The presidential campaign of 1880 did not change the attitude of the two parties at all on the question. The Democrats repeated their “tariff for revenue only” plank, the Republicans their declaration that “duties levied for the purpose of revenue should discriminate so as to favor American labor.” It is doubtful if either party expected at the time of their conventions that the tariff would cut much of a figure in the campaign. Garfield, from whom if from any Republican of good party standing, sound counsel on the question should be expected, kept suspiciously silent. He knew as well as anybody, since Greeley had long ago told him, that the only objection the dominant faction of the party had against him was that he was not “sufficiently protective.” By instinct and training indeed Garfield was a free trader. He was a Williams College man, and there had come under the influence of Professor Perry’s vigorous and clear reasoning. He came out of college committed to Perry’s ideas. From the beginning of his public life finance interested him, and he lost no chance to familiarize himself with the subject. In 1862, being called to Washington from the field to sit in a courtmartial for some weeks, he spent all his leisure with Secretary Chase studying the Treasury Department. In 1863 he was sent to Congress, where he was put on the military committee, but two years later, at his own request, he was transferred to the Committee of Ways and Means. Here he attacked all problems with resolution and industry. He pored over Tooke’s “History of Prices,” mastered thoroughly the history of tariffs in England and the United States, and acquainted himself with all the intricacies of the schedules. From the first he set himself against the efforts of Stevens and Kelley to place protection before revenue as an object of the tariff. Commerce and the consumers were quite as important as manufacturers, he insisted. He took a middle ground in argument, which he summed up in 1866 as follows: “Duties should be so high that our manufacturers can fairly compete with the foreign product, but not so high as to enable them to drive out the foreign article, enjoy a monopoly of the trade, and regulate the price as they please. To this extent I am a protectionist. If our government pursues this line of policy steadily, we shall, year by year, approach more nearly to the basis of free trade, because we shall be more nearly able to compete with other nations on equal terms. I am for a protection which leads to ultimate free trade. I am for that free trade which can be achieved only through protection.” One excellent feature of Garfield’s tariff work was his willingness to consider all the facts. When the attack began in Congress on David Wells, one of the first manœuvres was an attempt to prevent the printing of his reports. Mr. Garfield protested forcibly: