Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-12
miscellaneous Bills.
THE HOE Sc.

Mr. Cooper. chairman of the committee
on insular affairs. called up IN the House
today the resolution. for which he has
asked unanimous consent several times. TO
authorize the Secretary of the Treasury
to designate banks in Porto Rico Cuba
and the Philippines as government deposito-
riss.
1t was arranged that there should be an
hours debate on the bill. Mr.. Jones (Va3
offered amendment, which provided that
the act should apply only to the Philippines
and Cuba. so long as they should be occu-
pied by the United States. The provision
relative TO Cuba WIS committee amend
ulent Mr.. Cooper said that for some in
explicable reason the bill had been called
the Standard OH bill" After patient In
vestigation he had failed to find one fact
to support such slur The reasoning he
said. seemed to be about like this: Mr..
Sibley came from Pennsylvania. Coal oil
was found there. The Standard oil Com
pany handled oil; ergo. this is a Standard
oil bill Mr. Cooper explained the neces-
sijy for government repositories in our in
suIar possessions. Disbursing officers of
Jhe government could only deposit In gov
eminent repositories If they deposited
elsewhere they We're guilty of technical en-
b. Zzicnrnt. The designation of depos.to-
res he said, was necessary for the pro-
lection and security Of government funds
Mr.. Brewer (AIa.) said he supported the
Jones amendment in order to emphasize in
every possible way his aversion to the re-
tentlon Of the Philippines He said he had
rather see any republican who opposed the
retention of the islands President than a
democrat who favored holding them. He
ch1rscd that the situation in the Philip
pines was persistentiy misrepresented by the
War Department. The in5urrection was not
over, Only last week the Filipinos had at
tackled an outpost within five miles of Ma
Mia We hold only the territory within
the range of our guns wrote an officer in
a letter 70 him. Peace would not come, he
said. in a generation II We held on. He
vas in favor Of turning the islands over
10 the inhabitants at the earliest possible
moment.
Mr. Cox (TennD criticised the bill because
1t did not REQUIRE the repositories TO de-
Rosit United States government bonds for
the security Of government funds
Mr. Jones said that even IL his amend
nnent was adopted he would be opposed to
the bill in toto. II the gentleman from
Wisconsin had inquired further. he said
ne would have discovered a better reason
why this bill was called the Standard OIL
bin He recalled the letter written by Mr.
Hepburn of the National City Bank of
New York to Secretary Gage asking for
just such a privilege this bill bestowed
because some of the banks directors had
contributed financially TO the election of
Mr.. Mckinley in 1896. The National CITY
Bank. he said, was owned by the Staada I'd
Oil Company.
Mr.. Fitzgerald CNass) offered an amend
nnent requiring designated repositories to
pay TWO per cent per annum deposits
MI. Gaines CTenn) and Mr.. De Almond
tMo) opposed the bill. The latter said
there was neither propriety nor excuse for
designating repositories IN Cuba. 1t was
another straw which indicated q purpose to
get hold of everything In Cuba that was
worth having.
Mr.. Cooper, in closing the debate depre-
Gated the constant agitation of politics
whether II was pertinent to the bill under
consideration not He said there was
practically no money for the banks in be-
Ing designated as a government depository,