Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-24
ACTION IS WANTED
Conferences on the Financial Question
Have Failed of Effect.
SrALWART AND CONSERVATIVE VIEWS
The Republicans Are Not United on
Plan.
THE G E R M A N VOT 7 E

| In discussing the latest phase of the
| financial question with representative OF
The Star today, prominent democratic
Senator said: 1.-The general feeling seems
| to be that the time has come for something
| to be done and for somebody else to do 1t.
| This is true. from the President down"
This Senator might have excepted him.
| self from his observation. He has shown,
| and is still showing. 20 earnest a desire for
action that 1t will hot be his fault If some
| thing is not done. He has plan, and will
| press it and vote for IL If there is the faint
| est hope Of accomplishing anything. Or
he will as actively assist in pressing some
body else's plan If it in any fair measure
meets the case and success seems to lie In
that direction. But his description of the
situation is accepted upon the whole as
being most discouragingly accurate.
Conferences That Amount to Nothing.
Congress wants to hear further from the
| President, and the President is very i'm
| patient to hear from Congress. There are
| conferences and conferences, all resulting
| In nothing. When Senators and Repre-
| sentatives visit the White House the Presi-
| dent informs them that, having called the
| attention Of Congress to the necessities of
| the case his duty Is done. His views, he
further says. are well known He does not
feel called upon to further emphasize or
explain them The currency must not be
permitted to descend and rest upon silver
basis. While all of this is clear enough. 1t
| does not help Senators and Representatives
| out Of their difficulty. They return to the
Capitol as much at sea as ever. and while
bills increase. the solution appears to linger.
The fencing between the democrats and
the republicans is on regular partisan lines.
| 1t seems to be impossible to conduct 1t
| otherwise. The talk of coming to the as
sistance Of the public credit and the COM
| mon treasury is difficult to capitalize. The
| very moment details are taken up and
reasons are demanded the two sides part
company. The protectionists declare that
| the low tariff men are responsible for the
situation and the low tariff men make Wig
| orous denial. There would be no trouble
| at all II the tariff had not been tinkered
| with, say the republicans. 1t is all the in
evitabie result of taking hold after long
period of vicious republican legislation, say
| the democrats. Then the conference closes.
and a period of gloom follows. during
which both sides assert that nothing can
be done, and an extra session Of the Fifty
| evitable.
The stalvvnrts' Position.
The republicans undoubtedly hold the
key to the situation. But they are divided.
They are being classed now as the stall
warts and the conssfsatsves. The stall
warts hold that inasmuch as the question
| Is one of revenue 1t can only be dealt with
on revenue lines. Hence. they propose an
increase in the revenue at once. They are
not welded to any particular line of new
duties, although an increased tax on beer
| is popular. They assert that the democrats
, are trying to beg off, and that nothing
would play more acceptably or beneficialiy
into their hands than the adoption of some
! temporary device about bonds or other
form OF treasury obligation. The stalwarts
are opposed to all confessed makeshfftS.
| They insist that any action taken should
| be with the view of making permanent pro-
vision for the support of the government,
and thus fix upon the democracy the seal
of incapacity and failure in the carrying
out of its tariff program.
What the Conservatives Will Do.
The conservative republicans are willing
to help tide over existing difficulties and to
postpone final action until next December.
| They take no issue with the stalwarts on
the question of what the real trouble is.
| They, too, assert that more revenue is nee
| essary, and they expect in time to be called
upon to vote more duties of some kind.
| But they don't want to hurry about 1t.
| They suggest that it would be wise to give
| the new tariff law a little longer trial and
see just what it's full deficiency may be.
| They do not believe that any time or any
! trial will justify it, but that it's unwise and
immature features will call for elimination
| by the next Congress Meanwhile they are
| willing to help provide the government with
| short-tme bonds, or exchequer bills, or
whatever may be necessary as a stop gap
| to prevent the public credit from running
down.
Proposed Increase of the Beer Tax.
There Is another point just coming to
| light which is making the republicans lit
tie uneasy. The eastern leaders suggest
the tax of another dollar a barrel on beer.
The excise laws in the east are strict, the
brewers are rich, and frequent agitation Of
the temperance question has made the peo-
| pie familiar with the proposition that the
part Of the public burden. An eastern re-
publican leader, therefore, would take little
risk at home in voting for an increased
beer tax. 1t is said. however. that the
western republicans are not so easy on
that score. The western brewers are not
so rich, nor are the great majority of the
beer consumers of that section friendly to,
or even patient under, the agitation of
stringent excise laws. Republican difl-
cuties in Kansas, in Iowa and in other
western states, in the past, have grown out
| of prohibition and the questions relating to
it. The inquiry at once arises, therefore, as
to how an additional beer tax would affect
the western voters.
The German Vote In the West.
The German vote in all Of the principal
| western cities is large, and in several of the
impt rtant western states it is controlling
The republicans have always received the
support of the great bulk of this vote. The
party's record on the money question las
| had, it is conceded, much to do with this
result. The Germans are in favor of sound
| money and have never indorsed at the
polls any imitation scheme They likewise
are protectionists and favor high rates in
the custom schedules. And so the western
republican leader is canvassing the prob
abilities of what the effect might be of
making an instant retreat on beer at this
time, rather than of distributing the ad-
ditional duties required among customs
articles. He wants to know before he
votes on such proposition, because the
Reputation of such course by the Ger
mans of the west, would, it is asserted
mean the retirement of many men now in
favor in public life. The question is all
the more interesting to the republicans for
the reason that the democrats, when MAX
ing up the tariff bill out of pure fear Of
the effect on the German vote, declined TO
touch the beer tax. The few Germans they
had they were afraid of offending.
Pension Payments.
The Secretary of the Interior has sent to
the Secretary of the Treasury a requisition