Year: 1868

ed tables of our exports, which show that
whereas before the imposition of this tax
upon cotton and the allowance of the draw
back we were exporting none at all, we
have got back 10 exporting at the rate ol
between four and Eve millions, or more
than one half the amount that we ever ex~
ported in the most prosperous year.


Mr.. Sprague: know little about that
matter Of exporting cotton fabrics from this
country, and il is easily explained. Before
the war our commission merchants in Bos-
ton induced certain individuals who had
more money than brains to enter into the
manufacture of cottons for the India mars
ket. They would buy that product at cost,
send il TO India, and there sell il, in com
petition with the English, for ten or fifteen
per cent. below cost Why did they do it 7?
l can tell yon. IL il is an argument on
which to lnse our creditable position as
exporters and as competitors in the open
market l cannot see it. The point was
that as.there was a large premium for ex-
change on London, equal TO ten or fifteen
per cent, they at times exported this arti-
Gle to pay their debts for tea and silk.


am not good at statistics, but l hap
" OOOhH vi hldtlhhlt1i
information made up for us by the Bureau
of Statistics. and l find that for four months
past we have been exporting of cotton
goods about three hundred and iifty thou-
sand dollars a month"; matter Of no con.
sequence whatever, and il is exported un-
der such circumstances as / have stated.
The total, | think, is 81, 10000 for four
months





Mr.. Morrill,, of Vermont At the rate of
$500, 600 year.


Mr.. Sprague: From three hundred and
fifty TO four hundred thousand dollars a
month. l am not anxious about this draw.
back; / do not believe it amounts to any
thing in the present condition of the man.
ufacturing interests of this country, for we
cannot compete with foreign manufacturers
in the markets Of the world. We have a
splendid fabric of government; we have
ships Of war; we have foreign ministers
and consuls, and we have an army, like
Great Britain, but she employs hers for
sggresSions into the territories of other
countries so as to secure employment for
British labor, and we employ ous for show.
As my friend from Ohio suggests, she tries
to conquer territory for the cultivation of
cotton; we 10 destroy it.


Taxes have, in measure, placed the
American labor in the position he is in. l
am as much responsible, perhaps, as any-
body for that, although / have opposed
many specific items of taxation and / do
not wish to shirk that responsibility one
toto; but L must say that we have taxed
ont of existence interests which made us
a prosperous people. We have desired,
foolishly in my judgment, to show to the
world that we could commence to paw off
portion of the principal of the public
debt after having exhausted the resources
of the people beyond almost any human
endurance. 1t was a mistake; it was a
blunder almost equal to a crime. We are
now paying the penalty. We desire to sus-
tain the national credit that il might stand
well at home and abroad. This was COM
mendable, but very unwise. Then there ia
very unwise hue and cry, in my judg-
ment, that demands an immediate return
to specie payments when the people of the
country can hardly pay fifty cents on the
dollar In currency and you enacted an-
other very unwise provision which with
drew your currency month after month, a
value and a basis upon which prices were
sustained and maintained, and the interests
OF your people carried on | trust, as |
shall not hereafter perhaps enter upon the
debate OF these questions those who are re-
sponslble for these measures will be ex-
ceedingly careful how they repeat the
blunders heretofore committed. Livery
much fear the bill presented to es a few
days ago will allow your currency to be
shifted from hand to hand, at every shift
altering and changing the value ofproperty
and the interests of the people.


The two measures Of restricting the cur
rency and imposing a tax on cotton have
been very burdensome 10 the nation. The
repeal Of the cotton tax as a separate local
measure IS perhaps more important at this
time than any other. | have not been in
my seat as long as most of the members in
consequence of sickness; but came here
from my constituents, and from consultaa
ton with those conversant with the busis
ness and financial interests of the country,
and in my Judgment nothing has been more
satisfactory TO the people with whom
came in contact, and who are capable of
Judging of such questions, than the two
measures passed by the other house, one to
repeal the cotton tax and the other to tie
the hands Of the Secretary of the Treasury
so az TO prevent him from contracting or
Withdrawing the currency. Now, sir,
delays are dangerous great interest is
being preiudiced, prostrated and destroyed,
and it is the bOunden duty of the Senate, in
my Judgment, to come TO its relief by acting
on this measure fayorably and acting now.


Subsequently Mr.. Sprague said:


wish TO make one remark that | in
tended 10 make when | was Hp before, and
it il simply this; That the spirit of bragga-
dociO and the brag of the American people
has been their ruin. Ii has been d curse
upon them; for while they have been in>
dulging in that luxury the people of other
countries have been employed and have
been prosperous. There is not now within
the range of my vision an article produced
by the American people except that which
comes from the soil that goes ont Of our
country and enters into the consumption
Of the world. | do not wish 10 go over the
list, but any one eonversant with statistics
knows that there is not one Look at your
ship-building and lumber interests. Your
ship building is destroyed, and in lieu oil
building ships You send ont little lumber,
and then you send ont little coal, and you
send cotton, and You send gold, and that is
the sum total.


enIrsnsarrnzs