The age-herald., 1898-05-20
THE PROPOSED BOND ISSUE
The Subject of His Scathins Words in
 the Senate.
WAR REVENUE BILL AGAIN TAKEN UP
Protests Against Tax on Stocks on Hand-Sev- eral Amendments Laid 0yer-Death of MT. Gladstone Made Theme of
 Chaplain's Invocation.

Washington. May 1s.-The death of MT. Gladstone was made the theme of the chaplain's invocation at the opening of the senate today. A resolution presented by MT. Mills, of Texas. was passed It calls upon the secretary of war for plans and specifications for the improvement of Aran- sas Pass harbor.
 At the conclusion of the morning business consideration of the war revenue bill was resumed, MT. McLaurin delivering a set speech. Speaking of the bringing on of the war in which we are now engaged. he said Spain had supposed that the commer- cial greed had stifed patriotism. This, to her sorrow, she had learned at Manila, was not the fact. She had realized there that Dewey was worthy successor to De- catur and Perry. He was ready, he said. to vote for any measure that would tend to bring the war to a successful conclusion.
 People in Cuba are dying every hour; every day now means the loss of hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives in Cuba, MT. McLaurin declared. Liberty on the is- land is at stake and the war placed our own national prestige at stake.
 Concerning the proposed issue of bonds he said there was an influence at work in the country more powerful than the presi-
 
 the silent, secret influence of the money power which was endeavoring to force an issue of bonds. Once the senate, the for um of the people, yields to this clamor, MT. McLaurin declared and becomes entangled in the meshes of the money octopus, the people will suffer indeed.
 To Raid the Treasury
 'There is an army in this country" said he, just as anxious to raid the United StatRS V0lnntlprS tO raid the island of Cuba. To the army I re- fer to no volunteers are needed. These job bers and spectators form a greater menace than the war with Spain."
 MT. McLaurin defended the bill as re- ported by the majority of the finance com mittee, and hoped that with the possible l exception of the stamp tax, which he | deemed unnecessary the bill would pass as | reported. At the conclusion of Mir. McLaurn's speech the clerk proceeded with the reading
 O. the bill. When the paragraph provid- ing for stamp taxes upon all transfers of stock was considered, MT. Bacon of Geor- gia said the committee had not carefully covered agreements to sell stock, and that 1t should established that "agreement to sell" should not bear stamps unless an actual transfer fstock took place. Agree
 ment might be made and a settlement ef- 1 fected between the patries without an act l ual transfer or SIOck u6 WdS 1 amended so as to clearly cover all agree
 ments to sell stock whether the stock act- l ually was transferred or not.
 Mr. German thought the checks for small ] amounts ought not to be required to bear stamps.
 MT. Aldrich, in reply, said that the elim- 1 fnation of cases for small amounts would I eliminate the revenue from this source 1 about s5. 900. The tax, he said, "did not
 bear upon small depositors heavily and 1 upon savings bank depositors who drew
 money on their books 1t bore not at all.
 MT. Clay, of Georgia. moved to strike out l the requirement. of tax of two cents upon 1 each promissory note of $lO0 or less. IL was | rejected
 | Inland Bills of Exchange 1 MT Bacon moved so to modify the pro- vision for a tax on inland bills of exchange l as to relieve bills of less than $100 in value i from the requirement. and to fix the rate at cents where the value is between Sl00
 and s2OO.
 1 MT. WoIcott objected to the change say- l ing that there was no real foundation for l tbe objection to the proposed tax except upon the stamp.
 MT. Conan suggested that if the bill was
 to pass as reported it would carry too much revenue and that taxes such as these
 now under consideration could be eliminat- 1 ed. He urged that the democratic amend l ments be taken up now. MT. Wilson sug- rested that if the democrats were to be J included in the bill and it should become law 1t would carry more revenue than Iwass needed.
 r MT Aldrich opposed any change Tn the ] order of procedure.
 MT Teller said the difficulty was that i the committee was divided as to the I amount of revenue that would be raised un- i der the bill. As for himself he wanted a
 5000 900 900 tax Continuing, he said he
 fba ebOuld mt only pro-
 vide revenue for the present war, but also
 for the next. MT. Teller said that the in- dications were that the. war with Spain would not long continpe, but the signs
 were equally strong that within a lew
 years we would be Involved in another war i which would probably be of far more inn
 nortance than the contest with "the by 3
 country with which we are now contend- ing.''
 vss lost by a vote of 13 to Al. While the
 paragraph requiring all bills of lading, l manifest or receipts given by railroads, | steamship or express companies 10 pear stamps was under consideration, MT. sew
 ell, of New Jersey. inquired whether the | committee proposed both the pln or iaoihs l and receipt for property l Mr Allison replied that 1t was not and | the paragraph was so amerdcd as 10 make
 the point clear. MT. Mallefv, of Florida,
 believed that the tax on telephone mes sages would be difficult to collect.
 Amendment Laid Over
 At the suggestion of Mir. Wolcott. the
 entire amendment relating to express,
 freight and telephone taxes was laid over | for future consideration.
 1 The committee amendment relating to the | taxes upon life insurance policies was pass | ed over at the suggestion of MT. White. 1 The other committe amendments relating l to marine, inland, fire, casualty, fidelity | and guarantee insurance were agreed to. At the request of MT. Jones, of Arkansas, | the first four pages of schedule B, relat- l ing to the tax upon proprietary articles, | perfumery and other articles, ordinarily | sold in drug stores, were passed over. | IT., roanaosa fa an fpo1,irv of Mr. Took