The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-01-31

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effect up to Saturday night last. the de-
hciency was $44,000000 He made a
| lengthy argument to refute the position
taken by Mr.. Wilson on Saturday re-
gardlng the revenues. He declared that
run having been inaugurated on the
gold reserve it was of supreme importance
| that an increase of the revenues should
take place to restore confidence. The
of bonds issued during the
iast year mad been extended to meet
the deficiency in the revenues.
Mr.. Reed (Rep, Me-, who closed the
general debate for his side. declared the
pending bill was trifling because no one
expected it to become an act If was in
that respect, he said, like much of the
/ legislation proposed in this congress. In
| trinsically the bill was of Importance
Ill that ne did not want congress to COM
NIT themselves too hastily to the i'll
advised opinion of the secretary of state
But the bill was being pressed, not be-
cause 1t was of Importance to us from
an economic point OF view, but ii was
sald 10 contravene some of the treaty
rights This proposition involved a ne
culiar situation, Germany granted n
bounty for the benefit of her sugar grow
ers and manufacturers To give Them
an opportunity to sell in our markets
we, acting under our rights. decided we
would protect some of our citizens. tbe
Louisiana planters, and the sugar trust.
Germanys bounty acted directly against
US, ana we simply contravened their act.
MT. heeu called attention to the CON
Hictins opinions of the secretary of state
ana the attorney general. the latter being
strong in the opinion that this duty did
not violate the treaty with Prussia. Mr.
Reed added TO the attorney generals
statement that of Count Hatfield. who
stated IN 1888 that such was the opinion
of the imperial government of GERMANY
Mr.. Reed asked what evidence had been
adduced to show that our meats had
been excluded by Germany because we
had imposed this differential on her SUI
gar.
When this administration came info
power there was $107 .G0O. 600 in the trcns-
ury in gold. That was the surplus
Since, then the administration has bor-
rowed lI.OOO,0OO, making in all S224.-
oOO,0D. Suppose the revenues had
equalled the expenditures and the gold
had been paid out, there would be in
place of gold the equivalent in green
backs. That is the situation in a mt
shell. If this had occurred no one would
nave asked that the greenbacks should
be retired from circulation
What is .ut duty? If is very nlain
Make the revenues equal the expendi-
lures. Do it at once. We, on our side
are always ready to do our part to sus-
tain the government" Republican ap-
plause)
Mr.. Coombs Dem, y W at tjis point
submitted some figures TO sustain thn
statement in the presidents message YES
terday that this generation had paid
enough old debts of the war. In 1865
the public debt was $2.396. .OOO 900.
hnf
had been issued. This generation since
that time has paid an average of 5000,
0OO,O0O year, a total of $6,379 O,9O5
in principal and interest, exclusive of
millions of dollars worth of war claims.
After some further debate by Mr.. Tur-
ner (Dem., Ga.) in reply to Mr.. Reed.
Mr.. Wilson closed the general debate
with brief speech in which he denied
that he had said that Germany had not
discovered diseased meat among our ex-
ports. Sporadic cases of disease would
naturally be discovered, bur putting to-
gether Germany s. protest against this
duty before the passage of the tariff act
with her subsequent act in prohibiting
the further importation of our meat, he
reiterated the belief that no one can doubt
that one was the cause of the other
Proceeding then to challenge Mr.. Din
gleys statement. that his (Wilson's) view
OF the cause of the treasury's distress
was antagonistic to that of the presi-
dent, he quoted Mr.. Cleveland's words
yesterday that there was a comfortable
surplus of $63,000,000 in the treasury,
but it was not in gold and therefore did
not meet the present difficulty. In CON
clusion, Mr. Wilson expressed the hone
that this bill would pass both houses of
congress and become law.
The bill was then read for ompndment
under the five-minute rule.
The amendment of Mr.. Hepburn to
authorize the president to impose by
proclamation tax of ST per ton on the
vessels of countries which made or EN-
forced regulations that prohibited or i'm
peded the sale of our food products, was
lost, go to 80.
An amendment, offered by Mr.. Hop ,,
kins Rep., ILL., in the shape of q proviso
continuing the differential duty against
such countries or their dependencies. |
as made or permitted unjust discrimina-
tion against any products of the United
States, was opposed by Mr.. Wilson on the |
ground that it meant retaliation, not !
reciprocity, and if adopted would COM
plicate the bill and render its enactment !
into law at this session impossible.
Mr.. Hopkins argued that if the bill, !
without some such enactment, would be- |
come Il law, II would place us ut the mer- !
cy of Germany. The amendment was ,
lost so to 10S.
Mr.. Hit Rep.. Ill., offered an amend
ment to repeal the one-eighth of q cent
differential on refined sugar. Mr. Hit |
declared that this was the differential |
imposed solely for the benefit of the SUI
gar trust, and he made an earnest argu-
ment in favor of striking out the tariff |
act along with the differential against
sugar bounty countries.
Mr.. Wilson said ID would more than
crafty him if this amendment could be !
adopted and the bill become a law, but he |
realized that this amendment, if adopted,
would defeat the bill. He therefore asked
his friends to vote down the amendment.
There were two ways in which the sugar
trust could defeat the bill, striking off
one-tenth duty on sugar from bounty |
paying countries; first, by killing it on the
square, and second, by loading the bill !
with amendments so that it could not
pass the senate.
"The gentleman from West Virginia"
said Mr.. Hit, "Once said on this floor,
just before the taking of famous and
fatal vote. that the sugar trust had con-
gress by the throat Does he still think
so?"
81 am obliged" replied Mr.. Wilson, 'to
answer in the line of my previous remarks,