Birmingham age-herald., 1894-07-26
IN THE BALANCE Now Hangs the Great and I'm
 portant Bill.
 THE SENATE CAUCUS Proved as EVentful as That of the Day Before-Plain
 English Used. g.
THE SENATE CAUCUS

WASHINGTON, July 25.-If the action of today's democratic caucus is obeyed to- morrow will witness an end of the debate on the conference report on the tariff bill, and that measure will go back to the con
 ference without instructions. After a de-
 bate running over three hours yesterday and upward of that time today MT. Jarvis' resolution that the bill be sent back with- out instructions was agreed to by unani- nous consent, although at no tims did MT.
 Villas give the assurance to the caucus that he would not press his motion to strike out the differenlial duty on refined sugar.
 The caucus met promptly at o'clock, and the first speech was that of Mir. Gordon, who counseled unity of action and said he hoped that the result of the meeting would be that all proposed motions looking 10 in- structions to the conferees would be with simple insistence of the senate upon it's amendments. Several ether speeches were made in this strain by Gray, Jarvis, Lind say, Walsh and others. i. s,
 The first step in this direction necessi- tated the entertainment of what MT. Villas intended to do in regard to his motion to- strike out the differential duty placed upon , EGnu6u bu6dTs u response bU QlEeCJ QuSS- ton put to him, MT. Villas said he was in favor of striking ont this dfferentia duty because he believed by so doing much of, the opposition that was ma infested against the bill would be removed and the way be paved for the adjustment of the differ. ences between the two houses. With Lhis duty, which he said was the chief bone of contention, out of the way, there would, be nothing to interfere with speedy settle- ment of the troubles and the early passage, S Ssn1 the G For tbs and ths s pPfs h1: intention to press the motion and cause it., to prevail, f possible. :,
 Caffery and Blanchard both spoke on the sugar schedule, and advocated "hat'' duty Of 45 per cent on all sugars and the pay of the bounty for this year, which they : asserted with. some feeling, had been prom ised by the finance committee and had not been given them. Both of the Louisiana senators declared that if this change of 45 per cent was not made the Louisiana peo- pie would insist that the full measure of protection promised them in the pending bill should be granted or they would vote against the bill. They said they would in- sist that they be given the 40 per cent on raw sugar, the H of cent differential on refined, which Uen fitted their people as much as it did the refiners, and that the bounty for 1894 should be paid the growers in this country and the treaty with Hawaii abrogated. Unless this was done they served notice on the caucus that they would vote against the bill. It mattered little to them what instructions, if any, were given to the conferees what they were concerned about was the final agreement. If it did not include these points 1t could not receive the sanction of the Louisiana senators.
 Mr. Villas spoke in reply to this and again urged that the diferential be stricken out. 1 his called MT. Smith of New Jersey to the floor, and he made a speech in tones that even the marble rooms of the building couldn't keep from penetrating the out side.
 Mir. Smith was emphatic and vehement. He warned Mir. Villas that he was trifiing with weighty subject when he talked of changing the bill, which had been the cause of much hard work in the senate and which had only passed by elim majority of one vote. Mr. Smith said that a num- Der of senators who had been opposed to the income tax had been induced to vote for the bill because the schedules relating to the industries of the great states they represented had been arranged so their shops would not be ompeiled 10 shut up or |. their workmen thrown out of employment. Because this had been done they had con- sented to swallow the Income tax and given their pledge in caucus that they would stand by the party. A duty had been placed on raw sugar, and if that was right, it was, differential duty should be placed on refined sugar, an industry that gave employment to thousands of men in the states where the refining of sugar was conducted. Any attempt to change this schedule or any other schedule striking at the salient points of the bill, all of which had been discussed in previous caucus, would, MT. Smith said, be hailed with satisfaction by those who had bolted the income tax, because they were very sick of their bargain, and would jump at anything that would release them from it.
 MT. Smith, in the further course of his remarks, said that if any arrangementshad been made through the aid of the votes of the senators from Louisiana whereby the sugar schedule was to be changed that there were enough votes at con m and withs out those of the sugar senators 10 indefi-' niteiy postpone the conference report and kill 1t. In solemn tones MT. Smith chal- lenged Mir. Villas to make this effort, rand cautioned him that if he did he would find that the bill would be as dead as anything could be. Mir. Smith also said that it was very serious matter whether thea bill could even be gotten back 10 the confereDce, so narrow was the democratic majority, and the attitude of Mir Villas was such that he was greatly imperiliug the still small chance which the bill did have. 3 In
 Mir. Berry of Arkansas said that he, yhad hoped that in some way sugar might te put on the free list. He was candidate Tor re-election in his state, he said, aud anything like tax on sugar was very un-