The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-06-01

bill Mir. Elkins of West Virginia, OBJ
Jected to the tax on corporations, the tax
on bank deposits and the stamp tax. he
maintained that the tax on bank deposits
was wrong in principle ss it was tax on
debts. Concerning the corporation tax he
held that the tax on gross assets was
manifestly unjust as it bore upon practi
cally what the corporation did not possess.
The net earnings were proper subject
OF taxation.
He was strongly in favor of a just and
equitable system of war taxation. lie
said he opposed the amendment OF the
majority OF the committee last Saturday
because it Disseminated against the cit1.
Gems composing the corporations, and in
favor OF individuals doing the same kind
OF business. 1t was direct tax, not
proportionable among the states and was
unconstitutional. An incems tax was pre-
ferable. The amendment of Mr.. German,
ne said, embodied the same injustice in
aggravated form. He vigorously ar
raigned the proposition to issue legal
tender notes as full of danger and mis-
chief to our credit and finance
Mr.. Elkins then discussed territorial
expansion. The present war, only a
month old, he said had sent the country
further on in the progress of the world
than in hundred years before. y. 1t had
wrought changes in the public mind,
and we must look more and more to ex-
tending our markets for our own products
and to that end must acquire more terri
tory than may come through fortunes of
war.
"We must have merchant ships on the
high seas, control the shipping and COM
MERGE on the great oceans that wash our
shores, and navy greater and more
powerful than any now afioat. This is
manifest destiny, -
MIR. Elkins said that because of our ira
ditional policy of isolation and opposition
to acquiring territory in the past, we
must not put aside what comes to us by
war. The Nioaraguan canal and the
Hawaiian islands, said he, rise above the
than ever and whatever opposition there
may have been to building one and ac-
quiring the others heretofore, must disap-
pear in the face of the flag going up over
MOTTO castle, what has transpired in the
philippines, and the great trip of the
oregon. Concluding, he said:
Long ago. in 1909, Thomas Jefferson
dreamed of and favored the annexation OF
Cuba and Canada to the United States.
| One now comes to us through a war we
could not avoid and our trade relations
with the other are in a fair way OF being
placed on basis satisfactory to both
countries. The com bination and consoi-
/ udUlon Unab mas come about under the de-
mands for wider market and trade rela-
lions is reaching to consolidation of states
and acquisition of territory in the interest
| OF larger trade and commerce. The world
today is but vast neighborhood, fast be-
ing divided up in groups. of vast families,
| 1t is drawn more closely together than
were countries and states fifty years ago.
| 1t has become more commercial than ever
| one member of this family cannot resist
in its own interest doing what the other
members do. Consolidation and merging
| OF small states into q larger one and
| empires is irresistible necessities lies at
| the bottom of this great movement.
The Senate at the conclusion of Mr..
Elkin' speech agreed to convene at II
o'clock tomorrow. The Senate at 8. 55 D.
| M. went into executive session and af ter.
| wards adjourned.
IN THE HOUSE.
washington, May s1.-A number of,pri-
vnte bills were passed and the House in
| committee of the whole considered bill
| authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury
| to keep open during June and July this
year such life saving stations on the At
| lantic and Gulf coasts as he may deem
advisable The bill was urged by the Sec
| Rotary of the navy as providing for the
continuance in the months named of an
| important adjunct to the naval and coast
signal service in making efficient the
patrol service. After some desultory dis
| cussion the bill was amended to carry
$40, 900 instead of 1925, 900 and passed. .
The House at !. 35 o. M, adjourned,