Evening star., 1898-05-28
THE REVENUE BILL
Hard Work to Get q Quorum in the
Senate.
R. DANIEL FOB An INCOME TAX
Ways of Raising Funds for the
War.
DANIEL FOR An INCOME TAX
THE EXPENSE

After the transaction this morning ol
some routine business. the Senate resumed
consideration Of the war revenue measure
Only a dozen senators wsrs present, and
Mr.. Cullom Qn.) noted the absence ef 4
quorum After delay Of ten minutes only
thirty-two senator's had answered to theia
names on roll call, and at the instance OF
Mr.. Allison Qowa) the serseant-at-arms
was instructed to request the attendance OF
absent senators. 1t required twenty y-fve
minutes to secure q quorum.
When q majority Of senators had respond
I'd to their names. lr. Allison said he
hoped a vote could now be secured on the
was On the amendment offered by Mr. Cor.
man (Md). which provided for special ex-
else tax Upon all corporations. whose gross
receipts ara more than $4,000 per annum,
of y of I per cent.
Mr.. Faulkner (W. va.) suggested to Mr..
German that he accept an amendment max
ing the tax 4 of per cent.
Mr.. Turpie Qnd), while not specially OBJ
jecting to the proposed amendment of Mr..
ought to provide for a proper penalty. Hs
maintained that a mere fine would be Of no
avail in the circumstances. as the corpora
tons would simply pay the fine In cases
where 1t was less than the tax. Hs strong
ly urged that the penalty ought to include
not only fine, burt Imprisonment for not
less than six months.
Mr.. Faulkner urged the acceptance of his
amendment, as the fiLance committee had
carefully considered the question and had
decided that OEe-Quarter of one per cent
" as reasonable and proper tax He point
ed out that the tax of one-Quarter Of one
per cent upon the gross receipts was quite
as high as that Of per cent upon net re-
ceipts as provided for III the law Of 1894.
Mr. Jones lArk-). member of the finance
COMMITTEES. said he would be willing to ac-
cept Mr.. Germans amendment II it were
Tade to apply only as substitute for that
paragraph Of the bill taxing railroads.
street railroads and other transportation
companies. He objected, however, to its
substitution for the paragraph levying a
tax upon all corporations.
Mr German presented an argument in
favor of his amendment.
Mr.. Lindsay KyD suggested that, as q
proposition Of law 1t might be well for
Mr German to entirely exempt from taxa
ton $250.OO0 Of the receipts Of every cor
pcration- If the receipts did not reach
$sS0,OU they would not be taxed; and they
" ould be taxed only,on receipts above that
sum.
Mr.. Daniel Va.) said that while he had
no desire unduly to delay the passage Of
sion of its important provisions ought to
be had He favored tax upon the gross
receipts OF corporations and expressed his
regret that objections to 1t on the ground
of Its suspected unconstitutionality had
been made. These objections he desired to
answer by a citation Of authorities.
He made an elaborate presentation Of
his views upon the respective state and
federal powers of taxation as put in ques-
ton by the pending bill, contending that
the taxation upon corporations was war
raEted fully by the law as existing and in
terpreted by the courts.
In the course of Mr.. Daniels speech the
Vice President laid before the Senate a
communication from the Ohio legislature,
announcing that 1t was the report OF the
Ohio senate committee of the investiga-
ton of charges of bribery against the ju-
nior Ohio senator, Mr.. Hanna The COM
munication was referred to the committee
on privileges and elections.
MIR. Daniel presented argument in
favor of an income tax. He said that the
mother country was more democratic in
respect to an income tax than the United
States. as Great Britain had levied sucn a
tax for more than hundred years.
1nasmuch as incomes had been relieved of
taxation. Mr.. Daniel maintained that it was
wise, expadient and fair to tax business, in
order that the wealthy OF the country
would not be deprived Of the privilege of
participation in the great national fight. He
held it would be found wise and best so to
diffuse as to have 1t cover wide range. Lib
erty and the Constitution and war and the
blessings Of the country must pay their
price. This price, he believed, would be
Paid by the people with fortitude and with
out shrinking.