The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-10-09
regarded as enormously valuable to the

regarded as enormously valuable to the
trust.
During July the Tariff bill was in the
conference committee. The House was
making an effort to secure a new SEIZED
ule in which there should emo con
cealed advantage to the trust in the ad
valorem. To almost any Secretary of
the Treasury the gross inexpediency of
selecting that month in which to visit
the Sugar Trust, it strikes everybody,
would be apparent at once. In the esti-
nation of the members of the Ways
and Means committee, however, two
visits to the Sugar Trust headquarters
would not more clearly indicate an un-
necessary concern in the welfare of
that corporation than the writing of
the letter of Aug. Is to Senator Harris,
a letter which the Secretary's friends
insist was e and approved by the
President. The Secretary must have
known all that he knew on the 18th be
fore the House passed the Free-Sugar
bill. A visit to the Capitol, and to the
Ways and Means committee, would
have stopped that bill, perhaps, upon
the statement of the same objections
to it. But such a request would have
conflicted with the assurance of Sena-
ator Blackburn that the Senate was
prepared to pass the Free-Sugar bill If
the House would pass the Senate Tariff
bill. The House members would not
now feel that they were ''bunkoed" if
the Secretary had confided his fears to
them, or if the Senator from Kentucky,
known to be a close friend of the Sec
rotary, had not brought the assurance
to the House that was tossed to the
winds as soon as the Senate bill, with
it's sugar schedule, had been passed by
the House.
1t ought to be said that members of
the Ways and Means committee refuse
to believe that the President considered
and approved the letter to Senator Har-
ris. They believe that the President
expected to see the Free Sugar bill
passed. To send such a letter to the
committee that was asked to consider
and act upon the bill was the way to
kill it, not the way to pass it. 1t was
not a matter of life or death to the
country to face a deficiency of $50, OOO.-
900 by the loss of the sugar duties.
There is a profound belief that, even
without any revenue from sugar, the
woooioEs oF tho r0Uor1poopt mill bo ca
increased during the year that there
will be q surplus, rather than a def
cheney, without the sugar tax. Should
that expectation prove to be true, the
blunder committed in arresting the
passage of the Free Sugar bill, because
a deficiency was feared would simply
emphasize the miajudgment of the man
who would at a critical time assist a
too-willing Senate to complete the pro-
gramme made out for the trust, to
whose rescue the Treasury came at so
timely a moment. The service to the
trust, voluntarily or accidental, was
invaluable. If a service to the Demo
cratic party had been aimed at, and a
letter of the Secretary advising the
passage Of the bill had been sent in
place of that, practically advising that
it be killed, the effect upon the party
would have been worth much, and it
would have prepared many persons to
doubt the possibility of concern by the
Secretary for the welfare of the trust.
An opportunity to assert independence
of the trust was thrown away. What
could that trust do to compensate any
Democrat for the peril he invited in
coming to its rescue at such a critical
moment