The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-11-23
CARLISLE ON CURRENT ISSUES.
The Next Speaker of the House on the Tariff,
Financial and Silver Questions.


Financial and Silver Questions.
Washington Special
Mr. Carlisle, the next Speaker of the House,
was up and about in his rooms day and saw a
few friends Mr. Carlisle has been sick in Gov
ington, KY, for the last four weeks, being part
of the time in bed He is suffering from a
slight inflammation of she kidneys. 1t is an at
tack similar to that he had last winter following
his visit to Mr.. Cleveland in Albany. He had be-
gun to get better before he left his home in Gov
ington. He says the change has done him good
and by Monday he expects to be in good shape
He was to have come on here earlier for the pur
pose Of consulting with the President and Secre-
tary of the Treasury about the tariff and fnan-
cial policy of the administration. Mr.. Carlisle
deems it of great Importance that the House and
the administration should be in harmony upon
these subjects Mr.. Carlisle was asked whether
he thought the House would pass tariff bill
this winter and replied:
"Much will depend, of course, on the position
the administration takes. | had number of
talks with the President and the Secretary of
the Treasury last summer when was here, upon
this subject Each time talked with the Pres
ident he brought up the subject himself. The
President is in favor of reduction of taxes.
He wants to accomplish a modification of the
during his administration. He told me he was
pleased to learn that Mr.. Randall was in favor
of q tariff reduction. l told him that the rev.
enue reformers were willing to make almost any
concession in order to secure harmony upon the
tariff reduction bill The President very sensi-
bly, said he thought the bill ought not to be any
: one mans measure It ought to be the measure
OF the administration and of the party and that
we all ought to work together to secure its pas
sage. Until have talked with these gentlemen
/ he ahi tO OF IF ha
ent situation. beyond the fact that the admins
tration is in favor of reducing taxes in the most
feasible way. Mr. Manning has collected a
great deal of information on this subject Just
how he is going to report this information TO
Congress l do not know. 1t may be he will
leave the consideration of the tariff and the re-
ports relating to it out of his regular report and
put it in a special report, to be transmitted to
Congress | should think the latter course would
give him better oportunity to more freely
discuss the subject untrammelled with the con-
sideration of other topics.
my position upon the silver question is we'll
known. i am bimetallist but it would be
wrong for me to commit myself in advance as to
the best policy to be pursued by the House upon
this question. l have been reading all the fall
upon this subject The State Department has
been gathering a mass Of information about
silver, and understand the administration will
have something to say on this question. l think
the proper course for me is to wait until have
all the facts in hand before deciding what is the
lest policy to pursue. 1t is important for the
House to be in harmony with the administration
this question if possible 1t may be that 1t
would be good thing to have a temporary sus-
pension of the coinage of the present silver dol
lar to see if some sort of arrangement could not
be made with the leading foreign nations for a
common adoption of b-metallic currency But
am quite sure that the House would never
adept proposition providing even for temper
airy suspension without some satisfactory sub
stitution in the way of additional legislation in
favor of silver
Regarding the proposition to change the rules
of the House, Mr.. Carlisle said that undoubtedly
some kind of change was necessary. There had
been spirit of uneasiness and dissatisfaction in
the House since the code had been adopted
There was prevailing impression among mem
bers that the existing code was formed to defeat
legislation and to prevent the majority of the
House from controlling its own business It
made the minority too powerful. He had not
had an opportunity, however, of talking enough
with members as to the propriety of dividing
the bills now considered by the appropriations
committee. He yet thought it possible that
some such division might be made. He had al
ways voted against such proposition in the
past. He did not know whether it would help
matters if the House should adopt rules provid-
ing that the appropriation bills should be re-
ported upon certain. days. Under the former
rules of the House there which required
the committee 20 report all the appropriation
bills within thirty days after the meeting of
Congress. There never had been any pretense
of observing this rule. Mr. Carlisle did not I'M
derstand that the movement amending the rules
against Mr.. Randall. There was nothing
personal in it, so far as he understood. Mr.. Car
Isle said something must be done.
He called attention to his vaedictory speech
in the last House, in which he said: From the
organization of the government to the close of
the Twenty fifty Congress, period Of fifty
years, there were introduced into the House
8,777 bills and joint resolutions, while during
the two sessions of the present Congress s, $50
bills and joint resolutions have been introduced.
almost as many as during that half century
Notwithstanding the large number of bills in
troduced the number passed was trif1ing and ut
terly out of proportion to that of the business
considered" The appointment of committees
will be considerably delayed by the proposed
change in the rules If the appropriation bills
are to be divided among the various committees
nothing can be done so far as final completion of
the committee work until the House has decided
what shall be done.