Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-23
AN INEXTRICABLE TANGLE
The Position of the House on the Sugar
Schedules.
An Amendment That Was . Misfit-
Much Confusion at the Voting
The Night Session.

There were nine members on the floor Of
the House last night and seven of the nine
were speakers The public were. however.
more appreciative. All the galleries except
the private galleries were crowded.
An unusual thing happened yesterday, in
that the excitement and commotion in the
House during the taking of the votes
rather than while the give-and-take discus
sion was in progress. All during the day,
as shown by the report in The Star, there
was a high tension over the sugar question
Then men who were anxious for DUTY on
sugar were worked up to the highest pitch
of anxiety. and antagonizing them We're
the advocates Of the income tax and those
members who regard it as the duty Of the
majority party to sustain their committee
on ways and means, even II their action
is not fully approved of. When the Star
went to press the talk was still in progress
and no vote had been taken. but what the
result would be was quite evident.
The absurdity and confusion of the situa-
ton later in the day was beyond concep-
ton. 1t was a quarter after 4 o'clock when
the voting began. 1t was not over when the
hour of half-past 5. the time fixed for the
recess, was reached
An Inextricable Tangle.
The time was then extended indefinitely,
and twenty minutes later the committee
rose because they were in such an mex
tricable tangle that there was nothing to do
but get away and think the matter over
calmly during the sleepy hours of the night.
What a majority of the House were trying
to do was to strike out the bounty pro-
visions retained in the Wilson bill and to
place all sugar on the free list. What the
republicans wanted was either to retain the
n1d MrLr fv,l, 81 80
on sugar or to get the democrats in a hole.
What the ways and means committee and
their faithful supporters wanted was to up
hold their committee action. Louisiana
members wanted to have a duty Of above a
cent pound put on sugar. What happened
was that the House got in a tangle. which
left every one in doubt what they had done
and where they stood. There was a COM
plicated lot of amendments to vote on, and
very stringent rule governing the matter,
which had been adopted by unanimous con-
sent. Much confusion attended the taking
OF the first VOTE which was on an amend
ment to an amendment providing for the
retention OF the present bounty. This was
supported by the republicans and four Of the
Louisiana men and was defeated nearly two
TO one. Then arose a complica ton as to the
manner OF offering amendments and AS to
now many could be offered. Half of the
House were engaged in trying to instruct or
coerce the chair, and for a while there was
no telling how things stood The chairman.
Mr.. Richardson, pounded on his desk until
the spinters flew and finally got order
enough to put the vote on an amendment 10
a substitute for the pending amendment
proposing to put in force the sugar schedule
winch was contained in the old Mills hill
This amendment was offered by Mr. Price
ana was supported by the radical sugar
men, II was lost by vote of 10 to 49,
another scene of confusion followed and
then vote was taken the Harter sub
stftute for the pending amendment proyid-
ing for duty of a cent a pound on sugar
This was lost.
The McRae Amendment Carried.
An attempt was then made to get in other
amendments to the pending amendment and
all were ruled out amid much talking and
protesting. The vote on the first amend
ment WAS then taken. This was the McRae
amendment striking of all bounty, and II
was carried by vote Of l35 to W. Then
came the vote on the amendment TO the
next section, to which an amendment was
offered and then a substitute for the amend
ment and amendment
Among those who voted for the amend
ment were the following republican,.
Messrs. Grosvenor. Dalzeli. Ellis. Moon.
Keller, Mccall, Cannon, Wilson Of Wash
ington, Lacey. Hopkins, Haugen, Mellow
ell, Settle. Scranton. Marsh, Doolittle and
Funk. ....s.
Refined Sugar ON the Free List.
Mr.. Robertson Of Louisiana offered an
amendment providing for a tariff tax on
sugar. To this amendment Mr. Warner of
New York offered an amendment putting
refined sugar the free list
Mr.. Breckenridge of Kentucky offered a
substitute providing for a duty of I cent
per pound on nolasses. sirups, and all
raw products of cane juice, beet Juice tank
bottoms, sugar sweepings, &C.
Mr. Warmers amendment was first voted
on ana was agreed to by q vote of 1877 I'm
the affirmative to 81 in the negative nearly
all republicans voting in the affirmative.
The Breckenridge amendment was then
lest by vote of 81 to la.
A Misfit Amendment.
1t was then discovered that the amend
ment to the amendment did not fit The
second amendment did just what a major
ity of the House wanted to do, put all sugar
on the free list. but added to the amend
ment to which it was an amendment IL
had quite a different effect. The combina-
ton put refined sugar on the free list and
raw sugar was left to pay a duty The
House knew what IT wanted, but cid not
know how to get at II. An attempt was
made to reconsider for the purpose OF start
ing over again, but amid the confusion they
could not make that. Finally. Mr.. Wilson
moved that the committee rise, which 1t
did, not being able to do anything else and
a recess was taken until evening
The Night Session.
At o'clock the evening session, for de-
bate only, was held 1t presented a strange
contrast to the excitement of the session
two hours before. All the litter of the bat
tie had been cleared away. The floors were
Clean the desks in order, and there were
not enough members in the House TO make
a little.
The speakers during the evening were
Brookshire, Broderick. McCreary, Gold
Yin, Helborn, Fletcher and MIR. Avery of
Michigan.