Volume 11 — MEANS FOR THE WAR THE TRUE OBJECT OF THE TARIFF.

Remarks in the Senate, on an Amendment to the Tariff Bill, June 16, 1864.

June 16th, the Tariff Bill being under consideration, and Mr. Pomeroy, of Kansas, moving to reduce the duty on railroad iron from seventy cents to sixty cents per hundred pounds, Mr. Sumner said:—

MR. PRESIDENT,—I am reluctant to think that we are legislating for a long number of years. Indeed, I regard what we are now doing as temporary or provisional. It is to meet the exigency of the hour; and on this account precisely I am ready to follow the Chairman of the Committee on Finance, in opposing the proposition of the Senator from Kansas.

Here I repeat, Sir, what I have said very often on this floor since the Rebellion began, that there is one rule which I always follow, and, by the blessing of God, will follow to the end. It is this: show me how I can best contribute to the resources of my country, enabling it to reach the end we all desire, and I shall vote for it. At this moment I know no way in which I can contribute more than by adding to the financial strength. Show me how I can most surely secure means to carry on the war and obtain its successful close, and I shall vote for it. If, therefore, by a tax at seventy cents I can promise a larger income than by a tax at sixty cents, I shall vote for seventy cents. To that extent I follow the Senator from Maine.

The amendment was lost,—Yeas 17, Nays 20.