Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-22
FREE IRON BEATEN
Lively Debate and Exchange of Per-
sonalities in the Senate.
Mr.. VEST BECOMES IRRITATED
Attempts to Draw Senator Brice
Out Not a Success.
CONTINUING THE DEBATE

After long, bitter and at times personal
debate, the Senate yesterday afternoon re-
fused, by a vote of to 49, to place iron ore
upon the free list. The day was consumed
entirely by the discussion Of the first par
agraph of the iron schedule, and the vote on
the free ore proposition. which was made
by Senator PETER, was the only one taken
from 1920 until o'clock. After the report
of The Star closed in the afternoon the
proceedings were enlivened for a few min
utes by a spat between Senators Berry and
Dolph. The former asked the latter, who
was in the midst of long speech, whether
he did not think that the republicans would
show more consideration for the welfare of
the country If they should cease their long.
tiresome speeches, to which nobody listens
and which nobody reads. and get to a vote
en- the bill. Mr.. Dolph treated the question
with scorn, and said that when Mr.. Berry
addressed a respectful inquiry to him he was
willing to answer it. There was a little
further debate, Senator Gallinger coming
forward to make Mr.. Berry somewhat I'M
comfortable. and then the tide of the debate
rolled on smoothly again.
A little later Mr.. PETER came in with his
free iron idea, and then followed one of the
most exciting colloquys of the whole dis
cussion
A Lively Incident.
Mr.. Hale followed Mr.. PETER with a sharp
speech, in which he drew a picture of the
deep sense of modification that existed on
the democratic side. The democrats real
lied, he said, that they had been held up"
by some of their black-leg associates. The
small minority had waylaid them; had
placed pistols to their heads; had taken
their purses and their watches. and were
now reaching for any other valuables they
might have copcSaled about their persons
They had been robbed of their political prin-
ciples by their political friends. No wonder
they felt unhappy.
Mr.. Vest replied. with some manifestation
OF temper, to MIR. Hale. To listen to the
story of democratic dissepsion which was
poured daily from the lips of Senator's on
the other side, he said one would imagine
there never had been ripple of Disagree
ment on the other side. He recalled the
midnight conference, at which the tariff bill
of 1883 had been finally agreed upon and put
through by one majority. He described
how. after the adjournment of Congress,
Messrs. Sherman and Morrill, had rushed
into print and had charged improper mo-
tiyes and sectionalism. Continuing, Mr..
Vest said he was at loss to account for
the bitter and malignant speech just do
livered by Mr. Hale, save on the theory
that he had eaten something in the lunch
room that had disagreed with him.
Il haven't swallowed these amendments"
interrupted Mr.. Hale. amid laughter
No. retorted Mr.: Vest. sarcastically,
additional taxes on fish, butter eggs or
stone you would have gulped them down
with the avidity of black bass. The I'M
adulterated snake juice of that speech >,
he said. in conclusion, could not have re-
suited from the customary New England
diS. of Goldfish and baked beams"
Mr.. Hale replied pleasantly that he had
frequently noticed when Mr.. Vest was hard
pressed he always escaped by recourse TO a
personal taunt. His remarks had not been
leveled particularly at Mr.. Vest. They were
applicable generally to the other side. and
he warned Mr.. Vest that in the future he
would not fail to call the attention of the
country to provisions which represented an
abandonment by the other side of eyery-
thing they had stood for during their poIiti-
cal lives.
Worrying Mr.. Brice.
Mr. Brice, during the course of the de-
bate that followed, for a brief space he
came the target for his political antagon-
lists. Mr.. Brice denied that there was any
admission on his side that the proposed
duty OF 40 cents on iron ore was a protec-
tion duty. AS he understood it, he said. IT
was purely a revenue duty. In 1892 1t
paid a duty of $I50.OOO. Seventy-fve cents
''oS SfNA'oiSiit W op pei Ccut al NalOrem,
If the duty was reduced one-half he be-
lieved that it would then be a revenue
duty. Forty cents was a revenue duty
equivalent to Is per cent ad valorem, and
was strictly in line with the democratic
platform.
MIR. Hale congratulated the Senator on at
last obtaining a statement of the theory
upon which a duty had been fixed Mr.
Brice had found that about Is or 20 per
cent was the revenue point. So far so
good. He wanted to know of the Ohio
Senator, who was high up in the counsels
of his party, under what process of reason
ing the duty on lumber. which was % per
cent (the revenue point, according to Mr.
Brice). had been entirely removed. He
might extend his inquiry to wool. Mr..
Brice refused to take up the gauntlet
thrown down to him by Mr.. Hale He
would discuss the lumber, he said laconic-
ally, when lumber was reached in the bill.
If Mr.. Brice was now ready to come out
in what Mr.. Mills had called the open day.
light, Mr.. Aldrich said he would like to go
further into the question of the revenue
rate. AS Mr.. Brice still declined to reply,
Mr.. Aldrich said his side was ready to take
the vote on Mr.. PETERS amendment to
transfer iron ore to the free list.
Detailed Vote.
Tie vote stood thus:
Yeas--Allen, HILL Kyle and PETER
Nays-Aldrich. Allison, Berry, Blackburn,
Blanchard. Brice. Butler. Cockrell, Coke,
Daniel, Davis, Dolph, Faulkner, Frye,
George, Gordon, Hale, Harris, Hawley,
Hoar, Hunton, Irby, Jarvis Jones Gar
kansas), Lindsay, Lodge, Mcmillan, Man.
derson, Martin, Mills, Mitchell (Oregon),
Pasco, Perkins, Platt, Pugh, Ransom,
Roach. Shoup, Sherman. Squire. Teller,
Turpie, Villas, Voorhees,, Walsh and White.
After this Mr. Plat moved an amendment
changing the duty from 40 to 60 cents per
ton, and occupied the floor until adjourn
ment.
The Golden Cross.