The San Francisco call., 1896-04-10
Maiden Speech of the Montana
Statesman Attracts Great
Attention.
PRIVATE PENSION BILLS PASS.
Seventy-Five of Them Rushed Through
Within a Period of Sixty
Minutes.

WASHINGTON, D. c., April 9.-The
Senate did a rushing business in the way
OF private pension bills in the last hour of
to-day's session. having cleared the calen-
dar and passed every pension bill on it
seventy-hye in mum ber-within sixty min
utes. The earlier hours of the session
were taken up in the delivery of two pre-
pared speeches-one by Mantle of Mon
tana and the other by Butler of North
Carolina. Mantles speech was mainly a
defense of the Senators from the silver
producing States for their action in help
ing to defeat the Dingley tariff bill, passed
by the House in the early part Of the ses-
sion. He criticized the bill for being in
the interest of the wool manufacturers
rather than of the wool-growers, and he
declared himself as being equally in favor
OF bimetallism and OF protection to Amer
lean industry. He expressed the hope,
therefore, that the Finance Committee
would report back fair tariff bill, coupled
with provision for free coinage.
AT the close of Mantle's speech, his
maiden one in the Senate, he received the
congratulations of many Senators, and
then participated in running discussion
with Senators Hawley of Connecticut,
Hoar of Massachusetts, and Mills of Texas.
the latter characterlzing protective tariff
as a protective humbug.
Buffers speech was in support Of bill
heretofore introduced by him for the es-
tablishment of a postal telegraph system.
Between the close of Buffers speech and
the taking up OF the pension bills the. In
dian appropriation bill made some prog
ress.
Frye (R.) of Maine, chairman of the
Committee on Commerce, gave notice to
hear any Senators who might desire tc
propose amendments to the river and har-
Dor bill, and that the committee would
not hear any afterward.
Mantle (R.) of Montana addressed the
Senate in support of a resolution here
tofore offered by his colleague, Carter, to
recommit to the Finance Committee the
House tariff bill passed in the early days
of the session. He spoke of the unwar-
ranted aspersions cast by the metropolitan
press on the Senators who favored silver
coinage and who voted IN opposition to
that bill and he defended those Senators
and the people of the silver States from
the indiscriminate charges of selfshness
and lack. of patriotism brought against
them.
Mantle argued against the Dingley bill,
declaring that while it professed to be in
the interest of the wooigrowers it was
really in the interest of the wool manufac-
turers. A tariff bill, he said, should be so
adjusted as to guard every American in
dustry that needed sheitering arms to
shield it from the degrading competition
nf nthpr lands Ia o1mittad nor i1o
he was an ardent believer in the principle
OF protection he was an ardent believer in
the advantages of bimetallism, and with
out bimetallism protective tariff could not
guard against the competition that is COM
ing and to come from China and Japan.
Unless parity was established between
gold and silver one of two things, he said,
must inevitably happen: Either the
wages and standard of living in Asia must
be raised to the American level or else the
wages and standard of living in the United
States should be reduced to theirs. He
was therefore in favor of uniting the poll
cies of bimetallism and protection. He
declared that the Republican silver Sena-
tors would have been ''as fully justified in
aiding the Democrats to repeal the Nc
Kinley law as other Republican Senators
were in Joining the administration Demo-
Gratis to secure the unconditional repeal of
the Sherman law
In conclusion he expressed the hope that
the resolution would be agreed to, and that
the Dingley bill would be reported back
with fair protective substitute and with
provision for bimetallism. The Repub-
ican party, he said, would go into history
as the best and bravest party that the
world had ever known, and he had hopes
that 1T would refuse to be guided in its fu-
ture policy by the dictates of selfishness
and greed.
Hawley (R.) of Connecticut said that he
had few figures which proved that
Mantle was mistaken in supposing that
the wool manufacturers were benefited by
the Wilson tariff bill. The importations
OF woolen manufactured goods into the
United States for the current fiscal year,
including January, amounted to over $38,
O0O,000 as against SIT 100000 in the corre-
spending seven months of last year. On
the other hand many looms in New Eng
land woolen-m mills were idle and the mills
were running on reduced time. With the
passage of the Wilson tariff law, q cyclone,
ne said, had struck the wooden industry
of New England. He added that he did
not cal! to mind single New England
Senator who had ever moved or voted to
take the duty off raw wool.
After considerable discussion the matter
went over.
Unanimous consent was asked by Allen
(Pop) OF Nebraska for the passage of
the Senate bill to authorize and encourage
the holding of a ns-Mississippi expo
sition iii Omaha, Nebr., in 1898. 1t was
made the special order for tomorrow
after the morning routine business.
At 5:15 the Senate adjourned until to-
morrow,