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

maTDle,
Again, there Is one thing OF which
the Vermont marble now has a perfect
monopoly, and that is for statuary pur-
poses. No one thinks of importing mar
BILE to compete with the Vermont mar
BILE for that, II is pure white, the best
that can be had, These other marbles
which the Senator has referred to are
expensive. They are used, as he says,
rather, as articles of luxury. 1t is not
so much SO with the common marbles,
which are used for various purposes in
connection with the building of houses
and for furniture and divers things
which | cannot begin to enumerate,
Many import these foreign marbles for
that use. They are not very high
priced, and their use does not interfere,
as we are told, with the sales of the
Vermont marble works, because they
have as much as they can do to supply
the demand, and, indeed, that Is more
than they can do.
believe our marble trade is the prin-
cipal trade we have with Italy. There
are but two or three articles in which
we have any trade with Italy. We trade
there for fruits, and we trade for sui
phur, most of which comes from Sicily
and WE trade for marble. | do not sup
pose it costs great deal for our fruit
vessels to bring home marble or that
they charge very large sum. The
Senator should remember in his calCu-
latiOns Of what the freight costs
and what profit the importer makes,
that the importer charges according TO
what he has to pay, and if ne has to pay
a dollar duty he charges that dollar to
the consumer.
Now, sir, | hope the amendment will
not be adopted, unless the Senator can
give some good and sufficient reason
which shows that this burden should be
laid upon the many uses that are made
of marble for ordinary purposes Of Or
namcnt in furniture and in the building
Of hONseS, 50 as to give an entire mo-
nOpoly of the whole matter to the Yer
mont marble. works and destroy the
little trade we have with Italy in this
matter Unless he can show some dt-
lereut reason that prevails now from
that which prevailed in 1864, two Years
and q half ago, when the duty was fixed
exactly to suit these gentlemen, and
was made perfectly satisfactory to them
on their own motion, really think this
amendment ought not to prevail.
Mr.. EDMUNDs. My friend from Maine,
if we were to Judge by his debates is I'M
able to see any other part of the country
except that rOck-bound coast up there
where they distil Albertite into oil.
That is the only interest which really
deserves the highest kind Of protection,
If we are to take his counsel Tor it, that
there is in the United States. Now |
wish to inform the Senator from Maine,
or rather to remind him, because he
does not need to be informed, that the
data am speaking from as to the pro
duCtiOn of these marbles, the cost Of
them, and all that, he can lind in any
recent encyclopedia which contains the
head marble or "CarraTa marble :" and
there he will find the cost of foreign
labor, the amount of production, the
classification of the marble, the markets
to which it is exported and l will read
for the Information of my friend from
Maine a memorandum which | have
made myself from the fourth volume Of
the American Encyclopedia, which is to
be found in the Congressional Library,
and which was not got up by workers
Of Vermont marble to the best Of my
knowledge, information, and belief, to
show what this foreign production is,
how it is classified, and what very en-
inent English statistcian, writing on
this subject, says is done with it.
First as to the foreign product Car
rara furnishes of statuary blocks, the
kind that my friend from Maine is viii
ling TO protect against, only >, 300 tons a
| year. The only other foreign product
of statury blocks is Massa, which fur
nishes rather inferior kind, and which
only produced in 1862 or 1868, when
this encyclopedia article was written,
| 100 tons. OF other marble in blocks
Carrara produced As, 367 tons Massa,
1892 tons. Then in slabs Carrara pro-
duced 5,5l8 tons, aud Massa, 81, max
ing total production of Carrara marble
of 81, 1855 tons, Of which, as | have said,
only 1900 tons were statuary, and the
total product Of Massa 4 400 tons.
OF this annual product from these
quarries-now quote from the English
writer on the subject, and not from the
Vermont marble men-"about half that
in blocks" (that includes the statuary
and all others in blocks, making about
$4,000 tons) lis exported to the United
States, which appears to be steady and
good market" Now, | quote further
! from the American Encyclopedia when
I say that the cost of labor at Carrara
does not exceed forty-fve cents per day
for common labor, sixty cents per day
for skilled labor, and eighty eight cents
per day for the best and most intelligent
workmen. The London prices for these
marbles, taken from the same book, are
as follows: of the highest and best
quality of statuary fourteen to fifteen
dollars per cubic foot; the first quality
of the other kinds which come in under
this proposition at fifty cents per foot,
from seven to eight dollars per foot the
second quality three to four dollars per
foot and other italian marble, not the
| Carrara, one to three dollars.
Thus it will be perceived that the data
to which have referred do not depend
upon the statements of interested par
ties, but do depend upon the general in