The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-27
npIFF BILL IN A CORNER.
,tcANs CAUGHT IN A MINOR
BEL Try IN THE HOUSE.

bam of Texas Promptly
nr' RI strike out the Enacting
~,.a.e of the BiII-Mr. Dingiey Sees
ranger. and the Acting Chair
' ,,ds Him by a Ruling Against
Ianham-The Fight the Live
..+ Political Contest of the SeS-
sion.
remington, March 26.-The considera-
~ the tariff bill in the House to-day,
u0 tho I'VE minute rule, for the purpose
u.''e. ..srdment, which it was expected
o. a. 10 strictly business, opened with the
.,,.st political contest Of the session,
NJ ...c, FOR nearly three hours. Preliminary
iasu-' main battle of the day there was
u , 'r skirmish Immediately after the
Il,,se went into committee of the whole,
,,e clerk was instructed to begin the
reading of the bill.
Tarhan, dem, of Texas, asked if it
IA he in order at this time to move to
.y'-o ont the enacting clause. which, he
,.ts5 if adopted. would operate as re-
t,c+ior Of the bill.
rba motion created temporary conster-
rston in the republican ranks for there
ror quorum of the committee pres
and it was apparent that a larger
.,rar of democrats were in their seats
than republicans.
Mr. Dugley, chairman of the ways and
nam. committee, suggested that the mo-
,io, he held in allegiance until some pro-
moss had been made in the reading of the
I'm when there would be a larger attend
occe present. To press the motion now
,,onld result only in delaying consideration
Of the bill until quorum could be OBJ
tanned.
Mr. Lanham suavely stated that the
Yoofion expressed his antagonism to the
hill and he desired to press it to a vote
now. the chairman having held it to be
in order.
Chairman Sherman-The chair has made
M ruling; it has only expressed a hasty
onnion that the motion is in order But
has the gentleman studied the terms of
the special order under which the House
is proceeding?
Mr.. Lanham-I do not understand, Mr..
Chairman, that that order supersedes the
general rules governing debate and the
consideration of the bill.
While the chairman was looking up the
subject an animated colloquY progressed
on the floor.
Finally Chairman Sherman ruled that
under the special order the motion by the
gentleman from Texas was not then in or
der,
Promptly on the reading of the rtefa-
tory paragraph Of the bill, Mr.. Dockery,
dem, of Missouri, offered an amendment
authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury
10 admit free of duty any article, the pro-
duction and price of which was controlled
by trust in the United States
Mr.. Dingley, chairman of the commit
tee on ways and means, made the point
that the amendment was not in order at
that place, and Mr.. Dalzell, rep, of Penn
sylvania said that if it were in order as
10 time, congress could not devolve on the
secretary judicial duty such as that of de-
termining whether or not a trust was in
control of a certain article. This precipi-
tated a debate, based on democratic
charges that republicans favored trusts
and did not want to legislate against
them. tt4
All of the leaders on both sides, and
some not recognized in that rank, took
part W.
Charges and counter-charges were ban
died back and forth, and the record CT
the past seven years was searched, to
subject Of trusts. After nearly three
hours of this skirmishing, the question
ostensibly being the point of order, Gen.
Henderson, rep, of Iowa, appealed to
both sides to put an end to it, saying that
ii it was the desire to get through the
bill in the time allotted for it's considera-
ton" mighty bad start had been made
all around"
The point of order against the motion
was sustained by the chair and an ap-
peal his ruling was sustained-153 to 1914.
Many other amendments, having the
same object, to put articles controlled by
trusts on the free lists, were offered, and
on objection by Mr.. Dingley all were ruled
out Of order.
Mr.. Dingley stated that when the time
came to deal with trusts the republican
majority would do so, and that after pass
ing this tariff bill, if anything remained
10 do for the public interest it would at
tend to that.
n the course of the afternoon several
changes of duty were made, among them
pelng an increase of one-half cent in
he duty on carbonate of ammonia; an in
crease OF from % to 40 cents a pound of
the duty on sulphuric acid, and increas-
ing the duty on products of pig lead from
70 to cents a pound.
AT 5:l5 o'clock the House adjourned till
tomorrow at 10 o'clock, having disposed
OF nine and one-half of the 1863 pages of
the bill.