Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-10-24
THAT OMISSION.
McPherson's Discovery Rela-
ting to the Tariff Bill.
VIEWS AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL

Treasury People Give some Precedents
That Put New Light on the Matter
The Mistake Not at All Unique-How
Such Errors Have Been Dealt with
INSTRUMENTATION viii Execute the
Law He Finds It-Rooseveit on
Assessments.
WASHINGTON CRY. Oct. Ex-senator
Mcpherson, of New Jersey who was the
leader of the Democrats in the senate
against the Mckinley bill, has discovered
that section 80 Of the bill, referring to in
ternal revenue, as agreed upon in confer
ence, has been nearly all omitted, there
being only about forty words in the bill
as signed by the peaker, president of the
senate and President Harrison, of the 200
words In the section as finally agreed
upon. He claims that the omission. which
refers to drawbacks on tobacco, makes
the whole bill invalid, and it is under
stood that Senator Carlisle agrees with
him II is said in New York that i'm
porters will take advantage of this error
and pay all duties under the bi II under
protest.
Opinions Differ, However.
But like every thing else that involves
politics, 1t makes all the difference in the
world who you talk to as to the effect the
omission will have. IL it comes to the le-
gal test, the supreme court will have to
decide the matter. A telegram from Chi
cago says that Representative Adams.
when his attention was called to the mat
ter declared that the omission had no eff
feet on any part of the bill except section
SO, and that could be made all right bv a
concurrent resolution which would be
passed at the December session. He also
said that the Republicans knew of the
omission few days after congress ad-
lourned, and that one object in the move
for special session was TO make the nec-
essary correction.
Some Precedents Cited.
The matter was the topic of discussion
in official circl es yesterday and the senti-
ment was almost unanimous that only
section 30 was involved Secretary Hal.
ford said in reply to the assertion that
the law signed by the president was not
the law passed by congress, that she bill
signed by President Harrison was the
same bill signed by tine speaker of the
house and the president of the senate.
and that these signatures were the only
official notification the president ever re-
ceived that bill had passed. At the
treasury department it was said that
omissions i'll bills were no new thing and
that even when they occurred In para
graph they were not held to invalidate
the whole paragraph, but only the mat
ter involved in the omission.
Illustration of che Case.
For instance, the tariff law of 1864 in
creased the duties on brown and bleached
linens, ducks, drills. "coatings, brown
hollands, clay linens, damasks," etc, fol-
lowing the order in which the articles
were put in the old law, but in engross-
ing the words quoted above were omitted.
At that time it was not argued that the
omission of drills, coatings," etc, from
the paragraph invalidated the paragraph
or applied TO any other articles than the
ones omitted or that the error in regard
to the paragraph not being complete,
tended to make void the bill as a whole,
or that the articles in being omitted be-
lonGed to the free list, because they were
not enumerated in the dutiable list All
that was done was to refund duties paid
on the quoted articles and correct the err
ror at the next session of congress
General Effect of the Omission
AS it stands. it is the general opinion
that the paragraph will not stand as law,
and that where it by construction refers
te other paragraphs, it may impair their
strength. Secretary Window, however
says that it is not his business to question
the laws validity and that he will en-
force it as it stands until the matter is
decided by the courts.