Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-02-27
A SLOW-MOvING BODY.
4 The Senate Lingering Long on the
Wilson Bill.
sckfhaes 10 Be Made in the Interest Of
Increased Revenue.

summer. Bnt what does it signify This
supposed or alleged eagerness OF business
men to have the tariff settled is all mat
ter Of imagination. No; / don't mean
that exactly. There lisa real feeling among
the business men, but it Is the result
OF imagination. 1t doesn't make an lota' :
difference what the tariff percentage Is
on most OF these things they ara fuss
ing about--on three-fourths of them any
how, perhaps on nine-tentbs of them.
have been exporting American made goods
for - years, and / tell you this tariff scare
is obsolete The American tide has risen
far above It, Look at galvanized iron, for
instance. 1t sold in New York lately for
less than the English price. You newspa-
per fellows ought to have known better
than to encourage the idea that the senate
would rush the matter Didn't you know
that the senate was very welghty and de-
Lucrative body"
A Continental Comparison.
Mr. Coombs accompanied this statement
with facial movement which in Il man OF
less dignity might have been taken for a
humorous wink.
The committee made a mistake, OF
course, in refusing hearings. The different
senators can get hearings anyhow, and the
thing will draw out-well, | don't know
how long. II isn't, in fact, worth while to
bother about it, for the manufacturers arc
resuming business just the same and would
have resumed anyhow, as we can produce
hundreds of classes of articles mt less cost
than foreigners can. Why look at the sense
Of it, England is too restricted in territory.
Germany is taxed to death and ridden down
with military organizations. France, much
IN the same fix, bends her energies to things
not in our line. and SO on with all the old
countries. We alone are free from all
weights except those of our own making.
We alone have continent to draw upon
and all the liberty that we want. Then
what effect will the Wilson bill have.
Why, just to let people know the thing can
be done-just to give healthy shock to IL
diseased Imagination"
IF the tariff makes no difference, where
will be the particular gain by the Wilson
billf"
''In the revenue Must have that, you
know, and if You'll watch the senate Pm
pretty sure You will find that all theamend-
inents are in the nteresl of revenue OF
course they will accommodate some inter
tSlS Ill bilt dtNilllOIili pitiCC, pup
the primary object will be revenue, and
when we get the bill into operation and
people get over this senseIess scare we shall
have the world for customers, and antci-
pate boom. Oh. certainly, you can say
with confidence that the senate will take
plenty of time and debate the thing long
and thoroughly, as long perhaps as the
Mckinley bill was debated; that it will
amend the bill chiefly in the interest Of
revenue, and that the delay will not make
any difference in revival of business"
Reciprocity with France.
Some little discussion has been excited
by the presence here of Leon Chotteau, the
eminent French economist, and we have
heard the same Old charges that were made
about the characterization of silver--as, for
instance, that he was here to work with the
senate committee or to intrigue with the
senators to get favorable terms for French
goods OF course he denies all this, but
has proposal which he wants debated
openly for sort of reciprocity treaty be
tween France and the United States OF
the congressman spoken to on the subject
Que half say very emphatcally: "lmposs-
Bile. Not worth while to think about it.
France sends lis luxuries for the most part,
and we must tax them to the very highest
point the traffic will bear. The only ques-
ton ask about those French articles is,
Will a higher tariff be hostile to revenue?
If not, then | am for the higher tariff"
The OF her half say. Haven't examined the
subject: haven't thought much about it;
am not much stuck on reciprocity any
way" to which II few add, II don't see
how you could make an additional market
for another pound of American pork or an
other bushel of American wheat, as Blaine
said So, as at present advised, Mr., Chot-
teau's proposition would be voted down in
the house by at least 10 to L.
Nr. Hatch of the First Missouri district
has been extremely active of late in looking
after the farmers interests. He wants ev-
cry kind of bill referring in any direct man
ner to the farmers interest referred to his
committeeman on agriculture--and has
not been at all set back by the rules Of the
house requiring all bills providing for reve-
nue. to go to the ways and means committee.
Now, the antioption bill, around which this
fight is chiefly waged, is on its a face a tax
alton measure, but everybody knows that
the real object is not revenue. 1t was the
same with the prohibitory, or almost pro-
hibitory, tax on oleomargarine, or, to go fur
ther back, with the 10 per cent tax on state
banks. The question is whether the rules
should be observed and the bill sent to the
committee having charge of the main OBJ
ject named in the bill or to the committee
having charge of the interests which the
authors of the bills are trying to help. A
complaining Massachusetts member says:
Friends of the Farmer
MFR Hatch really wants TO have all the
advantages of ways and means bill, and
of an agricultural bill. too, and none of the
disadvantages of the former, He wants to
work the revenue principle in the agricul-
tnral machine. and we very naturally don't
want him to do it. But am afraid the
speaker will help him right along. This
pcsky silver business keeps bobbing up at
every opportunity, or rather at every mop
portunity. and all these different things are
worked so rs to consolidate the alleged
friends of the farmers. OF course needn't
ray that it is all bosh-the Hatch bill,
mean--for every body knows there must bt
option sales and future deliveries, but
guess it will pass. and the traders will sim
ply have to invent some new dodge, and II
will not take them long"