The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1866-10-17
BuRLISGToN. Oct. 10Th. 1866.

BURLINGTON, Yet. lOth, 1866.
Dear Sri am in receipt of your
note Of the 9th inst, concerning the reso
lutions Of the Addison County Wool
Growers Association conforming the
acton OF Congress in postponing the Tar.
III Blll al t Q asst session, and urging upon
the Senators and Representatives from
Vermont the duty Of using their best en-
dcavors to secure its passage. and calling
upon them to express thcir views thereon
by public replies through the newspapers
\ on also state that the Wool Growers in
Vermont feel that the Vermont Senators
ought TO have spoken "a well us rotei
against the po,tponcment Of the bill.
Had not my whoe life and anteccdcnts
been what they have-that of sincere,
and indeed extreme, tariff whg-I should
have felt somo ditlilenc IN expressing my
views At this time, lest the motive of it
might be misunderstood but as it is.
feet no hesitation in replying briefly but
fully.
| have given as much attention to that
branch OF political economy which relates
to the duty Of Government to protect and
encourage home productions and manu-
features, and to dcvclope home resources.
as to any other. AMI it has always seem
ed to me that the principle of complete
protection comes as near to being self-evi-
dent as possible. In country like this.
capable of producing in perfection almost
all the articles ncedful to man, it is in nv
opinion suicidal to allow the importation
OF anything from abroad on such terms as
shall sustain foreign laborers and foreign
producers and manufacturers at the ex-
pcnse, or to the injury Of our own. The
application of this principle is, if possible,
more necessary now, with our great ma
tional debt, than ever before. | was.
therefore, and am warmly in favor of the
tariff bill now pending in Congress though
| have not examined its provisions in de
tail except those relating to wool, wooden
manufactures and marble. Those, affect
ing leading Vermont interests examined
with some care at the time the bill was
I'M Ter consideration in the House in or Ter
TO be able to defend them when the bill
'ho"'' NouiS UP WI 'He Nei'tlc
Owing TO extraneo IS considerations,
which you will readily understand, (but
which | did not believe in) many of our
political friend, were determined to post
pone the bill in the Senate till December,
without going into its merits at all.
When the bill came into the Senate AMI
was about to he referred, in the usual
way, TO the Finance Committee. it was
found that these friends of ours with the
Democrats who would vote that way of
course had obtained a decided mnioritv
for the poStponcmcnt. | was indignant
and exrrted n.ys If to the utmost OF my
ability in canv s'ing for the bill, and |
consulted with leading and experienced
senators as to the propriety of debating
t.and they said that at that stage of the ses-
son the more speeches that were made. |
the less would be our chance of getting 1t
referred. AMI that debate upon 1t then by
It's friends, would be entirely useless, and /
which advice, concurred with nv own
Judgment, | did not feel at liberty (al- |
though one or two of our old and leading
friends made some remarks on it, to oc-
cupy the time with speech. 1t did not
occur to me that my position could pos
ribly be misunderstood on the subject.
| contented myself therefore, las did my
colleague, presume, for similar reasons)
with voting against the postponement.
a few days later a supplemental tariff
come up, containing section increasing
the foreign valuation of goods by adding
costs, charges, &c, winch would to some
extent aid us materially. That section
the Finance Committee recommended TO
be stricken out then, in some remarks
III favor Of "A home valuation and of pro-
lection, urged the Senate to retain the
section, but was voted down.
On the last day of the session came up
the wool tariff bill, which also had not
been referred or printed 1t was the
same with the wool sections of the main
bill which had been postponed Even
some of the fiicn Is of the other bill on.
posed this as partial, AMI it was stated
that no one had read it or knew VIII il
replied that had read it
and knew ITS contents TO be the same AZ
the wool section of the other bill, which
was understood to be satisfactory to both
wool growers and manufacturers But
that hill also was postponed by the ma
jority.
fear | may have occupied too much
space with these details, but as they bear
on the very pont of your complaint,
could not in justice omit them
Respectfully yours,
GEO. f. EDMUNDs,
VIcroR WRIGHT, Esq, Chairman, &c,
Middlebury VI