The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-26
UNDERWOOD ON
THE SHIPPING BILL
Arraigned the Scheme to Rob
the Treasury
THE PLEDGES TO THE PEOPLE
Made by the Republican Party Have
Been Violated, and Now Another
Measure to Defraud the Govern
ment Has Been Offered.


ing in committee of the whole on the state
of the union, and having under considers-
ton the bill Oh. r. 120OS) making appro-
priations for sundry civil expenses of the
government for the fiscal year ending June
30, 1900, and for other purposes.
Mr.. Underwood said:
Mr.. Chairman: We are working in the
twilight hour of a fast dying congress.
Before we return again to our constituents
it may be well to consider what of good or
i'll has this congress accomplished for the
people of the United States. Two years
ago, when the republican party was re-
turned to power, it came reeking with
pledges and promises as to what 1t would
accomplish for the good of our country.
1 ask the gentlemen who control legisla-
ton, who occupy the other side of this
chamber, and who hold allegiance to the
standard of the republican party, whether
or not they have fulfilled their pledges and
kept their promises? In the brief time that
is allowed me for this discussion l cannot
review all the issues that were prominent
in the campaign of 1896 for which you gave
your pledges of relief, but let me call your
attention to one or two of the most i'm
portant of these.
On account of the supreme court of the
United States having declared the income
tax unconstitutional our WilSon-Gorman
tariff bill did not raise sufficient revenues
to meet the expenditures OF our govern
ment. The cry raised by your party in the
Fifty-fourth congress and the stump
in the campaign that followed was that 1t
was necessary for you to be returned to
power in order that you might pass tar
III bill to wipe out the deficiency in the
treasury and to put the government on
business basis.
What was the result? Immediately after
the Inauguration of President Mckinley
he called this congress together in extra
ordinary session. We were in session four
months solely for the purpose of passing a
tariff bill. After long and Garassing de-
lays the Dingley bill was enacted into law.
1t was promised by its friends that within
six months after its passage it would raise
far more revenue than was necessary to
meet the current expenses of the govern
ment. What has been the result? Nearly
two years have gone by, and not for one
single hour SINCE the Dingley bill became
a law has it raised sufficient revenue to
meet the current expenses of the govern
ment.
do not include in this the extraordinary
expenses growing out of the war, but L
mean those ordinary expenses that we had
to meet before the declaration of war with
Spain. Instead of the Dingley bill improv
ing the condition of the treasury, it has
gone from bad to worse, until now 1t is not
raising as much revenue as the Wilson-Gor-
man bill during the last month 1t was on
the statute books, and today, according to
the statement of the secretary of the treas
ury, there is a deficiency of $112,000,0OO.
According to the statement of the dis
tinguished chairman of the committee on
appropriations (Mr. Cannon, there will be
a deficiency at the end of this fiscal year
of $159, 900 600. What has become of the
mr. w la n q n a
tariff bill that would meet the current ex-
penses of the government and put the
treasury on business basis? You will re-
turn to your constituents endeavoring to
hide your broken promise In the clamor for
Asiatic expansion and the smoke and tur-
MOL of battles in the Orient, where the
men you have been chosen to represent are
dying far away from home in an effort to
conquer uncivilized and heather tribes.
Again, one of the great issues In the cam
paign of 1896 was the question of establish
ing monetary system for this Country
The democratic party promised that If 1t
was returned to power it would re-enact on
the statute books act for the free and
unlimited coinage of both gold and silver.
We were defeated. You promised that If
you were returned to power you would
bend your energies toward a reformation
of the currency of this country. Have you
kept the promise? Nearly two years have
gone by and nothing has been done.
The committee on banking and currency
has not even reported bill of any kind for
the consideration of the house. You have
pleaded guilty to the charge of your inca
pacity to legislate on this great and mo-
mentous question by calling your party to-
gether in caucus and resolving that you
could do nothing and appointing commit
tee to advise some future congress what It
ought to do.
In other words, you have violated every
pledge that you have made to the people
of the United States in reference to grant
ing relief by a reformation of the currency
laws OF our country; but there is one
promise that you made before you were re-
turned to power, and one that the chair
man Of the committee on merchant marine
and fisheries has repeatedly made on the
floor of this house, and that was that you
would so amend the navigation laws of this
country as to Increase the merchant marine
of the United States and furnish the farm
ers and manufacturers of this country
ships with which to carry their surplus
products to foreign markets.
The surplus crops of these who have been
engaged In producing wheat and cotton
have always found their markets In for
eign countries, and in recent years our
great manufacturers who produce the steel
and iron, the boots and shoes, the farming
the manufactured cotton and
wooden goods and other manufactured ar
ticles have been compelled to seek foreign
markets for portion of their output or
close down their works and shut their doors
against their employees for portion of the
year.
I am Informed by those engaged In the
business that there has not been a single
day within the preceding year when a ship
arriving in Mobile. Pensacola, or Savan-
nah could not secure cargo of pig iron
from the Birmingham district for foreign |
markets. One of the greatest obstacles !
that have been in the way of our securing !
this foreign trade has been our inability to
secure ships to carry our freight to foreign |
markets, and therefore, representing as |
do a district that Is largely interested in
the export trade awaited with Impotence |
the promise that you made to increase The |
American merchant marine.
Finally, o few weeks ago, you did report 1