any earlier year except 1897, the closing year of the Wilson tariff law, and 1892, 1893, and 1894, under the McKinley law, which admitted sugar free of duty.

Customs receipts during the eleven months' operation of the Payne tariff law were $302,822,161, exceeding those of the corresponding period of any earlier year except 1907, when the receipts for the corresponding months aggregated $307,053.381. Comparing the customs receipts for the period, as reported by the Treasury Department, $302,822,161, with the value of the imports as reported by the Bureau of Statistics by the collectors of customs, $1,445,366,500, the average ad valorem rate of duty on all imports is shown to have been 20.95 per cent, and on dutiable imports 41.19 per cent. A comparison of this ad valorem rate of duty with that of corresponding periods in each year back to 1890 shows a lower rate on total imports than in the corresponding period of any fiscal year except 1896, the second year of the Wilson law, when the ad valorem rate averaged 20.58 per cent, and 1894, the closing year of the McKinley law, when the ad valorem rate averaged 19.79 per cent.

On dutiable imports only the average ad valorem rate under the Payne law, 41.19 per cent, is lower than in the corresponding period of any earlier year since 1890, except 1896, under the Wilson law, when the average ad valorem was 39.33 per cent. Comparing the entire period of the operation of the Payne law with the entire period of the operation of the Dingley, Wilson and McKinley laws, respectively, the average ad valorem rate under the Payne law is less than under any of its three predecessors, that on total imports under the Payne law being, as already indicated, 20.95 per cent; that under the Dingley law for the entire period of its operation, 25.48 per cent; under the Wilson law, 21.92 per cent; and under the McKinley law, 22.12 per cent. On dutiable merchandise only the average ad valorem rate under the Payne law, 41.19 per cent, is also lower than that of any of its predecessors; that of the Dingley law having been for its entire period, 45.76 per cent; that of the Wilson law for its entire period, 42.82 per cent; and that of the McKinley law for its entire period, 47.10 per cent.

The percentage of merchandise entering free of duty under the entire operation of the Payne law thus far is larger than under the Dingley or Wilson law, but slightly less than under the McKinley law, which admitted sugar free of duty, the share entering free of duty under the Payne law during its entire operation having been 49.14 per cent; under the Dingley law during its entire period, 44.31 per cent; under the Wilson law during its entire period, 48.82 per cent; and under the McKinley law during its entire operation, 53.04 per cent.

The average monthly imports during the entire operation of the four laws, respectively, were: Payne law, $131,396,954; Dingley law, $85,069,525; Wilson law, $63,231,447; and McKinley law, $65,872,635. Of free merchandise the average monthly importation under the Payne law was $64,564,742; under the Dingley law, $37,697,751; under the Wilson law, $30,869,836; and under the McKinley law, $34,937,480.

Customs receipts under the Payne law during its entire operation thus far averaged $27,529,287 per month; under the Dingley law, $21,676,085 per month; under the Wilson law, $13,857,938 per month; and under the McKinley law, $14,571,240 per month.

I have signed the Payne tariff bil! because I believe it to be the result of a sincere effort on the part of the Republican party to make a downward revision.-President Taft.

The Republican party will continue to be a protectionist party and the American people a protectionist people. And that protection must apply to every section, every industry and every class.-James S. Sherman.

RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS OF THE

UNITED

STATES GOVERNMENT, FROM 1791 TO 1910-Continued.

I did not agree, nor did the Republican party agree, that we would reduce rates to such a point as to reduce prices by the introduction of foreign competition. That is what the free traders desire. That is what the revenue tariff reformers desire; but that is not what the Republican platform promised, and it is not what the Republican party wished to bring about. -President Taft.

Our free trade friends have told us for years and years that if we do not buy we cannot sell, but we have gone on doing both at a wondrously increasing rate, but selling just enough more than we buy to meet all foreign obligations and keep our gold as a bulwark of redemption. That has been the Republican method, and that is going to continue to be the Repub lican method.-James S. Sherman.

If a tariff law has on the whole worked well, and if business has prospered under it and is prospering, it may be better to endure some inconveniences and inequalities for a time than by making changes to risk causing disturbance and perhaps paralysis in the industries and business of the country.--ExPresident Roosevelt.

Protective.

Law.

Protective.

SURPLUS OR DEFICIT UNDER LOW AND PROTECTIVE TARIFFS, RESPECTIVELY, FROM 1790 TO 1910. This table shows the deficit or surplus of revenue in each year from 1790 to date, the years in which low tariff existed being stated in one column and those in which protective tariffs existed in another column. It will be noted that protective tariffs have produced a surplus of revenue in practically every year except those of war periods or some other extraordinary expenditures, such as the Panama canal. The deficit of the fiscal year 1908, while due in part to the heavy expenditures including the Panama canal, is chiefly the result of the unexpected falling off in importation of dutiable articles ( and therefore of customs receipts), the result of the finacial depression beginning with October, 1907. It will be noted that deficits occurred in 24 of the 57 years in which low tariffs were in existence, and in but 15 of the 60 years of protection, and that nearly all these were war years.

[Compiled from official statements of the Treasury Department.]