Mr. CATTELL. I desire, Mr. President, to indorse all that was said by the chairman of the ComFinance as to the care which was bestowed by that committee on further this bill, and to indorse the remark which he has made, that the duties in this bill have been very largely reduced from what they were in the bill that cafhe to us from the House; and while I have in almost all cases voted with the committee, I nevertheless think that there were a few errors committed by the committee, that there were some mistakes in the bill to be rectified, and among them, in my judgment, is this one in reference to stone. yso rePresented to the committee my views. I believe that the protection which is asked by the gentleman connected with this interest is not more than that accorded to other depts of industry in the country, and no more than is absolutely essential to the protection of the interest; and as I am bound in this case, in accordance with my own judgment, to vote against the report of the committee, I felt a desire to explain the reason. While I am on my feet I wish to make another remark, and that is with regard to the assertions which have been so frequently made during the course of this discussion that this is an extravagantly high tariff. The Senfrom Missouri [Mr. BRowN] does not call it a tariff for protection; he calls it a tariff for prohibition. Now, I have only to say that from a careful observation of this tariff bill as reported by the ComFinance, in my judgment it is not an advance of ten%. upon the duties of the existing tariff, the whole tariff through. The rates imposed by this tariff bill do not add as much as the manufacturing interests of this country directly and indirectly are taxed by the internalrevenue laws in addition to what they were taxed when the last tariff bill was passed. Gentlemen in the adjustment forget of this tariff that there are an enormous number of indirect taxations to which our people are subjected. Gentlemen forget that th. laborer here cannot perform service upon the same terms with the laborer in other countries, when every article which he uses, everything which he wears, everything that enters into his consumption, except that which comes directly from God Himself without charge, like water, is taxed; and taxed for what? Taxed by the very neces sities of your Government; taxed for the purpose of paying the expenses of sustaining the Government, and of having a Government that exists and that is worth having; and it is because these interests are oburdened d to place impost duties on articles imported, so that they shall be incidentally protected. It has been stated by gentlemen on this floor, in their desire that this bill shall be recommitted to the ComFinance, that there are errors and defects which should be corrected. I respectfully submit to the Senate that the ComFinance sat here during the whole Christmas recess, 5 or 6 hours per day, while other gentlemen were at home enjoying themselves during the holidays, and that the Senate and the country are indebted to the distinguished chairman of the ComFinance for the fidelity with which the work has been done with regard to this bill. I am not here to quarrel with gentlemen who dispute the principles upon which the bill is based, who deny, as the Senfrom Iowa does, the whole principle of protection to American industry. It is an honest conviction of his, and he has a right to enjoy that opinion, and exPress it in the Senate. I honor him for the boldness with which he does exPress it. I have just the same right to exPress my own; and I claim that the tariff bill before the senate has been subjected to unjust charges, as being an exceedingly high protective tariff. The ComFinance of this body in almost every case, as has been stated by the chair man, with the exception of wools and woolens, reduced the rates which were agreed upon by the HOuse; and be it remembered that at the head of the ComWays&Means there is a gentleman celebrated all over the country for his knowledge of these subjects, and that the bill wasj up with a great deal of care and consideration. In my judgment some of the duties in that bill were too high, and I concurred with the ComFinance in their reduction. I believe this bill as it comes to the Senate from the ComFinance is a better bill. Of course there are some faults, some errors, some omissions; and after the Senate shall have done with it it will not be a perfect bill. But I assert that as it came from the committee it was a good bill; it owas one which the country would have apin its general features; I would have Jeen content with it. Nevertheless, there are some points in which I differed from the committee; some in which they differed from me, and in regard to which I surrendered my judg ment; and there are a few others, where I could not do so, and this stone question is one of them. Mr. President, as I had the floor for the purpose of giving the reasons why, after a careful examination of this subject, I was induced to believe that this interest requires the protection of 4 dollars a ton, I thought F. take the opoly to exPress these views upon the bill itself.