Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-01-09
THE PHILIPPINE TARIFF.
Probability of a P~rotracted strus-
gle Over the Measure When 1t
Comes Before the House.

In jamming through the Philippine
tariff bill just before adjourning over
the holidays, the leaders of the ma
jority gave distinct notice, not only
that the senate would not be permitted
to change in any particular the rates
of duty imposed on Philippine products
entering the United States, but that
in no way can the sacred Dingiey tariff
be meddled with in favor of any prod
uct of any country. Mr.. Dalze,l, who
closed the debate on behalf of the
majority, declared that there would
be no legislation, SO long as the repub-
licans controlled the house, by which
the existing tariff law would be amend
ed directly, nor would they permit any
change to be made in customs duties
by unfair reciprocity treaties or in any
other way, says the Cleveland Plain
Dealer.
But the senate has some rights in
the case, and there are reports that
it may impress that fact upon the
house. The Philippine commissions
report, made public in Washington on
the same day that Mr.. Dalzell issued
the ukase of the majority of the house,
recommended a reduction of so per
cent. from Dingley tariff duties on
sugar, tobacco and hemp from the Phil
ippines. Perhaps this recommendation
was unknown to the committee on
ways and means when the Philippine
tariff bill was prepared and reported,
or to Mr.. Dalzell of that committee
when he delivered the decree of the
majority, but the senate cannot avoid
taking ~cognizance of it.
There is a report from republican
sources in Washington that some of
the majority senators think the house
acted hastily and unwisely in jam
ming through" the tariff bill without
ascertaining what the Taft commits
sion advised. AT all events, they hold
that the senate has full authority tc
correct the mistakes of the house and
should do so. The secretary of wal
having shown in his report that com
merce between the United States and
the Philippines has not followed the
flag" as expected under the Dingley
tariff, but that exports to the United
States from the Philippines have ma
t~erially decreased, while imports into
the Philippines from other countries
have increased much faster than i'm
ports from the United States, and the
Taft commission having promised thai
commerce between the United States
and the islands would increase by
leaps and bounds" if the suggested re
ductions in the Dingley tariff rates BIT
made, these republican senators fee
inclined to try the experiment of a re
duction. If a majority of the senators
should be of that way of thinking
which is not improbable, what will Mr.
Dalzell's truculent notification amount
to?
The constitutional power of the sen
ate to amend a house bill for raising
revenue is undisputed. The senate has
before now asserted and sustained it,
right to "amend" by cutting out every
thing but the enacting clause and sub
stituting what is practically an entire
ly new bill. The house may reject al
amended" Philippine tariff bill and tn,
fight may be a %protracted one. Mean
time the recent supreme court decision
will be the only law in the case, ant
all Philippine products will enter thu
United States as free from tariff ia,
as the products of those other insulal
"appurtenances," Hawaii and Porte
Rico. And why not?