Birmingham age-herald., 1894-08-11
s Now the Condition of the
 Tariff Bill.
A WRITTEN CONTRACT
Said to Be in Existence Which sr Will Prove a Serious
 Stumbling Block.

. WARRINGTON, Aug. 10.-A crisis in the , tariff affairs was reached today, both ia
 the open senate and the secret councils of
 the democratic tariff oonferees. When the conference closed tonight it was with the
 understanding that the meetings would be
 suspended for the present. No time was
 set for resembling the conferees tomor- { TOW or thereafter, and it was felt that no
 further sessions might be necessary in case
 the senate acted favorably tomorrow on
 senator Hill's resolution directing the sen-
 ate conierees to report the situation of af-
 fairs. What was of most importance was
 the feeling expressed by the house con.
 ferees al the close of the conference, that in
 case the Hill resolution passed, and they
 believed it would, the conference would
 practically be relieved of it's work and it
 would remain only for the house to accept
 the senate bill as lesser evil, as they be-
 iieve, than the Mckinley law.
 These conclusions were reached after
 day of intense excitement among the tariff Headers. The day opened with the senate
 proposition for free sugar still pending be- fore the conference. Chairman Wilson
 and his house associates were satisfied that
 the tender of free sugar was not made III good faith, and they had therefore re-
 quested the senate conterees to furnish a
 poll of the senate, showing that if the
 proposition was accepted it would be
 adopted by the senate and the bill passed. r The poll was considered as soon as the conferees convened. It disclosed that in
 the event of ihe acceptance of the free augar amendment the bill as whole would be voted against by thirty eight republi- cans and by Senators Kyle, Allen and | Peffer, populists, and Caffery and Elan chard, democrats, total Of forty three
 .yotes, or sufficient to defeat the bill. This poll was made on the best judgment of the senate conferees. The house men accepted it as showing conclusively that the tender 'of the free sugar amendment, while made in good faith by the senate confeTees, was F e means adopted by the conservative sena- tors for the purpose Of defeating tariff leg | isa,ion and leaving the Mckinley law ih force.
 They discussed the situation from this point, the arguments not lacking very pointed and personal criticism of the mo- tives of those who had offered free sugar and free coal, we'll knowing as they as- eerted, that they would defeat the bill, The discussion brought out for the first time the statement that the defen- sive alliance between scertain sena- tors had proceeded further than mutual co operation and understanding, and was
 uow reduced to signed agreement. While members of the conference did
 
 stated as fact that Messrs. Kyle, Allen, Peffer, Blanchard and Caffery had reduced their understanding to black and white,
 and had signed it, to the effect that they
 would vote against any bill which did not contain a bounty clause for sugar. As free sugar would eliminate the bounty pro- vision the signed agreement was regarded as showing that the five senators com b1ned with the republicans would defeat the bill. l It was while animated comments were be- | nc da fha fnraU0in0 conditions that word reached the conference room Of Sena- | tor Hills coup etat in the open senate. I The conference hastily adjourned, the sem ators. going on tine floor to take part in the | debate.
 MT. Wilson was not disposed to attach much weight to Senator Hill's move at the 1 outset, aud said that it would be futile, as 1 the senate could not act while the bill was In conference. This feeling was shared to l a large extent early in the day by house l leaders, who characterized 1t as one of the
 "bluffs'' which had been made of late to l demoralize the house conferees and force l them to yield. Later in the day. however, this feeling gave way to one of profound concern over l the situation and the future of the bifi. l At2 o'clock the conference, or remnant l of it, again assembled, with the Hill reso- lution and the exciting debate thereon as
 house H1a men 'V Were present, present but Senator Jones was the only senate conferee in attendance
 for any length of time, and it was said Sen l ator Vest felt indisposed to confer pending the Hill resolution. Little or no attempt | was made to take up items or schedules, the 1 talk being on the senatorial general phases | just developed, and no progress was made ! up to o'clock, when the conference sep arated without fixing time for reassem' bling.
 The house conferees no longer disguised I the deep concern they felt over the future 1 of the bill. They had made a rough esti.
 smate of the vote on the Hill resolution and they felt it would pass tomorrow. Under these circumstances they said nothing could be done until the resolution was dis posed of. If, through some hopeful turn it was defeated they said it would leave the Ecertificate to proceed and the contest would be carried on for the Wilson bill. IT, now ever, 1t was passed, 1t would practically discontinue the conference. In that event the house men stated with satisfaction that they would still be able to avert the com- plete defeat of all tariff legislation by nav l ing the house agree to the senate piii :. They spoke of this as showing that while | the situation was bad it did not necessarily mean the defeat of all their legisiation. Whether the house can adopt this oerniei | resort Is parliamentary question. Many l members of both houses hold to the opin-
 ion that the bill is in the hands of the sem l ate, and the house cannot act upon sne