The age-herald., 1900-04-12
PORTO RICO TARIFF
 BILL PASSED HOUSE
The Long and Bitter Struggle Finally Ended in De-
 feat to the Democrats.

party" he said, "declared that the consti-
 tuition carried political liberty to the people of the territories, as well as the states,
 and that declaration was as true now as it was then"
 MT. Lorimer of Illinois delivered ten
 minutes speech in opposition to the bill, which ehcited frequent applause from the opposition. T have always favored civil government for Porto Rico," said he, but I have only thought of giving the people of the island such government as free peo- pie should give to those who come under their control by conquest or otherwise. I
 am a protectionist and expansionist. And when I find that we cannot expand and extend to our new territories the same rights and privileges that we insist upon for ourselves, then I will no longer favor expansion" Democratic applause) Have Reached the Crisis "Mr. Speaker said he in conclusion, "I think we have reached the crisis in our history. I think we need a liberty revival If we are true to ourselves, we must have it. If we are to be true then the ultimate penalty will be dissolution of our repub- lcan institutions. A nation which sur renders its basic principles cannot sur vive.
 Columbia, if shamefully bedecked with the precious Pearl of the Antilles and the
 gems of the Pacific and Orient may excite for a time such admiration as is won by
 riches and voluptuousness; but sir, the
 light of liberty which to her what virtue is
 to women, will have faded from her eye.
 And all the riches of the world cannot
 make up for that loss to those who really love her; to those who look upon her starry emblem the symbol of God-given rights, and not a commercial act" MT. Mccall of Massac chusetts was the
 last republican who ahtagonized the bill
 and then Maddox. Georgia; Williams, H.
 linois; Swanson, Virginia, and Newlands,
 Nevada, opposed the bill in brief but wig
 orous speeches.
 MT. Rhea of Kentucky said the civil
 government feature of the bill presented
 some novel propositions. It proposed to govern people not citizens of the United
 States in territory not part of the United States yet every official was to take an oath to support and defend the United States.
 MT. Hay of Virginia also criticised the civil governor scheme.
 MT. Hopkins of Illinois asserted that the bill when enacted, would be far more ad-
 vantageous to the people of Porto Rico and the United States than laws in force in New Mexico, Arizona, or any terri tory of the United States. He claimed the bill was in strict accord with the humane
 promises made by General Miles. Richardson Concluded MT. Richardson of Tennessee, the minor ity leader, continued the debate on his side. He aroused great enthusiasm among the democrats by reading extracts from the
 original opinon of Charles D. Magoon, the legal adviser of the insular bureau. of the war department, in which he argued that
 the constitution was extended ex-proprio vigore to Porto Rico The opinion had been sent to the house in answer to the
 house resolution adopted Saturday, and ar-
 rived after MT. Richardson spoke earlier in the day. The opinion was dated Febru-
 ary p. He had no words of criticism, he
 said, for MT. Magoon, for changing his mind. He was but a subordinate officer. But what you'd the country think, he asked, of the secretary of war who had
 demanded that he reverse his opinion ? (Frolonged democratic applause). MT. Deliver continued. He conceded the right of every man to hold his own opinon. Much had been made of the fact that changes had been made in the opinion of men on the floor and in the executive branches of the government, and the final
 act or eloquence on the other side, he said,
 had been the reading of the opinion of "a -~~~-~-~-~~~~~~~>