The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1894-03-06
THE FIGHT OVER SUGAR
The Only Article Now in the Way
Of the Wilson Bill.
SENATORS AND RBFINERs AT ODDS

The Outcome Now Matter of Doubt, and
II May Result in Forcing Upon the
Upper House of Congress the Greatest
Contest for Years.
WASHINGTON, March 6-The Wilson
tarih bill was the subject of an earnest
consultation among the senators yester-
day II has reached a certain stage Of com
pleteness, and yet like a complicated piece
of machinery II may be thrown out of gear
by one single article. In the tariff bill
that article is sugar, and it was generally
understood that II a definite agreement
could be reached on this article that il
would then be possible to agree upon
everything else and that the bill could be
reported without delay. II II understood
that by mutual concessions and frequent
consultations the demands made by those
Democratic senators who opposed the bill
in the form in which it wns first printed
have been met and tentatively agreed upon,
but even these agreements are subject to
the approval Of the treasury department
and the needs Of the government in the
matter Of revenue.
Secretary Carlisle was with the MEM
bers of the committee most of the day and
met with them again in the evening to
discuss and compare changes. But, while
these concessions have been made and the
members of the finance committee and the
objecting senators have found middle
ground, there yet remains the matter of
sugar, and the difficulties surrounding an
agreement upon this schedule are the
greatest that the tariff makers have to
contend with. The Louisiana senators
have one plan, which does not meet with
favor by the refiners. The plan Of the re-
finers is Objectionable to the Louisiana
senator's.
A suggestion has been made that an ad
valorem tax be laid, and the refiners have
said TO the committee that this would af-
ford them no protection. Some senator's,
looking toward concession, have said that
if an ad valorem rate is not just TO refiners,
that differential be made in their favor.
This is stubbornly resisted by those who
claim that an ad valorem rate would af-
ford them just protection, as the higher
price of the refined sugar would necessi-
tate a greater tax when imported than the
raw sugars
Like a wheel within wheel it appears
also that the proposition for an increased
tax on whisky is mixed up NTH the pro-
posed duty on sugar. If the latter is
agreed TO the necessity for an increased
whisky tax disappears For this reason
those who have been insisting upon in
creases in the whisky tax are not favorable
to sugar tax.
One of the senators who was openly op-
posed to the Wilson bill as it was amended
by the senate subcommittee, and who was
active in the caucus, said this morning
| that the outcome was a matter of consid-
| erable doubt
Had the bill made equal reductions -
he said, "and had no attempt been made
10 give some special interests an advantage
we could not complain. But when it was
proposed to protect the Louisiana sugar
men we could not sit still and see interests
in our states suffer. This led to the caucus,
and it was there shown how unjust il
would be to make the bill protective in
one locality alone. II may be that the
| concessions which have been made will be
agreed to, and that the treasury depart
ment will find them satisfactory, and yet
| one little thing may result in undoing all
that has been done and the Wilson bill
reported very much in the form it came
over"
"Then there would be fight in the sen
ate?"
"Yes, and the biggest that has occurred
for years. But the whole matter is OF
such delicate ground that a rejection by
the senate of one of the points in dispute
might kick II all over; besides the house
may also kick over what the senate does
We hope, however, that we are going tC
reach an adjustment which will settle tn,
matter"