Mr. SPRAGUE. I will read"the letter: of“fTohreeigenxmistaincghitnaer imff adkiescrsri, smoinmautechs slaortghealyt tinhefamvoar jority of the machinerynow beingordered is to come from abroad. Our prices here are verylow compared with the exorbitant cost of material and the high rate of wages, yet if it were not for the small orders that do not pay to go to Europe for and the superior qnuoathliitnygof the American machineryweshould have to do. Everything wouldcomefrom abroad. The Presentratesof duty, which are mostlyspecific, amount to 58%. on pig iron, 67%. on refined bar iron, 67,%. a.mspring steel, and 33 and 1/2 on machinery steel. Besidewe have to pay ve%. on the selling price of the finished machine internal tax, and the effectof this tax onwages, &c., will amount to 5%. more, while the duties of foreign machinery are only 35 % li.sh Thmeacdhuintieeiss coonns thtre ucmteadtewroiaullsd, ocf omwehticohmaonrye one than on the finishedmachine.. “We therefore have not onlythe cheap foreign capital and pauper labor to contend with, but unequal duties and our internal taxation. There is a provision in our Presenttariff, it is true, that machinery which is composed partly of steel shall pay a duty of 45%., but importers evadethis clause by boxing the steel parts, such as spindles, &c., in separate boxes and entering them as a manufacture of steel, while the great bulk of themachinescome in as manufactures of iron. Therefore, I think that the duties on machinery should be the same whether made of steel or iron, or steel and iron, or brassand wood. With the Presentrates of duty on materials, taking our internal taxation into account, the duties on machinery ought to be at least 65%. How much you intend to iron, steel, &c., raise the rates on I do notknow, but the rateson machinery ought to be in proportion. The raising of the duties on iron, steel, &c. I suppose is for the benefitof thosewho are connected with the iron and steel interests. This is all well enough, but of what benefitwill it be to them if the manufacturesof iron are not protected also? Who will buy their iron if all the manufactures that are made of iron come cfrooumnt England? The machinemanufacturersof this privilegeassk no favor of John Bull, nor any exclusive from our own Government: all we ask is to beplacedon an equal footing so far as duties and taxes are concerned, and to do this I amof the opinion that with Ho: new rates of duty the rate on may goofy will have to be raised to 100%. It is, Mr. President, a starth ng fact that the machinery of this country is now being produced abroad; and it is also a starth ng fact that almost every commodity known to American consumption is also at the Present time being produced abroad. I think that during the 9 days this bill has been before the o Senate Senators have lost sight of, or have shut their eyes to, the exact condition of the country, or the condition in which it was when they left their homes to come here. There has been no revival of business at home since then. Everything is stagnant. The industry, the labor of the country is now unemployed, or about to be thrown out of employment. The reason is very plain, and the results are manifest. But, sir, it is suggested that the Senate has become tired of the agitation of this question, and of the interest which members have shown concerning this bill. Sir, it would seem to me very strange if Senators did not take an interest and feel anxious in relation to matters connected with the interests of the people. When the whole country is anxious and trembling under the weight of taxation and the heavy bur dens imposed upon the people for the last 5 ears, it is to me passing strange that memers of this body, rePresentatives of the peole, are unwilling to take cognizance of their interests. I am glad that there are in Washington men from the northern States who have come down here to attend to their interests; and but for those men during the past 5 years where would your country be today? If those men had not been willing, had not been able, and had not stood ready to give their support to this Government, what would you have done? Sir, I know something about the beginning of this war. I know the fear and trembling that existed all over the country. I know who were the men that came up and responded to the call of the Government, and aided you in obtaining and maintaining the stand that enabled you to carry the war to a successful conclusion. Those men are here today, and they demand, for the sake of their country, for the sake of their wives and children, for the sake of the communities around them, that the Senate should take an interest in what concerns them; and that which concerns them concerns all the patriotic people who have done so much to vindicate the rights and to establish the principles of free government. For myself, I am unwilling that any interest, with which such people are connected should be prostrated or should not receive proper attention. Here is one that now is in the hands of the enemy the enemy of this people and of this Government; in the hands of a people and a Government who would have turned every one of you over to the tender mercies of the rebels if they had the power. They did make the effort, but were unsuccessful. Will you now put this advantage into the hands of a Power that thus acted, and that in your weakness evinced a desire to prostrate you, and are now really as willing and desirous to prostrate you as they were then? For my part I am unwilling that that condition of things shall be. I heard with a good deal of regret the remarks of the honorable chairman of the ComFinance in reference to this bill just before we left here this afternoon. He spoke to the friends of the measure, and told them that they should not heap amendments upon it; that they should not be rePresenting their constituents and the constituents of others, for, as I take it, members here are not only rePresenting the interests of their own State, but the interests of almost every other State. such has been my position. There are but few of the interests that I have taken charge of here which are located in my own State not more than one or two. But while there is an enemy in the Opposition, and one who has been prominent in getting up this bill, it does not come with a very good grace from that Senator to remind members who are favorable to this measure in this way. When I suggest that, I mean that the commissioner, who is now more powerful upon this floor than anyone else, who occupies a seat here, and receives more attention than any member, desires that this bill should be defeated. Will it be defeated? If the Senate are willing to follow that lead blindly, as they seem to have shown a disposition to do, they will undoubtedly defeat the bill; but I trust there is more independence, more manhood, more determination, more will on the part of the members of the Senate than to follow any man's lead. At any rate I hope they will not follow any man's lead unless that man has shown that he is entitled to respect and to consideration for the services he has performed, and certainly not the lead of a man who has obtained an uncertain reputation from a book in which we are informed that the experiences of the past are no criteria for the administration of the future. According to that author.ity you are not, Senators, to look at the management of States and nations that have heretofore existed in judging how you are to act today; but you are to act upon new theories and introduce new elements. If that be the course. are to pursue, my judgment is that you will have a very difficult problem to solve. That the American people will respond to all the additional burdens that may be placed upon them by inconsiderate and thoughtless legislation I do not believe. I do not believe it is possible for them to go on much longer with this Pressure. I think they have been burdened almost as much as they can bear, and the slightest additional weight will have a tend ency to, and will in fact, crush out the enter prise, the energy, and the prosperity of your people for the next 20 years. You should act with great care and consideration, and not become tired in investigating their interests. The proposition before the Senate is, as I have said, rather against my personal interest; but I believe the machine shop is as necessary to all the industrial interests of the country as those interests themselves, and if you sacrifice them you sacrifice all your interests. Here are men that are skilled in the making of machinery, that are educated in the working of iron and steel and copper; they have grown into that education from long years of expe rience and study. Whether you will permit them to be turned out of employment and give this business altogether into the hands of foreigners is for you to determine. I do not believe that is : sentiment of this body; I do not believe that is the sentiment of the American people; at any rate, I trust not. I am sure it would not be if they could understand the results of such a policy. The results of it are disaster. I know that if all our interests, great and small, are not carefully and tenderly adjusted the consequences will be disastrous to the country, and you will wake up to that sad reality when it is too late. I hope, sir, that this amendment will prevail. It simply gives protection in the point urged by the gentleman whose letter I have read, so as to prevent the introduction in boxes of portions of the machinery as unmanufactured when it is in reality all ready to be set up. It adds a duty of nearly ten%. It specifies spin dles and the various articles of cotton machinery separate from the main machine, and ives an additional duty of ten%. which is as little as this interest can possibly do with.