The Van Buren press., 1894-09-08

~ - WuUO0V0 -
sugar reansries were located, urgsd that a. Mr.. !,
Wilson. Chairman Of the Committee on Ways
and Means Of the House. had reported to the
House Of Representatives In favor Of allowing
ons-quarter Of one cent per pound upon refined
sugara and. ~ the President had. in his mes.
sage. recommended the adoption Of Nj. Wilson's
BILL including this one-quarter Of cent and, -
these Senators asserted that this one-quafter Of
. cent was absolutely necessary to enable
American rehners to compete with their foreign
RIVALS In refining sugar, they declared that
allowing nothing whatever on refined sugar
would DESTROY the refining industry. and throw
thousands Of men out OF employment; that they
could not support the bill without some tariff on
refined sugar II there was tariff on the raw.
which was the raw material of the re6ners. The
result Of this protracted and stormy caucus was
the adoption Of resolution. sending the bill
back to US, with instructions TO amend 1t 20 ~
to meet the difhculties which had been devel-
oped in caucus.
AMENDING TIRE BILL
In obedience TO this action Of the caucus,
which was really equivalent to an order to tax
sugar. coal and iron ore, we brought In bill
with . tax Of cent per pound ON sugar testing
10 degrees by the polariscope and / Of . cent
additional for each degree up 70 80 and.2 Of .
cent for each degree above 90 and up to 90. and
upon sugar above l6 Dutch standard iu color an
additional tax Of one-eigth Of cent per pound.
With this promise and with coal and iron ore at
70 cents per ton the bill was reported to the
Senate on March 90
This rate was very far below the * cents per
pound. or Is per cent I'D valorem demanded by
the sugar planters, and was only one.half Of the
quarter Of = cert demanded BY the refnsrs, and
Of course did not give satisfaction. and 1t only
required few days sfter the bill was reported
to the senate. to convince everybody that 1t
was absolutely sure Of defeat The republicans
tariff legislation seemed inevitable. and. in fact.
was looked upon ~ about accomplished, and the
democrats were correspondingly detected
In this emergency determined to see II there
was not some means Of saving the bill. felt
that for this Congress to fail to pass tariff bill
would discredit and humiliate the democratic
party beyond measure. and would give our
political enemies al immense advantage over
US.
There were forty -four democratic votes. all
told. In the Senate.
Gov. HilL one Of the forty -four. was
openly hostile 10 the bill aud utterly irreconc.a
bic. To pass the bill would require forty.thre
votes. Hence, 1t was necessary that the remain
ing forty.three votes. every one Of them. be
secured for the support Of the bill Several Of
these had already openly declared that they
could not and would not vote for the bill o.
reported. Whether 1t were possible to so amend
the bill as to secure the support Of these Sena-
tors. and yet effect material reduction Of tariff
taxation no one knew, and determined to find
out. To do this. 1t was necessary to go through
the bill, paragraph by paragraph. with each Of
the dissatisfied democrats. discuss each item
fully and keep . memorandum of the insur-
mountablc obstacles This was no small task.
but at last 1t was finished and knew Just what
was the smallest possible change in each para
graph of the bill which would secure the united
support Of all the democrats except Senator
Hill These notifications involved changes of
the sugar schedule from q specific to an I'D
valorem duty. the imposition ct an additional
tax Of one-tenth Of one cent per pound upon all
sugars imported from countries paying bounties.
and that the sugar schedule should not become
operative until the list day of January, lS96;
taxes upon coal and iron ore at the rate Of 40
cents per ton and changes in the textile and
other schedules Of more or less importance.
My first step. after ascertaining these facts.
was TO see and consult Mr.. Carlisle. He was the
democratic Secretary Of the Treasury; he had
been Speaker Of the democratic House Of Rep
resentatives for years. and had for d long while
been one of the most eminent tariff reformefs Of
the country. After laying before him fully, and
In detail. all Of the proposed changes. asked his
opinion ~ 10 what we should do. and he
answered promptly and positively that II these
changes would give the bill forty three demo.
cratic votes he thought we should agree 70 them
without moments dclay: that he would him.
self do 20 II he were charged with the responsi
bility of passing the bill
CONSULTED THE PRESIDENT.
I next saw the President and submitted the
entire matter TO him. ~ the head Of the party.
and the Chief Executive of the Nation, and
asked his opinion. He expressed himself with
great earnestness In favor Of accepting the
proposition and passing the bill, saying, at the
same time, that he hoped we could ultimately
get free coal and free iron ore out Of It..
Immediately after this, asked the Chairman to
call the democratic members Of the Finance
Committee together and laid the whole matter
before them. After full and careful examination
they unanimously determined to submit the
proposed amendments TO the democrats in
caucus for their action The caucus was called,
about forty democrats being present, and after
| full consideration, every democrat except Gov.
Hill voted for the agreement, and !. - the organ
Of the caucus, proposed the amendments In the
Senate. From May T. when the amendments
were offered, to July 8, when the bill finally
passed the Senate the forty-three democrats
stood together like . stone wall and redeemed
their pledges like men, with q single break,
which shall mention later.
When 1t became knewn that an agreement had
been reached which would bring forty three
democrats together, the republicans, the min.
ions Of the sugar trust, and all the enemies Of
tariff reform, began with one accord, to defame
the Senate bill. In 1t they saw the only menace
to McKinleyism. They determined to break II
down II false charges could do It, This course
by the open enemies Of tariff reform was but
natural. but the most singular thing connected
with this warfare against reform was that many
democrats OF the weaker sort Joined the repub.
| licaus in their defamation. Newspapers calling
themselves democratic actually quoted a
authority the criticisms OF Messrs. Hoar,
Chandler and Lodge. charging that In theil
opinions the bill was not democratic do moi
believe that all the men who wrote these thinga
were consciously the tools Of the sugar trust OF
Of the manufacturers but, consciously or uncon.
sciOusly, they served the nefarious ends OF these
comorants to the best Of their feeble abilities and
with an alacrity worthy Of q reputable cause.
There are many things in the Senate bill moi
satisfactory to me. If could have had nv own