Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-08-17
Passage of the Senate Tariff Bill.

Passage of the Senate Tarih Bill.
Tho confsrees seemed on Thursday to
-st No nearer together. Instead OF mar.
mony. chaos reigned again IN tne IaILn
conference. This was caused py Tug
President. Finding the Senate pnant; ne
thourht Il well to push il harder ior Do.n
free coal and iron ore. Wnen tne ooue:e
conferees heard this new demano, laen
backs stiffened and they refused mug
TO the Democratic steering conmileeo anu
a consultation was held.
nm Friday a great sensation was caused
he tba action OF Wilson in virtually steal
;no the bill from secretary. The House
conferees were willing to accept the BEN
ate measure. but after refusing II IN the
Tonse session could not under psrllamen-
tary rules do SO. s,r;ct-
an IN was determined that only the
Sarata bil; could pass, as the Louisiana
ponnlist agreement proved efforts should
he made to arrange for its passage.
Sneaker Crisp was consulted and the crisis
eTplained. Crisp saw 1t was time 10 yieia
and 40 said: 1--WE will pass the SENATE
bill.n 49, 70
Then came the question as 70 DO" 70
get it. Questions OF consistency, OF per
fidy, of party dishonor and OF nuniiia'
ton were forgotten. As the Dill Was ~
cenfereuce it could not come to the heose
bv any known parliamentary procedure
unIess the Senate consented. Inc house
not having possession Of it, could not pass
n Chairman Wilson solved the dinculty
bv taking the bill from the conference
clerk and putting it in his side pocEet.
That was almost larceny. Having tne
hill. Chairman Wilson felt himself master
of the situation, and so he was.
The House on Monday passed the Dill Dill
as n came from the Senate with It's o55
amendments. The humiliation OF Cleve,
land. Wilson and the other hign moral
tariff reformers is complete.
Wilson didn't want this bill; Grover
Cleveland held ii in contempt; the house
was opposed to it; the Senate was asngm-
ed of its offspring and Democratic and ne
publicans alike held the mongrel measure
In abomination, but tarln Dill haa 70 po
passed and this miserable production was
The hest the master minds of Democracy
could evolve.
The scenes in the caucus and IN the
House subsequently were OF the most ex-
citing character. and would be interesting
to describe at length were there not mat
ters of yaster importance. In the caucus
the House committee on conference,
Speaker Crisp and the few other gentle
man who have been ruling all the per-
formances of the House with rod OF IRON
carried things their own way with great
yoclferation and applause, but the pro,
tests of Cochran, johnson, Pence and
others were very eloquent and pointed,
and showed in the most unmerciful manner
the inconsistent conduct OF the House, tne
insincerity of the resolutions and tne
humiliation to which nearly every Demo
erat of the body was being subjected. -.
The vote on the measure was loz 10 loo'
and not single change was made IN the
amended bill as it came from the oen-
ate. r
The scenes incident to the passing OF
the bill were dramatic.
When Mr.. Wilson had finished and
had several times been slightly applaud,
ed by the saddened Democracy, Ar. heed
came to the fore again, attacking the De-
mocrats with his heaviest artillery. Those
who had heard Reed speak before had
said he could not surpass himself but as
they heard him again they said: "This is
the best" His reference to the House
conferees as "the little babes in the woods
whom il would be found had been left
there bv their uncle in the White House
was ludicrous. In the most forceful man.
ner and in the midst of an awesome 81
lence Mr.. Reed prophssied the defeat OF
the Democracy. 1t was an eloquent at
tack, as was the reference TO the country
disheartened and prostrste under Demo
cratic rule, and the picture OF the bright,
ening future when the Democrats had
been destroyed. ~.
II was q dramatic scene when Mr.
Reed Welded to Bourke Cochran, who IL
always a spell-binder. Standing amid
the men who hate him, Cochran showed
why it was wrong to accept that DILL
He spoke of Wilson with tenderness, and
addressed himself to the intelligence OF
the House, whereat Snodgrass, OF Tennes-
see. shook his fist. The New Yorker,
brushing him aside to the music OF Demo
cratic proans. demanded to know to whom |
they werefsurrendering. BY Reeds cour-
tesy. Tarsney, of Missouri, Ways and
Means committeeman, az was Cochran,
said. sFor me to vote for 1t would involve
personal dishonor and personal Perhdy.
Mr.. Reed then yielded to Tom Johnson,
the free trader who prophesied tnat the
Democrats would find that Every Dag
of sugar sold for o dollar becomes one
third less, and that every woEan would
speak against the Democracy, and then
Mr.. Turner, OF Georgia, came TO the res |
cue.
Disorder then reigned. Cuckoo Tracy |
was in the chair and made more disor
der with his gravel. Mr.. Reed sought to
reserve his time to the last. The Dem |
ocrats desired Crisp to close with frantic |
appeal. Speaker pro TEN Tracy decided |
that Reed must lose the time remaining |
unless he used it then. Reed flushed and |
told Crisp, who had instructed Tracy, |
that he could dictate to him from the |
chair but not from the floor. There were |
cries from both sides and jeers and groans
and disorder generally. Finally Crisp |
appealed to the Democrats to stand to-
gether. He spoke CT Cockran's pyro.
technics and taunted him for being absent.
After a row, Cochran spoke bitterly |
of the decline Of the Georgia chiyalry,
and told the Speaker he knew full well |
why he had been absent. The Speaker
forgot himself and howled at Cochran.
There was an exchange OF bitter words, |
while Crisp tried uselessly to explain. |
He had been guilty of breach OF gem
and felt it, while Cochran
cried out above the noise that it was |
great fall from Alexander II. Stephens |
to Charles +. Crisp" There might have |
been an encounter, but common sense
prevailed.
The vote followed in indescribable |
confusion, and Bartlett, Cochran, Dun
ply, Hendrix and Warner, all Of New |
York; Davey, Meyer and Price, Of Louis
lana; johnson, Of Ohio, Everett OF Mass
achueetts; Tarney, Of Missouri, and Cor
man, OF Michigan, Democrats. voted |
against the bill. Sibley was not present. |
President Cleveland may or may not |
sign the bill finally. On July second, he
said of this Senate bill now adopted:
EVERY true Democrat and every sincere |
tariff reformer knows that this bill in its
present form and as IL will be Submitted |
to the conference falls far short of the
for which We have long |
labored, for, which we nave suffered de-
feat without Encouragement, and which |
in its promise Of accomplishment is so
with the Democratic pledges
and Democratic success that our abandon.
ment Of the cause or the principles upon
which it rests, means party perfdy and
party dishonor."
The tariff bill went to the President on
Wednesday. 1t is not believed he will
sign it before week.
Our Guard.