The herald., 1898-04-28

classes. Beer tobacco and other articles
were taxed; but in one respect, in his opin-
ion, utterly indefensible, the system in
vogue at the end of the civil war had been
| discarded. The tax on bank capital and
bank deposits was omitted. At one-half OF
one per cent such tax would produce $10,.
100000. If there was one species Of prop
erty above all others that ought to be the
subject of extraordinary taxation, 1t was
bank deposits, the only form of property
| owned by one class which was used by an
other.
There were in banks OF the United States
| 81, zoo, 900, 900 of deposits. Proceeding with
his criticism of this and some other fea-
| lures of the bill, Bailey declared that, i'm
perfect as 1t was, his side of the house
would take it if the other side would accept
their proposition for an income tax, which
| would provide an additional income of
$100, 100000. Democratic applause.) He
| thought the estimate of Dingley ($25, 900 OOO
a month for war expenses) a reasonable
one.
The Silver Seigniorage
Bailey also contended for the proposition
and to that he thought an issue of SIS, 900, 900
of legal tender could be added with propri-
ETY.. The greenback circulation could be
extended that far without danger.
The gentleman from Maine Dingley) ad-
vocated the placing of a bonded debt on
this country of $780, 900. Whenever the
country's credit ought to be pledged he
would be willing to do so: but there was
ot ir, for orf-
gaging that credit at this time.
1--WE propose" said Bailey, "to tax the
rich man now rather than to mortgage the
energies of the poor men for coming gen.
erations." applause on Democratic side.)
Discussing the question of the supreme
court decision of the income tax he de-
clared that no question was ever settled
until it was settled rightly.
Income Tax and Law
Bailey then entered upon an extended ar
gument upon the constitutionality of an
income tax. Combating the theory that 1t
was directly inhibited by the constitution.
Bailey said the income tax provisions
which the minority had drawn and which
would be offered by McMillin had been
drawn OF meet that portion of the courts
decision which was unanimous and in
which he concurred, by exemptng federal,
state, county and municipal bonds.
Dolliver, Republican. of Iowa. a member
of the ways and means committee, was
then recognized. He was listened to with
close attention and was frequently inter-
rupted by applause. He said in part:
There are two ways in which a govern
ment can support large expense of this
character, either by collecting it in cash
or by borrowing it on credit. The COM
mittee on ways and means has fully con-
sidered both methods and we have made up
our minds that the government ought to
pay as it goes so far as it can, leaving as
little of the burden of our Intervention in
Cuba to the future as possible.
'.If the war upon which we are about 10
enter was to secure new national posses
sions or any other acquisition of material
assets, the case might present a view
somewhat different. But here, for the first
time in the history of the world, nation
has of its own volition thrown away any
prospect of ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and has based
its action upon disinterested grounds, so
that what we are about to do, however
much 1t may minister to the present salts
faction and moral comfort of the COM
munity, concerns posterity vastly less than
it does us.
II do not predict the size and the cost of
the undertaking in which we are embarked,
but my conviction Is that we will gain all
that we lose and infinitely more things We
have already gained, and one is the out
spoken sympathy of the great English
speaking race of which we are part; an
other is a larger sense of the unity of the
American people, unity that has already
killed the spirit of sectionalism, taken the
poison out of partisan strife and brought
in the better era of American patriotism"
Opposed to Bonds
Bell, Populist, of Colorado, in stating the
position of the PopVists, announced his
unalterable opposition to the bond pro~i-
sion of the bill.
Sayers, Democrat, of Texas In a minute
speech. said that the bill proposed to place
at the disposal Of the government $500 900. 900
in addition TO the ordinary revenues. The
expenses of the civil war in 1864 were ST.
000, 900, 900 But the government was then
supporting an army of 100000 men and
fleets containing four times as many war
ships al we now had. No one would go fur
ther than he in support of the government
with these facts before him; he felt con-
vinced that $500, OOO, 900 was vastly too large
a sum to appropriate.
Lacey, Republican, of Iowa, gave notice
of an amendment to prevent the invalida-
ton of instruments on which the stamps
were inadvertently omitted.
Ridgey, Populist, of Kansas, closed the
debate for the afternoon with some brief
remarks in opposition to the bond feature
of the bill.
At o'clock the house recessed until s
o'clock.
The Night Session
The night session of the house was de-
voted to brief speeches by members who
were unable to secure time during the
day. Many speakers only had time to ask
permission to extend their remarks in the
record Only two Republicans, Gibson of
Tennessee and Olmstead of New ork spoke
tonight. The Democrats and Populsts all
opposed the proposition. The speakers
were Messrs Kleberg of Texas, Democrat,
Wheeler of Kentucky, Democrat, Lewis of
Washington, Democrat, Green of Nebras-
ka, Populist, Cowherd of Missouri Demo-
crat Benton of Missouri, Democrat, Van
dever of Missouri, Democrat, Davis of Ala
bema, Democrat De Vries of California,
Democrat, Lentz of Ohio Democrat, and
Mcdowell of Ohio, Democrat.
There was singular absence of that par
tisan rancor which has always heretofore
characterized debates on revenue meas
ures. Both sides concurred in the neces-
sity which existed for Immediately raising
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