The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-03-05
THAT INV TARIFF BILL
Will Be All Ready For the Spe-
cial Sescion.

cial Ses1;on.
WOOL AND SUGAR SCHEDULES.
Grafton, the Sugar Trust People Will BE
on Hand to Make Sure of the Senate.
Personal Gossip of nIr. and Mrs. Cieve-
land.
WASHINGTON. Feb. 26.--[Special 1.-The
ways and means committee of the house is
not getting along as rapidly with the new
tariff bill as II had hoped to do. But
there Is no warrant for the statement re
Gently made in the newspapers that it will
be June before the bill is ready to report
to the house The chairman of the com
mittee, Governor Dingley, told me today
he expected TO have the bill ready by the
middle of March, certainly not later than
the goth of that month About that time
the new congress will meet If President
Mckinley carries out his present pro-
gramme The wool and sugar schedules
remain to be fixed by the Republican mem
bers of the committee, and these duties are
always the subject Of great deal of pres
sure So far as the ways and means COM
mittee is concerned the wool schedule is
much more troublesome than any other,
as the sugar people do not worry them
selves about the duty till the bill gets over
to the senate.
The Shrewd Sugar Trust.
Tt is safe to say that while the Repub-
lican members of the ways and means COM
mittee are fixing up the sugar schedule
they will not hear single word from the
Sugar trust or the other refiners. They
will be let severely alone by the represent
atives of the Havemeyer concern. But as
soon as the tariff bill gets through the
house and Is ready for consideration by the
senate the trust people will be on hand.
1t Is an axiom with them never to waste
time on the house, but to make sure of the
senate. The house is more difficult body
to handle than the senate 1t is almost
impossible to arrive at anything like an
understanding with the house, while with
the senate the representatives of the trust
can know almost exactly where they stand.
How important matter the sugar duty is
to tho trust may be understood from the
fact that their great profits of about $780,
000 600 year are made up by the differ
ence between the tariff on raw sugar and
that on refined sugar. This amounts I'M
der the present law to one-cighth Of q cent
O pound, and that little eighth of a cent
piles up to the vast sum of $4,000, 900 in
q single years operations of the trust.
There is small chance that the protection
enjoyed by the trust in this eighth of
cent u pound will be reduced in the new
tariff bill. More likely than anything else
Is that it will be left just as it is. Tho
sugar growers in this country demand pro-
lection from the beet sugars of Germany,
on which an export bounty is paid by the
German government amounting to 81 per
cent, and both the cane sugar producers of
Louisiana and the beet sugar growers of
the west will not be satisfied unless they
are protected.
Republican Plans.
The Republicans now feel sure that they
will be able to reorganize the senate when
they get ready to do so, but their present
programme is to let the organization stand
just as it is till next winter, except as to
the finance committee. They will not
have q clear majority of the senate after
the 4th of March, and, while they do not
expect any difficulty in the passage of their
tariff bill, they might not be able to reor-
ganize the committees if they were to set
out to do so. They fear also that an at
tempt at reorganization might embarrass
the tariff bill by rousing party prejudice
or producing personal disappointment in
the Encouragement Of committees The
Republicans will probably have A votes
in the senate after March 4, or one short
Of q majority with the vote of the vice
president. But il is said on good author
from the far west who were formerly Re
publlcans will vote for the tariff bill, and
that one or two Democrats will follow
their example Some of the Independents,
like Pettigrew and Kyle of South Dakota.
are still unknown quantities, and so are
one or two of the Populists
An official of the navy department whose
duties bring him much In contact with
the naval attaches of the various foreign
embassies and legations here tells me the
Japanese naval attache is the brightest
man in the corps The duties of a naval
attache, you know, are to keep his govern
ment informed as to the PROCESS of the
United States navy, the newest inventions
and processes in armor plate, construction,
projectiles, powder, etc. Well, the little
Jap Is the keenest and quickest man in the
lot He is absolutely without imagination,
but In thoroughness of detail, in practical
ability and business sense he Is said to
rank away above all the Europeans. The
Japanese are very ambitious for naval
strength and ore watching every invention
that gives promise of helping them on
their way to mastery of the Pacific, which
Is obviously their goal
Personal Matters.
Mrs Cleveland Is noted among her
friends as very observing woman. Very
little goes on in the White House, even at
the crowded receptions, unknown to her
At the last reception young lady from
out OF town was in the line passing through
the red and blue parlors, and as she came
up to Mrs. Cleveland and shook hands