The Washington times., 1894-06-14
NEARING ITS FINAL VOTE
What Will Be Done When the Tariff
Bill Passes the Senate.
LIMITED NUMBER OF c0NFEREEs
Senate Leaders Said to Be DESTROYS Of Hav-
ing the Committee Close Corporation.
Statements by the Vice President, Speaker
Crisp and Senator Voorhees,.

There is considerable gossip at the Capitol %
the tariH bill Ia nearing its final vote In the sem
ate concerning the number of the conferees Oh
both sides and the tests the bill will have TO
undergo before being accepted by both Houses
md receiving the signature OF the President
So far as the number Of copferees is concerned
q story has been going the rounds during tne
past twenty-four hours to the effect that tns
tariff leaders in the Senate, realizing that they
had framed and passed q bill which was not
satisfactory to large number of Democrats In
the House. and to which, therefore, 1t was PROB
able o very considerable opposition would pe
developed accordingly, were desirous OF having
the conference committee as close corporation
as possible, in order TO prevent TOO mucn Kick
Ing" from the House conferees- Freeeaens, IN
the way of courtesy at least, has liked the gen.
eral rule that one House shall name Ine same
number of conferees as the other. II, thereiore.
the number could be limited IN the senate, II
would, unless the House scented danger PROB
ably result in the choice Of similar number IN
that body The story was that the senate lead
ers were afraid OF some men Tno mighl DC
House and were to take this means OF limiting
the number.
NUMBER OF coSFEREEs.
yico President Steve enson, when asked whether
he had decided on the number of Senate confer
ees, stated that he had not. That would In all
probability be determined by the resolution in
troduced by some member Of the Finance COM
mittee providing for the appointment Of such
committee.
Senator voorhees,, when asked what would be
the number. said he had not given the matter
much attention, and that the story that there
were to be less than seven members in order to
rush matters through was mere rumor. Then,
with majestic sweep of his arm, he said: "Now
IL Is nothing but rumors; the air is full OF them,
they embrace everything and everybody, and
never cease wondering where they all come
from. can not.talk ON rumors"
The Senator then expressed il rs his recollec-
tion that there were seven conferees in the Nc
kinley bill conference. but he thought that was
departure from precedent,' II there were such
thing precedent in this matter, and that
facts proved that the Indiana Senator Was cor
rect and that the number was seven in each
body in 1880 and five in 1883. The Mills bill
never got to conference.
Speaker Crisp stated to a TINES representa-
tive yesterday that the House would probably
appoint the same number of conferees as the
Senate Ii was perfectly free TO act as it chose,
however, and if the resolution should authorize
q number. OF course that would settle the mat
ter The conferees vote separately, that is,
House conferees as one body and Senate confer
ees as another body, and IL makes no difference.
therefore, what the number is, except So far as
the difriculty Of handling larger body OF men
might cause The Speaker usually appoints the
committee
GOOD DEAL OF OPPOSITION
In conversation with a leading member of the
Ways and Means Committee IL was learned that
there was good deal Of opposition TO the pres
ent form of the Wilson bin in the Senate, aud
that it would probably be found that the oppos-
lion element was we,l represented in the confer
ence committee. In that case he promised
there would be vigorous fight in both confer
ence and House, and that in that event be
thought the House would become thoroughly
aroused.
Regarding the personnel OF the conferees 1t is
only possible at this time to conjecture The
members Of the House now in Congress who
were conferees for the Mckinley bill are Messrs
Mcmillan, Dingley, and Burroughs. Those now
in the Senate who were Senate conferees were
Messrs. Aldrich. Allison, Sherman, and McPher-
son. Nj. voorhees,. by request of Mr. Mcpherson.
being later substituted for the New Jersey Sem
ator.
The present chairmen of the Ways and Means
subconmittees are Mr.. Wilson, chairman on
schedules: Mr. Mcmillan, on internal revenue
and Nr Turner, on administrative features
II would ordinarily be probable that these
three gentlemen would be among the conferees,
but the fact that there is little probability of
dispute Oh the internal revenue and admins
trative parts OF the bill might lead TO choice of
men more familiar with the schedules. il is
generally believed by those best informed that
such 4 coi,se will be pursued