Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-03-16

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.,'at a'a not have the least earthly
,niils To d" with money. The consti-
'utioh or Massachusetts is not the
same as ours. II is not bills for rais-
ing revenue, but it is money bills.
NOW the only question here for the
action OF this House Is whether we
Shall continue to proceed in IA way
| pIacticaiiy IN the teeth of the coUs!i-
| 'utl"l or the State of Maine because
| Iofsooth somebody else, however II good
lawyer he may be. has sat in this
House or in the Senate and has not
.hiStd The question, but has allowed
lhihRs to proceed by unanimous con-
sent. ALI. gentlemen. nothing is
precedent for Il decision of a court or
d" "eclsioh OF anybody else, and we
nav" no right to cite a man as endors-
ing course of procedure unless the
| question is raised and he has a chance
To say something and express his ideas
| on II. ! wish to say that the gentle
! man from Portland greatly differs from
mat other greater gentleman from
Portland who bore like name; and |
snail not stop to cite the precedentS
OF Congress. ! will simply read a short
extract The gentleman from Port
iahd mas had from yesterday until now
| since these presidents of Congress
| were cited to him, and has he brought
TO you one single instance where this
clause of The. constitution of the United
states which is like our own, where
the action has not been precisely the
action | told YOU about yesterday
IhtyD
summed up in an extract which ! did
not read yesterday. in the Congression-
al Record of February 10Th, 1905 page
ma; and this is the action of Mr..
IaWney: ITO come within the prOviS-
ion of the constitution il is not neces-
eary that the proposed Legislation pro-
VIDE for the raising or the lowering Of
The revenue. 1t has been held by Mr..
Speaker Reed and Mr. Speaker Car
nsie that to come within this provision
Of the constitution bills need not nee
tsStr1lE provide for the raising or low
erinS of r"N enue." tThiS bill provides
| tor the lowering of revenue and ii nee
essarily provides for the raising of rev.
| enue because if you lower il in one par
ucular You have presumtively got to
]
the necessary revenue) but bills af-
! fectll:S the revenue or the revenue laws
whether such laws relate directly 10
| to the laws relating to the administrator
| RAISING or lowering revenue. or to
| the laws relating TO the administration
OF the revenue laws, are within this
| provision of the constitution. That
has been the uniform ruling and con-
struction placed upon this provision of
the constitution by the House of Rep
resentatives and by its Speakers MY
| colleague, the gentleman from Penn
| sylvania. calls my attention to the re-
| port made by Senator Carpenter on
| this very question as to whether or
not bill. in order to come within the
| provision of the constitution ought to
be Il bill raising revenue or bill re-
| ducing revenue. but that it may be q
| bill affecting revenue. This House has
| repeatedly held that bills relating to
| the administrator of the revenue laws
are bills affecting the revenue within
| III meaning of the constitution, refer
ring 10 the origin of revenue meas
ures."
| l call the attention of the members
| of the House to one thing. While you
are not responsible for the regularity
| of action that may be taken if no ques-
ton is raised. while the gentleman
| from Portland necessarily admits that
| the precedents he has cited are no
precedeEts for our action at this time
because he must admit. at last have
no doubt that every member of The
House is satisfied. that the precedents
| that he has cited are bills for raising
revenue as originating in the Senate
of this 1eSislature-and if they are
bills for raising revenue they are di-
rectly in the teeth of the constitution of
Maine and consequently cannot be
preceGents for. our action here-but T
call your attention to this. that now
the point is presented to you this reso-
| luton Is up to you to act upon. The i
| question is whether YOU will maintain \
the rights and the dignity of this
| House. or whether forSooth because
you want to do something else YOU will
| fly in the face and eyes of the cOnsti
tuition. and you will establish by your
vote when the question is squarely and
directly presented Il precedent that
ought to have some weight and which
| hereafter in the action of this House
| will come home to roost and to both
err you. You are called on now not to
act in accordance with your desires.
but to establish consistently with the
constitution the rights of this House,
let it hit where it will: and Mr. Speak
er and gentlemen. | call on this House
to vote squarely upon that PROPOSE
| ton. leaving out of mind any pre-cOn-
| ceiVed opinions you may have in rela-
| ton to the merits or dement's of this
bill which would be under considera-
ton except for the raising of the ques
| ton here on which you are to decide.
| MIR. REED: In regard to the gentle
mans congressional precedents, as l
did not consider them to have any
bearing on this question it did not seem
necessary to look them up. The reve-
nue. lawS Of Congress are entirely diff
ferent from the revenue laws of this
State Even if we take the position that
some of the bills which have been re-
| ferred to presidents in this State
ar revenue bills, and for a moment adj
hitting the position taken by the gen.
| tleman from ROckland as to the bill
| in regard to the tax on railroads. that