The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-08-23
The Senator's Work at
Washington.
WHERE CALIFORNIA GAINED.
Satisfactory Results as to Quick
silver.
ATTITUDE ANENT REELECTION.
OakIand's Statesman on the Effect
of Current Legislation Upon
Coast interests.


United States Senator George G. Perkins
! returned TO his Oakland home yesterday
afternoon after very busy sojourn at the
nations capital. where he put in some
| heavy work for his State. He did not
! leave his post of duty until the tariff bill
was out of the way and against that mon
grel measure made the best speech deliv-
cred during the session. He voted and
worked increasingly against the bill. but
still seems TO think that California Jared
pretty we'll under the bill, considering all
things.
Speaking on the subject of California in
the tariff bill he said in an interview:
I'VE did not accomplish great deal, but
we have something TO show out of the
wreck. Duty went down on dried fruits
/ from 212 to1h cents per pound, but in lieu
OF this we were able 10 get Zante currants
! transferred from the free TO the dutIable
| list. This I consider fair Offset. A rate
of 3 cents was put on borax and this |
! think will sufficiently protect our interests.
But best of all was the keeping of the
/ quicksilver duty at cents per pound. As
| California is the only region on the West
ern Hemisphere where clnnabar is mined
/ the advantage to California can readily be
seen"
1t was on this important item that the
| Senator made his famous speech, and he
dwelt strongly on the fact that the other
! quicksilver mines of the world were in
! the hands Of the ROthschildS and are sit
uated In Spain and Hungary. This chow
Ing MP of the interest in the industry of
the Rothschllds had the effect of throwing
| the Populist vote in the Senate in favor Of
no Inf
under the Mckinley bill was 10 cents, and
the Senator congratulated himself that the
reduction in the new bill was so light.
Speaking Of sugar. Senator Perkins said
he thought the dfferentialS 10 favor of the
! trusts were too high, and on this subject
his ideas were in line with those of Senator
Sherman, who" Senator Perkins said,
was we'll posted on this subject" Con-
tinuing. he said: Leading Republican
Senators were at heart opposed to the
sugar tariff policy of the Mckinley bill
| They thought the bounty plan was wrong
in principle and that it would have been
better to have retained a reasonable tariff
on impoTtatioDs and not paid bountieS.
This was the view Of Senators Sherman
and Allison at the time the bill was passed,
but after the agreement to pay bounties
was made and the cane and beet sugar
growers had acted upon assurances given
them, the Republican Senators thought it
a sacred dnty to stand by the pledge"
Senator Perkins is warm advocate of
the Nicaragua canal bill of Senator Morgan,
and felt ssnguine that this bill. or some
thing similar, will be pushed through at
the short session next winter. The Sena-
tor said that there only few sections of
the country opposed 10 il, including Min
nes0ta and thh Dakotas. but he thought
the opposition of the representatives of
| those States could be removed Bryan
OF Nebraska" be said, "had introduced a
bill in the House providing that the Gov
eminent should issue greenbackS with
| which to pay for the canal While this
bill is not likely to PASS, is shows that
! men from interior States have become in
terested IN the subject, and this Is hope
full sign. | believe as a fact that the
administration fully intended to pass the
| Nicaragua bill at the present session of
| Congress with view to leaving the con-
structi2n OF the lnteroceanc canal as
| monument TO mark his adminiSt ration in
history. But the trouble was the tariff
bill was in the way, and he wanted this
| first disposed Of"
OF the Chinese treaty the Senator said
they had II beaten at one time, and that it
! took the administI alton two months 10 put
| it in shape for ratification. As the vote on
| the treaty was taken in executive session
| the Senator stated he could not say
| whether only one Democrat voted against
| IL. The treaty was discussed pretty thor
| oughly between Senator Perkins and Sec
rotary Gresham. The latter dwelt at length
! on the commercial advantages TO accrue by
the adoption of the treaty. but he was
| shown that the bill dealt not with COM
| MERGE, but with immigration, aud that it
/ provides five or six lO0pholes through
| which Chinese might enter the country.
| In answer to Gresham's argument that the
! treaty would greatly crafty the Chinese
/ Government. Senator Perkins made an
| swer: 1.-The United States is not suing to
| have China or any other country assent TO
! the legislation which we thought it neces-
sary to enact to protect our domestic well
fare" The Secretary was also advised of
the fact that America has only 100 resi-
| dents in China. and that but twenty Of
these were merchants, when he put forth
| the argument of American interests in
| China.
| ID speaking of his candidacy for election
| to the Senate the distinguished citizen
occupy the same attitude. l don't wish to
go back unless the people want me there
L can only rest on my record; | cannot
promise TO do better than l have done
considering the circumstances--for l have
worked to the best of my ability and feel
as though | had really accomplished some
| things. One of the pieces of good fortune
which gratl6ed me was getting S150,000 put
into an apprO DrIation bill for the repair of
the old warship Hartford. As the bill
came from the House it appropriated $780,
600 for the armament of the vessel, which
was useless. The Senate Committee
struck it out. l pleaded hard with Senator
German, who was on the subcommittee,
TO put in $50. 000 for repairs. and he finally
would agree. talked the latter over, and
so the appropriation went through"
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