French tariff of 1881

[1][2] The Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, Marie Camille Alfred, vicomte de Meaux [Wikidata], relied on the ministry's secretary, Jules Ozenne, and the general director of customs, Léon Amé, to help formulate the government's tariff policy.

[7] In March 1876 Meaux ordered the Conseil supérieur du commerce to draft a bill that would determine tariff levels.

[17] On 1 May 1879 the protectionists held a congress (chaired by Augustin Pouyer-Quertier) in the Grand Hotel in Paris, with over 100 delegates representing the chambers of commerce, senators, deputies and officers of the Association de l'industrie française.

[20] In the Chamber the debate on the bill started on 30 January 1880, with lobbyists from both sides congregating in Paris to influence the vote.

[22] In the voting on the clauses of the bill in the Chamber, the free traders achieved their main goal in defeating the higher tariffs for industrial goods favoured by the commission.

The main difference, however, reflected a renewed attempt at industrial-agricultural co-operation: this time agriculture received higher rates of protection than before.

[25] In the end, industry failed to receive the protection it campaigned for: the general tariff for manufacturers was raised by 24 per cent.