Mr. DAVIS. If I recollect aright, for a series of years the duties upon coffees and teas were nothing or merely nominal; and why was it so? The considerations were two: 1st, because these articles were not produced in our country, and to tax them was not necessary to protect American industry; and 2ndly, they were articles of general, universal consumption, and they were consumed in as large or a larger degree by the laborers, the poor, as by the rich. It was for the purpose, then, of let ting in free and reducing to the lowest possible price what was necessary to pay for these articles of general use, of universal necessity, that did not come into conflict with any American industry or product, that that system was established. If that system was wise and statesman like and necessary in former years, it is more so now. The great mass of the people, the consumers, the laborers, who are the real bone and sinew of the country, and upon whom rest its progress, and its prosperity and wealth, are the population who were intended to be and were relieved by that system of legislation. They are entitled to and require more relief in that direction now than formerly, because their industry is not rewarded now with the same certainty nor with an equal amount of profit that it was formerly. They are taxed now in such a variety of forms and to such an amount that they have no profits upon their labor in most cases. I conceive that this term tariff has the signif. icance intimated by the Senfrom missouri; it is not intended to protect the laborer, the consumer; it is intended to protect capital and manufacturing companies and aggre gated wealth, and to multiply the already enormous accumulations of wealth in the hands of the few. I think with the honorable Senfrom Missouri that the people of the country will wake up before long to this system of legislation. If it was possible to establish infallibly the principle that every man of the community should pay taxes according to his ability, it would be the just rule. The principles upon which this bill was framed seem to be in hostility to that general and equitable principle; the great mass of taxation is made to fall upon the laboring classes of the people, those who have the least surplus and the least means to meet the burden; and those who have the most and who are reveling in wealth and who are aggregating from day to day princely fortunes, are comparatively exempt from the burden, and it is left to fall with all its grinding force upon the laborers, the great consuming classes of the country. I hope that this amendment will prevail.