To  see  the  ftiU  operation  of  the  proposed  re-
duction, it  is  all-important  that  we  should  bear
in  mind  what  tiiie  dutiea  have  been  on  the
various  articles  to  he  afTeoted  by  it. I  ask  the
members  of  this  committee  to  recur  to  the  leg-
islation on  this  subject,  and  contrast  the  various
enactments  with  the  bill  submitted. By  the  law
of  1816,  you  imposed  a  duty  on  woollen  manu-
factures generally  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  until
the  80th  June,  1819,  and  afterwards  of  twenty
per  cent. ;  by  that  of  1824,  a  duty  of  thirty  per
cent  ontil  1825,  and  subsequently  thirty-three
and  one-third  per  cent. ;  by  the  provisions  of
1828,  forty-five  per  cent,  on  doths  under  four
dollars  in  price,  and  fifty  per  cent,  on  all  ex-
ceeding that  vaiae;  and  the  law  of  1882  im-
posed fifty  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  and  abolished,
on  this  article,  the  system  of  minimimis. It
win  be  seen,  at  once,  that  the  measure  now
under  debate,  reaches  by  a  single  bound,  the
regulation  adopts  seventeen  years  ago ;  for  I
regard  as  of  no  consequence  the  retention  of
forty  per  cent  until  March,  1884,  and  of  thirty
per  cent  ontil  1885. Ton  had  as  well  seal
their  fate  at  once. It  is  like  the  gradual  ex-
tinction of  human  life,  and,  on  a  level  of  kind-
ness, with  the  lopping  off  a  man's  legs  and
arms  before  you  strike  a  vital  part  How  are
hundreds  of  millions  to  be  arranged  in  two
years  to  prevent  the  crash  which  the  provision
seems  to  admit  must  follow  if  the  change  were
inunediatef  On  cottons,  the  change  is  still
nore  to  be  regretted ;  for  it  will  be  soon  per-
ceived that  it  sweeps  from  under  their  feet  the
ground  upon  which  those  concerned  stood  in
1816,  and  leaves  them  in  an  infinitely  worse
situation. By  tiiie  law  of  that  year,  foreign
cottons  paid  twenty-five  per  cent,  for  three
years,  with  a  provision  that  if  they  cost  less
than  twenty-five  cents  per  yard,  they  were  to
he  rated  as  worth  that  sum,  and  afterwards  a
doty  of  twenty  per  cent  By  the  regulation  of
1824,  they  were  charged  with  a  duty  of  twenty-
five  per  cent  with  an  increased  minimum,
from  whidb  the  enactment  of  the  last  session
did  not  materially  vary,  and  the  law  of  1828
did  not  touch  cottons. 