Existing comment:
Tariffs and Trusts:
Intended to protect growing American industry from overseas competition, the tariffs were taxes on imported goods, but they also often kept prices artificially high for American consumers. The argument over the tariff was not new when Wilson entered office; in fact, it stretched back to the early days of Republic. Wilson and many Democrats wished to lower the rates and open up the markets, but they were opposed by most Republicans, as well as by lobbyists of the specific interests.
For example, growing and refining sugar was much cheaper in Cuba and Puerto Rico than in the United States, but many years of tariff protection on importation had created a powerful industry loath to accept competition. When the issues came to a vote in the Senate, the only Democrats to break with Wilson were the two representing Louisiana, the heart of American sugar production.
The efforts against the tariff were also part of the much larger fight, raging for decades, against the trusts. Formed by large companies buying up all their competition, these entities effectively controlled the prices in many facets of the economy, including oil, steel, and even the motion pictures. Progressives saw the tariffs as a key to the trusts' power and believed their elimination would lead to lower prices and more efficient business practices. The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 also included enforcement and relief statues [sic], meant to hold such businesses accountable. |