Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-06
THE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS
Considerable speechmaking, but No Def.
mite Action Taken.
Speaker Crisp Opened the Debate and
the Revolutions Proposed by
Him Were Adopted.

| The democrats Of the House held their
caucus last night. There was considerable
speechmaking and a few OF those who are
atisfed with the provisions OF the VIII
son bill gave expression to their discomfort.
but no action whatever was taken on the
tariff bill and there was no expression of
the caucus on the subject Of sugar bounty
nor on that Of income taxes There were
lao members present. and the following res
buttons, adopted on motion OF Speaker
crisp, comprised the action of the caucus:
Resolved. That 1t is the sense of this
! caucus that 1t , the duty of every demo-
cratic member Of the House to vote for the
pending resolution providing for the consid-
Grafton Of the tariff bill. in order that the
House may have an opportunity to redeem
| the pledges of the party respecting tariff
reform.
Resolved That it is the duty Of every
democratic member of the House to attend
the daily sessions. and we hereby express
the opinion that those members who are alb
sent owe it to the party and those of US
here to return in order that pressing public
business may be attended to-"
The Debate Opened by Speaker Crisp.
1t was determined to limit the speeches to
five minutes. and Speaker Crisp was &C.
! corded the floor to open the proceedings.
He declared that it was the duty of the
members Of the democratic party to stand
together in support Of the tariff measure
reported by the committee on ways and
| means. and recalled promises and pledges
OF the past to the public in regard to this
matter. He said President Cleveland and the
democratic majority in Congress had been
elected for the purpose Of carrying out the
| will Of the people expressed at the polls in
1892 upon the Chicago platform, and he
| urged united action by the majority. IF
any man objects to the promises OF the BILL"
he said. let him state his objections on the
! floor in open debate, and then II he cannot
support the bill. he can vote against it."
He protested against the policy OF tearing
the measure 10 pieces in caucus. and closed
by onering resolution pledging the major
ity TO support Of the bill. The Speaker
| was loudly applauded he took his seat.
Gen. Sickles OF New York, one Of the
twelve democratic members from that state
who were present, followed in the same
strain.
Mr.. Sperry Of Connecticut next rose He
| outlined his objections to the bill, in &C.
cordance with his well-known views Bourke
Cochran then pointed out what he deemed
to be the undesirable features of the pro-
posed legislation. Mr.. Cochran spoke in his
| accustomed impassioned manner and at the
close Of his remarks he was given q round
| of applause. Mr.. Outhwaite Of Ohio a men,
Der Of the committee on rules, was the next
| speaker. He followed in the same line as
Speaker Crisp. and urged the members to
I! lay aside their differences and personal
prejudices and rally to the support of the
committee on ways and means in their ef-
fort to meet the just expectations of the
| people. Mr.. Cultivate evidently struck a
popular chord, for he was also greeted with
| applause.
| Mr.. Sibley Of Pennsylvania pointed out
some OF the matters in which the bill did
| not go far enough 20 suit him, and he would
| like to have 1t amended
l. n
John Dewitt Warner occupied some time
| in presenting the reasons that moved him
| to ask that the internal revenue features
| shall be presented to the House as a separ-
| ate measure. He said that he did not mean
| to express any hostility to the income tax.
but II was such a serious matter that il
needed to be carefully handled before being
adopted into the legislation of the country
Mr.. Warner was emphatic in his opinion
| that enough time was to be wasted In talk
For his own part. a vote on the bill could
not be reached too soon. He had received he
| said, fully 100 letters on the subject and
each one OF his correspondents was clamor-
ing for speedy action.
Mr.. Dunn of New Jersey also had some
| criticisms. He said that the democratic
party had pledged itself to a tariff for reve-
rue, but the ways and means COMMITTEES
had instead brought in a bill which came
| as near to free trade as IT dared to GO
In addition to this. II proposed to add an
income TAX proposition as rider to the
tariff bill, and he could not assent to such
| a proposition.
Speaker Crisp thereupon aeain took the
| floor. He referred to the manner in which
amendments to the Mckinley bill had been
proposed and adopted while that measure
was pending in the Fifty-frst Congress
He said he did not believe that there would
be any ground for complaint on the part
| Of democrats at the course OF the COM
mittee on ways and means with respect to
| the internal revenue features to be pro-
posed. In accordance with the suggestions
| that had been made he would accept an
amendment to his resolutions which had
been introduced at the beginning OF the
| caucus. providing for additional time in
| which the income tax might be discussed.
The Sugar Tax Touched on.
Representative Harter OF Ohio made a
| brief speech. closing with q motion to
abolish the bounty and put a tariff of /
cent pound on raw sugar. This brought
| Mr.. Robertson of Louisiana to his feet
with an amendment placing a duty Of / L.
| cents a pound on raw sugar and SIS cents
a pound on refined sugar Mr.. Robertson
advocated this plan. He said he had come
to the House at the beginning Of the days
| session determined not to vote, but that