Ordered, That the said report and resolution be laid on the table and printed. The Speaker laid before the House the bill of the House (H. R. 1460) to regulate the duties on copper and copper ores, returned by the President with his objections, which objections were read, and are as follows, viz: To the House of Representatives: The accompanying bill, entitled "An act regulating the duties on imported copper and copper ores," is, for the following reasons, returned. without my approval, to the House of Representatives, in which branch of Congress it originated. Its immediate effect will be to diminish the public receipts, for the object of the bill cannot be accomplished without seriously affecting the importation of copper and copper ores, from which a considerable revenue is at present derived. While thus impairing the resources of the government, it imposes an additional tax upon an already overburdened people, who should not be further impoverished that monopolies may be fostered and corporations enriched. It is represented, and the declaration seems to be sustained by evidence, that the duties for which this bill provides are nearly or quite sufficient to prohibit the importation of certain foreign ores of copper. Its enactment, therefore, will prove detrimental to the shipping interests of the nation, and at the same time destroy the business, for many years successfully established, of smelting home ores in connection with a smaller amount of the imported articles. This business, it is credibly asserted, has heretofore yielded the larger share of the copper production of the country, and thus the industry which this legislation is designed to encourage is actually less than that which will be destroyed by the passage of this bill. It seems also to be evident that the effect of this measure will be to enhance, by seventy per cent., the cost of blue vitriol-an article extensively used in dyeing and in the manufacture of printed and colored cloths. To produce such an augmentation in the price of this commodity will be to discriminate against other great branches of domestic industry, and by increasing their cost to expose them most unfairly to the effects of foreign competition. Legislation can neither be wise nor just which seeks the welfare of a single interest at the expense and to the injury of many and varied interests at least equally important and equally deserv ing the consideration of Congress. Indeed, it is difficult to find any reason which will justify the interference of government with any legiti mate industry, except so far as may be rendered necessary by the requirements of the revenue. As has already been stated, however, the legislative intervention proposed in the present instance will diminish, not increase, the public receipts. The enactment of such a law is urged as necessary for the relief of certain mining interests upon Lake Superior, which, it is alleged, are in a greatly depressed condition, and can only be sustained by an enhancement of the price of copper. If this result should follow the passage of the bill, a tax for the exclusive benefit of a single class would be imposed upon the consumers of copper throughout the entire country not warranted by any need of the government, and the avails of which would not in any degree find their way into the treasury of the nation. If the miners of Lake Superior are in a condition of want, it cannot be justly affirmed that the government should extend charity to them in preference to those of its citizens who, in other portions of the coun try, suffer in like manner from destitution. Least of all should the endeavor to aid them be based upon a method so uncertain and indirect as that contemplated by the bill, and which, moreover, proposes to continue the exercise of its benefaction through an indefinite period of years. It is, besides, reasonable to hope that positive suffering from want, if it really exists, will prove but temporary in a region where agricultural labor is so much in demand and so well compensated. A careful examination of the subject appears to show that the present low price of copper, which alone has induced any depression the mining interests of Lake Superior may have recently experienced, is due to causes which it is wholly impolitic, if not impracticable, to contravene by legislation. These causes are, in the main, an increase in the general supply of copper, owing to the discovery and working of remarkably productive mines, and to a coincident restriction in the consumption and use of copper, by the substitution of other and cheaper metals for industrial purposes. It is now sought to resist, by artificial means, the action of natural laws; to place the people of the United States, in respect to the enjoyment and use of an essential commodity, upon a different basis from other nations, and especially to compensate certain private and sectional interests for the changes and losses which are always incident to industrial progress. Although providing for an increase of duties, the proposed law does not even come within the range of protection, in the fair acceptation of the term. It does not look to the fostering of a young and feeble interest, with a view to the ultimate attainment of strength and the capacity of self-support. It appears to assume that the present inability for successful production is inherent and permanent, and is more likely to increase than to be gradually overcome; yet in spite of this it proposes by the exercise of the law-making power to sustain that interest, and to impose it in hopeless perpetuity as a tax upon the competent and beneficent industries of the country. The true method for the mining interests of Lake Superior to obtain relief, if relief is needed, is to endeavor to make their great natural resources fully available by reducing the cost of production. Special or class legislation cannot remedy the evils which this bill is designed to meet. They can only be overcome by laws which will effect a wise, honest, and economical administration of the government, a re-establishment of the specie standard of value, and an early adjustment of our system of State, municipal, and national taxation, (especially the latter,) upon the fundamental principle that all taxes, whether collected under the internal revenue or under a tariff, shall interfere as little as possible with the productive energies of the people. The bill is therefore returned, in the belief that the true interests of the government and of the people require that it should not become a law. WASHINGTON, D. C., February 22, 1869. After debate, ANDREW JOHNSON. The question was put, Will the House, on reconsideration, agree to the passage of the said bill? The yeas and nays having been taken thereon as required by the Constitution of the United States, So the House, on reconsideration, agreed to the passage of the said bill. Ordered, That the Clerk communicate the said bill and the objections of the President thereto to the Senate, and acquaint the Senate with the action of the House thereon. A message from the Senate, by Mr. McDonald, their chief clerk: Mr. Speaker: The Senate have disagreed to the amendments of the House to a joint resolution and bill of the Senate of the following titles, viz: S. R. 8. Joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States; S. 440. An act supplementary to an act entitled "An act to provide a national currency secured by a pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof," approved June 3, 1864; Ask a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two houses, and have appointed Mr. Stewart, Mr. Conkling, and Mr. Edmunds, the conferees on the part of the Senate on the former, and Mr. Sherman, Mr. Morgan, and Mr. Cameron, the conferees on the part of the Senate on the latter. The Senate have passed a bill and joint resolutions of the House of the following titles, viz: H. R. 1858. An act making appropriations (in part) for the expenses of the Indian department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations; H. Res. 407. Joint resolution for the relief of Frederick Schley; severally without amendment; and H. Res. 438. Joint resolution relative to certain purchases by the Interior Department; with an amendment, in which I am directed to ask the concurrence of the House. The Senate have also passed a joint resolution and bills of the following titles, viz: S. R. 228. Joint resolution authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to admit free of duty certain submarine telegraph cable; S. 458. An act to abolish the office of superintendent of reports and drawback; S. 968. An act authorizing certain banks named therein to change their names; and S. 936. An act supplementary to an act entitled "An act to authorize the extension, construction, and use of a lateral branch of the Balti more and Potomac railroad into and within the District of Columbia," approved February 5, 1867; in which I am directed to ask the concurrence of the House. The Sergeant-at-arms appeared at the bar of the House having in custody John H. Bell, arrested by the order of the House; When Mr. Blair submitted the following resolution; which was read, con sidered, and agreed to, viz: Resolved, That Joseph H. Bell, of Orange county, in the State of New York, now in the custody of the Sergeant-at-arms, for a contempt in refusing to answer certain questions put to him by the select committee of this house appointed to examine into alleged frauds committed at the late presidential election in the State of New York, be now arraigned at the bar of this house, and that the Speaker propound to him the following interrogatories: 1. What excuse have you for refusing to answer the questions propounded to you by the select committee of this house appointed to examine into alleged frauds committed at the late presidential election in the State of New York? 2. Are you now ready to appear before said committee and answer such questions as shall be propounded to you by said committee? And thereupon the Speaker propounded the said interrogatories to the said John H. Bell; and the same having been responded to, Mr. Ross moved that he be discharged from custody. Pending which, On motion of Mr. Ward, the said motion was laid on the table. arms. The Sergeant-at-arms again appeared at the bar of the House having in custody David W. Reeve, arrested by the order of the House; When Mr. Blair submitted the following resolution; which was read, considered, and agreed to, viz: Resolved, That David W. Reeve, of Orange county, in the State of New York, now in the custody of the Sergeant-at-arms for a contempt in refusing or neglecting obedience to the summons requiring him to appear and testify before the select committee of this house appointed to examine into alleged frauds committed at the late presidential election in the State of New York, be now arraigned at the bar of this house, and that the Speaker propound to him the following interrogatories: 1. What excuse have you for refusing to answer before the select committee of this house appointed to examine into alleged frauds committed at the late presidential election in the State of New York, in pursuance of the summons served on you for that purpose? 2. Are you now ready to appear before said committee and answer such questions as shall be put to you by said committee? And thereupon the Speaker propounded the said interrogatories to the said David W. Reeve, and the same having been responded to, Mr. Ross moved that he be discharged from custody. Pending which, Mr Ward moved that the said motion be laid on the table. It was decided in the affirmative, Yeas. by one-fifth of the members present, The yeas and nays being desired Mr. William B. Allison Oakes Ames Mr. John F. Driggs Those who voted Mr. Stevenson Archer Samuel B. Axtell Samuel F. Cary J. Lawrence Getz Thomas W. Ferry Benjamin F. Hopkins Mr. John H. Ketcham in the negative are Mr. J. S. Golladay Asa P. Grover Mr. Thomas L. Jones Mr. Green B. Raum William H. Robertson Caleb N. Taylor Robert T. Van Horn Cadwal'r C. Washburn Mr. Charles E. Phelps Philadelph Van Trump P. M. B. Young. |