Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-02-07
speech of Hon. Geo. =. Edmunds.
DELIVERED IN THR UNITED STATES SIM
ATE, JANUARY 26rH., ON PROTECTION
To VERMONT MARBLE,

We present TO our readers THIS very In.
telligent and discriminating speech in
the Senate, In behalf of the marble in.
terest OF Vermont, AS 1t is one of the
most important interests of Rutland
county, we commend 1t TO careful perusal,
rs indicates that the. successor of Mr..
Fo, Is heartily for encouraging all the
var d interests of hisimmediate constl-
tuenS.
Section 10 Of the new Tariff bill pro-
vides that "0n all other marble Except
white statuary, bracatella sienna, and
antique), in slab or block, fifty cents per
cubic foot, and twenty per cent. ad "a
lorea," shall be paid. Mr.. Edmunds
moved to strike out the words, "fifty
cents" and insert the words zone dol.
lar, and to leave Off the aa ralorcm duty
entirely. The amendment of Mr.. Ed
munds was lost by vote OF Is to II.
Mr.. Edmunds presents the argument
in favor Of his amendment as follows
Mr.. EDMuNDs.-I move 10 amend the
amendment OF the committee on finance
by striking out " fifty cents in line
forty-nine, in section thirteen, on page
Sc, and inserting Zone dollar" and by
striking out all after the word foot, in
line fifty.
The effect of this amendment is simply
to put the second classification OF mar
BILE in the bill at one dollar per cubic
foot specific instead of fifty cents Gu
bic foot and twenty per cent. o8 pQlorem
The amendment proposes to raise the
duty provided in that paragraph to one
dollar per cubic foot, leaving Off the dd
valOycR duty entirely, which is exactly as
the House bill stands and from the in
vestigation which | have made on the
subject, and the information | have re-
ceived, which is perfectly credible, !
am clearly satisfied that that ought to be
done
The first clause on the subject Of mar
bic provides a duty Of one dollar per Gu
bic foot and twenty five per cent al ca-
loren on white statuary marble, broCa-
tello sienna, and antique. Now, it is
well known to most Senators undOubt-
eddy, that all the marble that comes into
the country under that first classified
tion is exceedingly trifling. The i'm
portations Of IL amount to almost moth
ing for the reason that under that clas-
sificatiOn the importers are able to swear,
as importers are sometimes little loose
on that subject, that the marble which
they import properly belongs to the
other class. If block of marble pos
sesses the least disColoratiOn, no matter
how large the block may be, il it is at
all veined or otherwise impure in any
part of it, it does not come under the
head of white statuary marble" bu:
comes in under the head of the "other"
descriptions of marble.
The Classifcations of marble known
to the science Of geology and to the
trade are as follows; first, the antique,
which is merely marble made from an
cient monuments, the quarries of which
are now entirely lost, and which so far
as importatiOns are concerned is of
course of no account anyway. The
second is the simple, or single col
ored varieties That may be white or
it may be yellow or any other color
which is uniform and homogeneous.
The third variety is the variegated, which
includes all kinds of discOlored marbles
which are homogeneous in their compo-
sition. The fourth kind is what Is
called the brecciated, which includes
brocatellO, which is the same as Mary
land or Virginia marble of which the
columns in the Hall of The House Of Rep
resentatives are made, and very hand
some marble it is The 9th description
is what is called the lumaChella or fOs-
siliferOu> marble. That is composed
very largely of fossil shells, but Is not
very much use in trade. Then the kinds
of marble which will come in under this
second clause includes almost all that is
used for interior ornamental purposes
whether Of single cOl0red or Of the va
riegated-colore kinds. 1t will all come
in under this second clause. We all
know tina. marble which is used in that
way is marble which is used generally
by the Opulent 1t is for inferior orna
mentatiOn, mantels, wash basins, ard al
that sort Of thing which goes to make
up the eegancies Of the houses of the
rich, and therefore tax as upon luxury
may justly be imposed upon it.
Now, the cost of that description O
marble laid down In New York, accord
ing to the invoices Of the importers 70,
the past two years, has been as follows
the cost at Carrara, in Italy, from
whence the largest part Of this marble
comes, is put down at sixty-five cents
That is the cost delivered on ship-board
at Carrara. The duty is fifty cents and
twenty per cent nd pai0rem as the law
now is, equal to sixty-three cents. The
premium on gold at forty per cent. would
be tlfty-one cents more. The freight
when it was not brought as ballast, as
it frequently is, and If paid for as freight
rather than paying freight for being
brought, three dollars per ton, would be
thirty cents per cubic foot. Then in
surance, &C., amounts to two cents more.
Adding up these items, you have the
prime cost in the city of New York of a
cubic foot of this description of marble
81 IL only. That is what it pays duty
on. That marble sells in the city OF
New York, which is the principal mar
ket, and in Boston for just about the
same it sells to the persons who buy it
from these importers from five to seven