Mr. WILSON,of Iowa. I move the following amendment: That section 93 be amendedby striking o utall after the enacting clause and inserting, in lieu thereof. the following: that all goods, wares, and merchandise, or articles manufacturedor made except refined petroleum.refiped coal oil, gold and silver. spirituous and malt liquors. manufactured tobacco.snuff, and cigars.by any personor firm where the product shall not exceed the rate of $1.000 or annnm and shall be madeorproducedby the In or of said forsan or firm, or by his or their family, shall bpreo.daunct are hereby. exempt from tax, Vhero the shall exceod such rate and not exceed the rate of 83.000.the tax shall be levied, assessed and collectedonly upon the excessabovetherateof $1.000 perannum: an in all other oasestho whole annual product, including any business ortransactionwhere one party has been furnished with materials or any part thereof, and employedby anotherparty to manufacture, make, or finish the goods, wares, and mer chandise, or articles paying or promisingto pay there for and to whomthesameare returnedwhensomade and finished, shall be assessed and the tax paid thereonby the producer or manufacturer: Provided, That wheneverI produceror manufacturer shall use or consume or shall removefor consumptionor use, any articles, goods, wares, or merchandisewhich, if removedfor sale, would beliable to taxation, heshall be assessedupon the sulable value of the articles goods, wares, or merchandiseso usedor so remove for consumptionor use. Mr. Chairman, I offer this amendment in the interest of the small manufacturers and the me chanics of the country. I offer it as a protection to that class of labor which fights its own battle with little aid from machinery. It affects mainly the hand workers of the nation who de pend more on their toil than they do upon capital for the profits which a years business may seeiire to hem. Its effects will be exhausted principally in shielding such as earn their bread y the sweat of their Iirows from unnecessary taxation; and this is the sole object of the amendment. The only change which this amendment makes in the present law is to exempt from the manufacturers tax $1,000 worth of the products of all manufacturers whose annual productions do not exceed $8,000in value. So just a proposition as this ought not to require much discussion to win for it the approval of every member of the committee. It will be remembered that the law idefines a manufacturer to be “Any person, firm, or corporation who shall man facture hand or machinery any goods, wares, or merchan iso. exceedingannually the sum of 51,000, or shall beengagedin the manufactureor preparation for sale of any articles or compounds, or shall put up for sale in packages with his own name or trade mark thereon any articles or compound shall be regardedas a manufacturer." This definition embraces almost every me chanic in the whole country, for there are very few whose productions do not annually exceed $1,000 in value, when both labor and materials are included in the computation. The profit to the mechanic, including the value of his own labor, often proves to be an insignificant part of the $1,000 of aggregate valuation placed upon his productions; and to him a tax of 5%. upon the total result is grievously burdensome. All such taxation is opposed by every consideration of sound public policy. Productive industry should be fostered until it becomes strong enough to stand alone. The tax gatherer should not be sent into the work sho until the workman has secured for him sel and his family a reasonable support from the toil of his hands. It is hard for hand labor to compete with machine labor, and to the former some advan tage should be given. Without this great establisbments crush out and destroy the lesser ones, as great fish are said to swallow ii small ones. A combination of capital and machinery, if put on an equality in the tax laws with mus cle, soon wear it out and drive its owner from the market. There is not a village in all the land whose mechanics do not feel how inexor ably true this rule is. The great mannfactories in the East play have c with the mechanic sho s of the West and when this is done our wormen have not the advantage of resorting to the great workshops and mannfactories or employment, as the mechanic of the East may. Our western mechanics when crushed out by the competition resulting from a combination of capital and machinery must change their pursuits and seek in some field new to them a support for themselves and their families. 6 extend to the eastern manufacturer protection against the manufactures of the Old World through our tarifflaws. Of this I do not complain; but at the same time, I must insist that our internalrevenue laws shall be so framed as to protect, in some degree, the mechanics and small manufacturers of this country against the eneroachments of those great establishments which have grown 11 under the fostering care of our tariff laws. this true that the protection which the eastern manufacturer enjoys under our tariff laws would extend the same advantage to him in any other part of the U.S.; but in the West our manufacturing interests are in their infancy, and therefore it is that I say the tarililaws protect and foster eastern manufacturers. In the course of time I hope the West, by the development of manufacturing establishments, will share etplially with all other sections of the country in the advantages springing from the tariff laws of the GOvernment; and as one means looking to this end, I desire the adoption of this amendment as a protection to those who are to constitute our western manufacturers in the future. The West must resort to manufacturing. Everything used and consumed in the West ought to be there manufactured. While it is the greatest food producing region in the world, it should be one of the greatest manufacturing sections also. Cheap food and the comparatively low price of raw material are advantages which will some day tell in favor of the West. But to reach that day we must take present care of our workmen and mechanics. The amendment which I have offered does not go as far and accomplish as much as I should like, but it seems to be the best that can be done at this time, and will afford some measure of relief. When I cannot get all I want it would not be wise to refuse a part.