Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-02-07


In Vermont, or in Maryland, or in New
York, or Pennsylvania, or Ohio, or
Michigan, wherever marble can be
worked the cost Of labor shows a very
great disparity indeed The cost Of
labor at Carrara, not according to the
statement OF any interested person.
but according to the statement found
10 books and tIeatlses on this sab
ject $780, English books and treaties,
which | have examined-is, for COM
mon labor, not over forty.fve cents
per day sixty cents day for skilled
quarrymen and from lightweight cents
to one dollar per day for the best and
most intelligent workmen. In the mar.
BILE quarries in Vermont-and have no
doubt it Is the same elsewhere in the
United States-the cost for common
laborer is 81 per day, and for highly
skilled labor from three to five dollars
per day.
1t will therefore be perceived by the
Senate that in every point Of view this
protection is proper upon the same prin-
ciple upon which we have been proceed
ing in relation to coal and all other home
productions, where there is an abund-
ance of the raw material scattered all
over the United States, where there are
millions of capital invested in New Eng
land and in the Middle States and some
in the Western States in this business,
and where therefore the whole market
can be supplied at rates which will not
be enhanced by this additional duty, for
the reason we all understand that If the
Quarryman can increase his production
and find q market for little additional
product Of his mine he can continue to
sell at the same or lower rate and still
make more profit than he did before, for
the larger the production and the great
er the sale the greater the gross amount
OF profit at d small rate.
Hence it appears to me all the COnsid-
eratiOns which have induced the Senate
to protect other branches OF American
industry apply with greater force if it
be possible, to this case. In the case of
coal, it is an article of prime necessity,
used either in the form of fuel or as the
means of producing light or working
machinery by every interest in the land
the poor as well as the rich, while in the
case of this description of marble, as l
said before, it is really a luxury used by
the opulent and wealthy for ornaments
for their dwellings, and other things Of
that kind.
Perhaps it may be said that as to
tOmbstones there may be some foreign
Importation but the cases are very rare,
indeed, in which the grave of any per-
son in even moderate circumstances is
marked by stone of foreign production.
In that instance it is only the graves of
the wealthy and the great that are sur
mounted by Italian marble monuments.
The result, then is if you wish to in
crease the revenue upon these articles Of
luxury and gain larger amount of in
come to the country than you do now
without increasing the price, this duty
ought to be raised to the point where the
House left it; and in addition to that, if
you wish to encourage the production at
home and to protect and develOpe the
capital already invested by%millions of
dollars and by thousands Of workers In
it, then this amendment ought to be
made.
Mr.. FEssENDBN. The same principle
upon which the committee acted with
regard to many other duties governed
them in fixing this duty. We looked to
see whether the duties raised upon some
particular materials would affect the
manufacturers of those materials. We
came to the conclusion that it was nee
essary to raise the duties on iron, though
not as much as the House proposed, and
on wool, which we left pretty much the
same; and OfCOurse upon all those things
manufactured from iron and from wool
it became necessary to raise the duties
somewhat. But with regard to this par
ticulAr thing, we could not see where the
logic was as applied to marble. In 1854
the duties were fixed exactly to suit the
predecessor of the honorable Senator
Mr.. Foot. Two years ago, or little
more, the Vermont marble men demand
ed duty Of fifty cents upon GALL other
marble" and twenty per cent. ad galOrem,
and they got 1t. ItCannOt be pretended,
think, that wages are any higher now
than they were then, especially in Yer
mont, where they work in marble. 1t
cannot be pretended that it costs any
| more to work the marble in Vermont to-
| day than it did when the tariff of 1864
was passed, or that the necessaries Of
life have increased in price since If
! that rate of duty was satisfactory then
to the predecessor of the honorable Sen
! atOr and the chairman Of the committee
of ways and means of the House who
looks sharply after Vermont's interests,
the committee on finance could not see
why it should not be satisfactory now.
We raised the duties at that time to
protect what is mere labor and having
given them all they wanted and all they
said was necessary to compete with for
egners then, the committee were unable
to see why this duty should be raised at
the present time. | am unable to per-
ceive it now.
The same argument Is made by the
Senator that is made by the representa-
tives Of every other interest. Calcula-
tions are presented which nobody can
answer because nobody has the data but
those who make them up; and we must
take them on their say-so. We had be-
fore us some Of the workers in marble
who say there lisa very considerable in
terest, large interest in the city of