" The effect was so marked that the
Senate yielded, and the Tariff Bill, as finally enacted, gave the
President power to impose certain duties on sugar, molasses,
coffee, tea, and hides imported from any country imposing on
American goods duties, which, in the opinion of the President,
were "reciprocally unequal and unreasonable." This more equitable
result is to be ascribed wholly to Blaine's energetic and capable
leadership.
Pending the passage of the Tariff Bill, the Senate had been
wrestling with the trust problem which was making a mockery of a
favorite theory of the Republicans. They had held that tariff
protection benefited the consumer by the stimulus which it gave
to home production and by ensuring a supply of articles on as
cheap terms as American labor could afford. There were, however,
notorious facts showing that certain corporations had taken
advantage of the situation to impose high prices, especially upon
the American consumer. It was a campaign taunt that the tariff
held the people down while the trusts went through their pockets,
and to this charge the Republicans found it difficult to make a
satisfactory reply.
The existence of such economic injustice was continually urged in
support of popular demands for the control of corporations by the
Government. Though the Republican leaders were much averse to
providing such control, they found inaction so dangerous that on
January 14, 1890, Senator John Sherman reported from the Finance
Committee a vague but peremptory statute to make trade
competition compulsory.
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