The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-05-19
Income Tax Opponent
Calls w. ]. Bryan
Populistic Hybrid
Continued from First Page.)

frequently be recreant to the charter
principles of the party. The proposed
amendment, he claimed, would remove
from the constitution the recognition
of the sovereignty of the state which
now exists. He reviewed the adoption
of the articles of confederation and
dwelt upon the division of public
thought at that time as to the liberal
and strict construction of the consti
tuition. He declared that the amend
ment would delegate an Increment of
power" to the federal government that
it would materially assist the federal
aggression upon the rights of the
states. And In this connection, Mr.
President" said the speaker, Il may
be permitted a depression. 1 thank
God that our United States senate had
the nerve to vote against the amend
ment to elect the United States sem
ators by the people This is another
dangerous question tending to, destroy
the sovereignty of the states. I'll tell
you that when you see a Cannon, an
Aldrich, a Payne and Taft promul-
eating this income tax amendment it
is time for Democrats to beware"
ALWAYS BEEN DEMOCRATIC.
Senator John p. Stokes, in making
reply to Senator Finlayson, opened
with the words: MIR. President, l had
assumed that no senator elected in
electors in a Democratic state would
have the temerity to oppose such a
Democratic measure. The argument
employed by the senator from Jeffer-
son / regard as far fetched and spe-
cious and without merit. A measure
that has been proposed by Democrats
for a number of years and has had
a place in every Democratic national
platform for the past twenty years, a
measure drafted by a Democratic SEN
ator from the state of Texas and
adopted by Democrats assembled in
their national convention must be re-
garded as a Democratic measure. If a
tenet so recognized in the Democratic
platform is not Democratic measure
should like to know what Demo
cratic measure u.s.
Mr.. Finlayson: "One that can be
measured by the charter principles of
your party, sir"
Mr.. Stokes said that it was neces-
sary for the party to have a recognized
nized voice of the party had been
heard IN the platform declarations and
that the leaders had spoken for It.
Under the apparent idea of the Jeffer-
son senator every Democrat would be
his own interpreter and there would
be as many different kinds of Demo-
Gratis as there were people who claimed
allegiance to the party.
Mr.. Finlayson wanted to know if
there had been any platform declara-
ton on the subject by any convention
of Florida Democrats.
Not that l know Of" replied Mr..
Stokes. The representatives of the
Florida Democracy sitting in national
convention at Denver sat there and
voted for it, and heard them"
SHOWED 1T WAS DEMOCRATIC.
Mr.. Stokes read from the National
Encyclopedia the history of the income
lax TT was adopted by the con-
gress of 1852" said he, and Mr.. Fin
layson interrupted:
That was a Democratic congress,
wasn't it?''
YES" replied Stokes, hotly, in an
unguarded moment. There was a, tit
ter, and Stokes went ahead with his
reading after saying he didn't know
whether the congress of 1862 was
Democratic or not. In any event he
showed that the income tax amend
ment was Democratic measure, that
it was subsequently proposed by Con-
gresham Wilson, went through a
Democratic congress and was sus-
tanned upon it's adjudication before the
supreme court by four Democratic JUS
tees and declared unconstitutional by
five Republican justices.
Stokes declared that he believed in
the election OF u nlLeQ states senators
by the people. Mr.. Flournoy asked:
rs that because of the recent ten
dency to settle things by primary"
mo, it's because of the recent ten
dency to let the people settle things"
Then you believe that the election
of United States senators by direct
vote of the people is a good thing?'
Undoubtedly. sir"
Then why not refer this matter to
the people?"
Surely the senator must know that
the constitution provides that the
legislature shall ratify such amend
ments. In the case OF the election of
senators by the people the effort was
made to amend the constitution; it
was not proposed to proceed about 1t
| in an unconstitutional manner"
A number OF other senators spoke.