Mr. EDMUNDS. I move to amend the amendment of the ComFinance by striking out “ 50 cents” in line 49 of section 13, on page 86, and inserting “one dollar, “ and by striking out all after the word “foot” in line 50. The effect of this amendment is simply to put the 2nd classification of marble in the bill at one dollar per cubic foot specific instead of 50 cents a cubic foot and 20%. advalorem. The amendment proposes to raise the duty provided in that paragraph to one dollar per cubic foot, leaving off the advalorem duty entirely, which is exactly as the House bill stands; and from the investigation which Ínave made on the subject, and the information I have received, which is perfectly credi.I am clearly satisfied that d: ought to be One. The 1st clause on the subject of marble provides a duty of one dollar per cubic foot and 25%. advalorem on white statuary marble, brocatello, Sienna, and an tique. Now, it is well known to most Senators undoubtedly that all the marble that comes into the country under that 1st classification is exceedingly trifling. The importations of it amount to almost nothing, for the reason that under that classification the importers are able to swear, as importers are sometimes a little loose on that subject, that the marble which they import properly belongs to the other class. If a block of marble possesses the least discoloration, no matter how large the block may be, if it is at all veined or otherwise impure in any part 6f it, it does not come under the head of “white statuary mar ble, ” but comes in under the head of the “other” descriptions of marble. The classifications of marble known to the science of geology and to the trade are as follows: 1st, the antique, which is merely marble made from ancient monuments, the quar ries of which are now entirely lost, and which so far as importations are concerned is of course of no account any way. The 2nd is the simple or single colored varieties. That may be white or it may be yellow or any other color which is uniform and homogeneous. The 3rd variety is the variegated, which includes all kinds of discolored marbles which are homogeneous in their composition. The 4th kind is what is called the brecciated, which includes brocatello, which is the same as the Maryland or Virginia marble of which the columns in the old Hall of the HoRep are made, and a very hand some marble it is. The 5th description is what is called the lumachella or fossiliferous marble. That is composed very largely of fos sil shells, but is not very much used in trade. Then the kinds of marble which will come in under this 2nd clause include almost all that is used for interior ornamental purposes, whether of the single colored or of the variegated colored kinds. It will all come in under this 2nd clause. We all know that marble which is used in that way is marble that is used generally by the populent. It is for interior ornamentation, mantels, wash basins, and all that sort of thing which goes to make up the elegances of the houses of the rich, and therefore a tax as upon a luxury may justly be imposed upon it. Now, the cost of that description of marble laid down in NewYork, according to the in voices of the importers for the past 2 years, has been as follows: the cost at Carrara, in Italy, from whence the largest part of this marble comes, is put down at 65 cents. That is the cost delivered on ship board at.Car rara. The duty is 50 cents and 20%. advalorem as the law now is, equal to 63 cents. The premium on gold at 40%. would be 51 cents more. The: when it is not brought as ballast, as it frequently is, and if paid for as freight rather than paying freight for being brought, 3 dollars per ton, would be 30 cents per cubic foot. Then insurance, &c., amounts to 2 cents more. Adding up these items, you have the prime cost in the city of NewYork of a cubic foot of this description of marble $2 11 only. That is what it pays duty on. That marble sells in the city of NewYork, which is the principal market, and in Boston for just about the same; it sells to the persons who buy it from these importers from 5 to 7 dollars per cubic foot, say an average of $5.50 a foot, which leaves a clear profit to the importer on every cargo that he brings over of $3 39 a cubic foot. Now, if you add 50 cents per cubic foot to the duty, making it a dollar, there would still be left to him a clear profit of $2.89 a foot, and with the 20%. off, 63 cents more, would leave a profit of $352, and that ought to be profit enough for any importer. Thus it appears that this amendment which I purpose, instead of increasing the cost to the consumer, really is merely a diminution of the profits of the foreign importer who brings this marble from the shores of the Mediterranean, where all our foreign marble comes from, in one place or another, either the isles of Greece or the shores of Italy; and some of the varieties come from France. It leaves him a very handsome profit still. Now, as to the comparative cost of labor in Carrara and in the places of production in our own country, whether in Vermont, or in Maryland, or NewYork, or Pennsylvania, or Ohio, or Michigan, wherever marble can be worked, the cost of labor shows a very great disparity indeed. The cost of labor at Carrara, not according to the statement of any interested person, but according to the statement found in books and treatises on this subject English books and treatises, which I have examined is, for common labor, not over 45 cents per day; 60 cents a day for skilled quarry men; and from 88 cents to one dollar per day for the best and most intelligent workmen. In the marble quarries in Vermont and I have no doubt it is the same elsewhere in the U.S. the cost for a common laborer is $1 75 per day, and for highly skilled labor from 3 to 5 dollars per day. It will therefore be perceived by the Senate that in every point of view this protection is iro.per upon the same principle upon which we been proceeding in relation to coal and all other home productions, where there is an abundance of the raw material scattered all over the U.S., where there are millions of capital invested in NewEngland and in the Middle States and some in the western States in this business, and where, therefore, the whole market can be supplied at rates which will not be enhanced by this additional duty, for the reason we all understand that if the quarryman can increase his production and find a market for a little additional product of his mine he can continue to sell at the same or a lower rate and still make more profit than he did be fore, for the larger the production and the greater the sale the greater the gross amotint of profit at a small rate.ence it appears to me all the considerations which have induced the Senate to protect other branches of American industry apply with greater force, if it be possible, to this case. In the case of coal, it is an article of prime neces. sity, used either in the form of fuel or as the means of producing light or working machinery by every interest in the land, the poor as well as the rich, while in the case of this description of marble, as I said before, it is really a luxury used by the populent and wealthy for ornaments floor dwellings, and other things of that Y1 in Ol. Perhaps it may be said that as to tomb stones there may be some foreign importation; but the cases are very rare, indeed, in which the grave of any person in even moderate circumstances is marked by a stone of foreign production. In that instance it is only the graves of the wealthy and the great that are surmounted by Italian marble monuments. The result, then, is if you wish to increase the revenue upon these articles of luxury and gain a larger amount of income to the country than you do now without increasing the price, this duty ought to be raised to the point where the House left it; and in addition to that, if you wish to encourage the production at home and to protect and develop the capital already in vested by millions of dollars and by 1000s of workers in it, then this amendment ought to be made.