Mr. MORE LL. Mr. Chairman. at this late period of the session and in this hot weather I know the dispatch of business will be hailed with more good will than any discussion of great principles of political economy involvin protection or free trade, or of the minute etails of a tariff bill involving the present condition of trade, and the nice adjustment of duties on im orts to our system ofinternal taxation; and I shall therefore, as a matter of taste, as well as from the impossibility of doing otherwise from sheer exhaustion, trespass upon the pay tience of the committee no longer than may be necessary to show that some action is impera tively required at our hands, and that the action propose by the ComWays&Means, taking into careful consideration the circumstances of the country, the condition of our national finances, and the currency with which all commercial transactions must'be conducted, is reasonable and proper. The close of the war exhibits anortheru loss by death in the service of'uot less than 250,000 men, and an equal number, it may be computed, have been p iys ically incapacitated'for manual labor. So that not less than halfa million men, between 20 and 30 years of age the athletes of the world have suddenly been withdrawn from the fields, workshops, and mines of the old free States of the Union. This loss represents, in the aggregate, the industrial and vital force ofuot less than 2,500,000 men, women, and children; and the 2 million old men women, and children, though survivors and: dependents of the 500,000 smitten in battle or of those who tasted the bitter cup of rebel prisons or who failed of complete restoration to health and soundness of body, notwithstanding the sweet mercies tendered under our own flag, are the precious legacies of the war, to be provided for, though consumers and nolongerprodueers of wealth, nor perhaps of even the ordinary means of subsistence. The loss of the South, though nominally less, may be practically equal, as their reenperative power appears compara‘ tively inferior and was more crippled by the relentless track of war. This great subtraction from the industrial forces of the country cannot be at once repaired. Many of those who went forth to the war, though untouched by steel, shot, or shell, have found new fields of enterprise and labor, as et unremunerative, but promising in the en prosperous homes. A wave of population has gone southward, hardly perceptible new, but which is likely to exhibit itself in the returns of the next census. Some accessions from Europe have come, amounting to 287,397 in the year 1865; but the pitiless war conscriptions now going on there and the perpetual allegiance demanded will most like y arrest the tide of emigration which otherwise mightjnstly have been anticipated from that quarter. The deduction to be made from all these considerations is, that our present supply oflabor is largely deficient so argely that we cannot at present comete with the dense and crowded populations of the eastern hemisphere in hardly any branch of human industry; and yet it is more important here than ever that every man should ud work. I “hopelabor in America will forever be far more highly rewarded than elsewhere. It is so new, and that distinction is the glory of our country, of our institutions, and ofAmerican policy, butjust now labor, like everything else, is arti ficially dear. High prices must be aid, or our laboring men will be degraded. high rices must be paid, or the capital invested in ands, mines, and manufactures must be wrecked and abandoned. But for the war and had we remained in our normal condition, nnvisited by unusual taxes and the disturbing flood of an exclusively paper currency, our people would have occupied a more impregnable position, as against foreign competition, than they ever occupied in their previous history. Now we are vulner able to the attacks of anybod from any unrter who has anything to sell. Toreigu artifieers of brass and iron and even ofclay, we cannot resist; they are able to undersell our own people. Our present amount of circulating currency is vast. Of legal tenders, socalled, we have $401, 252, 468; of national bank notes, $280, 301, 900; of outstanding notes of the old State banks, (not including those having less than 5%. of their capital,) $48, 479, 782; of fractionalcurrency, $27,053, 709 04, and ofcomound interest notes, $154, 926, 910, amounting in all to $017,014, 769 04. I do not cite these figures as a reproach to anybody, but as a fact, and a monstrous fact attended by evils increasing day by day; and the longer contraction, the true remedy, is withheld, the more difficult will be found its application. At the time of the surrender of Lee and Johnston any terms of settlement might easily have been obtained from southern rebelswith ample guarantees for the future, as the panted for nothing so much as deliverance mm the pains and penalties of treason, and anything short of exatriation would have been promptly accepted. [hat opportune mement passed away never to return. So the transition from paper to specie at that time might perhaps have been made with less strain upon the country, with less inconvenience to individuals, than it can now or ever again be brought about. The people were prepared for it. The goal in point of fact was almost reached. Nobody was in debt and nobody was distressed. The nominal reduction of inventories would have left all with relatively equal purchasable values. But unfortunately this policy did not prevail, and now trade stands in serried ranks against any reduction of values, and Congress itself grudgingly authorizes the retiring of only ubout 4 millions permonth of our huge vol ume of currency, the presence of which stim ulates sales and strangles production. Our country, from one of the cheapest places to live in, is becoming one of the dearest. The wages paid for labor are not too much, considering what those wages will pay for in bread and meat, in rent an clothes. No manufactures can be made, while this state of things lasts, to be sent abroad. And, unless war, pestilence, or famine occurs among foreign nations, they will want none of our corn orwheat, beef or pork, at apything like what it costs to produce it. Our gold, it is true, they eagerly despoil us of, and why not? It is said to be “demonctized, ” and at any rate as money it is getting to be obsolete. Gold coin is itself depreciated in our markets, because it is useless save as so much convenient and portable mer chandise. If used for the payment of an existing contract it is worth no more than an equal amount of U.S. legal tender notes. Our whole monetary system is bloated by more than a.fourfold addition to the currency in cir culation. This is unnatural and daily begets diseases of a new type, formidable because unknown, as well as those with which we are already familiar and know to be dangerous. Having to deal with such facts, and it being impossible to remove this incubus upon the labor of the country at once, our legislation must recognize the situation, and trim oursails for such breezes as may blow. Our imports of foreign goods this year are nearly double what they were last year, and we pay for them by sending abroad gold and silver, and U.S. bonds at a little more than half their face value. Another reason, and one of the most cogent, for a revision of the tariff at this time, is the insufficient rates now levied on foreign wools. This is a question which has vexed Congress for 40 years. The evils endured by wool growers somehow never disa pear, let the laws take what shape they may. The flocks of sheep in South America, in Australia, at the Cape, and elsewhere, have become so large, so much improved by mixed breeds, that they threaten to force the American wool grower to abandon a chosen and most attractive pursuit. For merly the wool obtained from Buenos Ayres was coarse and full of burs, but by crossing with the merine breeds it has become entirely changed in character, and now wool equal in grade to the average American growth can be boughtjn South America for 15 cents perpound. It is not washed, and burs still accompany it, but no American husbandmau, not even those who are located in proximity to unfenced prairies where the summer feed can be appropriated without let or hinderance, can compete with such prices. They must, unless at once taken care of, succumb. For the past 4 years, notwithstanding the nominally high prices for wool, the amount received when reduced to a gold standard shows that the business of wool growing has not been remunerative; not affording 1/2 the profits of any other kind of farming, and many owners of sheep have been preparing to quit the business for something more hopeful. Unless congress shalldo something to revive the cour age of these men the stock of sheep that will be offered for slaughter the coming fall will exceed anything the country has hereto fore witnessed. The complaint is loud, universal, and real, not simulated. Never since I have had the honor to be a member of this House have so largea number of petitions been received, or with so many respectable and genuine signatures, upon any subject. The ComWays&Means have been flooded with these documents from the East to the furthest West. The tariff of 1857, 21 ainst which I voted, allowed wool under 18 cents to come in free and reduced the advalorem tariff on wools costing more than that. The tari 0f1861 placed a small advalorem duty on wool under 18 cents and a specific duty on all wool above that rate, besides providing many provisions mgainst fraud. This was considerably improved by the tariff of 1864, but the value of wool abroad being less than represented or believed to be, importers still got competing wools through the customhouse at rates never above 6 cents per pound and sometimes at even less. Last Fall and winter the wool growers, through their various agricultural societies and other State and national organizations, got together for the 1st time and discussed the subject of wool growing in its relation to rival foreign interests. The wool manufacturers also met with them in joint convention. After months of patient toil and critical examination they presented to us in April last the fruits of their joint labor so far as it relates to the duties upon wool. The proposition as it relates to woolens came along considerably later. A mutual agreement was arrived at and upon a basis fair and equitable of parties that never agreed before. I think their work does honor to those who conceived and who have so for successfully ma. tured these several propositions. These propose much higher rates upon wool because of the perfection of the classification, which is so framed as to catch all wools that can by any possibility compete with American wool. There is no loop hole through which any wool can escape the duty intended to be placed upon it. It is fixed and certain. The customhouse officer, though a fool, cannot err therein. [know the wool growers will be satisfied With their own proposition, as they should be, for it amounts to more on mestiza wool than would a duty of 75%. advalorcm, and I hope we shall not attempt to offer anything less or in other shape, for whatever is not in the form of a specific duty would be as in most other cases valueless. The greatest protection the American wool grower cauld have would be the disclosure of the fact, at every sale of woolen cloths, whether the same were made of American wool or not, as cloths made ofsouud American wool are really worth, for actual service, for hard wear and tear, far more than those made of the tender and brittle foreign wools. The duties upon woolcns, it will be seen, are very careful y adjusted so as to cover the duties which the manufacturers pay 1st on wool and dye stuffs, the internal taxes on their sales, and in addition 25%. advalorem. The compound duties in the bill though following the principle 1st adopted in the tariff of 1861, may not be understood at a glance. but when carefully studied they will i be found to have the extentI have indicated and no more. If this bill becomes a law, as I trust it will, the woolen manufacturer will not l find his condition any better than now not a l whit. Foreign goods, I fear, will erdwd our marts in nearly the same imposing procession, that they have done heretofore, or at the rate of over a million dollars for every day in the year. Last year (1865) our imports amounted to $234, 756, 447, but this year they will reach not less than $409, 411,513. This is a drain that we are in no condition to bear. Every spare dollar in the conntr is needed to fund our raj‘oidrly maturing national obligations. the ast year we have received from California but a little over $29,000,000, and get our exports of gold and silverwat New 0 alone. from May 12 to June 16, amounted l to $36, 515, 402. I When can we resume specie payments if this stream of merchandise lflWBJ‘Kfflnd flow of old outward is allowed to continue? Clearly it is the duty of the Government to moderate if it cannot control this reckless course of trade before bankruptcy ensues and the business of the country receives a check from which it may take years to recover. I do not think it. necessary to go into the details of many branches of business. There is not a member of the House who does not know and feel that there is urgent need of legislation upon the tariff. To adjourn without such regislation would be a calamity and a blunder. Take the iron trade. It is true they made money during the war, but they are not doing it now. They are aying laborers for making a ton of iron nearly as much as a ton would cost abroad. There are some little items in the tariff bill, which hardly arrest the eye, which give employment to 1000s and therefore require considerate treatment at our hands. Among these permit me to cite one or 2 examples. Eye ets, made of brass and then tinned, have but recently been introduced as an article of commerce so far as to attract attention. They will be noticed in shoes and boots, and though in visible in other articles fof ladies’ wear, they are still there. I find that of these small and very cheap articles, costin no more than 17 to 18 cents per 1,000, the amount we consume rises to the respectable sum, annu ally, of $4,000,000. Hoop skirts is another article of extensive use for which we are supposed to be indebted to the genius of Eugenie, who, failing to rule the Emperior of the French, has great.audacity in French fashions. In NewYork city alone 25,000 persons find employment in all the branches of the hoop skirt manufacture. It would be possible tomention many other articles, a “ parently trifies light as air, ” which furnish the means of support to a large number of industrious and thrifty families. The articles added to the free list in the bill are few in number and of inconsiderable importance. such articles as form the base or raw material of other manufactures, and of which there is no domestic supply, scientific theorists, as well as practical legislators, agree should be charwed with little or no duty. When any conntrydias superior natural advantages for the reduction of a specific article it may be use ess and a waste of capital for others to attempt rivalry in the same direction. We have nothing that will compete with the white cliff stone of England for chalk and whiting, and as it enters into other manufactures to a considerable extent, and gives business to our homeward bound vessels, it deserves to be free. We produce rock oil or petroleum, and while it bubbles up and spontaneously runs away from its fount ains, to be had only for the catching, it will be difficult to find any article in other markets to supplant “ the poor man’s light, " as my friend the Chairman [Mr. SOOFIELD] aptly calls it, and so long as we have a surplus to spare it will find pure users. I.of State, such claims, were they to be strictly Salt. when it is made from springs, depends mainly for its cheapucss upon the amount of saline matter contained in the water. The relative value of salt springs in Virginia, Michigan, NewYork, and Ohio differs widely. In some of these States the business may continue, but without a higher duty most of them will wind up. If in any of these States mines could be found where salt could be taken out in pure crystals the saline springs would have to be abandoned. As it is we cannot afford to be dependent upon other nations for so indispen sable an article in peace and war as salt, even if it can be obtained clsewliere nominally at a less price. Our own establishments must be preserved, encouraged to the full amount of their capacity, and even then 1/2 of all we consume will be brought from abroad. We cannot afford to make it free, nor yet can we afford to tax it so heavily as to make it a lux ury or anything but what it is an article for human nature’s daily use. The discovery of an enormous deosit of chloride of potassium in a bed of me salt in Germany may prove to be the chief source from which commerce will draw its future supplies. Manifestly the maker of ordinary pot ash salts, who cuts down timber and burns it to ashes for this sole purpose, cannot compete with an article alrea y made and which only needs to be taken from the mine and purified. This is an advantage of which Germany cannot be deprived. The Indian who stole his brooms already made could always undersell the Indian who only stole his timber. England, with untold wealth in minerals, ‘coa, clay, and cheap salt, eclipses in many productions all the nations of the earth. Soda ash is one of these productions entering greatly into other manufactures of various descriptions. The cost of soap, glass, and of many textile fabrics deends much upon the price of soda ash. At ittsburg, Pennsylvania, they have salt and cheap coal, and have from time to time striven to establish the manufacture of soda ash, but thus far without marked success, and if the manufacture cannot succeed at this point it will hardly do better elsewhere. Under these circumstances, but for the glimmering hope that theinanufacture of an article of such extensive use may yet be established, it might have been well to place it upon the free list. We have left it where it is, to pay a duty of a half cent perpound. The supply of ivory cannot be increased, and is supposed to be annually diminishing. It takes 20,000 elephants, it is said, to furnish the annual supply of a sinvle manufac turing town (Sheffield) in Englando. Our wants are large and increasing. It is proposed, therefore, to remove the small duty now imposed upon this useful as well as beautiful article; and as the gigantic ame from tvhich ivory is obtained is hunted y persons without regard to race or color I presume no one will object. One of the main reasons for a new tariff bill now is that the termination of the reciprocity treaty leaves the duties upon agricultural productions, and upon lumber, fish, and coal at such rates as were imposed at times when it made no difference what those rates were, as all such articles came in from the Provinces practically free, and of course our tariff laws in this respect now call for revision. The wisdom of terminating the treaty alluded to is already apparent. There are none of its provisions that we cannot surrender without a pang. Some of the pretentious claims concernin the fisheries, as, for instance, the right of excluding our fishermen from the shore within 3 miles, and from bays, drawing the line from headland to licarlland, might be annoying; but even if admitted on our part, as they are not likely to be by any modern Secretary enforced, would be of little damage to us and of no profit whatever to the Provinces. There is no more reason for exempting grain, flour, cattle, horses, wool, and butter and cheese imported from British Provinces, from revenue duties, than there would be in the case of the i importation of similar articles from Great Brit ain. In peace, the mother country and her colonies are all our friends; in war, they are not less our enemies. It is due, however, to the present British minister, Sir Frederick Bruce, to say that he has manifested a high toned spirit of fairness touching an remaining questions as to the fisheries, an that he seeks their solution without making such exactions as would be likely to produce national conflicts. Through the courtesy of the SecyState, I have learned that the British minister has information that the Canadas, NewBrunswick, and Nova Scotia will issue licenses to fishermen other than British subjects, upon the payment of 50 cents perton on the tonnage of vessels engaged therein, and that a license will secure the right to fish within 3 miles of the shore, an also to land for the purpose of curing fish and obtaining supplies. IliIore than this, a license from one Province is to confer the right to fish in all the Provinces which unite in the system of giving licenses. Without this zollverein principle, Americans would find the license of no value, and would not avail themselves of it. In the end all the Provinces may unite in such legislation, or if they do not the confederated Provinces and that scheme as. pears likely to be speedily adopted, more s cc ily, perhaps, in consequence of the recent ‘eltic irruption will undoubtedly adopt the principle. Mr. Chairman, I will now send to the Clerk’s desk, to be read for the information of the committee, a letter from the SecyState upon this question, and also one from the Brit islh minister, Sir Frederick Bruce.