The Portland daily press., 1866-01-23
Senator sprague on American Manufactures


Senator Sprague of R. T., one of the most ex-
tensive manufacturers in the country, recently
offered resolution ofinquiry in the senate
and its object being misunderstood and I'M
justly criticised in certain quarters, ne TOOK oc-
casion few days later referring to that reso-
luton, to say:
81 did not propose to recommend or to ad-
yocate the increase Of duties upon imported
articles; desired simply to draw the attention
OF the Senate, of the House of Representa-
tives, and OF the country, to the fact that
had ce tined by practical experiment and
borough practical infJlmation le.ived ON
channels known to the bu-mess men of the
country, but which / believed had not been
sufficiently considered, that this disparity ex-
existed. desired simply at that moment to
raise a voice of warning, a voice OF alarm at
the existing state of things growing ous OF the
fact, which had ascertained from the pract.-
cal experiment, and this practical knowledge,
that the taxation under the internal revenue
system was greater than the duties upon the
importation of goods from abroad. 1t occurred
to me that if that state OF things were permit
ted to exist, the manufacturing for this coun-
try will be done ia England, France and Ger
many, instead of the manufacturers OF our
country being employed. Why, sir, today
can import an article of cotton goods, pay the
duty, pay commission, pay the difference OF ex-
change, and sell that article of cotton goods
here at the same price it would take me to
make it here in consequence of the increased
co of production in this country, growing
out of the internal revenue tax directly upon
the manufactured fabric and indirectly upon
labor and the various articles necessary to be
used in the consumption of the manufacturer
70 10 h 10 rlIrna N fot
Referring particularly to those radical free,
trade notions which it is for the interest Of
foreign manufacturers to have prevail on this
side of the Atlantic, Senator Sprague said:
r 1 do not believe that those countries across
the water, which have occupied the attitude
tina. certain unnamed ones have toward this
country for the past four years, are entitled to
much of my sympathy, or much of the sym
pathy of the American people. Sir, when
see petition brought into this Senate for a
system whose sole advocates are the men who
are in the interest of those people across the
water, whose sole advocates in this country
are paid by capitalists of other countries, and
as 1 am told, are kept up and fostered con-
stantly by means sent from there, am less in
clined to believe in the honesty of the pur-
poses they are endeavoring to advocate. rs b 4
dresses you has come under the criticism of a
prominent paper in New York, and distin-
guished member of the other House; and the
simple inquiry that proposed on former oc-
casion is held up as being not only ridiculous
assumption, but as something criminal, which
ought to have been cried down the moment it
was uttered. On that point, all l have to say
land desire to say it here publcly--is that
criticisms and animadversions and complaints,
from the sources from which they have come,
are desirable to me- If did not know it in
any other way, know that l am right because
they would make me wrong. know. sir, that
the course which these instruments have been
pursuing for the last five-and-twenty years is
inimical to the liberty, to the prosperity, and
to the independence of this people. Sir, for
advice as to my public course, shall not go
to Great Britain, or to any of her champions,
even those that are the most liberal"