The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-27
BAD SNARL OVER SUGAR
REPUBLICANS LIKELY TO BE
 BADLY SPLIT UP,
Sugar Trust Forces Lining up for . Fight That Threatens Dire Re suits for Republican Party. Outlook for Shakeup Such as
 Congress Has Not Had
 For Years.

II
 so long,, ran around in circles today like l sandpipers. and with about as much re- ! suit They conferred. and talked. and | debaGed. and discussed among themselves and when the time for adjournment came | they had no solution for the Cuban problem, nsr had they any definite knowledge as to the situation.
 The basic proposition is clear. The House of Representatives has sent to the
 Senate bill providing for 20 per cent, reduction in the tariff rates between this 1 country and Cuba. That bill Is loaded l down with an amendment providing for | the elimination of the differential duty on all refined sugar that may be imported
 into this country.
 Those in the oligarchy are naturally | with the adminstration-so far as it
 suits them. They are willing. at the
 request of the President, to do something 1 for Cuba If the bill had come as a simple tariff reduction proposition all would have been clear sailing. l Hits the Sugar Trust | The dinerential amendment hurts. It l will take millions from The profits of the sugar trust, more millions than the sugar trust will gain by the tarif reduction given Cuba. The sugar trust has many l friends in the Senate That has been proved before now There is hesitancy about pushing a measure that will take | from the profits of an old friend. So the l oligarchy is between the devil and the deep sea.
 | Still. if the oligarchy was the entire | Senate. some way out might be found. It is true enough that on ordinary oc- l casions these leaders have been prac- l tically the whole Senate. But this is an | extraordinary occasion. The leaders would be glad enough to continue in their for mer relations with the rest of their col leagues. but circumstances over which they have no control make that quite im- possible The result is that there is chaos--from the leaders viewpoint-and the further result is that the Republican party. as represented in Congress. is about to get a shaking mp such as it has
 not had for years.
 There are as many tentacles to the situation as there are to a squid. They can be argued around everything from
 circle to an octagon. The House bill
 has gone to the Senate Committee on
 Cuban Relations. Several members of
 that committee are favorable to re-
 ciprocity arrangement with Cuba. Other
 members are willing to report out the
 bill. differential amendment and all. and
 brave the wrath of the Sugar Trust.
 Others want to temporize.
 To Investigate Sugar Trustp
 To complicate matters. there is a reso-
 lution before the committee asking for
 an investigation of the Sugar Trust and
 it's operations in Cuba with especial ref
 erence to the report that trust owns the
 sugar there now and will be the only di-
 rect beneficiary by the 20 per cent. tariff
 reduction.
 The committee will have to vote for
 this resolution. In all fairness; the bill
 cannot be reported out until the inyes-
 tigation has ended. Thus the affair is
 twisted and tangled and double-bow-
 knotted with complications and delays
 and the despair of the leaders increases
 hourly.
 Burrows, Elkins, Teller, Waiting.
 Back of all these complications is an-
 other and a greater one When the time
 comes two Patrick Henrys will rise in
 the Senate and declare there never can
 be reciprocity for Cuba. and assert that
 if this Is treason the most can be made
 of it. These two men are Julius Caesar
 Burrows, Senator from Michigan. and
 stephen E. Elkins, Senator from West
 Henry M. Teller, Senator from
 Colorado. author of the resolu- tion adopted before the Spanish war, which says the Cubans are and of right ought to be free and independent-and in- cidentally one of the greatest inciters of trouble in the Senate.
 Burrows and Ell<ins, although their reasons are different. have joined hands on a common ground and will fight to- gether until the end. Burrows comes from State where beet sugar is a great industry. He says he will never. if he can prevent it, allow any industry. and trust or any people to be benefited at the expense of an industry in his own State. Elkins has no beet-sugar farmers in his State, but he says this country has done enough for the Cubans; that there Is no obligation. moral or otherwise, on our part to help them any further. and that he is against Cuban reciprocity for | that reason. | the oligarchy. but the oligarchy may be | willing to vote them into front seats | before the fight is over.
 Burrows and Elkins are as shrewd in | playing politics as any of their col leagues. Burrows has been in Congress for years. He knows every detail of the business of government. Ever since the Presidents message was read. when It was seen that reciprocity for Cuba would be one of the issues this Congress would be obliged to deal with, he has been at work to checkmate and circum- vent any movement in that direction It was Burrows who directed the fights of the beat-sugar Republicans in the House. His fertile brain supplied expedients and kept the wavering forces in line He disclaims having had anything to do with it. From the first he has said that there would be no reciprocity if he could help 1t, and tonight he is of the opinion that he can help it.
 This afternoon Burrows went on the Senate floor with a roll-call sheet of the Senate in his hand On his sheet are the names of the Lightweight Senators, alphabetically arranged. He had certain marks after some names and certain other marks after others. He showed this roll-call to various Senators. in- cluding Aldrich. Cullom and Hale. He explained what the marks means. The roll-call was the result of the months of canvassing and inqury.
 It indicated what the sennment in the Senate is.
 Burrows and Elkins will stand up and fight they say. They will have much support. Their battle cry will be that if there Is reciprocity for one thing there must be reciprocity for all They will demand that the twelve reciprocity treaties now sleeping in the committee on Foreign Relations shall be pulled out. iusted off and ratified. They will insist hat if Senator Aldrich is so anxious for for Cuba. at the expense of