The Portland daily press., 1897-03-23

| ID case 1t should become law. The only
solid basis from which we can draw in
ferences is that supplied by the estimate
of Mr.. Evans. the statistioian, who has
made the comparative statement that on
the basis of importations in 1sss the
pending bill enacted into law would
yield an increase of revenue Of about
$113 600. 600, the details Of which are
given in the report of the committee IF
ways and means. The COMMITTEES esti-
mate that after making liberal reduc.l
tions fer the first year, IL the bill should
become law by May first the revenue
would reach S75 600, 900 and f,r every week
thereafter increase. If Its passage
should be deferred there would have to
be a reduction of from one to two mil
lion dollars for wool, sugar and other ar
ticles imported on speculation to avoid
the increased duties. For the secon
year the proposed bill would yield $780,
900, 600 of revenue. 1t must be obvious
from any point of view that prompt ac-
ton by the two Houses of Congress is in
dispensible to secure the revenue which
the pending bill is intended to yield.
The exigsncy is an unusual one. The
people without regard to party are ask.
ing for action.
With this great question of adequate
revenue to carry on the government set
|
| OF duties as will restore to our country
the prosperity surrendered to others dur
Ing the past four ysars, there is reason to
believe that gradually and surely there
will come back to us the great prosperity
which we enjoyed in the time previous
to 1898; that it will be impossible to
! find in history any parallel to the pro-
gress of the United States in the fthen)
last ten years. s
Standing midway in the first passage
1 Of the Republican side of the chamber,
MIR. Dingley began his speech slowly and
deliberately. Although his voice was
thin and weak, the stiffness in the large
hall was so absolute that he could he
| heard in the most remote CORNERS All
the members on his own side of the
House, and most of those on the other
side, paid the closest and most respectful
attention to his remarks, and occasional
ly some slight demonstration of approval
came to him from the Republican men,
bers.
| The first of such demonstrations oo-
CURED when he declared it to be the he
lief OF the committee'on ways and means
that no remedy was adequate to the
situation confronting Congress shat did
not aid in setting all the people at work
again. That sentiment drew out some
slight applause.
>. No interruption OF the speech took
place until Mr.. Linney, Republican or
North Carolina, asked Mr.. Dingley q
question in reference to the tax on pine
spruce and other saw logs, and was told
that logs were CD the free list.
! Some applause came from the Republi-
can side when Mr.. Dingley Declared that
in the second year of the operation of the
proposed law, the revenue of the govern
m ent would be increased by at least one
hundred million dollars; the government
| Va nrtn on, do oaf .fK = 4
interest hearing debt would be reduced.
Its effect for the first year would depend
| largely upon whether it became law
by the first of May next
| In conclusion he quoted from an Eng
lish authority to the effect that no
country on the face of the earth had es or
witnessed such unparalleled prosperity as
the United States in the ten years proceed
ing 1899. With this quotation he took his
seat amid dem onstrations of applause.
| MIR. Wheeler, Democrat of Alabama, a
mem Der of the committee on ways and
means, was the first to oppose the bill.
| The theory of the Democratic party was,
he said. that the way to give employment
| to American labor was to find purchasers
for the products of the farms and fac
| tories, and that the way to do that was
| to open the markets of the world to those
products The Democratic party thought
that the pending bill vas not one calou-
lated to do that and that 1t would there
| fore be a failure.
1t had been framed in a secret star
chamber by seven Republicans, and was
largely framed from petitions presented
to that body of seven men by the agent S
of the projected interests of the country.
Many paragraphs in the bill were in the
exact language of those petitions.
The bill. when published, had been de-
nounced by the great metropolitan papers
| or ~ q Iou6 linz nan 49,
land. The prosperity spoken of by Mr..
DinRley, he said, was due, not to the
protective system. but to the genius, en-
terprise and energy of the people of
America.
1t had been accomplished in spite of
the burdens imposed by the protective
system. The effect of the Mckinley bill.
In the United STATES than had ever been
closed in like period of time in the
history OF the country. The great
progress of the iron industry in Alabama
had taken place, he asserted, without
the slightest aid from protection. Gap
| plause.)
/ Mr. Wheeler assaiIing the Republican
position ms to the cheapness Of English
labor in comparison with American lab
OF, read statistics to show that cotton
spinners in England were better paid
than those in America and the market
for such labor was ~ times greater in
ENGLAND than in America.
| China, he said, had adopted protec-
tive system hundreds of years ago and
that system had brought her down to the
condition of degradation to which the
same system, if it triumphed in the
| United States would bring down this
| country.
MIR. Hopkins, Republican of Illinois,
member Of the committee on ways and
means followed Mr.. Wheeler. The Re-
publican party, he said, was again in
power and had been commissioned to.
enact legislation that would give conf.
dence to capital, restore prosperity to
Industries and agriculture aud give en-
ployment to labor. The causes that led
| to the political revolution which retired
the Democratic party from AUTHORITY had
| been clearly and admirably stated In the
message of the President.
In tour years of Democratic rule, the
people realized the utter inability of that
| party to formulate any legislation that
would work to the relief Of the peonle