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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



many persons in the South, some of whom are 

 here, that the planters should know now, be- 

 fore the holidays, whether or not it is advis- 

 able for them to proceed to raise cotton next 

 year or other crops, as during the holidays, or 

 at the beginning of the new year, they make 

 their contracts with their hands with a view 

 to the labor to be employed during the year. 

 I hope, therefore, the subject will be acted 

 upon. 



"If Senators desire any further information, 

 I have official documents here, and quite a 

 number of letters on the subject, showing the 

 absolute importance of repealing this tax. The 

 price of cotton has now gone so low, that it is 

 said that even without the tax it will not pay 

 the expense of raising it. I have letters from 

 gentlemen for whom I can vouch, who re- 

 moved from the State of Ohio and went South, 

 and who have done all they could to develop 

 that region of country by the raising of cotton, 

 who say, that at present prices there is an 

 actual loss of money with the utmost care on 

 their part, and if they are compelled to pay 

 the tax, even for the present year, they will 

 be ruined in some cases. As, however, the 

 House bill does not propose to relieve them 

 from the tax for the present year, the Com- 

 mittee on Finance thought it was scarcely 

 worth while to propose to amend the proposi- 

 tion, as there would probably be great divi- 

 sion of opinion upon it here, and there had 

 been a vote already taken on it in the other 

 House. The committee, therefore, reported 

 the bill without amendment." 



Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, said : "In this in- 

 stance I do not coincide with the action either 

 of the House of Representatives or of the 

 Finance Committee. I think it would be 

 much wiser, and it would be a greater relief 

 to the South, to take the tax off manufactured 

 cotton rather than off the raw material. There 

 are quite a number of facts and statistics which, 

 without occupying a great deal of time, I 

 should like to submit to the Senate when the 

 bill comes up for action." 



Mr. Pomeroy, of Kansas, said: "I am con- 

 fident, -as I have always been, that this tax 

 discourages production. I have many ac- 

 quaintances in the South, and I am sure that 

 you cannot get Northern men to go down there 

 and raise cotton while this tax is imposed, and 

 if they cannot raise it I do not suppose any 

 will be raised. I am anxious to come to a 

 vote and strike off the tax. I think, however, 

 it might act injuriously to strike it off from the 

 present crop, because that has got out of the 

 hands of the producers to a great extent, and 

 is in the hands, if not of speculators, of mer- 

 chants who did not produce it. They have 

 bought it with the tax paid, and I do not think 

 we should interfere with their arrangements. 

 I do not like laws that are retrospective. 

 Let this repeal be prospective and apply only 

 to the crop raised hereafter. If applying it to 

 this year's crop would relieve the producers, I 



should not object; but it is beyond that now, 

 it is too late for them ; we cannot relieve them. 

 We cannot relieve the men who raised the 

 cotton and lost money in doing it. It has got 

 into other hands." 



On December 20th the bill was further con- 

 sidered. 



Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, said : " This is not, 

 and cannot be considered, a political question, 

 and it ought not to be affected by political 

 considerations. We claim to be Senators of 

 the United States of America, and we are 

 bound to do that which we would do if all 

 these States were represented by two Senators 

 each on this floor. Would they possibly elect 

 a Senator from any of these Southern States, 

 whether white or black, loyal or rebel, who 

 would not demand as the first act of his offi- 

 cial life the repeal of this obnoxious cotton 

 tax ? We know that they would demand it, 

 and we should feel a sense of justice that would 

 impel us to grant, at least to a reasonable ex- 

 tent, some relief from this oppressive tax. 

 There is no doubt that if these States were 

 represented here by twenty Senators, this ques- 

 tion could not rest in doubt for a moment. 

 The House of Representatives felt the weight 

 of this subject upon them, and promptly, by a 

 very large vote " 



Mr. Morton: "And without debate." 



Mr. Sherman : "And without debate felt 

 bound to relieve this suffering interest by 

 prompt and decided action. The same feeling 

 prevailed in the Committee on Finance. We 

 had representations made to us which, if I 

 should read them to this Senate, would move 

 them ; it would be impossible for them not to 

 feel the force of th,ese statements as to the 

 condition of the people of the Southern States. 

 Look at it. Now, when their staple is brought 

 into market, one-fourth of all their production 

 is taken by the tax-gatherer ; and not only that, 

 but there are very severe and onerous regula- 

 tions which require them to bring their cotton 

 to one place in a congressional district,, making; 

 difficulties and delay, and then one-fourth of 

 their product is taken to pay the tax when the 

 other three-fourths will not pay more than one- 

 half of the expense of raising the raw cotton. 

 This was not foreseen when we laid this tax. 

 I voted for the first cotton tax. Then it was 

 a tax of five per cent. Last year the Senate, 

 by a very decided vote, reduced the tax to one 

 cent a pound ; and, probably, if it had been left 

 at that there would have been no serious com- 

 plaint, no demand for immediate action, and 

 we should have collected the one -cent per 

 pound without great suffering in the South. 

 But when we impose a tax of two and a half 

 cents per pound, thus taking from the producer 

 of the cotton one-fourth of all his labor, and 

 leaving the rest, totally insufficient to furnish 

 him the necessaries of life, I say it makes a 

 case of oppression which the Senate of the 

 United States ought promptly to relieve." 



Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, said: "There is 





