Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1900-03-16
A Centennial Celebration.

The national centennial committee,
composed of the Governors OF States
and Territorics. tco sect committees
of the Senate ara House. and the To-
cal committee. ich has charge of
the preparation ~~ n celebration
Of the one hund O L adversary OF the
establishment 81 u sat of govern
ment at Washing c. he's held several
sessions here aud aided an elabo-
rate banquet. T. - were fourteen
governors prcsFn. che local commit
tee wiz now prc~e. to make the
plans for the celebration.
At..>r ~
The new bill to establish the Uni
yersity of the U-.t-d S,ates has been
introduced by Sen lCr c. NJ. Depew.
1t differs from the HIS heretofore in
PRODUCED and scvortbly reported in
several ways. In ser,4s as explicit as
possible ii limits The institution to
work exclusively .<e--Saduate and
special, provides for particular atten-
ton TO subjects which concern the
government. ves'e he M nagement in
a single governing body-a board of
regents. nearly al Of whom are presi-
dents of institutions of learning doing
advanced work-and makes no appro-
priation of money. Like all the bills
grants the twenty acre tract OF land in
the city which President Washington,
by authority of Congress. set apart
for this purpose.
Porto isicau Tariff.
The long debate over the tariff bill
for Porto Rico gave wide opportun-
ity for discussion of the whole broad
subject of expansion of the kind of
government to he given 10 the several
islands over which the Cnlted States
has extended its sovereignty. Debate
had not proceeded far before il became
aware that radical amendments would
be necessary before the bill could be
passed Several conferences were held
but without bearing important results.
At last the conference agreed to
amend the title to make IL an act tenn
poTarily to provide revenue for the
island of Porto Rico and for other pur-
poses, and to add the following section:
This act shall he taken and held to
be provisional in its purpose, intended
to meet 4 pressing present need for
revenue for the island of Porto Rico,
and is not to continue in force after
March 1, 1902"
Another amendment reduced the
duty imposed by the act from % to 10
per cent.
The general debate closed the day
following this conference, and that,
too. in Il blaze of glory. Galleries were
banked to the doors and every seat on
floor was occupied when the rival
champions of the respective sides, Mr..
Doliiver, of Iowa. and Mr.. Bailey, of
Texas, made the closing arguments.
Each spoke for an hour and half. AS
the speech Mr.. Bailey devoted TO the
legal phases of the controversy was
profound and impressive il did not
arouse the unbounded enthusiasm
which swept galleries and floor while
Mr.. Dolliver was speaking. The Iowan
was at his best and his wit eloquence
and sarcasm in turn drew salvos of
applause from his Republican associ-
ates. Before these closing speeches
were made Mr.. Cannon. of Illinois,
chairman of the appropriation COM
mittee. made an exceptionally effective
speech in support of the bill. Messrs.
Carmack, Democrat. Tennessee; Clay
ton. Democrat Alabama; Kloborg,
Democrat, Texas; Pearce and Dear
mond. Democrats, Missouri. had also
made speeches in opposition to~the bill.
Temporary Character.
The plan to make the new law tenn
porary in it's character met the approx
al of the President, and of many of
the leading legislators because it is
recognized that any legislation now
enacted must, to some extent, be ex-
perimental in it's character, and no
permanent law can be properly fixed
on the statute books until the light of
experience has instructed us more full
~. The provision in the bill which
requires all the revenues to be spent
for the benefit of Porto Rico, is of
special Importance. 1t is stated that
with this provision in the bill the net
result would be in n measure the same
as free trade, which the president
recommended to Congress in his last
message. 1t was said in making that
recommendation the President had
taken into account all the factors that
entered into ii, its great need OF
schools, the provision which must be
made for the suppression of epidemics.
the necessity for the construction of
roads and bridges and the other nee
essary public improvements which the
situation in the island imperatively
demands. He also took into account,
it is said, the fact that business was
in a deplorable situation and that the
people are well night penniless to meet
the ordinary demands of government.
In this situation it was the Presi-
dents view that the United States
from it's abundance should extend
helping hand and he had in prepara-
tion at one time n message to Congress
asking for an appropriation of three
million dollars TO be expended for the
public schools of the island