The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-07-08
Our Washington Letter.

WASHINGTON. D. c., June 80, 1897.
The tariff bill, when it reaches the Presi-
dent, will probably contain the House
rates on nearly all the important features.
While it could scarcely be expected that
the Senate would reject the amendments
which its own committee had proposed
and go absolutely back to the House sched-
ule. there is a strong disposition among
Senators to allow the conference commit
tee to restore absolutely the House sched-
ules ON first and second class woods,
sugar, pottery, farm products generally
and many other articles in which the
amendments made by the Senate commit
| tee have proven unpopular. The bill as
framed by the House committee and pas
! sed by that body was specially acceptable
to Republicans generally in the fact that it
precluded the possibility of suspicion or
successful charge that it was framed in
the interests Of or to the advantage of
trusts Of any kind. Whether the Senate
| amendments are more favorable to the
trusts OF not, the mere fact that many
persons believe them to be so is likely to
lead the conference committee to restore
absolutely the House rates, and there is
every reason to believe that the Senate
will promptly accept them.
The Hawaiian annexation treaty con-
tinues to be the subject of much attention
IL ~ -
ed the more satisfactory it becomes and
the greater the prospect of its ratification.
While it is scarcely expected that it will
be taken up for final action at this session,
there is every reason to believe that it will
be confirmed at no distant day and that the
American flag, which was pulled down in
Hawaii by an ex Confederate at the direc-
ton of Grover Cleveland, will be hoisted
permanently under the direction of that
Union soldier, William Mckinley.
The fact that President Mckinley has so
promptly and successfully carried out this
important feature of the foreign policy
outlined by the st. Louis platform has
given additional confidence in his wisdom
and prospective success in shaping a sat
isfactory policy with reference to Cuba.
The demand for instant action on the sub
ject, which was so strenuous month ago,
seems to have entirely disappeared, and
| there is disposition to permit the Presi-
dent to formulate and carry out his pol
! icy, which it is believed, will be a Just
one and satisfactory to the friends Of
Cuba.
The protest of the people against Demo
cratic delay of the tariff bill has been so
loud and clear that even the members of
that party could not resist it, The prog
ress upon the bill this week has been
rapid. Not only is the progress made by the
bill extremely satisfactory SO far as relates
to the Senate, but the prospects are that
the time occupied in conference will be
unusually brief. Ordinarily tariff bill is
in conference several weeks, sometimes
months. But there is reason to believe
that the time occupied by the conference
committee will be as brief, comparatively,
as has been the time occupied with the
other features of the bill. The fact that
the Senate has restored the House rates in
large number Of cases and has nearly
| reached the House figures ON the most inn
portant of the changes made by the Fl
nance Committee reduces very much the
time that the bill is likely to occupy in
reaching complete agreement.
The closing days of the tariff considera-
ton are punctuated with one or two fur
ther mild protests from foreign countries
with reference to the bill. There have
been possibly half dozen Of these in the
formally through the foreign representa-
tives here and being filed at the State De-
partment, and others merely in the way of
scolds in legislative bodies or newspapers
of foreign countries. These do not Gre
ate the slightest furry among the states
men who are engaged in framing the tariff
measure. Nearly all of the countries
which have made protests of this sort have
themselves protective tariffs, many of them
very high, and against none of these have
tie United States ever made any COM
plant or protest. While they have pre-
tested vigorously against discrimination
made with reference to products of the
United States alone and not applied also
to similar products of other nations, they
have made no complaint of the general
tariff systems or the high protective rates
which other countries levy upon articles
which we may happen to offer for sale,
and it is not likely these protests from
other countries will have any weight with
the trainers of this bill.
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