The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-03-24
Senate Will Take II on
: Dingley Tariff Bill.
Prospect Of Very Lively De-
ba te in Upper House.
Wellman Predicts Revolution of
Senate One Of These Days.

WASHINGTON, March 24.-[Special 1T
Is already apparent that the leaders Of tho
senate are not half as much in hurry t.
dispose of the tariff bill as are the Repub
lioan leaders of the house, Before many
weeks have passed IL Is probable we shall
again have the pleasure of witnessing the
old senate numbering along with the tariff
In Its own slow and peculiar way, while
the country is shouting To IL To get move
upon itself. The leaders of the senate have
favorite theory that no public clamor dis
turbs the serenity of that body or cause.
the currents In its veins 10 run an iota
faster. But this is all theory. More than
once have we seen the United States sen
ate, indifferent ms it Processes to be to pub
lie opinion, i'm perfect fiutter because OF
what the newspapers and the preachers and
the college presidents and other good peo
pie were saving. We saw that when Tn,
Sherman silver purchase law was UP foi
repeal. We have seen IL in "a modified form
in the agitation over the arbitration treaty.
The senate does care what the people think.
and if the public kicks hard enough the
senate will act accordingly But no ordi
nary complaint will receive any attention
whatever. To be effective upon the senate
u
pressure of o thousand pounds to the SQUARE
inch.
A Reshaped Bill.
The Republicans and their party papers
are debarrod from raising howl against
the senate now. The bill is not through
the house yet. Besides the promised delay
in the senate is not the fault of the senate
itself, nor of the Democrats or silver men OF
= n
Senators Allison and Aldrich Of the finance
committee propose to have something tC
say about what sort of bill shall go to the
statute books They intend to take the
Dingley bill and reshape IL TO suit them
selves. When they have finished with it,
there are schedules which Father Dingley
will not be able to recognize as his own.
Worse still, these two Republican sena
tors, who are everywhere known as the
leaders of their party in the upper branch,
are going about their work with great de
liberation. They do not appear To be in
any hurry whatever. They want plenty OF
time, and they propose TO take It, Six
weeks, in their opinion, is short enough
period in which to reconstruct the Dingley
bill in committee-that is TO say, while the
Republicans of the house have been talking
the 1st day of May, the Republicans at the
other end of the capitol think they will
need till the middle of May simply to get
the bill out of the finance committee and
before the senate!
Prospects Of Debate.
How much longer 1t will take to pass
the bill only infinite knowledge could tell.
But If the finance committee requires six
weeks the senate is not likely to use any
less time. II political debate should be
started-and what Is more natural than q
great political debate covering all the ques
tions of the past and the future with the
tariff as the text-the senate may want t.
run tho debate for two or three months.
Then IL must be remembered that after the
senate has passed the bill--not any longer
the Dingley bill, but patched up and re
constructed affair--thc house will have t.
agree to the senatc's amendments. These
will be numerous and upon some Of them
there will be wide differences of opinion
between the Republicans of the two ends
of the capitol to say nothing of the other
parties which must be reckoned with In
the senate. President Mckinley long agG
set his heart upon having the new tariff
bill placed upon tho statute books by the
1st of July. He will be very lucky IL he
succeeds in this project. The lst of August
is the date set by most experienced OBJ
servers here.
Some of these days there is going to bea
revolution In the United States senate II
will be bloodless one, and the country
will not get much excited about 1t, but Ii
will produce n great sensation In Washing
ton. The under dog senator is going TO
rise in rebellion against the upper dog sen.
ator, and the under dogs being much more
numerous than the upper dogs, the little
fellows are going to win. As have point
ed out in former dispatches, the senate is
run by a coterie. six or eight men, en-
bracing both Republicans and Democrats,
are the senate. Whenever they care to ex
ert themselves they carry their points with
out much trouble. They have spread their
nets so carefully that year after year they
hold power in their hands. There Is n
great deal of grumbling, but the men who
hold the reins know how to browbeat away
some opposition and to bribe off others
with promises of help for pet schemes. It
chances that the men who have the man
agemcnt Of the senate in their hands arc
not only tariff makers, but they have
charge Of appropriations.
A Mighty Power.
In a government like ours the power to
say how the taxes shall be levied Is n
mighty one. 1t means so much TO every
business man, every manufactures. 1t is u
fortune for one, poverty for another. The
small cotcric of men in the United States
senate who Insist that the senate shall not
accept the house tariff bill ready made, but
shall frame one of their ownAthat Is, by
the hands Of the members of this coterie--
WELD power so vast that it would be dif
fcult To estimate its extent and ramifica-
tions. Add to this that other power of
theirs, the spending Of the money, and 1t
Is easy to see that this little party of astute