ABSTRACT
The bulk of all indirect taxes were collected from intoxicating liquors and tobacco. Duties on coffee, cocoa, dried fruits, certain ethers, playing cards, and a few other articles completed the tariff. Customs and excise duties were related so that as nearly as possible the dealers in the various commodities gained no advantage, nor suffered disadvantage because of the tariff. The tariff had to be dovetailed into the various schemes of war-time control over the nation's resources. The chaotic condition of foreign currencies, and the effort to recover reparations from Germany, led to still further breaches in the former revenue tariff. As war-time control over production relaxed, measures had to be taken to give the freed industries breathing space before meeting foreign competition. A most important landmark in the tariff history of the country occurred in 1919. Preferential duties on Empire produce, which had long been a feature of the tariff policy of some Empire countries, were introduced.
