Quotation of the Day…

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… is from page 174 of an April 12th, 1913, article – “The New American Tariff” – in The Economist, as reprinted in volume 3 of Battles Over Free Trade (Mark Duckenfield, editor):

It must be remembered that since the McKinley Tariff [of 1890] the working classes and the lower middle classes of the United States have hardly known such luxuries as underclothing, or garments, or blankets, made of wool. Cotton and shoddy have been the principal raw materials of the so-called ‘Woollen Companies.’ The wealthy who travel have been in the habit of buying suits and dresses in England, and carrying them home duty free for personal use in their trunks. Consequently, if this new tariff passes there will not only be a general fall in prices, but also an introduction of many goods which for some time have been practically unknown to the shops of the United States.

DBx: The bill to which The Economist refers is the Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act, which did indeed pass and took effect in October 1913. It significantly lowered average tariff rates.