Mr. McRUER. lI move proforma to insert 7 instead of ten cents. It is with some reluctance that I rise to say that I am in favor of striking out the tax proposed in this bill, which n lies particularly to my own State. I probafiiy have the honor to represent the largest wine growing district in the country, an I desire to say that I have no intention nor desire to relieve my district from its fair share of public burden. I consider it not only a duty, but a privilege, for them to hear what is ustly imposed upon them. Mr. Chairman, the production of California wine is an exception to all other agricultural pursuits in this country. Perhaps it is not generally known that a person whofiplnnts a vineyard, has to wait patiently for verylong years before he can get the 1st remunerative profit on the culture of grapes. It is entirely diITerent from all other agricultural pursuits, where in a few months you can realize on your products. The wine grower has to wait. many years, and this, in a country where capital and labor are very high and where wine growing is in its infancy, is an important consideration. Though our soil is admirably adapted to the cultivation of the grape, it does not necessarily follow that we can make as good wine as is made in Europe. It is yet an exerimental thing, and must often result in fai ure. It may not be generally known that what is termed wine in California, the product of the grape that has undergone the process of fermentation and is recognized as wine, although technically it might be known as something else, sells there for about 30 cents agallon. That is about the current price that the manufacturer of that wine realizes for the raw prod uct. The present expense of packagein order to transport it to market is, this last year, ten cents a gallon. The average cost in placing it in market at SanFrancise o, for export or consumption, is almost equal to the cost of bringing it from France and although this is an interest that we think very highly of and desire to cultivate, and which the State of California exempts from all taxation, still it is a fact that the people who have cultivated the grape there for he ast 5 or ten years have not made it a profitable investment. LlHere the hammer fell.]