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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (Tn E TAEIFF LAW.) 



213 



._ Schedule E of section six of this act, this act shall 

 take effect on and after the first day of June, anno 

 Domini eighteen hundred and eighty-three. 



SEC. 13. That the repeal of existing laws, or modi- 

 fications thereof embraced in this act shall not affect 

 any act done, or any right accruing or accrued, or 

 any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil 

 cause, before the said repeal or modifications ; but all 

 rights and liabilities under said laws shall continue 

 and may be enforced in the same manner as if said 

 repeal or modifications had not been made ; nor shall 

 said repeal or modifications in any manner affect the 

 right to any office, or change the term or tenure there- 

 of. Any offenses committed, and all penalties or for- 

 feitures or liabilities incurred under any statute em- 

 braced in or changed, modified, or repealed by this 

 act may be prosecuted and punished in the same man- 

 ner and with the same effect as if this act had not 

 been passed. All acts of limitation, whether appli- 



forfeitures embraced in or modified, changed, or re- 

 pealed by this act, shall not be affected thereby ; and 

 all suits, proceedings, or prosecutions, whether civil 

 or criminal, for causes arising or acts done or commit- 

 ted prior to the passage of this act, may be commenced 

 and prosecuted within the same time and with the 

 same effect as if this act had not been passed. 



Amend the title so as to read, " An act to reduce 

 internal-revenue taxation, and for other purposes." 



The discussion of this measure in both 

 Houses was so extended that any abstract 

 of it would be out of the question. The de- 

 bate on the adoption of the conference com- 

 mittee's report was brief, and mainly confined 

 to the Democrats. The exceptions taken to 

 the report, as deviating from the policy of the 

 Senate bill, were set forth by Mr. Beck, of 

 Kentucky, whose argument was as follows : 



"I will speak of iron-ore first, because it 

 illustrates more prominently and plainly than 

 anything else what I desire to prove as to the 

 outrageous character of this report. When 

 the Senate of the United States I will begin 

 with our own action had this question under 

 discussion, many of the most intelligent men 

 of the country, notably Hon. Abram S. Hew- 

 itt, laid facts before the country and before 

 Congress to show that it was indispensable 

 to the great iron industries of this country, as 



House of Representatives, with Mr. Kelley at 

 its head, I suppose I may now speak of the 

 action of the House, as their acts are freely 

 discussed, and I suppose their action is under 

 review, said 50 cents per ton was the true 

 rate of taxation on iron-ore. There was no 

 disagreement between the House of Repre- 

 sentatives and the Senate as to iron-ore. 



" No committee of conference, dealing just- 

 ly with both Houses and representing the ex- 

 pressed will of both Houses of Congress, could 

 decently assume, when the two Houses had 

 disagreed or had agreed, to change the rate of 

 taxation upon which they had agreed. Yet 

 this conference committee so called, acting, as 

 I think, in defiance of the order of the Senate 



increased the duty on iron -ore, that both 

 Houses had agreed should not be taxed more 

 than 50 cents a ton, to 75 cents a ton, or 50 

 per cent, increase on the tax agreed on ; and 

 what is the effect of that usurpation of un- 

 warranted authority? One case illustrates the 

 whole 577,118 tons of iron-ore were import- 

 ed last year; by adding 25 cents a ton to the 

 cost of it the conference have added to the tax 

 on that raw material $144,279.50, assuming 

 that the same quantity will be imported. 



" Why was this done ? By what authority? 

 Obeying whose orders? What disagreeing 

 vote did they adjust ? The House had voted 

 50 cents ; the Senate had voted 50 cents ; they 

 had agreed. The conferees arbitrarily over- 

 threw what both Houses had agreed upon, 

 and added a tax upon the importations of this 

 raw material of $144,279.50, and we are to be 

 told that we must hurry this report through 

 because of the late hour of the session, and 

 allow that outrage to be perpetrated without 

 question, and without being even told by the 

 chairman of the committee why it was done ; 

 indeed, he carefully concealed the fact, merely 

 saying that there was no material increase of 

 taxation in any of the changes they had made, 

 when there is 50 per cent, increase of duty 



imported iron - ore had many qualities that upon the leading article out of which the iron 

 iron-ore found in this country does not pos- 

 sess, that it should be imported free of duty, 



of this country is made, and that was done by 

 him and his associates in defiance of the de- 



as when so imported it is used for the purpose liberate action of the House and of the still 

 of mixing with our own native ore, the for- 



n ore being low in phosphorus and there 



ng a great deal of phosphorus in our own. 

 He proved to my satisfaction that it would 

 extend and cheapen the manufacture of our 

 iron products and increase the uses to which 

 our native ores could be applied. 



more deliberate action of the Senate, all of 

 which was well known to the conferees. 



" An effort was next made to make the tax 

 a dollar a ton. That was voted down ; 85 

 cents was tried; 75 cents was tried; 60 cents 

 was tried. At a dollar, if I mistake not, the 

 vote was 11 in favor to 37 against it. Then 



" Earnest efforts were made on the part of the motion was made to make it 75 cents, and 



some Senators, notably the Senator from Vir- 

 ginia (Mr. Mahone), to increase the duty on 

 ore above 50 cents, which the commission 

 said was the true rate, which the Senate 

 committee said was the true rate, which the 

 Senate as in Committee of the Whole deter- 

 mined was the true rate, and voted down 

 upon the yeas and nays by overwhelming 

 majorities every effort to increase it. The 



15 voted in the affirmative and 34 in the nega- 

 tive upon a call of the yeas and nays. Sixty 

 cents was tried, and the Senate persistently 

 refused to increase it above 50 cents, and the 

 House upon a vote refused to increase it above 

 50 cents a ton. The proposition to increase 

 the tax was tried again on the 16th day of 

 February in the Senate, on the motion of the 

 Senator from Michigan (Mr. Conger); he 



