The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-09-08
Section Twenty-Five.

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The controversy over Sec. 20 of the
Dingley tariff law wakes in intensity,
and will unquestionably reach a white
heat by the time Congress meets in
December. To the erratic Senator
Chambers impetuous charge that the
incorporation Of the contiguous coun-
try" clause was a legislative trick,
Senator Frye of Maine replies, in cooler
and more judicial mood, that the
Granite State Senator is ''mistaken,"
and that his "i~nsinuations are unfound-
ed" Senator Frye declares that Sena.
tor Chandler knows personally and by
repute all the members of the confer
ence committee and should know better
than to "charge them with being ignor-
ant dupes o. cunning contrivists of
elaborate tricks" And the Pine Tree
Senator has reason and common sense
on his side. If his. Granite compeer
really knew nothing of the changes
made in Sec. % by the conference COM
mittee, and voted for so important a
bill in ignorance of its contents, he
t~estiies to his conspicuous incompe-
tency for the office of lawmaker. The
enemies of the bill in the Senate insist
ed that the conference report be read,
line by line, to the end, in that body.
The report was printed, and simultan-
eously with its reading a copy was laid
on the desk of each Senator. The
matter was before the Senate for nearly
a week and was given the largest pub
licity. Furthermore, Senator Elkin's
bill, introduced on the first day of the
session and fully discussed in COM
mittee and in the Senate, embodied the
substance of the changes in Section %.
The proposed discriminating rate was
conspicuously before Congress, in one
form or another, from the first of the
session to the last, and if any Senator,
for any reason, was opposed to the tax,
and was so oblivious to public duty or
the interests of his constituents that he
didn't know what vas going on around
him, he earned impeachment. The &C.
cusation of "trickery." of secret and
clandestine methods, in the enactment
of Sec. %, rests on no more substantial
foundation than the oft repeated charge
of secrecy and cunning in the demon
itization of silver in 1873. The 'crime"
of that year and the "trick" of 1897 are
a pair of very disreputable political
spooks. The latter is conjured up now,
as its companion has been, to serve
partizan ends and brighten timid and
weak minded people.
Senator Frye says, in conclusion, that
he is, and has been for years, inter-
ested in the restoration of the American
merchant marine engaged in the for
eign carrying trade. He regards this
cOuntry's present condition in this re-
spect as a national humiliation. Sec
ton %, as it came from the House, was
substantially the same provision as
every tariff measure for years past has
contained. 1t imposed a discriminating
tax of ten per cent on all dutiable
goods brought into the country in for
eign ships, excepting from those
tries with which the United States had
commercial treaties emitting such mer-
chandise to be entered on the same
terms as goods imported in vessels of
the United States. AS this country
had such treaties with nearly every
commercial country in the world, the
law amounted to nothing, except in the
event of the abrogation of those trea-
ties. To provide for this contingency
this section of the law was retained in
the Dingley bill. To render it entirely
effective the contiguous country"
clause was added by the conference
committee, extending the tax to for
eign goods brought into the country by
Canadian or Mexican railways; other
wise foreign vessels might evade the
tax by landing their goods in Canada
or Mexico and carrying them by rail-
way to American points. To the OBJ
lection of the Mugwumps and other en-