The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-09-20
MR.. BAILEY SCORES A POINT.

Tells How Accurately Democrats Fore
casted Future When They Refused to
Vote for the War Revenue Bill.
Danville. Va, September l9.-Congress-
man Bailey spoke at Chatham. the county
seat, today, in the interest OF u A.
Swanson, Democratic nominee Tor Con-
gress, from the Fifth district. People Tor
miles around were in the big crowd TO
hear the Texan.
In his speech today, Representative >.
". Bailey of Texas made 1t plain that tne
Democrats mean to make the present
campaign an aggressive one. Among
other things he said:
For months Republican politicians
and Republican editors have talked and
the Democratic minority in Congress, but
now that they are required to specify our
mistakes in order to divert public atten-
tion from their own, they find 1t impos-
sible to make good their repeated and
reckless assertions. In order to escape the
Just and universal Indignation which has
been aroused against than by the suffer-
ing inflicted upon the volun teer army
through the incompetency or the dis
honesty of those whom they have placed
in power, they have been searching the
Congressional records and racking their
brains to find some damaging accusation
which they can sustain against us. But
they have not found iii and they will not
find it. The record of the Democratic
party throughout the last and trying SEES,
Sion of Congress is absolutely above all
criticism. l do not say 1T with the pur-
pose of claiming any credit for myself,
but as a matter of simple Justice to my
Democratic assistants / declare that in all
the history of this government, no
minority party ever passed through war
session Of Congress with so much credit
as did the Democrats Of the present Con-
gress.
"The only important vote which we be.
iieved at the time we cast 1T, could ever
become the subject of reasonable contro-
vsrsy, was cur vote against the war rove
nue. bill; and events have completely
vindicated our course In respect to that
measure. We opposed the passage of that
bill because we believed that it authorized
an unnecessary sale OF interest bearing
bonds, and the condition of the treasury
proves conelusively that we were right.
When Congress convenes in December
next, 1t will find that the surplus In the
treasury above the one hundred million
dollar gold reserve, will exceed the
amount received from the sale Of bonds.
thus demonstrating that there was no
necessity for the government to sell Its
bonds
"Our Republican friends cannot excuse
themselves by saying that they could not
forsee the early termination OF the war,
because every man who was reasonably
well informed about the condition OF
Spain, understood that 1t was impossible
for her to continue long and expensive
struggle. Owing to the greater distance
between her base of supplies and the seat
Of war, 1T was certain that it would re-
quire the expenditure of at least dollar
and twenty five cents on the part of Spain
to meet the expenditure of every dollar on
the part of the United States. 1t was GER
tain, therefore, that If the war costs Us
two hundred million dollars, it would
cost Spain two hundred and fifty million
dollars. and where could she ralse any
such sum as thatl Torn with civil strife,
her throne claimed by pretender; her
people Impoverished, she could not levy
additional taxes without precipitating
bread riots within her own borders; and
her only means of carrying on the war
was to borrow money. This she could
not hope to do because her bonds were al
ready selling at thirty cents on the dollar
in the markets of the world and had she
attempted to borrow two hundred and
fifty million dollars, she would have been
compelled to issue eiglt hundred million
dollars worth of bonds. Before she could
have sold one-half of that amount her
credit would have fallen still lower and
her bonds would not have commanded
twenty cents on dollar.
with an adversary unable to raise
money by taxation and powerless to bor-
row it, the end of the war was In sight
before it was begun. The Republican
leaders in Congress know this as we'll as
we did; or If they did not know it, they
are net wise enough to be entrusted with
the administration of this government.
But, with the knowledge that war must
soon end and knowing that with all their
wastefulness and extravaganza it would
not cost probably over $500, 900 900, they
proceeded to enact law which imposes
one hundred and fifty million dollars in
annual taxes upon the people and au-
thorizes the contraction of q five hundred
million dollar debt Upon that monstrous
proposition, almost every Democrat in
Congress voted ''No," and our only regret
today is that there was single one of us
who felt called upon by his sense Of duty
to support it. -