National Republican., 1883-02-20

| Mr.. Platt, from the committee on pensions
reported favorably the house bill granting 8
pension to the widow Of the late Maj. Gen
| Warren.
At the close of the morning hour Mr. In
| gals called up his resolution 70 fix the daily
hour of meeting from now until the end o
the session at 10 n. M, which was agreed to
Mr. Vest called up the resolution offered by
him Saturday providing for select commit
tee Of five senators TO inquire into the con
dition Of the Yellowstone park and directing
tho secretary Of the interior to take imme
| diate steps for the preservation of the gam,
and objects OF interest in the park, and in tn,
meantime, until this committee shall hav,
| reported, to suspend all action In relation t
leasing the park or any portion of IL.
Mr. voorhees, said the resolution involved
important interests, and would probably pro
woke good deal of discussion, and at tn,
| suggestion Of Mr. Morrill,, Mr.. Vest did moi
press the consideration of It, but gave motto,
that ho would ask for action upon Il as soor
as the tariff bill should have been disposed of
On motion of Mr.. Edmunds the senate held
brief executive session.
When the doors were rcopencd
THE TARIFF BILL
was taken up The pending question was on
the amendment offered by Mr.. Sherman in
relation TO the duty on steel.
At the suggestion of Mr.. Allison, Mr.. Sher-
huhu lnt NIncnUnntnI DN Stf1klnH out
tho provision making the duty on steel not
otherwise enumerated or provided for" 45
per cent. ad valOrem but stated that if the
first part of the amendment should be agreed
to, he would offer this provision later.
Mr.. Beck sad the present duty on "steel
not otherwise provided for' was 30 per cent.
ad valorem, and that the rate proposed by Mr..
sherman, instead of reducing the revenue,
would produce an increase, taking the inn
portations of this class last year as the basis
of the calculation, of $a6l,575 and the in
creased tax on the imports would of course be
trifle compared with the increase in the
prices of the articles manufactured in this
country which would result from the increase
of duty. All this was to be done upon bill
to reduce duties and lessen the burdens of the
people. He tMr. Beck had withheld
many amendments which lie desired to
offer TO the woolen schedule and
the cotton schedule and Others because ho did
not wish delay, and he was ready to vote for
the third reading of the bill and let Il go TO
the house this morning; but IL the very men
who had been active in arranging the iron
schedule in its present form proposed now to
ovcrturn that work and the other schedules,
as agreed upon by the senate after prolonged
consideration and discussion, then he (Mr.
Beck) and other senators would offer their
amendments TO the different schedules, and if
gentlemen on the other side were determined
to kill the bill, as they avowed they were, un-
less they could have IL just as they wanted II, ),
let thom kill IL and take the responsibility.
The kilograms published in the Record
showed the anmus of the iron masters and
their representatives, in regard TO the revision
of the tariff. One of them from w. w. Mat
thews, read: hope you will vote against
the passage of the senate tariff bills. II is
better to let both senate and house bills fail
than to have such n tariff" And in accordance
10
abandoned, and these men were now waiting
TO sec how bad the senate bill could be made
for the people and how good for the monopol-
lists, who had dictated all its provisions.
Mr.. Morgan offered an amendment provd-
ing that on and after the first of July, 1888,
and until the first of july 1884, not more than
80 per cent. of the rates of duty which are
now required under existing laws TO be levied,
collected, and paid on goods wares and mcr-
chandisc imported into the United States,
shall be levied, collected, and paid, and after
July l, 1884, not more than as per cent.
Mr.. Beck. That is great deal better than
any bill that we will get here. will vote
for that and be glad of the chance, and the
people would save untold millions If that
proposition were substituted for the bill be.
fore us, with its hiding and lodging and
changes Of classification.
Mr.. Mcpherson hoped there was no dispo-
sition on the part of any senator to defeat the
bill. The people had demanded tariff re-
vision, and so far as he was concerned they
should have IT, As TO this metal schedule
everybody knew that IL had been less con-
sidered by the senate than almost any other
in the bill The committee on finance had
found this portion of the bill as ii came from
the tariff commission very confused, and had
referred 1t to a subcommittee whose labors
resulted in substantially the schedule
reported to the senate. He had supposed
that satisfactory adjustment of these duties
had been made, but when Mr.. Sherman's
amendment was offered on Friday he became
convinced that the rates in the metal sched-
ule had been reduced too much, and were out
of proportion to the other duties in the bill
On the other hand, he believed that the rates
proposed by Mr. Sherman were too high also
that the proposed change Of classes ought not
to be made. Therefore he would offer an
amendment which he thought would be fairer
and more acceptable than either the schedule
in the bill or the pending amendment.
Mr.. Sherman asked Mr.. Mcpherson whether
he understood that what he had offered was
word for word the schedule in the house bill,
which had been considered and debated in the
house for weeks.
Mr.. Mcpherson did not know what the
house had done, nor did he care.
Mr.. Sherman made q detailed comparison
between the existing duties on steel ingots,
blooms, &c and the rates proposed in his
to show the reductions that
would be made.
Mr.. Mcpherson asked Mr.. Sherman how
much his amendment would reduce the pres
ent tariff rates and whether the reductions
would be in duo proportion to the reductions
made in other portions of the bill.
Mr.. Sherman replied that tho reductions
would be greater than the reductions made
upon other industries. There would be an
reduction on the cheaper forms
Of steel there would be reduction on every
item of the schedule, and OH the whole he
would say without fear of contradiction that
the reduction in the amount of duties upon
these classes of steel would be from 10 to 20
per cent Whisky had 100 per cent. protec-
tion, tobacco over 100 per cent? cotton and
woolen manufactures were fully protected
he (Sherman) had voted to protect every arti-
Gle that required protection and he hoped
senators who represented other protected in
terests would not now vote to strike down this
great interest, the foundation of the in.
dustries of the middle states.
Mr.. Coke asked Mr.. Sherman whether the
house schedule was not substantially the ono
reported by the tariff commission
Mr.. Sherman said 1t was much lower.
Mr.. Coke inquired whether the classification
was not the same In both
Mr.. sherman replied that il was not.
MIR. Hawley said he understood very we'll
That no senator could expect to have bill
ike this precisely as he would wish in every
respect. lie was satisfied in general with the |
amendment of the senator from Ohio. He
lid not think ii could be reproached with in
,reasing the duty, and he would vote for it.
Mr., Morrill, said the senator from Kentucky |
Mr. Beclll now aVowpd his UiIlinonass |