The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-14
Chat Of the Capital City.
Washington
OF n Ouses

IIOuSG3s
the tea sent to Siberia and Russia via
the Han river, valued at 1,S72.099 taels,
| and thus we have an excess OF exports
over imports Of LIE 1893 Haikwan taels.
| Further 1t must be remembered that the
| figures which come under the cognizance
| Of the customs do not represent the whole
| Of China foreign trade. There Is junk
| traffic to Korea and the South Of which
| we have no statistics but which is GER
| tainly profitable, and a considerable trade
| with Mongolia and Thibet. The largo in
| come derived from the expenditure Of
| foreign vessels for provisions and othei
| necessar1es must not be forgotten, ana
| the sums which are remtted or brought
| back by emigrants probably reach total
| which would be surprising were figures
available, 1t having been stated, apparent
| ly upon good authority, that the remit
| tances from California alone amount to
| 100000 or 100000 of gold dollars an
! nually. Ir the absence of definite infor,
| nation the above considerations can only
| be put forward as presumptive evidence
| that the nation Is we'll able to pay its
| way; but the proof Is to be found In the
| fact that the government remittances to
| Europe for the service of loans, amount
| Ing during 1888 to nearly 49, GOO taels,
| are made through foreign banks by the
| medium of bills of exchange against ex-
| ports. So far from silver being exported
| abroad, there was a net import during
| the year of 4,722,025 Haikwan taels. and
| information from all parts of the country
| points to no scarcity Of silver. while tina
general course of silver prices indicates
| that the metal * plentiful. It may be
| confidently asserted that China meets the
| whole of her obligations without any de-
| pletion Of her currency, and that the
| Chinese buy no imports except such as
he nI1t IN oxn6 for
No doubt the government IS hard pressed
for funds, but the country grows wealth,
ier every year..
Bills by the hundred are being poured
into the legislative hopper, and enough
have already been introduced In the house
and senate to keep the members OF these
bodies busily engaged for the next four
years. OF course many or the proposed
acts are DID, being left over from former
congresses and reintroduced at the OPEN
Ing Of the Fifty-Sixth congress. Among
the new measures presented for the con-
sideration Of the present congress OF more
than usual interest are the following:
Mr., SnodgraSs (Tenn.), in joint reso-
luton, proposes to amend the constitu-
ton Of the United States SO as to permit
the placing Of tax on incomes he
SAYS: 1--WE have about reached the max
imum limit Of duties on imports, and are
utilizing the subjects and sources OF in
ternal revenue in sums largely In excess
of those derived from Importation agen-
cies, and 1t is probable that in order to
meet the necessities of new conditions
consequent upon the organization OF
trusts and vast aggregations OF capital
affecting the commercial relations OF the
people, 1t will be necessary to further
sacrifice the import revenues, while at
the same time we are confronted with ap-
faa for I'M al
lures"
There Is proposed to the people OF the
United States the following amendment
to the federal constitution, to wits
The congress Of the United States shall
have power to lay and coie ne IT. taxes Tfnited
| States and the corporations DONG pusii.
| ness therein, in any way, and manner IL
deems wise AND o,s 6e ne Of saue
| ity and uniformity in such class OF taxa
| ton: And provided further, That COR
| gress shall have the right to oeter Iain,
/ the amount and character OF exemption
| from such taxation.
| Resolved further, That when the forego-
ing shall have been ratified by the legis11
! states it shall become a part Of the con-
stitution Of the United States.
Representative Barham proposes to Gre
ate an executive department of mines and
| mining, which. If 1t becomes law, would
increase the presidents official family,
making nine cabinet officers. The first
section of the bill reads:
That there shall be at the seat OF gov
eminent an executive department known
as the department of mines and min
ing" the general design and duties OF
which shall be to acquire, by examina-
ton. practical and scientific experiments,
geological research, or otherwise useful
information on subjects connected with
mining in the general and comprehensive
sense OF tho word, and to diffuse same
among the people of the United States
The measure provides, in addition to
a. secretary Of mines and mining. for the
appointment of an assistant secretary
1t Is also intended to transfer TO the de-
partment of mines and mining the geo
logical survey bureau
I Congressman White. of North Carroll
ma, the only negro holding seat In the
house of representatives, wishes the gov
eminent to appropriate $4,000 to defray
the expenses Of an exhibit of negro edu-
cation and industry at the Paris exposl-
ton.
Mr.. Shafroth, of Colorado. believes that
as half a century of peace with the re-
public of Mexico has produced most
friendly relation with the government,
THE United States should return to Mex
leo the trophies Of victory our arms
achieved over that country In 1S4S. He
has joint resolution. which reads:
That the cannons, flags and banners
which were captured by the United States
in the conflict between this government
to the Mexican government with appro-
pirate expressions Of friendship and gooo
will u. 5. Van Antwerp.