The times., 1897-04-02
THE RETROACTIVE CLAUSE
Democratic Senators Will Pre-
vent Its Enactment.
INJURIOUS TO BUSINESS MEN
Treasury Officials Ridicule the Pro-
vision and Point Out the Insupef-
able Difficulties that Would At
tend It's Execution Many Sui
terfuecs Gould Be Resorted to.
Adi. WiRord's Hotel

The pingley bill, with its absurd pro
visions assessing retroactive duties, was
reported Ju the Senate yesterday and re-
rerred To tie seiiate Finance Committee
where it is destined to lie taken apart and
put together again in a form quite unrecog-
niz'thle by its author Il
The retroactive provision Will probably
be retained by the SENATE committee for
the present with view to discJuraglng
lmportations, butultiTna teiy ii is expected
that the Republican leaders Will themselves
strike 1t out In the interest of fair play
and in order not to idieHate a very large
contingent u so-Called' Sound money" busi-
ness men whose interests Will be a t stake
| and whose business viii be seriously ham
pered until definite action is taken that
will fix the time when the new duties are
TO take effect. But whether the Repub-
lican leaders act or not the Democrats
have the matter i'll their own hands
The majority in favor OF IaIft bill Of
any kind IS very snali and it is only by
forbparanCe on the part OF the Democrats,
or by reason of Populist nun-aCtlon. that
the Republicans can hope To pass a bill
4
cratic leaders are disposed to permit the
tariff till 4 ) reported by the Finance Com
InitJcc to become a law after reaSoahle de
bate, provided the retroactive clause is
stricken out otherwise, some Of them de
clare that they win remain in Washington
until March, 1893 and hold the Senate
in continuous session rather than permit
the contemplated outrage to be perpe-
trated on the business community
Tie pclnicious effect of the adoption by
the House of the retroactive section began
to be felt even before its passage on
Wednesday, and in spite of the fact that
the amendment is very generally regarded
as Il III ere 'scare-Crow,' not only importers,
tut collectors of customs throughout the
country, have been greatly disturbed, and
the latter have telegraphed the Treasury
Department urgently for specific instluc-
tions in the emergency.
After the receipt of a large number of
teiegramS yesterday a conference was held
between Acting Secretary Howell, who is
to succeed Mr.. Hamlin, and Chief COmstock,
of the customs division, at which the ques-
tion was considered whether the depart
ment would be eauthoriZedtjtake cogniZance
of the retrospective section in Tew of the
fact that it was not d law. 1t was finally
decided to notify collectors who might in
uuire. that the new bill did not propose to
levy any additional duties upon goods now
i'll bond Ur upon goods arriving which were
purchased prior to April /. a s to goods
purchased hereafter there was no Ii eceSsity
for an Immediate decision, and il was de-
termined to await develepn Nuts before tax
ing any action in the premises.
Treasury officials in private conversa-
tion do not hesitate 10 ridicule the pro-
vision and to point out the insuperable diff
ficulties that would attend it's execution
Aside from alIquestions of constitutonaRty
it fsintiinated thatthe Department would
regarditasa hopelesbtask to prove thatany
goods imported hereafter and prior to
the signing of the Dingley hill by the Presi-
dent were not actually ordered before
April 1.
In the ordinary course of trade goods in
tended to arrive before July would have
been very largely ordered before the pres
ent date, and the many subterfuges which |
could be resorted to defeat the purpose |
of this provision, which the trade is fully |
justified in regarding most extraordi- |
nary and oppressive, would certainly nullify |
tile law to a very great extent
The contention of Nh Grosvenor that the |
new section is Ietrcspectiye. rather than |
eX-post facto, because the importer is |
warned by the passage of the bill through |
the House, is laughed at by the Treasury |
who suggest with much force |
that if importers and other business men
are to be required to take notice. of all |
legislation that may he passed by one
House or the Others they viii have very
little time to attend to their legitimate
business.
A long line OF decisions are cited here
in this connection which show that the
courts have uniformly held that mere pend
ing legislation is blank paper as far as it
a notice to interested par
ties