Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-04-15

| today, by their refusal to allow
speeches to be printed in the Record.
The speakers, today, were Mccall,
Mass, and Brantley, Ga, for the meas
ure, and Robertson, La, and Stevens,
Mimi, against. Robinson, Ind, OPP
posed Cuban annexation on the ground
that it would threaten the welfare of
the American wage Garner.
| The conference report on the post
office appropriation bill was adopted
carly in the day after some criticism
of the pneumatic tube provision.
| The second week of the debate on
the Cuban reciprocity bill began in the
| House, today. Under the rule this was
District of Columbia day, but the regu-
| lar order was postponed until next
| Monday.
| Loud called up the conference report
on the post office appropriation bill. He
was questioned about the item for the
pneumatic tube service.
Cannon, ILL.,. and Moody, Mass, criti-
cized the manner in which the provis-
ion came into the House for action,
giving no opportunity for amendment.
Loud insisted that the House, even
at this parliamentary stage, could re-
provision was sot acceptable. The re-
port was adopted without division.
| The House then went into committee
Of the whole and resumed the debate
upon the Cuban reciprocity bill.
| Aplin. Mich, objected to a request
made by Payne for general leave to
print remarks upon the bill The OBJ
lection made by Aplin was n tactical
move to compel all members who de-
sire to put their views in the record to
take the floor for that purpose.
| Mccall, Mass. member of the ways
and means committee, was the first
, speaker, today. He made an earnest
speech in favor of the passage of the
bill. He discussed the first, the eco
nomic features of the bill and said that
it fixed the basis for a trade between
two peoples amounting now to $75,OOO,-
geo annually and which under the pro-
visions of the bill would soon be aug
mented three fold. The objection that
the bill would injure the beet sugar in
F dustry in this country he said rested
upon no sound foundation. He pro-
, Guced figures to prove his assertion and
, said that the claim that the sugar trust
would get the benefit of the reduction
could not stand examination. Two
years ago it had been urged that the
trust would get the benefit of the re-
moval of duties of sugar from Porto
, Rico. The result OF the experiment
showed beyond question that the re-
, moval of the duty went directly to the
T Porto Rican planters 1t was simply
quarrelling with axiom to maintain
f such a proposition. There would not
nricpS a nO6jtV of
eral use of the same market at the
I same time. In order to discredit the
! cause of Cuba the beet sugar advocates
n had brought in the sugar trust.
/ Compared with the German beet
sugar cartel which exports sugar for
about two cents a pound while it ex-
torts six cents pound from the Ger
man people the American Sugar Trust
was a charitable institution.
n There was little ground for optimism
as to the future of cane sugar in the
| United States. In Louisiana the cane
q must be planted every two years at a
e cost of about $40 an acre, while the
= Cubans planted only once in 10 years.
= To protect against such a great natur-
n al advantage was not a rational ap-
plication of protection. Protection
:, could be applied to build up industries
which we are fitted to carry on and
= not to support mere exotic enter
r prise.
The strongest grounds for the bill,
4 however We're those resting upon con-
y siderations of morality and justice and
y those which had reference not to our
. pecuniary interest but to the future of
the American commonwealth. Zone
year ago" he said, Eve passed the Platt
c amendment which declared itself to be
in fulfillment of the Teller resolution.
9 was one of those who thought that
amendment scarcely compatible with
| the lofty declaration with which we
= embarked upon the war, but the gentle
;, men with as keen a sense of national
and personal honor as my own thought
otherwise. Under that amendment Cuba
falls in all international matters under
the absolute predominance of the
"a United States. 1t practically prohibits
her from making treaty of commerce
with another nation. Having deprived
o. her of this power we are bound to deal
% with her on terms of liberality.
1t is atrocious to assert that wa have
, discharged our obligations to Cuba when
we set her out upon the highway thus
~ bound hand and foot if all that re-
, manned for us hereafter was to sing
- praises to our own virtue for giving her
- freedom. Cuba's case was stronger in
Il equity than that of the Philippines which
mad % per cent. concession, or Porto
% RICO which had free trade. She is a part
II OF us by the common interest which binds
II nations together. 1t was said that the
= destiny decreed that Cuba should become
. an integral part of our Union. destiny
q which is so often a mere synonym of
greed. ] prefer to see Cuba flourish as
an independent republic under the pro-
lection of our nation in foreign affairs
The governing agencies of our nation
should not be extended any farther to-
ward the tropics. Whatever the faults
y OF the Cuban people, we must all admit
the great patience and serenity with
which they acted during the last three
4, years Let us now set them upon their
u course as a nation with the help and the
= encouragement contained in this meas
4 ure.'
r Robertson. La, also a member of the
= | ways and means committee, opposed the
Il | bill in a vigorous speech. He contended
S that the United States would reap prac-
tically nothing from a reciprocity ar
rangement with Cuba. He argued that
the American consumer would secure no
p reduction on his sugar as n result of tina