The Washington times., 1901-12-18
UNDER THE CAPiTOL'S S DOME.

Senator James X Jones. the Democratic
national chairman. and chairman o
the Democratic Senatorial caucus, il
measurably indignant at the statemen
which has been given currency to the ef'
feet that his recent elestton to the latter
| position was temporary only. and thai
some other Senator was the choice oi
the caucus as its permanent presiding
| officer. He says that there is literally nc
| truth in the statement; that the caucus
has the power at any time to change its
chairman. but that II there is such a de-
sire in this instance it has yet to make
Itself manifest. and that the election in
| his case was as much a permanent one
as such elections ever are. 1nRsmuch as
the Senator is in full possession OF the
minority conference room by virtue ot
his craftsmanship, his statement seems to
dispose of the matter completely and
leave nothing more to be said.
When the House of Representatives is
in Committee OF the Whole for the dis
cussion OF public measures much latitude
of debate is usually allowed, and the
speeches of members frequently have but
a remote bearing. If any. upon the pro-
visions of the bill under consideration.
The debate of the bill temporarily to
provide revenue for the Philippine ISL
ands snd for other cognate purposes,
as developed yesterday. was no exception
to the rule. although. in general. the
speakers did talk about matters that
We're at least in a way connected with
the purposes of the bill There was, how
IA ~
rect bearing upon the main features OF
the hili These are the continuance in
force of the revenue law enacted by the
Taft Commission, and the application to
the Islands of The provisions of the Ding
ley tariff.
In stating the scope and purpose of the
measure, Mr.. Payne. the Republican floor
leader, said il was made necessary by the
recent Supreme Court decision, holding
that the islands are no longer foreign
territory. and that consequently the
Dingley tariff does not apply to goods
imported from them, but, beyond this, his
speech was mainly an exposition Of the
character of the Taft government. what
it is doing for the improvement Of
Philippine conditions, and what IL is
hoped may be accomplished in the future.
1t can hardly be said that either Mr..
Payne or General Grosver OF. who spoke
later on the same side. threw much new
light upon the subject covered by the
proposed legislation. and probably neither
thought it necessary to do SO. Both
argued strongly that the measure was
exceedingly liberal to the Filipinos in
that the moneys collected under the Taft
Commission revenue law were to be
covered into the treasury of the Philip
pine Islands, to be used locally for their
benefit. But neitSer gentleman said any
thing as 10 the necessity, upon the
grounds Of public policy. for separate tar
iii regulations. wfieii fFom their point of
view. would seem TO be the main reason
underlying the Legislation proposed
IT. however. the speeches of these two
Republican leaders were not quite satis-
flying in some essential particulars. 1t
must be conceded that the arguments of
their opponents also failed squarely TO
meet the issue as presented. The Demo-
cratic contention was that the islands
ought to be absolutely free and independ-
ent The great salient fact which stares
them in the face IL that the islands are
nut Aa't dAtN AANffANAihAs HuA hhhtA AAAi'
sovereignty OF the unjted States. Upon
that point the Supreme Court seems to be
unit If the sovereignty Of the United
States attaches, il Is clearly within the
province OF Congress to lcgislate for the
territory. and the real question is what
the legislation should be.
TO listener il seemed that the best
position the Democrats could have taken
would have been TO argue that the Con
s;itution follows the flag" In this they
would have had the support OF four mem
bers of the Supreme Court, but when they
planted themselves upon the ground
simply that the islands ought TO be free.
they were indulging in mere distractions,
and firing their shots into the air. Still.
ii was hard tor them 10 do anything else.
for as political. in cJntradistinction to
a legal proposition they we're Unwilling to
argue the question uron the hypothesis
that The Islands are held by the United
States in full sovereignty.
This made their proposition a difficult
ono. and deirsated much from the force
of the speeches OF Messrs. Swanson,
Sbafroth and De Almond. which in some
respects were admirable.
Yesterday there was much interest
manifested in Congressional. circles in the