Mr. SPRAGUE. Mr. President, there are always men to be found in every assembly who, whatever is said or done, think it is said or done with reference to them and them only. In the discussion of the bill before the Senate I have been actuated by no motive personal to any, Senator here or to any other man. I should not have thought it. necessary to make this remark, or to excuse myselffrom that imputation, had not a suggestion of that kind been reported to me from gentlemen of the Senate. My opposition is to the measure and not to men. I believed from the start that it was pernicious in its effects, and in its consequences, and I determined from the 1st to oppose it ste by step in its progress before the Senate. T iIs have done. 1 have gained time for the consideration of the bill by the Senate. Idesired that its consideration should not be confined to half an hour, or to a quarter of an hour, or to the ten minutes leftin the morning hour, but that a longer time should be assigned to its discussion, and that when the vote was taken it should be taken unembarrassed by any other guestion under consideration which might be eenied by Senators of greater importance than this. I have endeavored to state some of the points upon which my objections to this bill are founded. I have not been able to state them all. They are as numerous as the words in the language. The whole system is wrong from the very foundation, in alits workin s and in all its results. I have been oblige, in my judgment, to confine my remarks somewhat to the tariff itself; and I have been charged with acting outside of the rule, or of acting outside of the necessity of the case, by in any way touching upon that great question. I believe that this question is one that is founded upon.that, that it materially affects it, and that if the policy that supports and sustains this measure was permitte to continue to its ultimate extent the tariff would go under, and this warehousing system would prevail. This is a free trade measurefrom the start; and it has been necessary for me to combat free trade ideas and free trade sentiments that have been suggested here and elsewhere during this session of the Sea ate. Senators desks are flooded every day with pamphlets upon free trade, filled with slurs, innuendoes, and insinuations against those who sustain the interests of American industry. Only on Saturday last I received a printed documentto that effect. You will find them everywhere. You find associations of men engaged in plotting the overthrow of American industry here and elsewhere today, as you have always found them. They are moths upon the surface of our industrial society. Sir, let me say to those who sneer and slur at a eat question and agreat interest, that they The ques i einI, selves, in some future time, may find that the slur and insiiiuation are not upon their side of the question. That which has been in the past the rejected material has become the chief corner stone; and it may be that the policy which I advocate, which 1 believe is for the real and true interests ofAmerican society, will prevail, will obtain strength for itself. founded upon its own merits, and will banish from American statutes all contrary provisions. When interrupted by the special order on Friday last, I was spea ring, as an illustration, of the family of Coats, who had the run of the American market in the manufacture of thread, kc, in reply to a statement that had been placed before the Senate that an American manufactory engaged in the same business had made a profit of 300%. I endeavored to show that this interest, which is condemned in this country on that account, wds established upon the heel of the prices that were adopted y the Coatses themselves that for a century they had had command of the American market, and that they had forced upprices. year by year, until they became so exorbitant that this American company was able to commence the business. although they were opposed by the capitalists of England, who endeavored to destroy the American interest that desired to devote its energies to that particular business. Up to the beginning of this war that interest could not prevail in this country, because this great monopoly had obtained complete power and control of the American market. but after this war commenced, like rats who flee from the sinking ship, they distrusted the American ability to sustain itself, and they withdrew from the market, and this American interest established itself. If the illustrations which are around us every day are not sufficient for us to determine that it is imolitic and destructive for Americans to permit their markets to be monopolized by anybody, whether it is by home manufacturers or foreign manufacturers, then it is impossibleto furnish more. To my judgment, there should be no monopoly of either class, foreign or American. There cannot be any by Americans, for the reason that American manufac turing is wide spread; it belongs to every State and is found in every community, and cannot be limited by town or by cities or by States; but it is a monopoly which belongs to the whole country. England exacts free trade of this country as the price of her good opinion of us; and John Bright, who sustains our theory of governmeut, advises us to pursue the policy of ree trade as the very acme of our materia and economical system. Sir, you might as well tie the hands and limbs of a man and throw him in the water and then ask him to swim, as to ask this country to pursue this system of free trade, bound hand and foot, commercially, financially, nqd materially. English capitalists have possession to a certain extent of all our railroads. They have to a certain extent the command of the financial affairs of our banks. They have the command of every thing in this country upon which the industry of Americans is founded; and we are asked with that pressure upon us, to produce articles cheaply so that we can compete with her in the markets of the world! Take, for instance , the%ages now paid and which have been aid by our railroads. Those ercentnges go into the hands of foreigners. hey have been obtained by the high rates of freight upon all articles of American production. They have aided to enchance those prices, and have in consequence compelled us to find a home market because wecould not comete in a foreign one. Look at the wages paid) to the labor in man in France, 36 dollars a year, on his expenses of living 21 dollars, whereas the wages of the laboring man in this country would be from $300 to $500 perannu m, and the expense of.living from $400 to $400 We cannot compete with these diiiadvanmel"?s against us; and these disadvantages have not grown out of anything that we can WWW" but we are bound hand and foot, bound financially, bound materially, bound in every form and in ever way to wevent us from removing the den lock which has been fOr the last 50 years, and which still continues, upon our material, commercial, and manufacturing industry. Look at the interest whigh the manufacturer or the trader in this country pays. As a General thing it is about 10%. The rate of interest abroad.is 3%. The interest upon the cost of every product that is consumed, thatis removed, that is transported, upon which we trade, is 3 times as much in this country as it is in England. How can we carry out the principles of free trade upon that system? What has caused this difference in interest? Why is it that we have not as much capital in this country as they have in England or France or Germany? The reason is plain and well understood. Our system has carried away all our securities both national and State, and has brought back goods that we have connamed and that we have nothing to show for. It has been said that the inflation of our cur.rency has caused prices to advance. This is a part of the war upon the industry of the people that is now aplied to the currency of the country and to the lianking interest of the country. I contend that the increase of prices is due to demand and supply and not to any in flationof the currency. The currency is the slave of prices, and not rices the slave of the currency. I contend that the system now being pursued at the Treasury Dept in reducing the price of gold and restricting the amount of currency has a tendency and in effect restricts trade, reduces capital, increases interest, and affects injuriously every branch of American industry; and Iwill explain it. In former times, an adventure of $5,000 would be paid in a note of 60 or 90 days, 4 months, 6 months, 8 months, or 12 months, in accordance with the times, in accordance with the condition of the trade and industry of the country. Today that $5,000 is paid for in greenbacks. In one case, an individual was under obligation for the note; that note was in used in trade in the purchasing of an artic e of trade, and the individual who received it became security for it, and he was indebted to the same amount, and the indebtedness before the amount was paid would be piled up in accordance with the number of individuals who had used this note in the adventure they had en ged in. If ten men had been engaged in itt, ere would be an indebtedness of $60,000. As the case is now, with plenty of currency, there is no indebt edness, and the $50,000 is paid for when it becomes due in $5,000. A decrease in the currency carries us backto the old system of credits for 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. An increase of the currency places everything upon a cash basis, lessens the de mand for money because there is more of it, and in the end enables us to compete with foreigners upon the same basis, upon the basis of easy money markets, which its e blood that carries on the trading system of the world. The bill before the Senate, Mr. President, has for its object the extension of the time within which merchandise may be withdrawn from the bonded warehouses for consumption, and if they are not withdrawn after a certain time 10%. additional duties are to be levied and assessed upon them. I desire to read for the information of the Senate a section of the law approved July 4, 1862, on this subject, in these words: “That the the public wandluggii hhg uiiliengexuienliliifuiiiii such regulations as the SecyTreasury shall prescribeto the vessels of warof any nation in ports of the U.S. which may reciprocate such pflVllEIBtoWlfd the vessels of warof the U.S. in its ports. Sir, while the country was engaged in a war for its life; while the people were engaged in a war for the establishment of the principles of a free Government and of.popular liberty; while they were engaged in removing the mo nopoly that slavery had fastened upon the in sui dustry and political system of the country; while the foreign allies of the rebels were on the brink of acknowledging the independence of the southern confederacy; and while the capitals of London and Paris swarmed with traitors who were negotiating arran ements to bring about that recognition; whi e all this was being carried on there was engrafted upon your statute book a provision to enable these same Powers to obtain their supplies in this country easier and cheaperthan before. If there is anythingthat would make me oppose the further extension of the privileges demanded by the movers of this proposition, it is that while the country was engaged in the great work which they have successfully accomplished there should be found within the country elements that work to strengthen the hands of our outside enemies; for the benefit ofwhom? Of the few engaged in endeavorin to carry into effect the ideas of the hill which is before you. During the last war with GreatBritain there were individuals upon LongIsland and the main land who furnished fresh meat and provisions to the enemy then blockading our ports, upon the excuse that unless they were furnished they would be taken by the enemy. Perhaps that might have been a fact. The excuse that they gave, in my opinion, was far better and far wiser than the one that is given if on study the section of the act approved Jufy 14, 1862, to which I have referre. I have been alarmed while sitting quietly in my seat in the Senate to witness propositions coming from this same quarter and presented by honorable Senators as petitions to this senate, and among them my honorable friendfrom Illinois [Mr. IRUMBULL] has been particularly singled out as the medium through whom these communications should be presented. I have been surprised that they should select for that purpose the representative of the State of Illinois. The market for the products of Illinois is found in the East. Illinois supplies nearly 1/2 the population of my own State, the products of the soil of Illinois coming directly to be consumed by the inhabitants of RhdIsland. If the policy of the communications he resents to the Senate is to prevail, the marfret that he now finds for the products of Illinois in the State of RhdIsland must of necessity cease. I have endeavored to trace out as far as I could who are the supporters of this measure. It is well known who are those who support it strenuously in Congress. But, sir, I have endeavored, as far as I could with the limited time and limited means at my command, to inform myself that I might inform the Senate as to what class Of men and what class of interests have forced this measure from the time of its inception until the present moment upon the attention of the legisation of the country. I have come to the conclusion that it comes from a society of men organized in the city of NewYork, from the Chamber of Commerce of NewYork, whose adviceingrafted upon you a system of the character of that which is before the Senate. England had her N orths, her Hutchinsons, and her Barnards, whose policy was persisted in and sustained by the then parliament of England, and lost the Government of England the then colonies of America. few men at the South brought on the rebellion and succeeded in prosecuting a destructive war of 4 years to sustain slavery. When any great mischief is accomplished there are always a few men who are at tafoundation ofit, who unite the people, and the result is, that instead of they being alone injured by the consequences of their act, their country and its interests are destroyed by their means. I do not know but it may be for the interest of legislation and of the country that it should receive its policy from the Chamber of commerce of the city of NewYork; but, sir, if we are to be guided by any of the transactions of that city, if we are to take as our guide the policy that they would have us carry into ef ect we must look to see how far we maybe ded by the examples which they have furnished us as to such proceedings. The city of NewYork today, as I understand, in its legislation, in its common council, and in its board of aldermen, is controlled by the Legislature of the State of NewYork. The government of the State of NewYork furnishes the city of NewYork its olice, its health commissioners and is every ray restraining, regulating, an controlling the measures of that great city. The people of the country are not willing, asI understand, to take the polities of the city of NewYork as their guide for the government. of this country. It has been within my experience that when the financial system of that great city prevailed the policy adepted by those who controlled that system affected the commerce and trade of the whole country, It was in their power to produce panics, to produce an easy or a tight money market, in fact to regulate and control the financial concerns of the whole country. They held this power at the beginning of the war. If no other gain has been obtained in the past 4 years, inmy judgment, the emancipation of the trade and industry of the country from the glrasp of the monetary power of the banks of NewYork has been a great gain. The national banking system swallowed u the banking system of NewYork, and now olds it powerless for mischief. It remains for those who have charge of the system to seeto it that the same injurious effects, brought about by the worst of management, shall not affect your national banking system but that it will avoid the rock n on which the banks of NewYork split in regu tring the industries of the country. f you will not take the baning system of NewYorkli for your guide in financial affairs, i you will not take its political system as a guide for your political action, and if you will repudiate all the measures that come from that great city and will not consent that they shall be a part of your system, then I contend that the proposition before this body to continue a system that comes alone from a few who 0c cupy the position of importers and those engaged in foreign commerce shall not prevail to an extent that affects unfavorably the whole internal industry and the whole internal commerce of this great country. Is there not a word to be offered in favor of that great internalcommerce and that great internal trade? Must the whole attention of the country, as it has been during the past 4 years by special acts of legislation, be devoted to one interest, while we are en:led now in making an effort to equalize the i erenoo in taxation so that the burdens which are now upon the industry of the country maybe to some extent removed; and while men differ as to the policy that shall prevail, shall this system receive special attention and be forced through Congress without consideration and without discussion? Mr. President, during a recent visit of the American minister at StPetersburg to Mos cow, the question as to the industry of the respective countries was discussed by him and the merchants of Moscow