Show BHS NOT NEEDED i i How the War Revenues Way Be I Easily Raised I SENATOR TURPIES PLATA I TAX ON CORPORATIONS AND COINAGE OF SILVER These With the Inheritance Tax and I Greenback Issue Would Provide Abundance of Funds Proposed I Certificates Were to Meet the Dingley Law Deficiency Penalties I Changed I Washington May ISIn the senate I house bill reported by the committee j on claims was pass directing the I payment to Samuel McKee of Kentucky Ken-tucky of 171S for expenses incurred i by him in a contest for his seat In the fortieth congress A bill providing that officers in the regular army should be eligible to staff appointments in the volunteer army and that governors with the consent of thu president may appoint officers of the regular army in the grade of field officers in organizations of the volunteer volun-teer in the District of Columbia army mlia J V fto I and Indian Territory were passed I Mr Hawley called up the report of the conferees on the bill suspending the action of certain existing laws relating I to the purchase of supplies by the quartermasters department of the army Mr Hawley explained that the senate conferees had abandoned their amendment repealing section 3709 of the revised statutes and had inserted the following That during the existing war the bureau of ordnance of the war department depart-ment is authorized to purchase without advertisement such ordnance or ordnance nance stores as are needed for immediate I immedi-ate use and when such ordnance and ordnance stores are to be manufactured manufac-tured to make contracts without advertisement ad-vertisement for such stores to be de livered as rapidly as manufactured Mr Gorman of Maryland inquired of Mr Hawley whether the provision inserted in-serted by the conferees conferred upon the chief of ordnance unlimited authop1 ity to contract for supplies one or two years hence Mr Hawley replied that the provision conferred upon the chief of ordnance only such power as now necessary for him in the circumstances to have The projectiles and guns and other supplies which we must have said Mr Hawley with some heat are not to be had in every toy shop Only three or four concerns in the country make them The chief of ordnance knows exactly what he has to pay for them and without advertising for proposals I could give the senator Mr Gorman some information on this point but I do not think it is proper to do so In i open session I You need not cal for secret sessions II on my account said Mr Gorman but I would like to know how sweeping this provision is Well retorted Mr Hawley there is just this about i I you have not an honest chief or ordnance have him turned out and put in another man I is essential that he have the authority conferred upon him by this provision I call for a secret executive session Mr President The call was sustained and at 1227 p m the senate went into uecrct session ses-sion Discussing the question in secret j session for half an hour the report on the quartermasters bill was agreed to WAR REVENUE BILL The senate resumed open legislative session at 1215 p m and began the consideration of the war revenue mea ure ureMr Turpie Dem Ind in addressIng i address-ing the senate said that the differences were differences only In method There was no difference as to the purpose of I supplying all the means and men to the government to carry on the war I Mr Turpie said that the pending bill carried a provision for a basketful of care I certificates of Indebtedness in order to meet the deficiencies caused by the I Dingley law The Democrats had been sharply criticised because of the I monthly deficit of the socalled Wilson i law but the Dingley law was showing singular deficits without criticism Now singlar detCis wihout crtcism I Mr Turpie said it was proposed in the pending war measure to take care I of all the Dingley law deficits with the certificates of indebtedness cCf st SSto The question presented to congress was how the necessary money should be raised The committee was agreed that 150000000 should be raised by taxation and the remaining sum from S120000COO to 150000000 by other I means Mr Turpie thought the tax on I succession was one of the best features of the bill He said It was a tax on accumulation while the tax on beer and tobacco was a tax on cons mptlon CORPORATIONS AND SILVER Mr Turpie strongly urged the proposed pro-posed tax on corporations He estimated I mated this tax would yield 100000000 and that the Inheritance provision would produce 50000000 more This would supply the amount necessary to I be raised The remaining 15000000u necessary could be raised by the coinage coin-age of the silver seigniorage and the issue of legal tender notes The majority ma-jority of the finance committee he said had deemed it wise to propose the coinage of the seigniorage In deference to the wishes of the 15000000 who In the last national campaign had made evident their desire for such coinage j The section of the bill providing for the issue of greenbacks was proposed by the majority of the committee as a substitute for the bond section of the bill as it came from the house For I the present Mr Turpie said the Democratic Demo-cratic policy of the free and unlimited coinage of silver had been relegated to the hustings and to the arbitrament of the ballot I He argued at length in favor o the issue of greenbacks legal tender notes declaring that the policy of their Issue I was almost an ideal one for the raising of money for such an emergency a now confronted this government I I is said he the most patriotic and least expensive scheme of securing secur-ing money in n time like this known to man manMr Turpie referred at some length to I the remarkable experience of France whose people themselves had carried the enormous loan to the government made necessary by the FrancoGorman war The example of France he thought ought to be followed by this country Referring to the proposed issue of I bends Mr Turpie said its promoters had put I as a rider in this bill in order or-der to place congress in durance STAMP TAX PENALTY Mr Gorman suggested that the penalty pen-alty for failure to affix the stamp to any drug or medicine perfumery etc was too severe The bill as I had parsed the house provided a penalty of 100 but the senate committee had changed this so as to make the offense a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than 500 or Imprisonment for not exceeding six months The provision was amended by striking strik-ing out theminimum fine leaving it to the discretion of the courts to make I less than 100 Mr Gorman moved then to strike cut the clause providing for imprisonment Messrs Gray Mills and Cullom also supported the motion and Messrs Aldrich Ald-rich Jones of Arkansas Chilton White and Cockrel opposed I I was rejected re-jected 20 to 27 Mr Gorman asked the senate to re I turn to section five of the bill providing i provid-ing that any person wilfully evading the 1e Ulre lent to place revenue stamps upon any legal document or taxed paper of any kind should he fined not more than 500 or Imprisonment of not more than six months or both He moved that the fine be fixed at 0 instead of 500 The motion was agreed to 30 to 16 Mr Gorman then moved to strike out the imprisonment clause This was cause agreed to without division On Mr Germans motion the Imprisonment impris-onment clauses were stricken out of sections 8 and 9 providing for the use of revenue stamps The senate refused to strike out the Imprisonment feature I of section 1 which provided for the affixing af-fixing of stamps to stock transferred In section 15 of the bill the stamp taxes rovided for were madeeffective on the first day of June This was amended so as to a the 15th day of June The bill was then laid aside for the day and at G oclock the senate went imp executive session and at 515 p I m adjourned |