ABSTRACT
No man understood better than the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Walker, that to assure reasonable prospects of success to any new and untried measure of policy, its supporters were obliged to furnish some reasons - at least plausible - upon which its defense could be rested. He was too wise not to know that it was necessary to go to the bottom of the question, so as to upturn, if possible, the foundation upon which the protective system had rested from the beginning of the Government. In the pursuit of these general ideas, Mr. Walker labored to demonstrate that the restrictions to which he refers - that is, tariff duties - have depressed agriculture by imposing burdens upon it. His conclusion as to the cheapness of our agricultural products, under the state of case made by him, is entirely accurate.
