The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-03-20
CUBAN PROBLEM.

CUBAN, PROBLEM.
TIE Cuban sugar problem continues
to be bone Of con tention in the House
of Representatives and probably will
| not be settled till long after this letter
leaves the mainland. The House Re-
publicans have now held three confer
shces and apparently are no nearer
reaching a settlement than when they
first met, except that the beet sugar
men. who favor a rebate, or no action
whatever, have gained strength The
| fight has grown in bitterness and has
to quite an extent involved the leader
| ship of the House. Speaker Henderson,
who was lukewarm toward the reci-
procity scheme, has now gone over to ii
and is working with might and main To
save his own prestige and that OF his
lieutenants.
The reciprocity men have tried to
make it appear that the President was
committed entirely TO their plan. That
! is probably not true. The President
has given the impression that he would
prefer the reciprocity method, but he
has told the leaders of the beet sugar
rebate followers that he is anxious
! chiefly TO have some relief extended to
Cuba. and is willing TO leave Congress
to decide upon the method. Both sides
have been contending in the last few
days that the President was on their
i side, but the above statement is prob
| ably a fair one of the situation.
! Yesterday the beet sugar men held
/ a conference in the room of the Com
I mittee on Pacific Railroads. They had
n count of noses and reviewed the sit
uation from their standpoint. Every
/ thing was very reassuring to them.
! They seem now to have the whip hand
and to be able to command a majority
/ Of the House Republicans. They tried
/ TO force vote last Thursday evening
/ but failed. chiefly through an appeal
! made by Speaker Henderson for more
! time for debate. The fourth conference
i or the Ways and Means reciprocity
| plan will be held next Tuesday evening,
/ but the beet sugar men are, according
to present advices, not intending To
press a vote that night.
. The probabilities are that, whatever
| the outcome of the present wrangle, the
/ action of the House will have little to
| do with the final settlement The Sen
ate will eventually take the matter up,
and the decision there viii probably
| prevail. An amendment may be put on
one of the appropriation bills. One OF
1 lHe Dctl sugar lpiu iiit 'CcNC4
day that he thought the reciprocity
plan could not command majoriey Of
the votes in the Senate. 1 doubt that,
! although as far as known no canvass
has been made there. The same infor-
mant told me that the Senate was
watching the present fight very keenly,
and that the beet sugar cause was
| gaining strength there daily.
Perhaps nothing has encouraged the
beet sugar \men more than the assur-
I ance that they had more sympathy in
I the cabinet than at first supposed, that
| Postmaster General Payne and Secre-
| tary OF the Treasury Shaw, as well as
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson, were
! in large part with them. This much
| is certain These cabinet officers re-
| strained the President from sending
! special message to Congress the middle
| of this week, urging Congress anew to
| do something to relieve Cuba. The beet
sugar men have been urging strongly
the argument made in the Republican
campaign textbook for 1900 that the
beet sugar industry was to be protect
ed from invasion.
Mr.. William Haywood was at the
| capitol Thursday evening watching the
outcome of the Republican conference.
| lie received nOllCG mat hGS lAie1N 10
| Brussels convention, for the abolition
| OF bounty, had been signed by Ger
many, Austria. Great Britain, France,
| Belgium. Holland, Italy, Roumania,
! Sweden and Spain.
THAT appears to be about all the
| European countries interested in beet
sugar production" said Mr.. Haywood
| This convention is bound to have a
I great influence on the price of sugar in
/ cuba. To my mind it will afford the
! Cubans much relief. The Importance
/ of it does not seem to have been APP
/ preciated by the leaders in Congress. ;"
SHIP SUBSIDY LAW.
1t looks now very much as though a
ship subsidy law would be enacted by
this Congress, although it may not be
till the next session. Previous dis
patches have undoubtedly reached Ho-
nolulu stating that the Senate is to
vote on the bill March IA. 1t is con-
ceded that the bill will pass there. The
friends OF the legislation have agitated
il but little in the House. It has strong
opposition there among Republicans.
Some of these opponents predict freely
that it viii not pass there, but that
prediction probably is truer of this ses-
sion of Congress. If, after a count of
noses, ii is ascertained that the bill
would be defeated in the House, ii will
go over till the next session Then the
elections Will have passed and Repub-
licans will respond more readily to the
demand for the law. Very probably 1t
could be passed in the House next De
cember after a few days debate, and
its enactment would then be assured,
the Senate having given assent. At any
rate the prospect for ship subsidy can
be counted as very bright.
Appropriations and other bills are
now occupying the attention of Con-
gress, especially the House. that there
seems TO be little in the way of i'm
portant development in the matter Of
Pacific cable. Mr.. Corliss of Michigan
has been waiting for several days an
opportunity TO jump in with another
bitter speech against the Commercial
Pacific Cable Company. Mr. Richard