The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1900-04-04
IN CONGRESS-.

der discussion for nearly three houre,
but the greater part of the time was
consumed in TIE consideration of free
coinage amendment offered by Mr..
Morgan. The amendment is still pend
ing. The Alaska civil code bill was
considered during the morning hour.
An amendment offered by Mr.. Carter
setting aside permits hitherto granted
by the secretary of war for the mining
of gold under the sea on the Alaskan
coast precipitated lively debate.
The House debated the army appro-
priation bill. The discussion covered
wide range of topics, Porto Rican
tariff the Boer war and the Philip
pines. The charge that the Porto Ri
can tariff bill was the result of deal
for raising a Republican campaign
fund was again referred to today by
Mr.. Pierce OF Tennessee, but Mr.. Hull
declared that the anonymous author of
the charge would never dare to avow
himself and be branded as falsifer.
Mr.. Sulzer of New York made an APP
peal for the extension of official sym
patty to the Beers in their struggle for
independence and Lentz of Ohio deliv-
cred scathing denunciation of mill
tarsm and the war in the Philippines.
His attack aroused the resentment and
Indignation of Mr.. Marsh of Illinois,
who in bitter attack on the Ohio
member declared that the latter's
speech was disgrace to the American
Congress. He declared that be was re
sponsible for what he said both on and
off the floor Of the House. His heated
language did not draw rejoinder from
Mr.. Lentz.
The new Philippine commission held
preliminary meeting today at the
headquarters of the old commission on
Vermont avenue. Judge Taft, the
president, called the body to order and
in a discussion which lasted about
three hours the plans for the movements
of the commission were thoroughly
canva5sed.
WASHINGTON, March 28.-The SEN
ate today agreed to vote on the Porto
Rico government and tariff bill Tues
day afternoon at four o'clock. An i'm
portant utterance was made later in the
day on the bill by Mr.. Davis of Mime
sofa, who advocated free trade between
the United States and Porto Rico. Mr..
Davis principal proposition was that
the necessary money to be raised by
taxation should not be raised by duty
levied upon Porto Rican products but
, by an internal revenue tax levied upon
rum and tobacco products on the island
r "If interpret the signs of times in
this country" Mr.. Davis said, "there is
, intense opposition to the bill among
, our people. This will be allayed By
the adoption of the proposition in my
+ amendment And as to the Porto Ri
' cans they would be quite satisfied by
the levying and collecting of interna
, revenue taxes on rum and tobacco"
) Adverting to the Philippines as {
factor in the Porto Rican problem, Mr.
Davis said: "When we come to dea
with the Philippine question we viii
a take care of that. Porto Rico is little
more than seven hundred miles from
our coast; the Philippines are eigh
thousand. The island of Porto Rico it
naturally part of the North American
jurisdiction; the Philippines are par
of the domain of Asia. Against the
> product and people of the Philippines
when the time comes the rights o
q American labor will be protected b,
any party that may be in power"
q The House devoted practic lily thu
:. whole day to consideration of the arm,
|. appropriation bill. Several mino
!. amendments were adopted and abou
n half the bill was considered. Their
was a good deal of extemporaneous de
=. bate during the d3y, little of which wa
;. pertinent to the bill. Mr.. Dsiggs o
h New York, created a diversion b,
charging reckless extravaganza in tn
y fitting up of the transport Sumner ant
! precipitited lively tilt upon the sub
o ject. He gave notice that later h
: should ask the House to investigate th,
n subject.
Q WASHINGTON, March pa direc
vote was taken by the Senate today OIL
t the proposition to strike from the Port
It Rico measure the proposition levyinI
j. fifteen per cent of the Dingiey Law
r duties on Porto Rican products. Tn
Il proposition was defeated by vote O
a 16 to 33. While the vote is regsrde,
l. as presaging the passage of the pendin
e measure it is not regarded as indicat
G ing the final vote on the bill.
The feature of the debate today wa
e the speech of Mr.. Beverage of In
n diana. He advocated reciprocity be
e tween the United States and Port
3 IlCO out duuOuuCbu luht II all CnOl 70 L
/. secure free trade should fail he woul
t support the pending bill The bill wa
u under discussion throughout the ses
e sion, several important amendment
G being agreed to.
g After four days of stormy debate tn
Ii House today passed the army appropri
n alton bill. AS passed the bill is onl
i slightly modified from the form il
a which it came from the committee
One of the last amendments adopte
= opens the soldiers homes to the officer
II and men of the volunteer and regula
}. armies incapactated by service durin
If or since the Spanish war. The chic
@ incident of the day was defence of tn
g war department against the charge c
II reckless extravaganza in the fitting u
ff of the transport Sumner made by MI
briggs of New York yesterday. Nj
3 Parker of New Jersey produced tn
}: itemized expenses furnished by th
n war department to show that there ha