The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-04-14
THE PUERTO R|GAN BILL.
A Test Vote Indicating That the
Measure Would Receive a
Majority Vote.
THE FoHEsHADOWED RULE ADOPTED,
q, called Forth N sharp Debate i'm
the House, Which wns Listened
10 by Great Crowds In h Gal
Iertes-The Vote on the Rule was
AYES, 15S; Nays, 142.

Washington, April 1.-the closing
..rnoole over the Puerto Rico tariff
hill in the house, attracted great
crowds to the galleries, and all the
rreparations indicated a field day re-
nle{e with exciting incidents.
Excitement was at a high pitch
when the speakers gavel fell at noon.
As soon as the reading Of the journal .
was concluded, Mr.. Dalzell (pa.), one
of the leaders of the majority, and a
member of the committee en- rules,
presented the special order under
Which the house was to operate, rs
follows:
Resolved, That Immediately upon
the adoption of this resolution the
committee of the whole house on the
state of the union shall be discharged
from the consideration of house reso-
luton SPAS (the Puerto Rico bilD and
the senate amendments thereto; that
the same shall be considered in the
house until 5 p. m, Wednesday, April
II. 1900, when, without delay or other
motion, n vote shall be taken on the
motion to concur in the said senate
y
amendments en- gross. And all men,
bers shall have leave to print on the
subject of said bill and amendments
for ten days from the adoption of this
rule"
Upon the conclusion of the reading
of the rule, upon demand of Mr.. Dai,
zeli, the previous question on it's adop-
ton was ordered. This gave 20 min
utes for debate on each side under the
rules. Mr.. Dalzell said he would dis
cuss the rule briefly. On February %,
the house sent to the senate the
Puerto Rico tariff bill. The amend
ments attached by the senate fur
nished a civil government for the is
land. 1t was the opinion of the major
ity he said, that those amendments
should be concurred in. There had
been enough discussion on the sub
ject, he said. What the country de-
sired was not debate, but action.
Mr.. Richardson, the minority leader.
called attention to the fact that the
rule would permit the house To vote
only upon a single proposition.
If it had been possible for the sem
ate to add to the ~iniquity of the origi-
nal bill levying Is per cent. of the
Dir gley duties on goods going into
Puerto Rico, he said, it had done so
in the so-called civil government
amendment.
Under the guise of a civil govern
ment, he said, the senate had imposed
an iimperialistic government upon the
people of the island. He asserted that
il was never the intention of the re-
publicans of the house, in the first in
stance, to enact any such measure. He
quoted President Mckinley. Secretary
Root, ex-President Harrison, ex-
Speaker Reed and other republicans of
national reputation in favor of free
trade with the islands, and drew a
salvo of applause from his demo-
cratic colleagues by characterizing
the president in the language of ex-
Speaker Reed as "The emperor of ex.
p~ediency."
Proceeding, he expressed his regret
that the secretary of war had not
seen fit to furnish the opinion of Judge
Charles A. Magoon, the attorney of
the insular bureau, to the effect that
the constitution extended ex proprio
vigore to orr new possessions, upon
which he said the original recommen-
dations of the president and the sec
rotary of war were based.
He read some extracts from rhis al
legged suppressed opinion. which had
been printed in Il New York newspa-
per. The reading was frequently
p%untured with applause. Why, Mr..
Richardson asked, had the president,
the secretary of war and the republi-
can party changed front upon this
whole question? For reply, he read the
statement of Prof. Schurman, of The
Philippine commission, that the
trusts had gone to Washington, and
had graspel the republican party by
the throat"
He also recalled the statement
printed n short time g in Il locn.
newspaper that a republican member
Of the house had said that in return
Tor the passage of the bill, a larg,
contribution was to be made to tho
republican campaign fund. Mr.. Rich
ardson created something of n sensa
ton by giving the news of the news
PAPER.
Mr.. Rabcock (Wis.l, chairman of tn,
Republican congressional campaign
committee, to whom Mr.. Dalzcll yield
ed a minute and a half, indignant,
resented the charge of Mr. Richard
son that the republican campaign com
mittee had received n money consid
Grafton for the Puerto Rico tariff bill
AS a member of that committee, h,
desired to denounce it as absolutel,
without foundation, and he challenge.
anyone to name the republican wn'
was responsible for such q charge.
Jumping to his feet, Mr.. Pierre
tTenn.) tried to interrupt Mr.. bah
ccck, but the latter waived him aside
He withdraws his challenge,
shouted a voice on the democratic side
amid a howl of derision.