11. State any proposition which you think that you can maintain about the relation between high or low wages and international competition. Maintain your proposition. 12. What do you say to the plan of so adjusting duties on imports as to equalize the "labor cost" of imported and domestic commodities, through the levy of duties which will just offset the higher wages paid by the American employer? 13. Is a high rate of money wages an obstacle to the successful conduct of industry in competition with countries where money wages are low? 14. What was the argument originally used as to the comparative wage levels here and abroad so far as the starting of certain industries in this country was concerned? Compare this argument with the current protectionist argument as to the relation between the tariff and the present general wage level in the United States. 15. What help should the law of wages give in explaining the present inequality as among the wage scales in Germany, France, England and the U. S.? 16. If it would pay us to admit goods free, may we be justified in taxing them to force concessions from the other country? 17. What conditions as to consumption and production at home and abroad would be most favorable to the shifting of an import duty on a manufactured article entirely to the consumer? 18. (a) A and B are two tropical islands inhabited by friendly peoples and producing the same commodities. The climate, soil and topography of A are such that all kinds of products can be produced there with less effort than they can be produced in B. Could there be any incentive for the people of A to trade with the people of B? (b) Debarring all feelings of hostility and of sentimental attachment to home, is there any reason why the people of B should not all emigrate to A? (c) Could B equalize conditions of production by enacting a protective tariff on the products of the two islands? (d) Suppose A were discovered after a strong civilization had grown up on B. Might conditions be such that A could with advantage to itself exact a protective tariff? CHAPTER 15 AMERICAN TARIFF HISTORY REFERENCES. *_Blakey, R. G._, The new revenue act. A. E. Rev., 6: 837-850. 1916. _Curtis, J. F._, The administrative provisions of the revenue act of 1913. Q. J. E., 28: 31-45. 1913-1914. _Hoffmann, I. N._, Customs administration under the 1913 tariff act. J. P. E., 22: 845-871. 1914. _McKinley, Wm._, History of tariff legislation, 1812-1896. 1896. _Sumner, W. G._, History of protection in the United States. 1877. _Taussig, F. W._, How tariffs should not be made. A. E. Rev., 1: 20-32. 1911. _Taussig, F. W._, Tariff History of the United States. 6th ed., 1914.