The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-06-03
CONGRESS-.
6OnStos

pOSed TAX on corporations and bank deposits
posed Mr.. Clifton and Mr.. Turl ey Covered Gov
Their speeches dealt comprehenslvely With
me ,h tneores OF taxatlon and were therefore
nical dissertations upon the subject. No &C..
ton OF any kind was taken on the bill. Al
the opening OF the session Of the Senate q
OF War Al5er together with draft Of bii}
ProVlding TOR gradual increase in the mum.
per OF officers Of the corps Of engineers. The
the army shall consist hereafter Of one chief
engineer. with rank Of brigadier- general;
seven colonies, fourteen lieutenant colonies,
thirty frst lieutenants, twelve second lieu
tenants, and a battalion of engineers An
promotions shall be made by seniority. The
communication and bill were referred to the
military Affairs committee.
The feature Of the war revenue measure
placing tax Of one-quarter Of 1 per cent.
upon the gross receipts of corporations was
under discussion In the Senate throughout
on bank deposits was adverted to- The prin.
cipal speeches were delivered by Mr. Plat
lRep, Comm and Mr.. Lindsay Dem. Ky.l
both OF whom Vigorously atacksd the cor
argument was thrown against the tax on
the ground that it was Unconstitutional be-
cause the tax was not levied alike on all
ness. He Maintained that an '1 occnpati alton
tax could be levied, provided that the condi
lions were fair and equitable. but that the
business OF corporation could not be taxed
SIMPLY because 1t was conducted by cor
portation. To be equitable, the tax must be
iaid upon the business whether 1t was con
Quoted quot by corporation, a partnership, q
~ antagonizcd the proposed issue Of legal
the existing menace to the gold reserve Of
money ever devised. He held that such an
ciaI credit BE, too presented H an argume eu
tanning that if enacted into law It would
breed q batch OF law suits, instead Of pro
Vldlng what the government fleeded-ready
money with which to conduct the war oper-
atoms. .
Mr.. Allison Ga.) in charge of the war
10Th to secure unanimous consent that a.
maj vote on the measure be taken before
adj9urnment on the 2sth. Mr.. Teller Of Col
reiterating Mr.. Teller's objection, sounded
the first note Of delay against the measure
Il has been heard since the debate upon
emergency. which required the immediate
passage Of the bill and frankly announced
mat II certain provisions Of the bill put
INTO 1t by the Democrats, on the finance com
mlttee were not agreed to by the Senate
ne would ofer some amendments to the
measure that probably would precipitate
debate He strongly intimated, too, that if
the war should not be prolonged. it might
not be necessary to provide as much revc-
nue. as the pending bill would raise. He
thus indicated a desire to await develop
hand. before passing upon a bill that meant
SO much to the people. Before the revenue
Dill was taken up the pension deficiency
appropriation don bin was passed. 1t carried
=, no substantial progress was made by the
h fnyry0 rfvc
OF the war revenue measure. although it was
under consideration for three hours Speech
IS no mere G delivered red on the bin by NJ White
former opposed the issue of bonds and
strongly advocated the coinage of the silver
sseignIorage and the tax upon corporations
White drew out the fact that an amendment
was to be offered to the bill by Mr.. German
Md placing tax of one-half of l per
sent on c certain large corporations. Alr
TO levy an income tax He had not conclud-
ca his argument when the bill was laid
aside in order that eulogies might be pro-
Mississippi.
A notable speech on the war revenue meas
ure was delivered in the Senate On the 9th
by Mr. German Dem, Md In the course
OF an argument In support Of a tax on cor
decision Of the Supreme court declaring the
Income tax law of 1894 as unconstitutional
The warning sounded by some senators that
II ,I,,1 tax were placed upon corporations it
the Supreme court. had, he said, no effect
upon him. A decision against such an Ell
actment would not destroy our financial
which should hand it down. Mr. German
took decided issue with the majority Of bis
Fellow Democrats upon their propositions to
coin coin, the silver seigniorage and to issue the
legal tender notes and made powerful
argument In favor of the issuance of bonds
to raise funds with which to prosecute the
war MI Teller ISL Rep concluded his
forage, the levying of an income tax, and
the Issue of legal tender notes. and opposing
the, issue Of bonds. Mr.. Nelson Minn). pre-
the issue Of legal tender notes. In a Speech
OF two hours Mr.. Cockrell Dem, Mo- dis
guessed the financial questions in contention
Soon after the Senate had convened the bill
providing for an additional assistant secre-
tary OF war was passed after quorum had
with some difficulty been drummed together.
After a discussion which has lasted al
most two weeks the Senate on the 2Sth
reached the first decisive vote on any feature
or the pending war revenue measure. The
Dill! had been under consideration four hours
and q half when Mr. Aldrich Or. ~. one of
the Republican members of the finance COM
mfttee, entered motion to lay the corpora
tion tax amendment proposed by the Demo-
cratic majority Of the commtte on the table
1t was realized that this was the first test
Senate, and the roll call was followed with
deep interest. The result was decisive The
amendment was laid on the table Il to a.
MT stit,t Gorman , ND then proposed his sub
stltute providing for tax on corporations
out vote on that was not reached.
House.
The House on the 23d passed the Senate
bill providing for the payment Of volunteers
from their enrolment and authorizing the
secretary of war to pay troops embarking
for Manila one month in advance.
On the Oath Mr. King -(Utah) called up
and the House passed the Senate bill author
izing the appointment of committee to al
lot to the Uintah Indians certain lands in
their reservation and secure from cessa-
bill granng o Of land
Santa Barbara, Cal, for purposes of water
works and also the Senate bill for a tenn
porary increase Of army-hospital stewards
After the passage Of bill granting certain
the House devoted the session on the 25th
to eulogies upon the late Senator George
The House bill granting certai's lands to the
OF NW
public buildings. irrigation and Rio Grande
river improvement purposes was passed.
The bill Is intended to convey partial
grant Of the lands to which the territory
would be entitled upon its admission into
the Union and to give the territory in ad-
vance benefits which its people would enjoy
CcIldIHly dI some tlmc IN the future. Inc
bill carries more than l, 800 900 acres.
In long session on the Goth the House
passed few bills but the discussion involved
wide range. of subjects. After brush
over civil service. brought on by paragraph
In the deficiency pension BILL providing tor
some temporary clerks in the war depart
Ment. the House considering hill to amend
the internal revenue laws, nstened to long
speeches from Mr.. Shafroth of Colorado and
Mr.. Grow Of Pennsylvania upon the free
coinage of silver and greenbacks as legal
tender respectfully. Pending yea and nay
vote upon amendments to the whisky in
bond provisions of the internal revenue bill
the House adjourned. The vote will be TAX
9th.
The House was on the 9th inactive for
more than an hour while the roll call was
taken and the sergeant-at-arms was engaged
In bringing In absent members to make a
quorum, the absence Of which was disclosed
by the roll call in wrangle growing out of
Mr.; Tongues (Or) attempt to deliver a gen.
eral pension speech when the House was
considering a private pension measure A
yea and nay vote was taken on the bill to
p1axe shs and ipte5na law
spirits The bill passed-1a2 to 65 Upon
motion of Mr. Dngley the House agreed to
adjourn to the 31st, the 30th being Decora-
ton day. The bill to pay the heirs of John
Roach, deceased, SIS, 16O for completion Of
the dispatch boat Dolphin was passed; also