The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-16
TALK ABOUT THE TARIFF.
Members Of The House Committee
Very RetiCent.

to be Lowered Considerably.
Washington, Nov. 15.-An air of pro-
found mystery surrounds that portion of
the House of Representative where the
ways and means committee room is loca-
ted The members of the committee
have been pledged to the strictest secrecy
regarding the proposed changes of duty.
and this pledge has been as faithfully
respected by them as consistent with hui
man frailty Newspaper men are care
fully avoided One of the members who
was cornered by reporter this morning
hastily jumped inside the elevator,
drew the door to with ner-
vous haste, and grasping the
rope helped the conductor to propel it
basementwards, and thus made his es-
cape. Notwithstanding these precau-
tions some of the details of the commit
tees work are gradually becoming public
There is apparently, no doubt, that wool
and coal and iron ore will be placed on
the free list. Upon these points, there is
now practical unanimity although until re-
Gently it was a mooted question whether
it would not be advisable to retain fair
AobJ bAA VIC bNO al LlCltS Adsu HdultQs IL
is understood that material reduction
will be made on steel rails
IS AMPLE PROTECTION.
When the Mckinley bill was before the
Senate three years ago, one of the largest
manufacturers Of steel rails in Pennsyl-
Vauia appeared before the finance COM
mittee and assured Senator Sherman that
duty of s. ton would be an ample pro-
lection to the manufacturers. Notwith-
standing this assurance, the duty was
placed at Sl3 "A n ton, and this rate is still
in force. Remembering this, some of the
democratic members of the ways and
means committee have argued that the
rate be lowered to So. it is expected.
however, that the duty which win finally
be agreed upon will be a compromise be-
tween The present figure and s.. The
duty on tin plate will probably be reduced
from $40 cents TO / cent
TEXTILE FABRICS
The schedules of textile fabrics have
been substantially agreed upon in ae-
cordance with the democratic theory Of
free raw materials and reduced duties on
manufactured goods The wooden duties
will be similar to those in the Springer
bill-not above 40 per cent ad valorem.
and 20 per cent. on only few items.
The rate on manufactures of cotton will
be about 40 per cent, including cotton
hosiery as well as fabrics.
The duties on linen goods and laces will
suffer a considerable reduction in view of
the fact that fax and the other raw
materials of the industry are going upon
the free list. The representatives Of the
linen manufactures have been bringing
strong pressure to bear upon the commit
tee to maintain the existing duties, but
the compound duties are likely TO be
abolished in every case and some of the
ad valorem duties reduced.
MEETING OF THE COMMITTEEMAN.
A meeting of the democratic members
of the committee will be held tomorrow,
at which time the subcommittee having
in charge the various schedules will sub
nit their reports. The work of adjust
ing and harmonizing the reductions will
then be continued until the bill shall have
been completed. 1t is expected that this
result will be reached the last of next
week or not later than Monday following.
The bill will then be reported to the full
committee and made public the same
day
Chairman Wilson believes that the bill
will be taken up in the House for general
debate about ten days preceding the holi-
day recess. Mr.. Wilson will make the
opening speech in support of the measure,
and it is understood that Mr. Burrows,
Of Michigan, one of the leading republ-
can members of the committee will speak
first for his side. An effort win be made
TO close the general debate as quickly as
possible, in order that the House may pro-
ceed TO consider the measure under the
five minutes rule.
NOT TO FILIBUsTER.
There is no intention on the part OF the
republican members Of the House to fill
buster against the bill, or unnecessarily
n delay ifa ma fTbnu fz. n
futility of tilibustering, inasmuch as the
committee on rules may at any time report
an order fixing date when a vote shall
be taken, thus cutting of further debate.
Aside from this fact, the republican
minority have no desire to prevent the ma
jOrity from passing the bill. While they
regard any notifications in the existing
tariff law as hurtful to the business in
terests of the country they are philosoph-
ical enough to agree that the Democratic
party was placed in power on platform
which declared IN favor of tarif reduc-
tion, and that they and not the republi-
cans are responsible for the consequences,
whatever they may be.
NOTHING AGREED on YET.
Washington, Nov. 15.-Special to the
Morning News :-Representative Turner.
of Georgia, one of the leading democratic
members of the ways and means com
Ullbtce, Sdlu 10 Lle MORNING NEWS cor
respondent tonight that not single
feature Of any schedule of the tariff had
been agreed upon. He said the published
report that an income tax had been agreed
upon was erroneous, and that the demo
cratic members Of the committee had not
yet been together to decide upon any
thing. I'VE have not even counted
noses, to say nothing of formal vote
said Mr.. Turner. MIR. Turner said
that the eleven democratic members
constituting the majority Of the
ways and means committee had not
yet even formally considered any single
article Of the entire tariff schedules. He
also said that the subcommittee had not
yet agreed upon any feature Of the tariff
subdivisions referred to them respect
lively and that all the newspaper publica-
tions yet printed were entirely Incorrect
Representative Tarsney. of5 Missouri, an
other member Of the ways and means
committee, said tonight that Mr.. Turner
was correct in saying that not a single
feature of any tariff schedule had yet
been agreed upon.
no HEARING FOR THE ALABAMIANs.
The iron and coal men of Alabama will
not be accorded a formal hearing by the
ways and means committee. For a week
or two past Congressman Wheeler, Sena-
tor Pugh and others have been interview
ing members Of the ways and means COM
mittee with view of having a hearing