The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1897-03-25
IT rs LEGAL ROBBERY
OiNGLEY TARIFF MEASURE tS
OUTRAGEOUS.
The Only A5om Unable Measure of the
Mckinley Bill Which Is Not Repro
duced IL the Bounty Upon Sugar
Office Seekers Harass the President.
Revenue VS.. Spoils.

Revenue VS.. SpoiIs.
Washington correspondence:
| If the Democrats are looking for Al,
issue TO unite the party they will find
it in the Dingley tariff bill. Close crit
les say that if it becomes Il law it will
be the worst system of legalized rob
berry ever inflicted upon the people of
any country. There is no doubt what
ever that the bill w II become Il law. 1t
will be forced through the house under
the peculiar rules which govern that
body without any opportunity for
amendment and with only limited op-
portunity for debate. But just when it
will be enacted is 4 question. One
prominent Republican authority says:
Chairman Dinglcy estimates that his
tariff bill will produce 1T least seventy
millions more revenue for the first year
than the present law. He puts i'll Il pro-
viso however. 1t is:
| "Unless a considerable delay in the en-
actment of the bill should greatly enlarge
the opportunity for imports of articles on
which duties are to be eraised-particularly
wool and woolens for speculative pur-
poses. Undoubtedly any delay beyond
May 1 in placing the bill on the statute
book would result in large loss of reve-
nue."
Nobody seems TO believe the bill will
pass by May 1. The general opinion seems
| TO be that it will become law about
July 1. Hence there will be "a large loss
of revenue" Has the chairman estimated
what that loss will be, not merely on wool
| and woolens. but also on sugar? If so. he
ought to give those figures and then it
| will be known how much revenue his bill
| will produce in case it is ''held up" in the
Senate for the next three months. The
Mckinley bill reached a Republican Sen
ate May 81 1t passed the Senate, with
| amendments, Sept. 10. 1t became law
Oct. !.
1t is practically certain that the bill
will be eXhaustively discussed before
it is put upon its passage. The Demo-
Gratis in the house are pOwcrless to
make such fight against the bill as
they would like to make. but they look
to the Democratic Senators to resist
it's passage with all the means at their
command. They will not be disap
pointed. as a number of the Democrats
in the Senate are now preparing the
arguments which they intend to present
against the measure.
One Democratic Senator said:
The Republicans claim that they will
have fifty votes for the bill in the Senate,
and the claim is doubtless well founded
So. you see, there is no chance to prevent
the bill from becoming a law. The best
thing the Democrats can do is TO expose
the monstrous features of the enactment.
We do not intend to allow a vote to be tax
en- until the bill has been thoroughly dis
cussed The Mckinley tariff law was the
most OdiOus measure that ever became a
statute in this country. l do not eXagger-
ate when l say that the Dingley bill is Il
great deal worse than the act of 1890.
The only abOminable provision of the
Mckinley law which is not preserved in
the Dingley bill is that giving bounty
to the producers of sugar. But there are
a great many bad features in the Dingley
bill which were not contained in the Nc
Kinley law. The verdict of the censerva-
tive and independent thought in this coun-
try will be against this measure, which
President Mckinley has prescribed for
the relief of the treasury. The President
tenders the prescription with gloved |
hand, but the Democrats will not swallow
the nauseating dose without registering Il |
solemn protest against It.
The message which the president sent to |
the Senate was an adroitly worded docu- |
ment. 1t was intended not to give offcnse |
to the Democrats. and there was nothing |
in it 10 offend anybody. He did not dis
cuss the tariff in the communication which |
he sent TO Congress. but his real message |
on that subject is contained in the Dingley
bill. The schedules prepared by the Re
publicans of the Ways and Means Com
mittee were submitted to and approved by
the President before they were adopted.
The pressure which is being brought |
to bear on President Mckinley to 20
ahead and distribute the patronage
without waiting for the passage of the
tariff bill is becoming terrific. The
ottice-seekerS are unable to see the
President personally. but they manage
to reach him through the Senators and
Representatives,. Mr.. Mckinley is be-
ginning to show signs of annoyance at
the persistent clamor for Office. He
told number of Congressman that
they were not treating him fairly by
urging him 10 take up the patronage
question after he had announced that
there should be no general division of
the spoils in advance of the passage of
the tariff. He went further and gave
some of the more insistent ones to un-
derstand that they were preiudicing the
claims of the men they were trying to
benefit by their efforts to hurry up mat
ters
The politicians are feeling very sore
toward the President, but they have
not yet reached the point where they
are willing to condemn him openly.
Publicly they say they hope everything
will turn out all right in the end, while
in private they say many harsh things
about Mckinley.
The worst grumblers at the Presi-
dents dilatOry policy are the Republi-
cans from Maryland, Kentucky. and
West Virginia. Those States went Re
publican last fall for the first time in
their history. 1t was only natural
therefore, that the Republican leaders
III titSc StTOng- |
holds should expect that all their de-
mands would be honored promptly
when Mr.. Mckinley became President.
They came believing that the pie
would be dealt out to them in liberal
slices as fast as it was called for They |
think they are receiving rough treat
ment when they are told that their
names cannot go on the pay roll until
the country gets a new tariff. 1t is
that some of the Southern
will go on the warpath be-
for very long.
Extravagancc in Government.
Threc-quarters of century ago.
when this country had already entered
all IL. II of Iln1-nlniInnnt tl.. |