dried pilchards, transportation of iron ordnance, of lace, of horn, of leather, importation of 

 Spanish wool, of Irish j-arn — these are hut a part of tlie commodities whicii had been appro- 

 priated to monopolists. When this list was read in the House (of Commons) a member 

 cried. Is not li rend in the number ? Bread', said everyone in astonishment. Yes, I assure 

 you, replied lie, if affairs go on at this rate we shall have bread reduced to a monupoly before 

 next Parliament.'' 



Let no one suppose that the farmers of this free country would be in better 



condition if the chxims put forth by Mr. Burke were recognized. Everything 



would be turned into a monopoly by legislation to enforce the " prerogatives of 



the manufacturer." Let us look into the proceedings of this convention and 



see what was attempted last session. Its president, Mr. William E. Lawrence, 



thus speaks to it, in his remarks as the presiding officer : 



" When, about a year since, we met in coxivention, the object of which was simil.ar to that 

 of the one now assembled, it was determined to use all po.ssible influence to intluce the gov- 

 ernment to transfer the tax on tobacco from the manufactured article to the leaf. After the 

 termination of that convention a committee was appointed, by authority of the conA'cntion, 

 to visit Washington tor the purpose of using its l)est efforts to accomplish that result. As 

 one ot that comnjiitee I may say to you, we met Senator Sherman, chairman of the Finance 

 Committee, who gave us every opportunity to present our views to the honorable body over 

 which he presided. We also saw Judge Lewis, then Commi>sioner of Internal Revenue, 

 who accompanied us to the committees of botli houses of Congress befoie which it was 

 proper for us to appear. We urged the remission of the tax upon the manufactured article 

 of tobacco and its tiansfer to the leaf; that the manufacturer would pay the tax, and that it 

 should be estimated on the leaf instead of the manufactures. We ha\-e reason to believe a 

 majority of the com mittee were in favor of our plan, as was also the Secretarj' of the Treasury, 

 Mr. Fessenden. The distinguished chairman of the Conmiittee of Ways and Means, Hon. 

 Thaddeus Stevens, favored our views, and iiitroduced a bill in the House in aid of the move- 

 ment. Unhappily, however, he thought it advisable to insert in his bill a clause which at 

 once proved tatal to our interests in the last Congress — a clause which authorized a tax on 

 exported tobacco." 



As the same claims will, doubtless, be renewed the present session, let us look 



into this bill of Mr. Stevens, that we m vy see whftt would have been its effect 



on the tobacco-grower, both with and without the clause authorizing an export 



tax. The leading provisions of the bill are as follows, quoting from memory : 



1. Leaf tobacco was to be taxed from twenty to thirty cents per pound. 



2. All existing taxes on manufactured tobacco were to be repealed. 



3. A bonus of twenty-five cents per pound was to be allowed the manufac- 

 turer for all manufactured tobacco exported by liim. 



4. An export duty of cents per pound was to be levied on all leaf 



tobacco exported. The amount of this export duty is not recollected. 



A few days afterwards Mr. Stevens introduced another bill, very different in 

 its provisions, but still, uutler its provisions leaf tobacco would have been taxed 

 the same. 



The first of these bills is the one referred to by Mr. Lawrence, because the 

 second one did not propose an export duty, and retained certain taxes on the 

 manufactured article. 'J he first one, then, with the exception of the export 

 duty, may be regarded as the manufacturer's bill — the other as indicating the 

 views of Mr. Stevens. We know that Senator Sherman did not concur in the 

 views of this committee of tobacconists. 



In the bi-monthly report for January and February, 1864, we showed that 

 from 1841 to 1850, both inclusive, the average price of tobacco leaf at New 

 York was 5.J cents, and that during these low rates the cultivation of tobacco 

 declined from 219,607,739 pounds in 1840 to 199,736,336 pounds in 1850; that 



