The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-10

skill and the courage necessary for the
most delicate fencing as well as for rough
and-tumble wrestling. Sometimes, like
all brilliant men, he is too brilliant, and
overreaches himself. as he did last month
when he tried to "bluf" the democrats
by asking them whether they would vote
on the tariff bill at 3 O'Clock that day. If
he had stopped with proposing that they
should vote on the Wilson bill as it came
from the House, as he had evidently
planned, he would have had the demo-
Gratis hard and fast in his trap; for they
could not afford to vote on the Wilson
bill without opportunity to amend it,
since probably ten Of them would nave
voted against it and it would have been
beaten. But Aldrich, becoming too bold
under a tempting invitation from Lind
say, Of kentucky, amended his PROPOSE
ton by suggesting vote on the bill with
amendments, and this the democrats
were able to take up and so his plan
failed, and he was left in his own trap
But he is ordinarily too cautious to make
such blunders and as u rule he makes the
point he has in mind.
A TARIFF ENCYCLOPEDIA.
On the tariff question he is an encyclo-
pedia. either having every fact you can
ask for already in his memory or having
a memorandum there pointing to par
ticular pigeon-hole or page of a book
where it can be found. He knew a great
deal of it before he took charge of the
Mckinley bill, when that came over to
the Senate in 1890, but after he had car
ried that bill through the finance COM
mittee, of which then, as now, he was the
leading tariff man on the republican side,
and through the Senate and through the
conference COMMITTEES, he knew il all
Experts of every kind, the leading manu-
facturers in every department, and the
leading importers in every line, had con
contracted the knowledge of a lifetime
respecting different features of the tariff
and had placed their contributions before
him, so that his receptive mind had OBJ
tanned all that there was to be known on
the subject
Details, whether in facts or figures,
neither frightened him as they do some
men nor fretted him as they do others.
He apparently reveled in the dryest
statistics ana reioiced in the most forbid
ding technicalites. He mad most ex-
acting and wearisome task, for he had to
fight Blaine and his friends behind closed
doors andi party caususes he had tolhght
the greedy robber barons, who thought
even Mckinley rates too low; he had to
consult Reed and Mckinley in the dav-
time ana make nightly visits to the white
house TO consult President Harrison He
was the busiest man in Washington. But
he did not seem to lose flesh or temper or
good humor. 1t was Mr.. Blaine who
smashed a hat over the Mckinley bill.
ana not Mr. Aldrich.
TURNED BLAINE's RECIPROCITY AROUND.
It was Mr.. Aldrich. on the other hand.
who, with Mr. Harrison. Mr. Reed, MIR.
Mckinley and Mr.. Blaines other rivals,
took MIR. Blaines reciprocity proposition
and turned it right around before putting
it in the Mckinley bill, when Mr. Blaine
had forced them to put it in in some
form, so that instead Of providing that
duties should be taken OF sugar and
coffee ana SO on. whenever a country pro-
dueing them paid adequate concessions in
its rates on our productions, the duties
were taken off sugar, coffee. ana so on in
the Mckinley bill, with proviso
that they should be put on again as
against countries which did not make
determinations in their tariffs in our
favor, an arrangement which Mr. Blaine S
rivals thought woJld tie his hands so
that he could not possibly carry out his
policy, inasmuch as the foreign countries
would know that it would be very diff
cult for the American administration
which had taken OF the duties to put
them on again. MIR Blaine, favored by
circumstances, was able TO conclude his
| reciprocity arrangements In spite of the
provisions authorizing them, but this