TARIFF, a list or table of goods with the duties or customs to which they are liable, either on exportation or importa tion; a list or table of duties or customs to be paid on goods imported or exported, whether such duties are imposed by the government of a country or are agreed on between the governments of two countries having commerce with each other. The scale of duties depends on the supply and demand of goods, the in terests and wants of the community, etc., and is therefore constantly changing.
The tariff legislation of the United States has been constantly fluctuating, and has grown yearly in importance as a question of foreign policy. The most noted tariff bill ever passed by Congress was that taking its name from the theti chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, the late President McKinley. This tariff imposed high duties on im ports, some specific and others ad va lorem. It was repealed in 1894 by the passage of the Wilson bill, which became a law by the refusal of President Cleve land to sign or veto it. On the tariff
question the nation has generally been pretty evenly divided, or with but a slight preponderance in favor of a high protective duty. Of former tariff mea sures that proposed in 1833 by Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and known as the compromise tariff, occupies the most prominent place in American history. Though Great Britain is now regarded as a free-trade country, yet on her tariff are listed 19 articles of import, from which she derives an average of about 20 per cent. of her total revenue. The British tariff is based not on an ad va lorem tax, but depends entirely on a specific import, in some cases modified by a range of price between the highest and lowest figures, which it sets for an article. Thus for spirits worth a certain amount per gallon, the tax is so much per barrel, while for spirits of the next higher grade (according to price per gal lon) a higher duty per barrel is collected.