The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-12
THE DIRECT TAX BILL.
THE HOUSE DEVOTES ANOTHER
DAY TO THE DEBATE.

Mr.. Allen OF Mississippi Hits the Meas
ure Some Staggering Biows-Mr.
Elliott of South Carolina Favors the
Bill on Account of the Sale of Beau
fort Property.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1l.-After the read
ing of the journal the House this morning
went into committee of the whole, with
Mr.. McCrary of Kentucky in the chair, on
the direct tax bill
Mr.. Hopkins of Illinois spoke in support
of the measure, and in opposition TO the
proposed amendment refunding the cotton
tax. II there was merit in the latter pro-
position that merit should be discussed in
separate bill, and an amendment should not
now be brought forward to embarrass con-
sideration OF the pending measure He con-
troveri ed the position taken byMr. Barnes of
Georgia that the cotton tax was unconstitu-
| tional, and he contended that the tax was
| uniform as contemplated by the constitu-
ton, being levied the same in Illinois as in
Georgia, and having been collected from
| twenty-six states and territories. The as
sumption that this tax had been paid by the
people of the southern states was a mis-
taken one. 1t had been paid by the con-
sumers in northern states.
A FACETIoUs OPENING.
Mr.. Allen of Mississippi yielded to what
he said was general desire on the part of
the members to hear him talk uDon propo-
stiOn which involved great constitutional
questions. He could find no warrant in the
constitution for the refunding of the direct
tax. The advocates of the bill believed in
constitutional limitations, but thought that
the limitations should be on somebody else
and not on themselves. The principle of
the bill was bad-that a tax should be
refunded, because some states bad
not paid it. He could cite a parallel
case. An honest distiller might for peculiar
reasons, locate his still in secluded spot
and make a run of good old applejack. 1t
might be that il his haste to crafty human
thirst, he would forget to call upon the
collector
THE LOGIC OF THE BILL.
The logic of this bill was that if the gov
eminent found that that distiller had not
paid his tax, the tax should be refunded to
those distillers who had paid it. He did not
believe that any of these back taxes should
be refunded. The best thing for congress
to do was to spit on the slate and rub out
these questions, and give its attention to the
present and the future. But if congress was
going into the business of righting the
wrongs of the past, he wished to call at
tention to the cotton tax. He pictured the
condition of the south when the confederate
soldiers returned to their homes. 1t was a
condition and not theory which had con-
fronted them. Laughter
A PERSONAL Renaissance.
He described after begging pardon for per-
sonal "reminiscences the 'I c." INSPECTED
and condemned) horse and bull tongue
pillow, with which he started to raise cotton,
the joy which he felt at being the possessor
of a paper collar (which, he assured the gen.
ha
made to last a whole summer, of his
aspiration to be the possessor of
black coat, and of his failure to secure
one on account of the tax which he had
| to pay upon his cotton. The tax amounted
to one-fourth of the value of the cotton,
while it did not enhance its price one cent.
If taxes were to be refunded, this cotton tax
was the first which should be dealt with,
| and he gave notice of an amendment
| which would constitute the cotton tax fund
| as an educational fund for the states which
| had paid it.
MR.. ELLIOTT FAVORS 1T.
Mr.. Elliott of South Carolina generally
favored the dill, though he thought it
should be amended in some particulars, and
he cited as an instance of the hardships
which the direct tax had given rise to, the
case of Beaufort, S. c., where, in order to
| collect tax Of 1000 property valued at
| $517, 1000 had been sold.
Mr.. Herbert of Alabama opposed the bill
on constitutional grounds and because it
| would work an injustice. 1t would pay to
the state of Maine a per capita of 65 cents,
while to the state of Nebraska, it would
ray but l q cents per capita. Passing to
discussion of the cotton tax, he argued that
it was unconstitutional in that it was not
| uniform. The tax on cotton was a tax on
the only industry upon which the people of
the south must live
IT'S VALIDITY NEVER QUESTIONED
Mr.. Grosvenor. Of Ohio, said that the
validity and binding force of the act i'm
posing the direct tax had never been ques-
toned. A direct tax was an unpopular tax
| and one which should only be resorted to
| in an emergency In, 1861 such an emer-
gency existed, and the people lof the loyal
| states had paid the tax and raised
the money to save the people
of the south from their folly, he would not
say crime, because he did not wish to rake
| smouldering embers. Out of the common
fund raised by the tax it was proposed to
withdraw what the loyal states had put in,
and to leave the south without its record OF
defalcation.
WHO WAS BENEFITED?
If the s17, 900, 900 raised by that tax had
crushed the war, destroyed slavery restored
the constitution, who were most benefited
by it, the men who paid the money or the
men who were to-day honorable members
Of the great family of states! Why should
the men of the south complain that the
small principal should be returned to the
states that paid it. without interest,
| and the charge of defalcation re-
moved from the states that had
not paid tax! Underlying this proposition
was the great fact that tho passage of the
| bill would put the people of the country
where equity said that they ought to stand
1t was a step toward the complete reunion
of the hearts of the people of the country
reunion not enforced by law, but CON
trolled and promoted by the wish and pur-
pose of both sections of the country to do
| actual justice toward each other.
OPPOSITION FROM MICHIGAN.
Mr.. Whiting Of Michigan opposed the
bill as being unconstitutional and unjust
Mr.. Enloe of Tennessee declared that the
bill was sustained neither by law nor by
precedent: denounced it as a subterfuge and
fraud and ohm road that Ire nj IN, vyaS ~ nor