_Indirect taxes._—The methods of indirect taxation by excise and custom duties have been familiar for ages. They are usually favored by politicians who dread the opposition of the people to taxation, because the collection is so incidental to ordinary expenditures as scarcely to be realized and never clearly measured. Few users of tobacco or strong drink have any distinct idea what portion of the cost represents the government revenue. Still less in drinking the cup of coffee, or sweetening it with sugar, does the person benefited weigh the tax he pays. It is doubtful if most of those who read this, actually know that sugar pays a tax, while tea and coffee do not, in our country. So convenient is this mode of taxation that it forms the favorite mode of discrimination in favor of productive industries. A tariff of 50 per cent upon imported cloth may actually increase the price of similar cloths manufactured at home by nearly that amount, thus fostering cloth-making by a premium on the product, while only a few discover the added burden of the tax. Yet these modes of taxation are usually costly to the people. Even if free from complications with either preventing vice or fostering industry, they require a separate body of officials from those provided for direct taxation. They involve investment by every wholesale and retail dealer of extra capital in taxes, upon which extra interest and profit is expected. The actual consumer bears this extra burden with only partial realization of its bulk. If duties are high, the temptation to smuggling and fraud becomes great, and a force of officials must be stretched around the borders of a country to prevent it. _Custom, or duty._—Duties are said to be either specific or ad valorem. Specific duties are a definite sum upon every pound, ton, yard or other unit of measure, applied to the article taxed. They are easily assessed, and misrepresentation or fraud is scarcely possible. Ad valorem duties are a certain rate per cent upon the invoice value of the goods. In these, frauds are abundant, and experts are required to prevent them. Specific duties are relatively heavy upon the consumers of goods of cheaper quality. A tax of 25 cents on each yard of cloth worth a dollar is five times as heavy as the same tax on cloth worth five dollars. Equalization is frequently attempted by combination of specific duties upon all goods of a certain character with ad valorem duties upon all such goods above a certain quality.