson Dingley, Jr.

46

Feb. 10, 1897.
Dear Sir: — -

I am in receipt of yours enclosing agricultural schedule
and sugar schedule.

Will see you at the Hotel Cochran, in Washington, on
Monday.

Yours truly,

Nelson Dingley, Jr.

The above letters show that Colonel Tichenor had by this
time redrafted every schedule of the tariff and had forwarded
them to Mr. Dingley, together with his "Explanatory Notes,"
a preamble of which reads as follows :

Explanatory Notes.

"The following suggestions relative to the revision of the
tariff are made with the view of avoiding especially incon-
sistencies and incongruities:

"The act of 1890 is adopted as a framework, and the
explanations will only cover material changes therefrom in
phraseology and rates or the addition of new articles; no
reference will be made to slight changes in phraseology or
rates. As a general rule, the variations from the act of 1890
are for the purpose of simplification, the conversion of ad
valorem into specific or compound rates, or the reduction of
rates due to the decline in values since 1890, or for the rea-
son that they were unnecessarily high in that act. The sys-
tem of serially numbering all paragraphs should be carefully
adhered to, and fractional numbers, such as frequently ap-
pear in the present act, should be carefully avoided.

"This system of properly numbering paragraphs was first
introduced in the Randall, Allison, and McKinley bills, and
has proved most convenient and advantageous in administra-
tion. In previous acts, sections only were designated by
numbers, and the numbering of paragraphs, as in the act of

47

1883, was done by the Treasury Department, and hence
lacked legislative sanction."

As this mass of valuable data and information would fill
a large volume, no attempt will be made at this time to re-
produce it in detail.

Although badly broken in health, he went to Washington
February 12, 1897, as suggested by Mr. Dingley and others,
and took rooms at the Hotel Cochran, where the Ways and
Means Committee were in daily session reviewing and con-
sidering the requests of various interests affected by revision
of the tariff. Here he was in constant conference with them,
and few changes were made in any of the schedules during
this time without consulting him. He remained there work-
ing with them day and night until the bill was ready to be
introduced, March 19, 1897.

It will be recalled that the controlling idea in the pre-
paration of the McKinley tariff was to dispose of the surplus
revenue and prevent its future accumulation. It was in
that view that the duties on certain articles were made pro-
hibitive. Colonel Tichenor was strongly opposed to such
tariff legislation, believing it harmful to all interests except
the few excessively protected manufacturers, who were
thereby directly benefited. Therefore, in framing the Ding-
ley schedules, while using the McKinley tariff as a frame-
work, he endeavored particularly, not only to readjust and
equalize the rates of duty upon a fairer and more equitable
basis, but at the same time to provide more revenue by fix-
ing the duties at points well below the prohibitive rates of
the McKinley Bill, but somewhat above those of the Wilson-
Gorman Bill, where they were too low for fair and proper
protection. As "The metal and cotton schedules of the
Wilson Bill were really made by the manufacturers" (as
shown by Mr. Dingley's letter of January 30, 1897), few
changes were made in these schedules, and the duties on most
items were allowed to remain as in the Wilson-Gorman tariff.

48

That Colonel Tichenor's ideas and recommendations met
with the approval of Mr. Dingley and other Republican
members of the Committee on Ways and Means is clearly
shown by the above correspondence, and by their adoption
of many of his schedules as originally drawn, as well as his
general plan of revision. This is further shown by the fol-
lowing extract from Mr. Dingley 's report to the House of
Representatives, accompanying the introduction of the bill:

"Range of Duties Proposed.

"In revising the several dutiable schedules, as a rule the
duties have been fixed at points between the tariff of 1890
and the present tariff (Wilson Bill), it having been found
that on account of changed conditions, in a large part of
the articles duties lower than those of 1890 would be equally
protective.

"The metal and cotton schedules are in large part the
same as in the present tariff (Wilson Bill), the increases
above those rates being in the more advanced articles. The
agricultural, earthenware and glass, and the silk, liquor,
and wool and woolen schedules are substantially the same
as in the tariff of 1890, the duties on fruit having been in-
creased. The manufactured lumber, which was put on the
free list by the tariff of 1894, has been transferred to the
dutiable list as an act of justice to this large industry and
in the interest of revenue, with little change in duties except
on white pine, which has been restored to the duty of 1883.

"The duty on wrapper tobacco has been restored to the
rate of 1890 and the rate on filler tobacco increased, partly
for purposes of revenue and partly to better equalize the
duties on wrappers and fillers. The general policy pursued
has been to raise the duties on luxuries.

"While the duties on more than three-fourths of the
articles on the dutiable list are lower than those provided in
the act of 1890, yet converted into the delusive terms of ad

49

valorem they will in many cases appear to be higher, not-
withstanding the actual rates are less.

"Specific Duties.

"The aim has been to make the duties specific, or at least
partly specific, wherever practicable, not only to protect the
revenue against undervaluation frauds, but also to give our
own industries the protection carried on the face of the tariff,
and in carrying out this policy we have had the sympathy
and aid of reputable importers. This has been done for the
most part in the chemical, glass, iron and steel, lumber,
sugar, tobacco, agricultural, liquor, cotton, flax and jute,
woolen, silk, paper, and sundries schedules — in the silk for
the first time, notwithstanding ex-Secretaries Fairchild and
Manning most earnestly recommended this some years ago.

"Transfer of Articles from Free List.

"Several articles, like argols, opium, asphaltum, chicory
root, feathers and downs, paintings and statuary, Chinese floor
matting, lemon juice, mineral waters, hatters' plush, straw
ornaments, sago flour, etc., have been transferred from the
free to the dutiable list for revenue purposes, while such arti-
cles as wool, lumber, burlaps, bags, and salt have been re-
stored to the dutiable list, from which they should never
have been removed.

"Several paragraphs in the free list, originally inserted for
some commendable object when the revenue was abundant,
have been productive of such wholesale abuses — abuses
which it has been found impossible to avoid in administra-
tion under decisions of the Board of Appraisers or the
courts — that on recommendation of customs officials they
have been removed entirely from the free list in order to
protect the revenue against wholesale evasions.

"These comprise the paragraphs admitting free of duty
books that have been printed more than twenty years and
i

50

books for scientific research — under which books have been
printed with a special date to fit the law, and scientific books
have been made to cover an indefinite range; books printed
in foreign languages — of which we publish an abundance;
silk bolting cloths, under which a great variety of silk goods
have successfully sought free admission; the paragraph rela-
tive to books for libraries, which has proved to be wonder-
fully elastic; and 'antiquities,' under which establishments
have been set up in Europe to make furniture, drapery, and
other luxuries so as to imitate old articles that could be
successfully brought in free of duty. A new provision has
been incorporated in reference to the free admission of wear-
ing apparel and personal effects of tourists, which it is
thought will put a stop to the serious abuses which have ex-
isted, and at the same time increase the revenue."

When the bill passed the House he was urged by Vice-
President Hobart and Senators Allison and Aldrich and
others to remain in Washington and assist the Subcommittee
of the Senate Finance Committee in reviewing the bill and in
making such amendments as they believed necessary. He
therefore remained as requested, and was in conference day
and night with the Republican members of the Finance Com-
mittee, in their room at the Capitol, and at the Hotel Arling-
ton (where they met at night) , and on the floor of the Senate,
where his advice would be immediately available.

Owing to the very narrow Republican majority in the
Senate at this time (due to the split in the Republican ranks
on* the "Silver question" and the new populist Senators), it
at one time looked as though it might prove impossible to
pass any tariff bill, and in order to do so it was found neces-
sary to further increase the rates of duties on many articles,
particularly on sugar, raw wool, woolen goods, etc., again
proving how difficult it has always been to properly readjust
the woolen schedule.

While the bill was in conference, Senator Allison and Mr.
Dingley constantly sought Colonel Tichenor's advice regard-

51

ing many disputed points. Owing to the exceedingly diverg-
ent views of certain interests regarding some of the features
of the new classifications and specific rates which had been
adopted for the first time in the silk schedule, an exceedingly
warm debate thereon took place on July 15 between Vice-
President Hobart and Mr. Dingley, in the Vice-President's
room at the Capitol, where it was finally agreed to accept such
revised schedule as Colonel Tichenor might prepare, and
which upon completion was adopted in conference the follow-
ing day, July 16th.

The day after the enactment of the Dingley Bill, Senator
Allison wrote to Colonel Tichenor as follows:

Senate Chamber,
Washington, D. C, July 25, 1897.
My dear Colonel Tichenor: —

I will see that all your letters, papers and recommendations
are segregated and preserved in my Committee Room on Ap-
propriations, and will at some time return them to you if you
desire.

I cannot refrain from expressing our deep obligation to
you for your valuable assistance, and I especially want to
speak for myself in this regard.
Sincerely yours,

William B. Allison.

It clearly appears that the general plan of tariff revision
proposed by Colonel Tichenor was adopted, as were also
many of his new classifications of specific instead of ad valo-
rem rates, and that most of the duties were fixed at points
between those of the tariff of 1890 (McKinley) and the rates
of the Wilson-Gorman Bill. In other instances, however, the
rates were fixed at higher points than was deemed necessary
by those charged with framing the Dingley Bill, principally
through the demands from large and influential interests and
also as a result of the compromises usual in maturing and
passing all tariff measures.

52

Believing that most of the McKinley rates should be re-
duced, Colonel Tichenor invariably recommended that the
rate of 60 per cent ad valorem, wherever found in the Mc-
Kinley Bill, should be reduced to 50 per cent in the Dingley
tariff, as in his opinion quite as much, if not more, revenues
would result from such a change. His recommendation to
this effect referred particularly to the duties upon laces, em-
broideries, trimmings, jewelry, etc. It was decided, however,
to re-enact the McKinley 60 per cent rate on most of these
articles, in order to permit sufficient margin or leeway to
lower these rates in accordance with the reciprocity feature of
section 4 of the Dingley Bill, permitting the President, with
the consent of the Senate, to reduce the duties 20 per cent
through reciprocity treaties. It will be readily seen that in
order to allow a reduction of 20 per cent on the rates upon
such articles, particularly laces, embroideries, trimmings,
gloves, etc., largely made by the foreign nations with which
trade treaties were contemplated, duties thereon had to be
fixed about 20 per cent higher than under ordinary condi-
tions. During a debate in the Senate in 1903, upon the pro-
posed treaty with France, which the President at that time
desired to effect under section 4 of the Dingley Bill, the state-
ment was made by Senator J. P. Dolliver (who as a member
of the Committee on Ways and Means participated in the
framing of the Dingley Bill) that many of the rates of duty
were made higher than necessary at that time with the ex-
press purpose of lowering them through reciprocity treaties.

It will also be recalled that during the hearings before the
Ways and Means Committee many domestic manufacturers
claimed they could not successfully compete against impor-
tations of such goods as they manufactured here unless the
duties were fixed considerably above the points really needed
for protection, owing to the "enormous undervaluation" of
the imported goods. In many instances the rates were ac-
cordingly made considerably higher than necessary to cover
the amount of undervaluation claimed. The "enormous

53

undervaluations, " of which so much complaint is heard,
amounted in 1907, according to Government estimates, to
$174,000 on total dutiable imports of $773,448,833— an
amount almost too small to show the percentage. Providing
half this total dutiable amount is subject to specific duties,
the $174,000 "additional duties resulting from undervalua-
tions" based on imports of, say, one-half the total, or about
$386,724,400 subject to ad valorem duties, would have
amounted to the enormous figure of about .0004% per cent.

At the time of Colonel Tichenor's first investigation of
undervaluations, about three-fourths of our importations
were consigned to agents here of the foreign manufacturers,
and as many of the goods were claimed to be "made espe-
cially for the American market," and were not freely offered
for sale in the foreign markets, it was very difficult for our
appraising officers to ascertain the foreign "market value"
thereof. In his early reports, therefore (especially in that
of 1882), Colonel Tichenor recommended the adoption of
the "home-market value" in the United States as a proper
basis for ascertaining the dutiable value of such importations.

Owing to the great improvement in the administration of
our customs laws (particularly since the enactment of the
Customs Administrative Act of 1890), and because of far
better steamship service, and various other reasons, there has
been a large increase of imports of goods "actually pur-
chased" abroad and a corresponding decrease of importations
of "consigned goods." In the year 1906 only about 20 per
cent of the importations at the port of New York were of
"consigned" goods, and many of these were of articles sub-
ject to specific duties or free of duty, and consequently not
undervalued. It will be readily seen, therefore, that the
percentage of "consigned goods" which might be under-
valued is at present very small in comparison with the large
importations of such character in the earlier days, and conse-
quently there appears to be little need at present to make
our "home market values" the basis for appraisement.
Many European firms prefer for various reasons to consign

54

their goods to their agents, bankers, or commission houses,
and if correctly invoiced at the "market value" in the coun-
try of production, at the prices paid for similar goods, it
would be manifestly unjust to appraise such consignments
on the basis of the "home market" here and appraise similar
goods "actually purchased" upon the basis of the "foreign
market" value. The adoption of two bases for finding the
dutiable value of similar goods imported from the same
markets at the same time, and invoiced at the same prices,
would be manifestly unfair, and entirely out of harmony
with the basic principle of uniform taxation.

In 1897 Colonel Tichenor recommended that section 11
of the Customs Administrative Act be amended so as to per-
mit appraising officers to take into consideration the "home-
market value in the United States" as a means of determin-
ing the dutiable value of merchandise which was not freely
offered for sale in the country of origin, and when the for-
eign market value was not ascertainable. This recommenda-
tion was adopted and incorporated into the Dinglcy "Bill.
It will be seen that this method of appraising imported mer-
chandise is permissive instead of mandatory, and operates
fairly and equally to all, whether such goods are "con-
signed" or "purchased."

While in his earlier work he found what he termed "a
regular carnival of fraud" existing in the way of under-
valuations of imported articles of every description, he be-
lieved in his last years that such frauds upon the revenue
had been reduced very materially, if not to a minimum,
through the adoption of many of his recommendations, in-
cluding the substitution of specific duties in place of ad
valorem in many of the tariff classifications ; by improve-
ment in the personnel of the appraiser's department under
better civil-service regulations, and because of the clearer and
better customs administrative laws, for the enactment of
which he had continuously worked and for the enforcement
of which he had conscientiously labored as Assistant Secre-

55

tary of the Treasury and President of the Board of General
Appraisers.

As further proof of the great falling off of undervalua-
tions generally in later years, it is proper to herewith call
attention to the fact that Colonel Tichenor, in a report to
the Secretary of the Treasury in 1886 (reproduced in the
Secretary's Annual Report to Congress of that year) , showed
that the /'additions to invoice values" at the port of New
York alone for 1885 amounted to $2,121,617, and for 1886
to $3,352,037, whereas, according to the statement of "Im-
ports and Duties," lately compiled for the Ways and Means
Committee of the House of Representatives, the "additional
duties on articles undervalued" in the year 1898 (the year
following the enactment of the Dingley Bill) amounted to
but $174,362 on total dutiable importations of $295,619,695;
and in 1907 to only $173,975 on total dutiable importations
of $773,448,833, thus indicating a constant decline in under-
valuations.

Reviewing Colonel Tichenor's career and work generally
as outlined herein, it will be seen that although a Repub-
lican in politics and a firm believer in the theory of pro-
tection, he never belonged to the extreme or ultra-pro-
tectionist school. It will be recalled that he expressed his
views upon the subject in his report of 1882 as follows:

"I am an ardent believer in the theory of protection ; but
protection ceases to be protection when carried to the extent
of pampering an industry into slothfulness and beyond the
whip and spur of competition."

His consistent adherence to this belief is abundantly
shown by his letters and recommendations upon the sub-
ject, and by analyses of the schedules framed by him for
Randall, Allison, and Dingley, and further from the fact
that, notwithstanding his admiration and friendship for
Major McKinley, he did not hesitate to advise against and
most urgently oppose the extremely high protective or pro-
hibitive duties adopted in the tariff of 1890. In his opin-

56

ion, Senators Allison and Aldrich and Congressman Ding-
ley were by far the best informed of any of our leaders in
Congress upon the tariff question. Mr. Dingley had given
the subject most careful study for many years, and Senators
Allison and Aldrich, from their wide experience in the re-
visions of the customs laws and later tariffs, acquired great
practical knowledge of these subjects.

Eegarded by many as the greatest authority in the coun-
try upon tariff and customs matters, it will be seen that
Colonel Tichenor's advice and assistance was sought by the
leaders of both political parties upon these questions, for
from long study of the tariffs of this and other nations, and
wide and practical experience in administering tariff and
customs laws, he had reached a point where he could view
the subject without any political bias. It was conceded by
all who knew him that his recommendations were based
solely upon what he deemed best for the welfare of the
entire country.

All who came into contact with Colonel Tichenor recog-
nized him as a man of peculiarly powerful personality and
strong individuality. An indomitable will and energy (not-
withstanding his incurable illness) gave him in full measure
the courage of his convictions and made him ever ready to
fight for what he believed was right. With these convic-
tions and an experience greater than that of any other one
man of his time in framing and enforcing our tariff and
customs laws, he often became disgusted with the selfish and
unreasonable demands from various interests, particularly
with those pirates in politics, who, owing to political in-
fluence, and belief in the old rule of "to the victor belong
the spoils," demanded that utterly unwarranted and pro-
hibitive duties be applied to imported articles entering into
competition with those goods they were engaged in manu-
facturing. Such demands he never hesitated to oppose, re-
gardless of the political power behind them. It is therefore

57

hardly necessary to state that he made many enemies, but
his many friends and warm admirers who feel and mourn
his loss happily far outnumber all such foes.

Tariff Commission.

As Colonel Tichenor was for so many years practically the
only expert upon whom the leaders in Congress relied for
information and assistance in the drafting of these various
tariff bills, he became thoroughly convinced of the impor-
tance of creating a Tariff Commission or Board of Customs
and Tariff Experts, to investigate costs of production, wageSj
etc., abroad and at home, and to obtain such other informa-
tion as might prove necessary for the more scientific read-
justment of our tariff schedules in the future.

In 1888 it will be seen that Senator Allison and the othei
Republicans of the Senate Finance Committee agreed with
him in this respect, and provision was accordingly made in
sections 55, 56, 57, 58, and 59 of the Allison Bill of October
3, 1888, for the appointment of such a Tariff Commission.

In the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury of
1889, as previously shown, he suggested that "reports at
stated periods, and by expert officers specially designated for
that purpose, upon the operation of the tariff laws and indi-
cating needed changes, would prove valuable.''

From his further experience and study of the tariff, and
as President of the Board of General Appraisers, he came to
the belief that the members of the Board of General Ap-
praisers, owing to the nature of their work of interpreting
the tariff laws and investigating or reappraising values of
imported merchandise, etc., were particularly well fitted to
act as tariff experts in obtaining necessary data, etc., and
with this idea in mind, and while working on the Dingley
Bill in Washington in 1897, he prepared for Senator
Spooner certain sections to be introduced in the Senate in-
corporating his ideas of creating a tariff commission of ex-
pert customs officials, and providing that the Secretary of

58

the Treasury should designate three members of the Board
of General Appraisers to act in such capacity, etc. These
new sections providing for such a commission of experts
were accordingly introduced in the Senate July 5, 1897, by
Senator Spooner, and would probably have been adopted
had it not been for the opposition of several Democratic
Senators who wished to be heard on the subject, and as all
concerned were anxious that nothing should be added to the
bill at that late day which would delay its passage in the
Senate, it was deemed advisable to withdraw the amend-
ment, which was done.

In introducing this amendment, Senator Spooner ex-
pressed his own and also Colonel Tichenor's views upon the
subject as follows:

"We cannot leave it to any other body than Congress to
prepare and enact tariff laws. It is a delicate and a difficult
duty. We can, however, and should secure all possible infor-
mation which could aid in wise legislation. The people, I
think, are tired and have a right to be tired of frequent
general revisions of the tariff. It will be a happy thing, I
think, if the day will come when there shall be, based upon
intelligent information, a gradual revision of the tariff, tak-
ing up here a schedule and there a schedule, producing some
uncertainty, of course, as to the particular business covered
by that schedule, but saving the whole business of the coun-
try from that uncertainty which amounts almost to paralysis,
occasioned by the too frequent revisions of all the schedules
of the tariff law."

Speaking further, Mr. Spooner said:

"How many are there in the Senate so fully advised of the
details, with accurate information, essential to proper judg-
ment, that they can intelligently debate the various items
of this Dingley Bill. I have read with the utmost care the
hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means of the
House of Representatives. These hearings are utterly un-

59

satisfactory. There is no careful cross-examination, but the
statements are mainly the statements of interested parties.
. . . I have felt that while Congress is not in session it
would be a benefit if we could have a careful investigation
of separate schedules by officials of the Government, men of
experience belonging to each political party not permitted
to engage in any other business, to go through this great
bill, or law as it will be if it shall be passed, to analyze it,
to point out the inconsistencies and defects in it, and to re-
port to the Secretary of the Treasury the result of their in-
vestigation."

Honorable James S. Clarkson, for many years a promi-
nent leader in the Republican party and at present United
States Surveyor of Customs at the Port of New York, in an
article on "The Life Work of Colonel Tichenor," published
in "The Register and Leader" of Des Moines, Iowa, August
3, 1902, soon after Colonel Tichenor's death, wrote in part
as follows:

"As Tichenor, in his intellectual stimulus and evolution,
was largely an Iowa product, it is fitting that an Iowa paper
should recall the great leaders of the Republican or Protec-
tion party to a remembrance of the great debt that they, the
party, and more than all the country itself, owe to him for
the unequaled service that he, with his great brain and
equally great patriotism and honesty, so quietly and yet so
completely rendered to the American people; for it was
Tichenor who gave, not only the long reach and the wide
grasp of commercial wisdom and patriotic intention that
made the McKinley and the Dingley bills prove so great a
boon as to put the United States at the front in the whole
wide business world, but Tichenor also who matured this
great practical wisdom into its vast detail, of schedule and
classification in enactment into law, and of system and cer-
tainty in the collection of the vast revenues that have come
in such flowing tides from the operations of the acts both to
the Government and the people.

60

"This may seem a broad assertion to the great mass of
the people, who never know in the first instance much of
the actual facts of the inside of great legislation; but to
all those who are currently informed it is not only the
truth, but a truth fully capable of being proved; for to
all those who have been near to Congress for fifteen years,
and especially to those who have been close to the com-
mittees of Congress that framed the famous tariff bills of
the generation just now closing its stewardship, Colonel
Tichenor is known to have been not only the main coun-
selor and guide of these congressional committees and the
main architect of the great tariff acts, both in matter and
in spirit, as finally enacted by Congress, but also equally the
main counselor of the President, of the Secretary of the
Treasury, and of the whole vast customs service under them
in the successful enforcement of the acts and in the faithful
collection of the billions of dollars of revenue collected under
their provisions.

"In 1886-88 the Republican leaders, under the inspiration
of the great spirit of Blaine, who, although then out of office,
had so intrepidly called the people forward to overthrow the
free-trade administration of President Cleveland, and under
the necessity of the Republican party to prepare a tariff bill
on which to carry the country in 1888, were all actively en-
gaged in trying to devise the legislation that would satisfy
the country and bring the Republican party back to power.
In 1887-88 Colonel Tichenor prepared for Senator Allison
and the Senate Finance Committee, under Allison's sugges-
tions, what was first known as the Allison Tariff (and finally
as the McKinley Bill) , as the Senate substitute for the Mills
Bill. Thus the Allison Bill and the Mills Bill were offi-
cially placed in Tichenor's hands for final examination as
to the actual merits of each before a bill was finally sub-
mitted to Congress. The Allison Bill, as Allison in some
degree and Tichenor in a larger degree first drew it, as modi-
fied by Tichenor after he had compared it with the Mills

61

Bill, was finally agreed upon as the bill of the Republican
party, and finally became known in 1890 as the McKinley
Bill, taking his name instead of Allison's from the fact of
McKinley then being Chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee for the House, or the committee charged with
preparing and maturing such a measure and with presenting
and defending it in the House. A comparison of that tariff
bill, as finally presented in the House by the McKinley or
Ways and Means Committee, with the original Allison Bill,
as drawn and matured by Allison and Tichenor, and in fact
as to detail mainly by Tichenor, and with the McKinley Bill
as enacted into law, will show to any one who cares to exam-
ine into it that the two bills vary but slightly, and only in
the fact that the Allison or original measure was more con-
servative in the rates of duty. Thus in fact Tichenor pre-
pared in 1887-88 the bill that was passed in 1890 as the Mc-
Kinley Bill and that made Major McKinley President.
Tichenor, knowing that whoever got the credit for the pro-
tection act that the Republican Congress was sure to pass,
had coveted the credit for his long-time personal friend,
Senator Allison, and therefore drew the bill as a labor of love
in the hope and belief that it would make Allison President.
"The meed of McKinley, the praise of Dingley, the hom-
age to Wilson, will in a few years have all faded away with
the great following that they had; and the candid histo-
rian, seeking for the truth and finding it, will give to the
name of Tichenor its proper place as the author of the great
public acts that gave to the United States from 1890 to 1900
such a splendor of prosperity and such a world-wide power
based on superiority of statecraft and commercial thrift, as
the people of no other nation have ever known. He had the
greatness of mind to create legislation of the widest and most
practical statesmanship, and the greatness in genius of or-
ganization to enforce such legislation to the benefit of his
Government and the enrichment of its people.

62

"In a very carnival of wealth and a fairy -like creation
of great fortunes, that sprung into sudden being in every
State and in nearly every neighborhood, with thousands of
men passing one day in poverty and obscurity, and cele-
brating the next as millionaires and as great figures in
political or commercial life, this man whose genius largely
gave to all these their fortune, and to American labor con-
stant employment and comfortable incomes, himself neither
shared in nor desired any of it at all. His family are con-
tent as it is, and prouder of him for it being so, while the
great mass of the American people, as they shall come to
know that this great work was his own and not of the other
men who were given fame and power by simply having their
names attached to the acts that he created, will in the end
give to him and his name that sufficient honor and praise
for which alone he sought. The high example that he set
in the public service will long remain to excite and inspire
the public servants of the future to great deeds from honest
motives and to great lives from honest purpose, and the Re-
public will bear in its destiny much of good for its future
from the great and noble and modest and unselfish work of
George Tichenor."

The following letters show the esteem in which Colonel
Tichenor was held by some of the leading men of the nation
who knew him best and with whom his relations had been
very close and friendly for many years:

Washington, D. C, July 20, 1890.
My dear Mr. Tichenor: —

In transmitting the formal acceptance of your resignation
of the office of Assistant Secretary, which you have so ably
and worthily filled, I beg to assure you that I consent to
your retirement with great reluctance. Nothing could in-
duce me to sever the extremely pleasant official relations ex-
isting between us but the fact that you are about to enter

63

upon duties equally important and I trust more profitable
and agreeable than those you have resigned.

Permit me in all sincerity to say that I cannot adequately
express my appreciation of the ability and zeal with which
you have invariably discharged every duty, nor my admira-
tion for the heroic loyalty which has sustained you in your
difficult and perplexing labors, performed under physical
conditions which would have compelled surrender by almost
any other man.

Your personal and official devotion have greatly lightened
my own labors and placed me under lasting obligation, and
your zeal and efficiency have contributed very largely to
whatever measure of success may be ascribed to the present
administration of this department.

I am sure the country will have cause for gratitude to the
President for your promotion, and I trust you may find your
new duties as agreeable to yourself as your past labors have
been profitable to the Government.

Hoping that prosperity and happiness may attend you
through life, I remain, as ever,
Sincerely your friend,

William Windom.

This letter was written soon after Colonel Tichenor's
resignation as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury on pro-
motion to General Appraisership.

Williamstown, Mass., Sept. 28, 1890.
My dear Mr. Tichenor: —

I am pained to learn through letters from Mr. Hendley
that you are still suffering from the attacks of your old
enemy. My hope was that when you laid aside the burdens
of Treasury work you would rapidly improve in health. I
do not wish you to write me when the effort to do so will
cause you one additional pain, but if Mrs. Tichenor or your
son will keep me advised of your condition I shall be greatly

64

obliged. I need not assure you, my dear friend, that no one
outside of your own family feels a keener interest in you
than I do. Our association in the department was much
closer than usual official relations, and I shall always think
of you more as a brother than as merely a friend. I beg to
extend to you my warmest sympathy in your heroic struggle
with disease, and earnestly hope for your early and complete
recovery.

I have been absent from Washington about three weeks,
but the financial troubles and the incessant rains have
cheated me out of much of the benefit I anticipated from my
outing. I am now feeling pretty well and shall return to
my work next Tuesday or Wednesday.

My report will be a much lighter task this fall than it was
last year. The tariff and silver questions having been dis-
posed of for the present, my duties will be mainly formal.

With kind regards to Mrs. Tichenor and with best wishes
for yourself, I remain,

Your devoted friend,

William Windom.

U. S. Senate,
Washington, D. C, Dec. 22, 1900.
My dear Colonel Tichenor: —

Your letter would not have remained so long unanswered
but I have been away, owing to the illness of my motherland
have been very little in Washington.

I appreciate the cordial and friendly expressions your
letter contains, and I heartily reciprocate them. Ever since
I had the pleasure of knowing you well, during those hear-
ings on the Dingley Bill, I have looked upon you as the
ablest and most efficient officer which this Government had,
and I have ever since cherished for you a warm friendship.

Some of these days when I come over to New York, I
mean to hunt you up and have a good talk with you. I trust

65

you are not suffering as you used to and that life is more
pleasure than pain to you.

With sincere regards and best wishes and thanking you
again for your letter, I am,
Yours sincerely,

E. 0. Wolcott.

Senator Wolcott was one of the Republican members of
the Senate Finance Subcommittee at the time of the Dingley
tariff legislation.

U. S. Senate,
Washington, D. C, Jan. 8, 1901.
Dear Colonel: —

I have your favor of 10th ult., which came at a time when
it was impossible for me to catch up with my mail. I have
often thought about you and often asked about you. It was
a great compliment which was paid to you by the Chamber of
Commerce of Boston, and I know that the compliment was
well deserved. The fact is, I think everything you think and
everything you say deserves to be given to the world. I
have the highest possible opinion of your ability, as I have
of the loyalty of your friendship.

I hope that within the next two weeks I can have an hour
or so with you in New York. I trust the New Year will be
in every way a good year to you and yours.

With best wishes, always your friend,

John C. Spooner.

The compliment mentioned in the above letter was the
publication by the Boston Chamber of Commerce of a report
upon the administration of the customs laws of the United
States, prepared by Colonel Tichenor at the request of the
Secretary of the Treasury for use at the American Embassy
at Berlin.

5

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

Dubuque, Iowa, July 23, 1902.
Mr. Henry Dodge Tichenor,

Orange, N. J.
My dear Mr. Tichenor: —

I have read with deep regret and sorrow of the death of
your father. I feel that one of my oldest and most-valued
friends has passed away. He was a most valued friend in
the early part of my career, and rendered me great personal
service with an unselfishness that has characterized his whole
life. I know of no man in the public service who has really
been of more value to his country than has your father.
Having an intimate knowledge of the affairs relating to our
finances and great ability to analyze questions of great im-
portance presented to him for solution, he rendered this
great service with absolute uprightness of character.

Please make my affectionate regards to your mother and
every member of your family.
Very truly yours,

W. B. Allison.

1 Broadway, New York, August 7, 1902.
Henry Dodge Tichenor, Esq.,

125 Walnut Street, East Orange, N. J.
My dear Sir: —

On my return to the city I saw the accounts of the death
of your father, and extend my deepest sympathy to you and
the entire family in your great loss. He is not only a
loss to the family, but to the country, for since he has been
in civil life his services have been of unaccountable value to
the country, especially in the line of business he has followed
of late years. His great experience made him very valuable
to all who have drafted tariff bills, and I have heard them
all say that his great knowledge was of incalculable benefit.

67

But I desire to write more fully of his personal services with
me during the war. For over three years he was upon my
staff, and was confidential aide. No one ever served more
faithfully than your father did me. It is impossible to
speak of such services fully or in detail. It requires one who
has received such services to fully appreciate them, and I
want to assure you, and I think your father knew, that I ap-
preciated most fully his faithful and valuable service to me.
He has been a great sufferer, and has had the sympathy of
every one who knew him personally. It has always been a
great regret to me that I could not see more of him in civil
life, as my connection with him in the war had made me
very fond of him.

Please extend to the family my heart-felt sympathy, and
say to them that nobody except members of the family re-
grets his loss more fully than myself. I am sorry I was not
here at the time so I could attend his funeral.
Truly and cordially,

Grenville M. Dodge.

^ Of THE

UNIVERSITY

68

In thus publishing the views and work of Colonel Tichenor
on the tariff and customs administration, it has not been my
purpose to criticize or in any way detract from the reputa-
tion or work of any of the great tariff leaders of Congress
whom he assisted in framing various tariff bills. They all
had their own ideas and theories regarding the tariff ques-
tion generally, to which some of them had given considerable
study. It is well understood, however, that they did not
possess the great general experience and expert knowledge of
Colonel Tichenor, which were necessary to properly analyze
the numerous demands and suggestions regarding proposed
changes in the tariff schedules; neither did they have the
practical or expert knowledge, possessed by him in so great a
degree, regarding the many details needing most careful at-
tention to avoid as far as possible inconsistencies and incon-
gruities and confusing and conflicting classifications, which
are bound to occur in all tariffs, unless more time and expert
advice is given in readjustments of the tariff schedules.

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