The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-01
DELAY OF THE DINGLEY BILL

The San Francisco Chronicle says IT
looks as if the Democrats in the sem
ate, instead of letting the tariff bill go
through without needless delay,
were preparing to hold it back
as long as possible for politi-
cal advancement. The Chronicle
then goes on to say that the less
prosperity the more Democratic votes;
that if the bill can be delayed until
August or September there will be no
general improvement of business in the
! interim; that it may even be that bus
mess, taking alarm at proposed amend
ments, may suffer a decline. Then
again, says the Chronicle, as the SEN
ate has agreed to drop the retroactive
tariff clause, importers will be given
time enough to stock up with enor
nous supplies of cheap foreign goods
and wares-enough, after the new tar
if shall have taken effect, to carry
them through the coming fall, winter
and spring and thus keep American
manufactures from resuming work on
any large scale. Should there be no
prosperity when the summer of 1898
opens, the Democrats, it says, reason
that they will carry congress in the
following autumn and possess them
selves of a great deal of lost ground in
states and cities.
The Chronicle concludes as follows:
1t is proper to notice that the Demo-
Gratis of the senate say they have no
such policy or intention-they merely
want to examine the bill" But fair
words butter no parsnips. The Democ-
racy has never been unmindful in the
past of a chance to take an unfair par
tisan advantage, and now that lmpor-
tant elections are only year and
half away, we have cause to suspect
their motives. If they had meant what
they said when they gave notice that
the Republicans could pass the bill the
people voted for and take the conse-
quences whether of good or i'll, they
would stand aside now and let the
measure go to the people for ''examina-
ton" But the leopard cannot change
his spots nor the Ethiopian his skin.
The Democrats are trying to do moth
ing of the kind here charged. There is
complaint that the senate finance COM
mittee is unnecessarily delaying the
bill now How can this be the result
of Democratic action? That commit
Tee Is lilS II very IL
all reports be true. 1t is rather broad
assertion to say that the people voted
for the Dingley bill, as the Chronicle
does assert. If they did, how dare
anyone agree to strike out the retro
active clause, as the senate has agreed
to do? If the people voted for this |
bill, how dare anyone change the !
schedule placing a duty on works Of
art and books imported for public Ii
braries?. If the people voted for the |
Dingley bill last November how is it |
the bill was not drawn up and the
schedules completed until some months !
after the election?
There is not the slightest evidence |
that the Democrats purpose to OBJ |
struct the passage of the tariff bill |
through the senate. 1t is true that !
Senator Jones, of Nevada, will join
them in opposing the scheme to jam
the bill through the committee and re-
port it to the senate without the Dem
ocratic members of the committee hav-
ing had any chance in the world to
consider it. They are entitled to some
consideration, even though they be in
the minority And when the bill
reaches the senate the Democratic On
ators have a right to debate it and
should do so. They are not sent there
as mere figureheads. If a careful and
proper consideration of the Dingley
bill by the Democratic senators be OBJ
let those who don't like it
make the most of it.