The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1901-06-13
SCoTCHED BUT NOT KILLED.

The -FryeP Payne ship subsidy
bill was not killed by being kicked out
of Congress mt the last session. 1t was
merely scotched.
Mr.. Frye is at work, SO adyices from
Washington say, On the task of entirely
remodeling his ssteamship subsidy
measure, and intends to Introduce it rs
soon as Congress convenes in Decem-
Der. 1t is explained that his reason for
remodeling it is that the bill introduced
in the fifty-siXth Congress was SO com
plex that few Representative or Sena'
tors We're able TO COMP enend it. And
yet the country was daily told by the
Hanna news bureau. during the con-
Guiding weeks of the last session, that
the bill in all its provisions was as
clear as it was possible for language
to make 1t.
Frye repeatedly said, and so did Han
ma. when they were trying alternately
to wheedle and bulldoze the Senate into
voting for it, that the final touches put
upon Ii had made 1t ''the most perfect
measure ever introduced into Con-
gress."
Nevertheless, whether. as Senator
Frye now says, the measure was too
complicated in its previous form to be
clearly comprehended by his colleagues
or the contrary, it is certain the Sena-
tors understood enough about it to
know that it was a scheme to distribute
S1OO, ,0OO, zoo in bounties among wealthy
transportation companies whose princi-
pal stockholders had contributed abun-
dantly to Republican campaign funds,
and to act on this consideration when
The bill came up for passage.
Mr.. Frye would better postpone his
| alteration work until he can inform
himself more accurately than he is at
present informed concerning the atti-
| tude of the States west of New En-
gland. concerning subsidies; else he
may have his labor for his pains. So
great was the repugnance of the Re
publicans of the House in the late Con-
gress, especially of many of those from
the West, that a majority could not
have been mustered for the Hanna
Frye Payne device for paying political
debts.
1t is not likely that the members Of
the present House. with the growing
sentiment of the agricultural districts
and interior cities against marine boun
ties. will be of a different mind.
BY buying up a fleet of freighters
from England, ]. P. Morgan has given
an object lesson to show how easy it
is for the United States to assume the
lead In ocean shipping without adopt
ing the scheme Of wholesale spoliation
contained In Hanna's pet measure. Let
the navigation LAWS be repealed and
allow American citizens to buy ships
wherever they can be bought the cheap
est. and sail them under the stars and
stripes.-Kansas City Times.
Is,ues of The Future.
In the discussion of possible issues
upon which political battles of the near
future will be fought. there is pretty
general Endorsement of the Constitu-
tons suggestion that the tariff ques-
ton is going to make a platform upon
which all Democrats can get together.
While it is. of course. toe early to pre-
dict with any degree of positiveness,
the shaky feeling inside Republican
ranks shows that the people are talking
tariff to the discomfort Of the prohib-
Tive protectionists who control that
party, and in this there seems to be, as
we have pointed out, chance for
Democratic victory.
The Raleigh Observer. commenting
upoli the Constitutions remarks, says:
What will be the chief issue in
1904? 1t will be what the people are
thinking most about then. and nobody
can make an issue-not e-en the presi
Dental candidates. Three years is as
long a time as twenty-five years Il
century ago. Events change rapidly
and in 1904 there may be an issue that
as yet nobody has for a moment
thought anything about. 1t will be
wise to wait till 1904 before talking of
the issue.
'The Democrats will welcome the
tariff issue. and the probabilities are
that the congressional election will
turn on that issue. The Republicans
see that the necessity for receiving
larger markets for the products of the
mills and factories of America mean
that the home market idea is destined
to become as obsolete as the right of
State to secede, and they hope by
patch work to keep in power by undo
ing some Of their tariff law. Mr.. Bah
cock, chairman Of the Republican Con
gressional Committee, purposes to re-
move the tariff from all articles con-
trolled by trust. That is the Demo |
cratic platform word for word. If Mr.. |
Babcock can get his party to do any
thing so wise. the tariff fight might be |
postponed, but it must come sooner or |
later, for the farmer and manufactur- |
er alike feel the need for the markets |
of the world, and they know that to
secure these markets, the tariff walls |
must be taken down. But if the next |
Congress should remove all duties on
articles controlled by trusts, it would |
strengthen the Republican party |
among the great body of the voters
and lose its biggest campaign contrib
utors."
Ifs based on the probability of
Republican tariff reform are great big
ones The condition can hardly be said |
to be of the anticipatory kind. but
closely approaches rather the impossi-
ble. The earnest Republicans who are
talking of changes in the tariff law
which Mr.. Hanna has pronounced "the
most perfect work of human ingenu-
ity' are wasting good breath. 1t is
true that If such changes were TO be
made by a Republican Congress the
tariff question might be put in the
but SO long as the chief
of the present law control
the Republican party such changes will
not be made.
In the failure of the Republicans to
reform the tariff lies Democracy's
greatest oppOrtunity.-Atlanta Con.ti-
tuition.