The Portland daily press., 1894-06-11


of Foreign Built vesseIs-It Would be
Death Blow to Our Ship Building.
Washington, June 1O-The order of work
for the House this week is pretty clearly
blocked out by the managers, but that the
House will fulfil their desires is very uncer-
tain. Monday will be devoted to the affairs of
the District of Columbia. Then the Indian
appropriation bill, of which seven pages
were considered last week will be taken up
under the five minute rule. 1t is the hope
of the leaders it be out of the way by
Wednesday night, but the outlook is not
fiattering.
If the bill shall drag along later in the
week, a summary end to sdebate may be Sc
cured by means of an order from the CON-
mittee on rules. Next in order will come
the bill to erect a government printing Of
fee on one of the public. reservations in the
city. Mr.. Hatch's anti-option bill, or Mr..
Cooper's bill to tax greenbacks as other
money is taxed, these three bills are
marked for consideration after the Indian
bill is out of the way, and before the gen.
eral deficiency bill can be called up. The
order in which they will be considered will
depend upon the action of the House itself.
LILO lOuI Ill uIdlt VI luo p6uuluS betI1lL blll
laid before the Senate for consideration on
the second of last April, names the 30th of
June as the time when the law shall go into
effect. That day ends the. fiscal year.
Throughout all the prolonged debate which
has since occupied the Senate. Mr.. Jones
and Mr.. Harris have contended they would
begin collecting duties under the new law
with the beginning of the new fiscal year.
The present condition of things hardly sup
port their belief. Several very Important
schedules are yet to be considered. to say
nothing of matters left open pending .the
final action when the bill comes out of the
committee stage and goes into the Senate.
The spirit schedule will probably be COM
pleted tomorrow. and debate on the cotton
schedule will then begin. The wool sched-
ule and putting raw wool on the free list
are questions which will follow. and they
are bound to call out protracted debate.
Prolific subjects to be discussed are found
in the rates fixed on silks, paper and in the
sundries schedule, where coal will be found.
Pearl buttons and gloves will be made
the basis of considerable talk and the free
list can hardly be disposed of in a.day.
The three sgreat items in the free list,
agricultural implements. lumber and raw
wool. will be stubbornly fought for the pur-
pose of making record, without the hope
of changing the result. When the bill is
finally considered in committee of the
whole and reported to the Senate the strug-
gle over sugar will be continued Mean
while the condition of the appropriation
bills is giving Democratic leaders uneasi-
ness. If they do not get through by june
80, the joint resolutions extending the
terms of the present appropriation bills
will have to be passed.
The minority report of the House marine
committee condemns in unmeasured te rms
the Fithian ship bill granting free admission
to American registry of ships built in for
eign countries. The report is signed by Mr.
Perkins of Iowa, Mr.. Gillett' of Massachu-
setts,..Mr. Phillips of Pennsylvania. The re-
port was that the adoption of this course
would prove high gratifying to Great
Britain and other important marine powers
need not be questioned. That it would
prove certain disgrace and possible disas-
ter to this republic. may be accepted as
equally probable. The report contends
that the introduction of foreign built ships
would ultimately result in the employment of
such ships in our coastwise trade. 1t says
the United States, is now only second to
England in iron ship building. If we had
labor as cheap as England we could under
bid her for the ship-building of...-the world.
The repeal of the existing law would eff
feet change of no material condition ex-
cept this that we would have surrendered
at our most vulnerable point to our great
est rival.