Mr. FOSTER. Then it is 30 cents a pound specific duty. Well, Mr. President, it was stated by the Senfrom NewJersey (and the fact is undoubtedly so) that there is but one establishment where nickel is manufactured in the country at the Present time, and, as I am informed, the whole amount of capital invested is not to exceed $200,000. Until within a very recent period, at all events, the amount ofwas very small, and the quality was so poor that it was not used in the arts except for very inferior styles of manufacture. It was not nearly equal to the foreign article, and the foreign article has been used instead of this, and will continue to be if this is not improved in quality, even though it be sold cheaper. Nickel is used very extensively in the manufacture of German silver ware; it is a component part of that metal, and a very important part. As I stated the other day, in the State of Connecticut there are now some $3,000,000 invested in the manufacture of German silver ware. On those manufactures there was paid last year something over $200,000 of internalrevenue tax. This manufacture of nickel has a capital invested of only $200,000 in the whole; and if it is manufactured to ever so great an extent it pays no internalrevenue tax or duty whatever. The manufacturers of this article do not pay a cent for the support of the government. Now, Mr. President, a duty of 15%. advalorem upon that which is a raw may terial to the manufactures of German silver ware, I submit, is a sufficiently high duty; indeed, I think it is a very high duty; it is so high that those who manufacture the German silver ware will scarcely be enabled to continue the manufacture if the duty is raised on nickel to 30 cents a pound, unless there is an additional duty put upon the importation of Ger: man silver ware. The German silver ware will be imported from abroad with the Present duty upon it, and the manufacture of German silver ware in the U.S. will stop, because the manufacturer of German silver ware abroad pays no such tax as this on his nickel, and the Present duty on German silver ware is not relatively as high as the duty will be on the manufacturer here at home, when he pays 30 cents per pound on his nickel additional, 5%. internalrevenue tax upon the amount of his production, and then tax on income. He will pay 3 taxes, while the manufacturer abroad of German silver ware will at the most Poone, the duty at the customhouse. ow, Mr. President, is it good policy at this time of day, in the Present condition of this country, and especially of labor in this country, to undertake to create a new species of manufacture by the imposition of duties which shall exclude the foreign article and stimulate this production here at home? How has the ComFinance reasoned on this subject in regard to another commodity greatly used in the country and long used, and an article of prime necessity–saltpeter? That is a commodity which has been imported from abroad and manufactured at home; and there are several States now where saltpeter is manufactured. It is manufactured in Connecticut, in NewYork, and in Massachusetts. The establishment in Connecticut is able to manufacture ten tons per day. What has been the course in regard to that manufacture? Why, sir, it has had a small protective duty. The Present duty on saltpeter is 2 and 1/2 cents per pound, and the business is by no means aprofitable one to the manufacturer. But what do the committee propose to do? They propose, as will be seen on page 63 of the bill On saltpeter, or niter, or nitrate of potassa, crude, one cent per pound. Instead of allowing a protection to the manufacture of saltpeter, which has been encour aged for years past, and which has now grown up into a manufacture of importance, and of so much importance that, as I have said, one establishment in Connecticut is able to manufacture ten tons per day, the committee propose to take off more than half of all the duty that now by law is imposed at the customhouse upon foreign saltpeter and to reduce it to one cent per pound.