The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-15

| Mr. Hanna endeaNOred 10 snow .hT. " ell
ingtOn the "fallacy'' OF his arguments and
said that he believed he could convince him
of his error Mr.. Wellington replied with
a show of petulance that-he was following
in the footsteps of the President He told
| Mr.. Hanna that the man he ought to con-
vince was the President
! Il believe in free trade with the island. -
| said Mr.. Wellington, and in that belief
| stand just where the President OF the
| United States stood until he unfortunately
changed his opinion, for what cause / do
| not know. ! believed the President was
right when he sent that message to Con :
gress, and L do not believe he was right
! when he sent his second message II any
one is in error, it is the President. and if
| you wish to convince anyone you must 20
to the White House and convince the Presi-
! dent
Mr.. Hanna 5td not persist in his efforts
| to convince Mr.. Wellington that he was
| wrong in advocating free trade with Porto
! Rico.
| senator HaIe's Opinion.
Senator Hale suggested that the Senate
nor the country would lose anything by a
| full and free discussion of the whole sub
! ject. The Senate he said, was a conserya-
| I'VE body and had been accustomed 20 de-
| liberate consideration of all subjects that
came before it. There was no need of at
| tempting to hasten through the Senate the
/ final disposition of this subject. The Sen
/ ate was not body to be swept off its
/ feet by popular clamor, and il was not in
the habit of acting without careful delib-
/ Grafton de suggested that the immediate
needs of Porto Rico would be conserved by
| the immediate passage of the bill refund
/ since the Spanish evacuation. Then the
Senate could go ahead and consider this
/ subject of what should be done in the flu
ture conservativeiy and carefully work
out result to bring to the island the
| greatest good and make its prosperity and
happiness permanent.
Mr.. Mcmillan spoke in much the same
strain. He counseled moderation 1t was
apparent to him that at the present time
the Senate Republicans were divided on
this question. Time might eflace some of
the differences, and he expressed the hope
that time would be taken, in reaching a
conclusion so that mistakes might not hap
pen for which the party might be called
to account in the future. Mr.. Mcmillan
made strong argument for the provisions
of the bill. He fsyored the imposition ct
tariff against Porto Rican products coming
into thi. country. Speaking with great
matter to keep ice small party majority in
the House in line. and now that a bill had
been PASSED by that House providing for .
tariff. he believed il would work to the
great injury OF the party If that work was
interfered with by the Senate. Mr. Nc
MILAN stated that the members of the
House from Michigan had received letters
and kilograms from their constituents pro-
testing against the way they had voted on
ho . IT.,
II they had the chance to again vote On
the measure they would repudiate what
they had previously done.
Mr. Elkins took the ground that the
thing to do now was to do nothing. The
bill could be debated along In the Senate
until the party had reached a conclusion
that would enable them to pass bill that
would meet with the approval of all eIe-
ments. He deplored the idea of the party
washing its linen in public places. 1t would
be. he contended. folly to go before the
country and the Senate with quarrel on its
hands. The easiest way out of the whole
trouble was to postpone action. discuss the
bill for time, and. meanwhile, endeayor
to patch up some sort of an arrangement
that would meet the approval OF all par
ties and all shades OF opinion.
Mr.. Beveridge was again prominent in
the discussion. He made no speech, but
asked many questions. all of which tended
to show that he had not recedcd from his
position OF free trade and his fear that
his State would be lost If the party did ot
give the Porto Ricans free trade.
Mr.. Hoar who is known TO be in favor
OF free trade with the island, emphasized
this TACT again yesterday. He also dis
cussed many Of the provisions of the ad-
ministrative features of the civil govern
mert propositions. He advocated partic-
ularly an amendment which Il is under
stood, was finally agreed TO. making the
federal courts OF the island a separate dis
tri2t with the right OF appeal directly to
the Supreme Court OF the United States.
instead of the Federal court sitting in the
District of New York.
The Governors Salary.
There was also much discussion as 70
why the Governor OF Porto Rico should be
paid $1,000 year salary when the salaries
of the Governors OF such Territories as
Arizona and New Mexico were only s., 600
each. This discrepancy was not satisfac-
torily explained. and 1t is probable that
the bill in this respect will be amended be-
fore il passes the Senate
Senator Frye took much the same view
as did Mr.. Hale. He counseled conserya-
tism and urged the members not to seek
~ Ae"'h too nasty CONCLUSION on a sub
ject upon which there was such a wide d.
yergence OF opinion as was manifested in
the conference. He believed that in time
the party could arrive at a conclusion
pleasing to all For that reason he sug
sested that the debate run along unim-
peded for some time. Personally he was
IN favor of the tariff that had been i'm
posed by the House bill and he hoped
nothing would be done TO weaken the party
strength in the House. This he was con- |
hdent would be the result II the House |
were again given the opportunity TO vote |
on the straight proposition Of free trade
or customs tax.
One OF the most prominent Senator's who |
attended the caucus stated after adjourn |
ment that it was apparent to him there was !
conspiracy on foot in the Senate TO pre- |
vent the passage of the civil government |
feature OF the Foraker bill in the interest
OF protection. He said that if the island |
were given civil government. as provided
In the Foraker bill, even without the Dele
gate IN Congress. the next or a future Con- |
gress would grant that Delegate This
would be followed by Territorial form of
government. That would make the island
a part of the United States and give it alb
solute free trade with the whole country.
This the Senator referred to declared
was the thing which protectionists feared.
In this connection the Senator pointed
out the fact that Herbert J. Myrick. of
New York. alleged TO represent a protect
i've tariff league OF some sort was in
the city working against the civil govern
ment plan. 1t ID said that Mr. Myrick
yesterday saw the President and every
member OF the Senate favoring protection
and submitted to them arguments against
the establishment of a civil government