The times., 1897-07-22
CONFEREEs' POWER ABUSED
Continued from First Page

referring TO the secret methods of the Re-
publicans, and in general charging that
the w hole bill was made either in caucus VI
in conferences.
Mr. White read with great effect an eX
tract from a speech by Mr.. Chandler on
the Wilson bill. in which he said tina COZ
sidering the secrecy with which it was
concocted, il shall he blasted with light
! ming. (Appla ause)
Mir. Chandler said that no matter what
the Senator from California thought of
his speech it Caused the then President Go
characterize the Wilson bill one Of
perfidy and dishonor (Applause.J
Mr Morgan here took the Floor to make
an argument teacing to show that tile
conferees had gone outside of their furIc
tions. and sustaining sne motion of MIR
.yt,nes Mr. Morgan recalled TO the Senate
the parliamentary scope OF the powers
and duties OF che conferees-
Under the Consultation no confeTees had
a right 10 introduce new legislation, and
that was what had been done in this case
The Senate had a hight TO make amend
rneuts to matters coming from the House,
| but It had never delegated that right TO
its conrerees. Yet tie conferees put into
| the bill retaliatory clause TO offset any
! export bounty on wood pulp from other
! countries. The retarding clause referred 10
| is az follows:
Provided That If any country or de-
| pcndency shall impose an export duty
upon pulp wood exported TO the United
| States, there shall be imposed upon print
/ ing paper. when imported from such c0un-
try or dependency. an additional duty Of
one-tenth of l cent per pound for each
dollar OF export duty per cord so imposed,
and proportionately for fractions OF a
dollar OF such export duty"
Why said Mr. Morgan. had not the
! Senate conferred the whole functions Of
the Senate on the conference committee
There was cause both for alarm and shame
on the action of the conferees.'
Mr.. Morgan quoted Jefferson's Manual
relating to the powers OF conferees, I'm sup
| port OF the Jones point Of order.
The bill as reported back to the Senate
was undeniably dictated by a party ma
chine. Who dared 10 contradict that? 1t
could not be denied that Mfr. Allison had
| agreed with Mr.. Cannon that there should
| be 10 new matter, and yet there Were
| S72 amendments. There was only one way
TO explain this, that they We're put in at
| the request OF various trusts Mr.. Morgan
| turned aside to read a letter in which il
| was stated that the Sugar Trust was inl-
| porting millions OF pounds of raw sugar
and storing il in barns and stables and
hay lofts" The trust was Row evidently
and patiently violating the law. What
would the Republican President do? This,
! Mr.. Morgan said, was not a digression. The
! sugar Trust had commanded tie conferees
to do certain things and they had coni-
Piled by making rates authorized neither
10y the House nor tile Senate. In fact, the
conferees Lad put in things voted down
| by the House and Senate.
Mr.. Morgan referred to the influence
stated by the newspaper reports TO be due
TO Mr.. Reed for changing the bill. 1t ap
pcared, however, that notwithstanding
his pondeTOsity, the harder he sat down on
sugar the higher it went if he couldn't do
better than that ne had better retire from
politics Mr. Morgan deprecated again the
Senate's surrender of its rights to review
the action OF the conferees.
Mr.. Spooncr said that the quotations
read by Mr. Morgan from jefferson sus-
tanned the action Of the conferees. or
gave them the power for such action.
Mr. Morgan denied that construction
| AlG Abp-d liF1A tiiE AlldiE HDU4d SuSIGln
the point of order
The Vice President decided that the
! point Of order was not well taken, and
| overrulcd it.
Ie could not undertake, by any decision
Of his, TO pass on legislation, and especially
as the conference report had passed one
OF the houses Of Congress. He would not
pass on the questions as to whether there
was new improper or irrelevant matter
in the hill, Or matters not gernane to
any Of the items Of legislation He could
not settle sneh grave matters by an ar
bitrary ruling.
The chair, he held, could not amend
the record. the Senate must decide for
itself the questions involved as TO irrele
vancy or improperly.
The Democrats did not appeal from the
decision
Mr Allen and Mr. Teller attacked the
amended hill on hides They showed that
as the bili now operated, tanneries on
the Atlantic coast could make their prod
ucts out OF imported hides. and get a
drawback The manufacturers, however,
at Chicago and Omaha would have TO
pay the same price for hides as the
Eastern men, but they would get no dra W.
back
Mr.. Allen said he would not charge 1t as
a matter Of design, bat it had occurred
often in the ma king of the bill. that as
;etween the Northwest and the East the
former always went under when il came
TO getting a privilege or even a right
Mr. Altrich replied that no man on either
side had desired the general benefit OF the
drawback legislation 1t was fixed
policy Of the United States, and it had nc
possible local discrimination. The rea-
son why Nebraska could not import di-
rect was because it was not on the sea
shore
Mr. Allen went on to say that the
interests Of the Northwest were ignored.
Mr. AIdrich denied it Of course.
Mr GalInger 60 Mfr Aldrich) y Wha about
wool?
Mr Allen said that the tariff on this
operated 50 as to make the poor people in
the northwes pay more for manufactured
wool and make them buy poorer quality.
Mr.. Allen admitted that the wool growers
of the norti " est got what they wanted
Mr. Vest and Mr.. Jones showed that the
advantage in the legislation on hides was
10 the siaurhterers and manufacturers
and not TO the cattle rangers.
Mr. Teller said that the present 15 per
cent ad yalorcm duty did not amount to
anything with the rebate. which could only
operate in favor Of the Eastern tanneries
Mr. Teller said that he would rather have
hides on the free list than to have the
present amendment. 1t would kill West
4