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Show Dwelling in the Realms of a Prophecy Small Reason for Congratulation in the Increase of Revenue From Increased Importations Tho claim of Mr. Underwood, In his speech of June 27, that tho customs cus-toms receipt's under the Free Trado tariff of October 3, 1913, were $22,-000,000 $22,-000,000 larger than during tho i;o.'-responding i;o.'-responding period of the Payne tar-lit tar-lit law, nnd his prediction of pros porous conditions under the existing law, brought out a spirited debate. Mr. Payne, of New York, started tl.o discussion by saying: It is nil prophecy, and you have been prophesying from tho tlmo you put this law on the statute book up to the present tlmo. You prophesied you were not going to havo any trouble. trou-ble. You did not havo any trouble, you said; thero was no" trouble, with business; everything was lovely. And wh.llo everybody else In tho United States whoso Judgment was of any account know that business was rotten, rot-ten, you kept on putting out that statement, nnd finally an Intimation of tho condition ot business got to tho White House, nnd tho President, who was optimistic and had been telling that thero was not anything tho matter with business, finally admitted ad-mitted thnt while business Is not bo good as It might bo, yet tho depression depres-sion is only psychological, and It should not be blamed on the Underwood Under-wood tariff t'.ll . Looking for Those Blossoms When you got the Underwood bill on tho statute books even the Speaker Speak-er of tho House, along about tho first of Decembor, made a speech hero in which ho said, "When we get the currency cur-rency net passed, everything will blossom as tho rose." Wo have been looking for those blossoms ever since, Hut It is tho blossoming of thistles Instead In-stead of roses. , Then you put your currency bill en the statute book late In December. Still thero wns something the matter Dusiness wanted a llttlo moro medicine. medi-cine. So the man who controls Congress Con-gress nnd leads you, bound, hither and thither, while nono ot you daro say his soul Is his own or has an Idea that ho dares express, says, "Wo must have these trust measures passed, pass-ed, nnd you must stay here all summer sum-mer and all winter and all tho re3t of tho tlmo and put them on the statute books; and when we get U1030 on the statute books, then the psych-j ologlcal pnnlcs will disappear, and tho Clafiln failures will disappear, and business will blossom as a rose." Mr. Mondell of Wyoming took ad vantago of the fact of Increased rev-onuo rev-onuo from customs by pointing out the depressing effects of such In-creaso In-creaso upon domestic labor and domestic do-mestic prosperity. He said: "Mr. Speaker, the President ro-solves ro-solves all our troubles by declaring them to bo psychological. The gentleman gen-tleman from Alabama (Mr. Underwood) Under-wood) dwells In tho realms ot prophecy. proph-ecy. It Is ono thing to hope, even when tho hope Is long deferred. It Is quite another thing-Mr. thing-Mr. Underwood Will tho gentle-man gentle-man from Wyoming allow mo to answer an-swer his statement? Does the gentleman gentle-man from Wyoming think that Is a. fair statement when wo are within less than n week of tho close of tho fiscal year and when I stated that the actual returns in tho treasury department de-partment exceed the returns of the Payne bill last year to say that my statement Is In the realms ot prophecy? pro-phecy? Mr. Mondell I still Insist thnt the gentleman is dwelling in tho realms of prophecy, because tho cold, hard fact remains that tho working balance bal-ance In the treasury of approximately $150,000,000 left by a Republican ad ministration has dwindled to as low as $70,000,000, and It Is now less than $SO,000,000; that our gold reserves has dwindled by about $75,000,000; and that our expenditures, careful ps the treasury department Is to pay no bills until compelled to do so, largely exceeded our receipts. |