The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-08-10
OUTCOME UNCERTAIN.
House Men Want Free Coal to
Which Senators Give . Decided
Negative.



wAsHrEoToS, Aug. 1o.-Ths Dsnocratie
tarif conference had expected to be able
ts Announcs an agreement last evening
Instead Of reaching any definite conclu-
sion, the day closed with the bill In quito
as uncertain state as ever before In its
history.
The situation II In nowise improved,
and the fcoling between tho friendD of tho
senate bill and the house bill n intensified
instead Of allaycd, and no enc ID prepared
20 say what the outcome will be or when
the end will be reached.
When the senate confcrrces prepared to
60 on with the bill yesterday upon the
basis OF duty of 40 conts ton ON coal
and iron ore, tho house conferreos an
nounccd their unwillingness to accept this
arrangement and stated that they would
insist upon a'reversal Of those terms, with
coal free and iron orc dutiable, II either
was TO be, as they understood that they
were to have choice between the two.
The avowal Of this position produced
immediate confusion and led to an e.
change Of remarks which were not alto
gether polite.
Conservatives Won't Yield.
The senate conferrees thercupon decided
TO report the state of affairs to the con-
servative senators, and when the confer
reee adjourned, called Senators German,
Brice, Smith and Murphy into oonsulta-
tion. They were not only made ac-
quainted with the demand Of the house
conferrees for free coal, but were also
given to understand that other material
concessions would DO expected by tho
house conferrees along the entire line of
the bill, including woolens, cott- ms, met
ais, glass and earthcnware.
They decided upon an emphatic negative
IN reply to these propositions, saying that
n the body Of the bill was not preserved
virtually as II passed the senate the report
of the conference, when made, wculd not
be accepted by the senate.
Senator Brice proposed an innovation In
the shape of proposition that the house
conferrecs be given an opportunity to So
cure FREQ sugar His idea In detail was
that the senate conference should volun-
tecr to rccede entirely from the senate
sugar schedule, leaving both raw and rc-
fined sugar on the free list, as provided In
the house bill, and that the senate bill
should be otherwise accepted In Its present
shape with both coal and iron on the du-
table list at the rate of 40 cents ton.
In urging this upon the conferrees, ne
said, IL would necessarily produce one of
three results. II 1t should bo declined
by the house conferrees, IL would place the
responsibility for the sugar duty upon
them. IL it should be accepted, and the
senate should on this account refuse to
adopt the committees report, the house
conferrecs would still bear the odium for In
sisting upon amending the senate bill.
"If, thirdly, (" he said, they should accept,
AZ report should be made upon these
lines and IL the report should be accepted
by both houses and should become law,
we should all be happy"
The Question Not Settled.
Tho conferrees adopted the suggestion
and presented the proposition to the after
noon scssian Of the conference. The propo-
sition created some surprise on the part Of
the house members, who at first evinced
disposition TO accept IL, but after consider
able discussion OF the merits of this feat
ure Of the proposition and of the other
features, involving the acceptance of the
other senate amendments, declined to
vouchsafc nm answer without further con-
sideration. The question was, therefore,
undisposed of when the conference ad-
journed for tho day.
The Republican senator's it In under
stood, have given notice that IL there is
material change in the more important
schedules relating TO manufactured arti-
cles, they will resist the immediate dis
position OF the committees report, when
made, and have stated that in that event
more tariff oratory may be expected.
President Hasn't Interfered.
The house conferrees have their side Of tho
situation TO tell Mr.. Wilson author.
lied the statement ut the close of the con-
ference yesterday that the reports current
TO the effect that President Cleveland had
interfercd with the informal agreement
reached "Wednesday night were wholly un-
warranted and untrue. Mr.. Wilson said
the executive was carefully refraining
from cxerting any influence on the con-
ferrees, and was leaving the members to
shape their courses as they saw fit.
AS to the Observation-Disclosures through
Dut the day, the house men understood
when the conference adjourned Wednes-
day night that the senators had conceded
that either iron ore or coal was TO go on
the free list, the other remaining on the
dutiable list While the house men had
given no definite announcement Of their
choice between the two items, it was gen
orally understood that they would prefer
70 have iron orc on the free list.
When, however, they entered the confer
ence yesterday they had concluded among
that it would be preferable to
have coal on the free list, leaving iron ore
dutiablc at 40 cents ton. This conclusion
was definitely announced to the senator's
but the house men were surprised to find
that the willingness to ooncede the choice
was somewhat abated.
What had caused the change was not
made clear, but In discussing 1t last night
the house conferrces said, with no little
feeling, that 1t was clearly due to the In
fluence of those Interested in the sugar
schedule, and was apparently another ef
fort to involve the informal agreement on
sugar reached last week.
Whether the difficulty would be solved
today or would be declared of entirely
was not clear TO the house conferrees. In
the event of an understanding on coal and
Iron ore today tho house conferrees ex-
pressed the hope that the Republican con-
'crrecs might be called In late In the day