Mr. FESSENDEN. If the Senator does not consent to the amendment I will state my I must call for the reasons for offering it, and I would be obliged to the Senate if they would attend to me, for this is a matter of very great interest to the city in which I reside. The establishment there for the manufacture of oil from this Albertite coal is one of the few manufacturing establishments in our city that escaped the great conflagration. It employs about 150 men. The works cost ori ginally about 350,000 dollars in gold, and would now cost double that sum to erect. It employs a large number of men who have been employed there for years, and who must be thrown entirely out of employment if the rate of duty adopted yesterday is insisted upon, and for no other purpose that I can conceive, it being a manufacturing establishment, but to allow, gentlemen in NewYork who have entered into this speculation in WestVirginia at some future period to commence the manufacture. At ortland we manufacture oil out of it. I take it the Senator will not pretend that in WestVirginia, where this mountain is, they can ever, while petroleum lasts, manufacture oil from coal. The petroleum wells are there, and oil sells for 7 or 8 cents; whereas the manufacture of this oil from coal would cost a very much larger sum on the spot. I understand (and the Senator will correct me if I am in error) that since the discovery of petroleum not an oil factory to manufacture oil from coal has been erected in that section of country or in Pennsylvania or anywhere where they have had an idea of manufacturing oil from coal; and that those which were in use in manufacturing oil from coal before that time in WestVirginia have been converted into factories for the purpose of manufacturing etroleum. I believe this establishment in ortland, Maine, is the only one in the U.S., unless there may be a small factory of this kind in Maysville, Kentucky. Now, sir, it would seem very hard, even under ordinary circumstances, to visit upon any occasion so heavy a calamity to the city of Portland, in addition to what it has already suffered, as to close this factory entirely, which must be the effect of the duty as it now stands in the bill, for no other reason than the pros pective opportunities for making money af. forded by this company in WestVirginia, which has not begun to operate at all, and which, as I believe, never can operate in the manufacture of oil from coal there at the Present time, to say the least of it. The Senfrom WestVirginia is very honestly mistaken if he is ever mistaken it is always honestly on this subject. He has been misled by this statement which has been laid before us, which is full of errors, which he read, and upon which he founded his argument. The simple truth is, that this Albertite is coal, and the commissioner I knew nothing about it; nobody interested knew anything about it of his own motion, in framing the tariff put it in among the asphaltums, on which there was at that time a duty of 25%. The fact is, it is not asphaltum; it never has been so ranked and never so considered. I was taken by surprise yesterday by these broad statements, which I had never seen or heard before, and was unable to contradict or answer them; but fortunately a gentleman connected with the getting up of that company was here, and I sent for him and consulted him as to the facts in relation to this question. He is concerned in the manufacture of iron somewhat, and came here in reference to iron matters; but he is perfectly familiar with this subject; and he is a gentleman for whose perfect integrity I can vouch. e informs me that the question was tried I do not know how it came up in the supreme court in NewBrunswick, and it was decided by the court that it was coal and not asphal. tum. Why? I am not enough of a chemist to say why it was, but the reason oIne is this: that when you distill asphaltum the residue is an earthy substance; when you distill this eoal the residue is precisely as it is in H other coals; it is carbon, just like the coal that you get from Pennsylvania; and it was decided to be coal. It is used, and can be used to advantage, for only 2 purposes: for the manufacture of gas and for the manufacture of oil. It is not used for any other purpose whatever. During the existence of the reciprocity treaty, while all the coals came in free, certain gentlemen purchased a considerable portion of that mine in Nova Scotia. One of the misstatements in the paper that has been laid on our desks is that that mine is owned by foreigners. In fact 3/4ths of it is owned by American citizens. Believing that they could manufac: ture oil to advantage out of it they purchased the mine, and they established this establish merft in Portland of which I speak at very great expense. As I stated yesterday, they went on for a while, and even when they got their coal in free they failed and were obliged to close up; but after awhile they settled up and went on again. So much for the large profits that have been made. The gentleman to whom I have alluded has furnished me with a memorandum which I will read to the Senate. He is perfectly familiar with the whole subject, and knows all about it from the beginning. He says: “Albert coal, called in the Senate bill “Albertite, ’ is coal, and was so decided by the courts. It was admitted as coal free of duty under the reciprocity treaty, and since has paid $1 25per ton, gold duty, the same as other coals.” That is the fact about it. It was stated here yesterday that it paid 25%. advalorem.