The age-herald., 1898-05-17
THE DEBATE UPON
 WAR MEASURE 0pering Speeches Made in the Senate at
 Yesterdays Session. AN INTERNAL REVENUE BILL Estimated That It Will Raise Si6i, ,497, :
 O6B Annually. VARIOUS FEATURES CONTAINED Analyzed by Mr. Allison of Iowa, Member of the Finance Committee-No Provi-
 sion for an Increase of
 Custom Duties.
VARIOUS FEATURES CONTAINED

the war revenue measure was begun in the senate today. The opening statement for the committee on finance was made by MT. Allison, of Iowa. the ranking mem Der in the absence of MT. Merrill. of Yer mont. It was estimated that the bill, as 1t came from the house would raise about s100.0O0.OO0 a year. As reported from the senate committee Mir. Allison estimates that 1t will raise s151, ,497, ,O66. MT Allison said that as the bill came from the house it was an internal revenue measure and as reported to the senate it was still an internal revenue bill. Comparatively. said he. there are no provisions in it for in- crease of customs duties.
 Mr. Alison then analysed the bill as 1t came from the house. presenting the Val rious features of the bill and the reasons why they were incorporated by the house. He said that the finance committee had carefully examined afl of the schedules of the bill and had been led to believe that schedules A (stamp taxes) and B, (proprie- tary articles) were too general in their scope. Consequently they had been amend ed On practically all of the provisions of the bill the committee had not seriously divided. On the beer and tobacco taxes, on schedules A and B and on the tonnage tax matter the committee was substan- tially a unit.
 The Bill Necessity
 MT. Allison said further that in the com- mittee there were no differences of opinion as to the necessity for the bill. It was pure- " war revenue measure. If there were no war There would be no necessity for the bill With a view to ascertaining how natr rnts1d ha war during the next fiscal year, although he expressed the hope that it would last only few months at the most, MT. Allison sald that the committee had obtained the best possible estimate of the secretary of war and the secretary of the navy The estimate of the former had been based upon the mastering In of 900 volunteers and did not include provisions for the 1S OOO ad- ditional men authorized by congress to be enlisted since the estimate was made Sec retary Alger estimated that his department would need $150,9 ,527 To this sum must be added at least $15.000 900 to pay expenses authorized by congress after the estimate was made. -The estimate of the secretary of the navy for. the same period was s75- ooozoo, put In addition to this sum the amount carried by the naval appropriation ppi must be considered as a part of the expenses Of the navy. In addition to the s5oOO0 already appropriated as a war fund. Which Mr. Allison announced parenthetf- cally, had been practically expended. the forthcoming general deficiency, but wouId carry deficiency approximating for the current year $35 000 900, and there Is a naval deficiency of about $22,275 ,OO0
 Total of S379,I9e.OOO
 The senate finance committee, therefore figured that 1t would require a total of at least sS7s 1s2 ,ooo to pay the expenses of the war rom the present time until the 1st of July, lS99 not taking into account any emergency expense that might arise at any mount The total amount, MT. Allison thought, would be rather above than below the sum he had indicated. MT. Allison then carefully analysed the ordinary re- ceipts and expenditures of the government In the course of this statement he express- ed the opinion that the est nate of the sec- retary of the treasury that the bill would raise $10o,000,000 was too high. Tn present conditions and circumstances he doubted whether the bill would present more than $1SO0O0,O00. Mr Allison thought the war would have the inevitable effect of dirnin- ishing the revenue by disturbing our for- eign commerce. but he "a that no one could say to what extent The important question, he said. was how much money should be provided by taxation and how much by loan. In committee he had been willing to increase the revenue feature so to insure $125,000000. On this point the committee on finance had been divided some members desiring to raise as much or more than s15O,0O0.000, and he thought that the bill would produce this amount ire spective of the democratic amendments. Indeed he thought that the bill as agreed 10 by all the members would produce ve,, to exceed s150, 100000. while he thore2 q house bill would not produce to I S105, ,000, ,0e0.
 Detailed Estimate
 MT. Allison here gave a detailed estimate of the items of increase as follows: On fermented liquors BPS, ,00O. GOO; on tobacco and snuff. $25 000. .000: on bankers, $25OO0 900; brok- CTS. $1,5O0000; theaters, circuses, etc.. s1,- SOOO00: bank checks. etc., $5.O00.O0O bills of lading (express and freight) $10.000,000: life Insurance. $1.277. .OO0; mortgages. s2 900, 900; receipts. etc.. in schedule B, $2S, ,000. .000 leg acies. S9,000 900.
 Mir. Allison ssaid that the estimate of tre total sundry bill as reported indepen- dent of the democratic amendments were based uupon estimates on the same articles from the office of the commissioner of in- ternal revenue for the fiscal year ending in 1899, and that the exact figures were $151 100000.
 MT. Allison said as matter of fact the estimates were all necessarily far from ac- curate as they were based largely upon the returns of the census of 1890. He gave illustrations to show the rapid increase of business for the purpose of showing how impossible it was to estimate upon past years basis
 Taking up the amendments inserted without cooperation of the republican members of the committee and known as the democratic amendments, Mr. Allison expressed the opinion that in addition the greenbacks and seigniorage provisions would yield $75.000.000 in the aggregate in addition to the estimate of $150000,000 al- ready given. His estimate included from five to six million dollars on transporta- tion companies $75o.0O0.000 on telegraph companies. two or three millions on in- surance companies. s150Oo.0Oo on banks and s45, ,000,000 on corporations.
 Taxing Corporations
 Mir. Allison criticised with considerable severity the provision for taxing corpora tions. saying that 1t would be especially severe upon stockholders in small corpora tions and that 1t was also liable to cause