New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-02-23
IN CAUCUS ON THE TARIFF BILL.

The Naval bill was c0nsldered Ill oio o0""'0'
IN CAUCUS ON THE TARIFF BILL
prprn1JcAN REPRESENTATIVES, DISCUSSING THE
srrrarIoS-THE BILL TO BE GIVEN TO CON-
FERENCE COMMITTEE.
IBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE.l
WASHINGTON. Feb. 22-The prospects of tarin
LEGISLATION by this Congress are suil extremey un
certain. notwithstanding the fact that the RepuD-
loor Ponresentatiyes held a caucus which lasted
nearly three hours this evening While the resuiV'
of the caucus were not positive, the discussions
were productive of better understanding anu pon'
In n course of action which the Republican leaders
believe viii commend itself to the country. Al an
early stage of the proceedings, MIR. Haske brought
forward and supported in vigorous speech inc
scheme described in to-day's TRIBUNE as oelng un-
der consideration among some prominent Kepuo-
hcons Hr Haskell had formulated the scheme as
follows:
Beeo,reI. That House bin No 1888. being a bill en-;
,te5 " A bii to reduce internal revenue taxation"
witt the Senate amendments therSto, nov uP a rea @
Sneakers liable, be returned TO the Senate Or e Ioa
sOn that Ger of said Senate amendments are %
TO be in violation of the constitutional prerogaVesn no
the House disagree to said ams@G%fints eo@%itee
and az thereon S oacnns GS al matters Of
between two Houses, including the sG2eGt dnont
committee OF five on the part OF the house
that in his judgment the question of constitutional
nrivilere could not be made to carry the subject
matter ef the bin itself OF course, such declara-
tion from the Speaker was fatal 10 MI
Haskell's resolution. He argued in favor OF
resolution offered by hun in the House to-uay'
which provides that majority NAV suspend INC
rules and sent the Tariff bill 10 Conference COM
mittee.
MR.. KAssoN's RESOLUTIONS.
Mr.. Kasson offered two resolutions. which he sup
po1ted III an energetic speech. The trst required
the committee on rules TO report the hasson rue
to the House for its acton the second pledged the
Republicans 10 vote to send the Senate Dli 10 a
Conference Comrittee to be composed of five Rep
resentatiyes and five Senators. Mr.. Kasson's
speech was an urgent one and he was several
rimes interrupted with questions winch,
II ia said rufiled his temp'r considerably
He insisted that both his resolutions should be
voted upon, but that was not thought best. Aiter
fuller discussion the second one was adopted by a
vote of so TO 4-Messrs Anderson, Scranton and two
others IN the negative.
MeSsra Anderson and Dunnell both spoke favor
inc concurrence in the Senate amendments. MI
Anderson's speech was sin the same vein
that he has followed during the discussion of
the Ways and Means bill in the House.
Messrs Kelley, Riscock McKinly. Reed. Calkins
and others also spoke arguing in favor of sending
The Senate bill to a conference committee and
nontinp ont changes that they deemed necessary
IN make the measure safe and satisfactory one.
Major McKiply urged that the Republican party
cannot af ord to pass bad Tariff bill, but thaI III
ouCht 10 strain every nerve to get good one
'The Senate bill is a bad one," said he. 1t VIII
satisfy nobody-not even the Democrats, who profess
a desire to vote for it. 1t will not quiet the agita-
ton of the question asked one OF the most promi-
nent Democrats in this House to-day whether the
MASSAGE of the Senate bill would prevent an effort
still further to revise the tariff by the next Con-
gress and he replied BY no means we mean 10
cut deep in every direction"
SPEECH WHICH MADE AN IMPRESSION.
Mr.. Reed made a speech which which appeared
to voice the almost unanimous sentiment OF the
caucus, and his arguments made deep
impression upon the minds of the
doubtful aud wavering representatives, who seem
10 think that bad Tariff bill is preferable to none
Mt all In substance he said
The first duiy Of tae 10 be careful and avoid
precipae action. There necessity OF the caucus
iry unless something Is done. 1t may be bid thing
sometimes to act Instead OF good thing We OIL de
tariff; aud bad revision must never
consent The RepnDeans OF ne three c@y rSsed sede
the senate bill is passed without any modification If
upon exauinao this should prove to be true tue TACT
tnHt tne Industries on own states are protected
ought not 10 control The arf which strikes
Srssrye ali the epithets Of denunciaton which
used by the Democrats :. themselves, Tne
ffbaI any harm 10 one will be an INJURY to all.
1t is unirae to say that the senate bill u Repnonca
bill for all of the obnoxious clauses were PUT III Dy
Democratic efforts and Democratic votes assisted ny one
II we can get the senate bill into conference may
have 1t modified that II VIII be good p. our pros
Iey under the present s1 mas oee endare ~ Il for
a few years to come , rather ,,,dm tnan run the ne
disturb the prosperity which we now have. Complaint
made tnat we nave very little Tune ior exsnnatlon on
wole country rhe Democrats nave wasted 10 tax the
ampation Of the details Of the This the country
understands and II Is wise enough noI 70 ASK U" 10 oo
more than TO cat ascor ling TO the cioth We nave
The three great States referred to by Mr.. Kead
are DINO Pennsylvania and New-Jerscy. Mr.. His
cock declared that some of the provisions of the
s-nate bill would be quite disastrous to large in-
dustries in the State OF New-YOrk az those OF any
other part of the country. While he
was willing to cooperate in securing the
reference Of the bill to far conference for report
which could receive consideration, he was unwilling
10 support any movement winch might
involve tho passage Of the bill as whole
without any consideration by the House
and any chance to modify the measure to save
certain industries which are imperilled by it.
DISCUSSING THe KAssoS RULE.
The discussion became very animated toward the
close Mr. Kasson, who was considerably
disturbed by the turn which affairs had
taken insisting for vote upon his resolution in
struc,ing the Committee on Rules to report the
Kasson rule to the House. A majority OF the eau
Gu, agreed with Mr. Hiscoek. who moved that the
caucus adjourn without giving the Committee
on Rules any instruction IGsPee1,hs
the OF it's duties under the rules OF the
House and the official obligations of its members
Prior TO the adjournment, however, ME- Mason
said he would be contented If il were
mud ersiood that The Committee on Rales
would report the Kasson rule when 1t should pe
safe to do so. BY SAFE is meaat time when the
majority Of tine Committee on Rules shaiI
become satisfied that a fair majority OF tne
Uouee can be depended Oh TO nOn-concur