Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1866-04-25

NOT increase our production Or viii azs gentle
man say that duty Of fifty cents Is enogh 70 pro
tect these embarrassed bat important inssrestsf
ask gentlemen tc mark the fact, that tough 1885,
94 tons came in under the reciprocity treaty free
Of duty from her Provinces EIglad was still
able 10 send in and pay 81 rs duly per ton, the
orormos amount Of 2ls,9S6 tons. \ It not appsr-
ent from tbze facts that we viii 4hkrlpt every
bituminous coal company in the cottry If we pass
this bill7
Do gentlemen say our demands this behalf are
erorbitant ask why our coal csnnf bel sold cheaply
as that Of England and the Projhses1 / answer
them in part BY another questioH which u, do they
wish the American miner 10 toi for he wages given
to laborers in English collieriesf Sir the heartless
ness Of the capitalists of Engknd wAs never more
fully exposed than by the renrtof The parliament
airy commission appointed tdnquir' into the con-
dition OF the mining population Of the country
Eneiands shame is nowiJre written in broader
or darker colors than in tlh report and viii not
permit myselfto believe tAt any member Of this
House is anxious that wekhouid EN- llate that page
Of her history
Our better wages for labor and our heary war
taxes answer the suggestion thrown out, How
much England and be- American Provinces did 10
prolract and sggravae the war is known all, and
anl not willing thef should derive advantage from
their treaehery. OF this subject tote few lines
from letter from An intelligent Goa operator:
amount Of revenue that Government reaps from q
ton Of bituminos coal but the fairet way to get st
i will be 10 tale the cost Of putting the article
board vessel before the war, Tor in 1907 50 so per
ton, as compared with the presentcost seven dollars
per ton, making an increase in the actual cost Of
So 80 per ton. This increase is in tle main occa-
stoned by the taxes which have been Levied in order
70 support the Government (which we pay cheer
fully; and they touch every article of provisions
ana repairs about the mines and railroads, as well
as the two and half per cent upon the gross rate
OF transportation and five per cent upon the net
earnings OF the carrying companies, which, when
81 summed together, amount TO very nearly if not
quite three dollars per ton"
SIT, we are in transition age; and here l reply
70 the remark Of the gentleman from Vermont Mr.
MORRILL, that coal ought not to be protected. We
arc IN transition age In more senses than one
We are passing from TO peace and from the age
OF iron TO the age Of steel. In few years, If we
foster our industry, steel win supplant iron in al
most all the uses TO which it is now applied. Sir
coal and iron are the muscles of modern civiliza-
ton; and fre-ignited Goals the material force
that is impelling US onward and upward Had the
Southern States had equal mastery with of these
elements, doubt whether we would yet have made
conquest over them. query whether the result
might not have been otherwise than it was.
And may add that, had there been well-stock-
ed railroad from Moscow TO the Rhine, Napoleon's
retreat would have been marked by fewer horrors,
and the history Of the nineteenth century would
not probably have read as it does
And if the Chairman of the COMMITTEES of Ways
and Means desires to secure us a respectable posi-
ton among the nations he will not strike down, dis
parage neglect the coal and iron interests Of the
country, TO subserve any interest of his own, his
State, or section They the primofdial elements
Of our greatness, and should be cherished above all
others. Lock at their power Behold woman
with an iron machine before her moving noiseless-
~ 1t is impelled by coal and iron fashioned into an
engine, and is doing more work in one day than |
1ne hundred such women could have done in q |
week one century ago.
The power of those delicate people is not super
luman it is coal and iron that produces these more
han magical results.
The gentleman doubts whether the production of /
'oal can or should be stimulated, nd is willing we
hould depend on our most powerful and our near
st enemies for this elemental substance The L
ountry will not respond to such purblind patriot
SIN. And the passage Of this bill will reduce us to
nch abiect dependence.
In eleven months of 1861 do not 90 back to
664, but take the first eleven months of 1865, of
lst year-sixty-sx per cent. of the btuminous coal
Onsumed in The States east of Pennsylvania was
lined by the laborers of Britain or of the British
rovinces. Let me prove this. The amount of
luminous coal received at Boston and New York
rom the British Provinces, free Of duty TO the LIST
( December, 1865, was 392 1853 tons. The amount
I English coal received at the same points during
be same period, which paid tax of 81 rs per ton
vas l09, 625; total foreign COAL 1885, 9l tons The
mount Of coal produced in the United States, de-
ivered during the same period at the same points,
Tas but 2s7s74 tons; balance in favor of foreign
GAL, 2oS,s74 tons-one coal company in the British
'rovinces declaring dividends of one hundred and
per cent. in year, and but one of the
undreds Of companies in our country able to de-
ARE dividend of one per cent, making contrast
} unfavorable to us that many Of our enterprising
eople as was shown yesterday by the gentleman
'om Maryland, Mr.. f. Thomas abandoned their
Ountry and embarked their capital in the coal re-
ions of Nova Scotia. Can we strengthen our
Ountry by exporting enterprise, industry, and cap
ALI
And is it not marvellous that such an exhibit
gsinst us can be made, in view Of tie facts that
ar bituminous coal-felds are so much broader and
cher than those of England and Nova Scotia COM
med, and that we depend for the support Of car
overnment and its credit upon taxes derived in
reat part from the forge the furnace the foundry,
lie railroad, the machine shop, the coal-bed, and
on mines? Are gentlemen willing to perpetuate
e malign influence that has produced state of
cts so dispsraging TO our intelligence patriotism,
I'D interests No; / believe they will agree with
10 that the time has arrived when we should de-
elop our own resources, foster American labor,
nd guard our own interests One effect of the recip
'city treaty mas been to send to Canada one million
We hundred thousand immigrants who, but for the
tvAntages It gave the Provinces over us, would
ave swelled our population. Let us now, by Ia
ing care Of our own people, induce them to come
nd share our burdens and blessings.