Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-14
HILL AND THE TARIFF
What the Friends of the New York
Senator Say.
His PREDICTIONS ALL VERIFIED
He is Believed to Be Protection
Democrat.
HIS FUTURE OURS E

Although Senator Hill, in reviewing his
fight against the income tax. has confined
his remarks exclusively to that feature of
the tariff bill. his attitude on the tariff
question in general has within the past few
days been the subject of no little discussion
In congressional circles. The fact is re-
called that he took no part in helping to
frame the present tariff law beyond trying
to defeat the income tax and urging the
making of all raw material free. he asked
no concessions on any OF the schedules and
when the bill came up on final passage he
put his condemnation on IT as whole by
voting against it. Senator Hill has never
trained with the extreme low-taTif men,
and. as a consequence. he has been charac-
terized by some of them as protectioEist
democrat. This lends additional interest,
therefore, to the question to what sort
of revenue measure the senior New York
Senator favored when Congress WAS wrest-
ling with the problem.
Had Hill Been Consulted.
Mr.. Hills friends are very confident that
had be been consulted at the time the VIII
son bill was in course of preparation, the
result would have been beneficial, both to
the democracy and to the country. His
whole influence. they declare, would have
been thrown into the scale of conservatism
and in the interest of a safe redemption OF
campaign proclamations and promises. In
the face of the great responsibility imposed
On the party, his advice would have been
to take the whole business interests into
the party's confidence, and give assurance
at the start that nothing extreme or In any
sense destructive was in contemplation. lii
tiis view of the case the partyS first blum
der was in denying reasonable hearings to
the representatives of business interests
who asked permission to appear before the
ways and means committee, and afterward
before the hnance committee OF the Senate
The Hin men assert that serious injury re-
suited from that decision. When the ways
and means committee closed it's doors, and
retired TO a basement room in the Capitol,
to write its tariff bill, business men, re-
membering only the extreme utteranceS OF
the stump. took alarm and persuaded them
selves that a sort OF commercial neil s.
broth was preparing ana when served .,,s
would prove generally destructive. The
alarm, as subsequent events proved, was
In a large measure unfounded, but the m
Jury wrought was beyond repair. More
over every blunder the committee made
was ascrihed to its refusal to hear susges-
tions from business sources, and this
brought the whole of it's work under the
charge of having been performed by theo-
riSts and doctrinireS. All explanations
were thus made doubly difficult, and all
disputed points were decided against the
demurrer.
The Mills Bill With Amendments.
The second feature of the Hill plan
would have been to take the Mills bill,
and bringing that measure up to date re-
port it as the response OF the party to the
demand for tariff revision. That bill, the
Hill men point out, had been thoroughly
discussed in the campaign of 1855, was
thoroughly Understood by everybody con-
oerned, and the bare announcement that
that had been used as a foundation In the
construction of the new Measure WouIu OF
itself have quleted all apprehension on
the subject. The country had voted for
revenue reform, and was expecting action
by Congress, but the wise thiHg, as tne
Hill men say, would have been to proceed
upon lines with which the country mad In
a measure been made famlilar. ME-. dlli,
Ii will be remembered, in debating the
Wilson bill, replied on one occasion 10
some observation by Mr.. Mills by propos-
ing to support the Mills bill, with such
alterations as would bring IT into harmony
with existing conditions. Mr. Mills de-
clined the suggestion, stating that the bill
bearing his name, while a fair expression
of the paTty's aspirations and the coun-
try's needs at the time it was drawn. could
not be made TO serve the purposes of this
later day. Mr. Hill did not press the point.
although his friends declare that he was
entirely sincere in his proposition, and be-
lieved that the old Mills bill. with some
the measure the Senate then had before 1T.
But he saw that none of his suggestions
would be accepted, and he confined himself
20 pointing out simply the most objection
able of the features of what the party
evidently had determined to write upon
the statute books.
Hills Predictions Verified.
All of this nnds listeners now. both by
reason OF Mr.. Hilrs present attitude. and
because of his probable future course on
the question of raising revenue for the gov
ernment. The failure of the Wilson bill to
supply money enough for current expenses
is precisely what MIR. Hill predicted HIS
friends quote from his speeches to show
that his analysis of that measure long be-
fore IL passed the Senate has been suS-
tanned to the letter by all OF the develop
ments since the bill became d law. But no
body feels Justified in predicting what
course the New York Senator Will take
with regard 10 how additional revenue
snail be raised. lie admits that more
revenue is necessary, and therein concedes
part OF the republican case against the
democracy. But on what articles shall the
new duties be laid?
air Hill Will continue to train with, and
probably come shortly to lead, those demo-
Gratis who, while characterized as protec-
tionistS by the free traders, yet claim to
represent the real. practical issue of a
tariff tor revenue only. They are the men
who favor liberal appropriations for the
support of the government, who hold that
the support of the government means push
ing 1t along the pathway of its great oppor-
tUnity and obligation, and who declare that
in raising so large a sum of money il is
not only possible but the duty Of Congress,
to adjust the burdens so as to protect
American wages and, incidentally, Arnert-
can Industries.