The New York herald., 1876-02-02
The Tariff Bill.

that the Tariff bill, which has been intro
duced and referred, will pass both houses
and become a law The manner of its ap-
pearance is such as to tempt and almost
provoke the Committee on Ways and Means
to pay it scant respect. 1t is not their bill,
but the bill of Mr.. Morrison, acting, not in
his capacity as chairman Of the committee,
but as an individual member of the
House. Even if it had been prepared
by Mr. Morrison himself, instead of by
Mr.. j. S. Moore, who is not member either
of the committee or the House, the impro-
priety of ushering it into Congress in the
way he has would be all the same. If he
chooses to accept the work of another as his
own nobody has right to complain, espe-
cially since he allows the real author of the
bill publicly to wear the credit of framing it.
Mr.. Morrison has made the bill as fully
his own by adoption as it would have
been by actual paternity. If he were
not the chairman. nor a member of the
Committee on Ways and Means his introduc-
tion of such a bill, whether framed by him
self or another, would be perfectly proper
and entirely respectful to the committee.
But his official position as its head alters the
case.
The Committee on Ways and Means con-
sists of nine members, presumed to have
been selected for their ability and their
knowledge of fiscal questions BY the rules
of the House its committees keep their delib-
erations secret, and it is not in order for
member to refer to anything done in COM
mittee A strict enforcement of this rule is
of altogether more importance in the Com
mittee on Ways and Means than in any
other, since the prices Of commodities are
affected by changes or the prospect of
changes in the rates of taxation, and specu-
lators stand ready to avail themselves of
such knowledge if they can get it. 1t
might, therefore, be fairly argued that Mr.
Morrison himself does not expect the success
of this bill, because if he did he would
be bound, as chairman of the committee, to
observe the usual precautions against play
ing into the hands of speculators 1t was
right enough for him to employ Mr.. Moore
to supply the defects of his own knowledge,
but he should have reserved the results for
use in the committee. Unlike ordinary
members of the House, he has free and con-
stant access to the committee, and
can bring to its notice any fiscal
measure he pleases without the cir
cuitous publicity of proposing it in
the House for reference. 1t was
not respectful to the committee to attempt to
forestall its action by producing a tariff bill
complete in all its details in advance of the
deliberations and votes of its members. Of
course they will not accept such bill as a
whole, and perhaps not any part of it, They
will do the duty for which they were APP
pointed, and if they report a new tariff it
will be the result of their own discussions
and deliberations. They do not yet know
how much money ii will be necessary to
raise, nor can they know until the Commit
tee on Appropriations has determined The
scale of expenses. tariff should be framed
with due regard to the proposed expendi-
lures of the government, and q reduction of
twenty or fifty millions in the appropria-
tons would require q different distribution
of the duties among various articles as well
as different rates. A well constructed
tariff is a thing of wise adaptations.
and for the chairman of Ways aud
Means to go out into the street and
pick up tariff ready made is as incongru-
Gus rs it would be to go into shop and buy
a suit Of ready made clothes for a man whom
he had never seen, not knowing whether the
proposed wearer were tall or short, stout or
lean. The Committee on Ways and Means
will probably reject Mr.. Morrisons ready
made garment and take the measure of the
expenditures before cutting out a revenue to
fit them.
RoscoE CoNKLING AS A CANDIDATE. The
Sun says =
Is there any gooa 1rsy Roscoe Coalling should
not BE- e candidate for president u tse republican party
Of AeC York
No, we cannot see why he would not be
good candidate for the republican party.