The age-herald., 1902-04-20
Power of Favored Few Has Re- CeiVed a Severe and
 Lasting Jolt SUGAR TRUST MAY BE
 ABLE ID RULE SENATE 
Chairman Payne Says Morris Amend ment Not Only Takes Of the Differential Rate, But Also
 the Countervailing Duty.
BY PATTERSON sTEALY.


 sensational victory of the House Demo-
 crats yesterday continues to be the main
 piece of discussion here. The Republicans
 are at sea, Senate and House. and do not
 know what to do to recover their lost
 prestige. The power of the leaders, em-
 bracing the speaker and few favorites,
 has received a severe jolt. They adn.A they have been defeated and that there is nothing left to do but grin an> bear it. 1 The bolters are being roundly renounced l by Grosvenor and others, all of which Is 1 sweet and rare music to Democratic ears. It is seldom that the Democrats have an 1 opportunity to laugh over Republican dis comfort, and they are now making the | most of it.
 The beet sugar Republicans openly an- nounced today that their object in voting for the amendment by which the Ameri- can consumer is relieved of a burden es- timated at s5,OOO,Ooe or s6OOo,oOO, which the Dingley tariff yearly transfers from the pockets of the people to the sugar trusts coffers, was for the purpose of killing the reciprocity bill
 Sugar Trust Strong Tn Senate.
 It is said the beet sugar Republicans re. ceived assurances from Republican sena- tors that the sugar, trust Is too strong in | the Senate to admit of that body passing l the bili with the Morris amendment In a I speech today Grosvenor of Ohio also | stated that the beet sugar trusts under
 Oxnard will suffer even more than the
 American Sugar Refining Company under
 Havemeyer shoulc the Morris amendment
 prevail.
 It would be big thing for the Demo- l crats as well as the consumers. if both 1 sugar trusts, big and nttIe, could be hit by the adop ion of the pill as it stands. That the bill will be adopted in its pres
 ent form, however. few believe The
 sugar trust is especially confident that it
 will not be. Its stock went off but a
 point and half today. which is good indication that it's Washington advices 1 were O.. K.
 While it is too early to give a correct
 prediction as to the fate of the bill there
 is reason to believe that some measure
 will finally be enacted into law provid-
 ing for reciprocal trade relations with 1 Cuba even if 1t is necessary for Con- gress to remain in Washington during
 the summer months.
 Payne Takes 1t Easy. Chairman Payne took the reverse phil- I osophically He pointed that the effect 1 of the' amendment was to take on not I only the dfferential on sugar but also the l countervailing duty provided by the Ding l ley law result not intended by the au- {! thor of the amendment. Under the Ding l ley act an additional or countervailing l duty Is levied on sugar coming from | countries paying a bounty on sugar, equal | In amount to the bounty received. This l is by. Section of the Dingley act, and l Is provision separate from that mak- ing differcntial between the duty on raw and refined sugar. MT. Payne holds, | however that as the amendment specifies | that the rate of 1.S2 cents shall be in | '1ieu of the duties thereon provided for | by law" 1t takes off both the differential 1 of about 12 cents a 100 pounds and the | countervailing duty of the, Dingiey law amounting to between 26 to 27 cents a 100 pounds.
 | MT. Payne stated later in the day that | the abolition of the diffenential afid coun- | tervailing duties affected an even greater | reduction and loss than he had at first es-
 timated. His earlier figures showed the ! countervailing duty to be between 26 and | 27 cents per hundred pounds. But this referred to raw sugar and the countervail-
 ing duty on the refined article was even
 more namely, 1888 per 100 pounds This
 with the dfferential of .125 makes to-
 tai reduction on refined sugar of .50S per
 hundred pounds. Mir. Long of the ways and means committee also mdue eStl-
 mates which in his judgment bore out
 the foregoing figures that the amendment | would take off In differential and coun-
 tervailing duties total of .50S on refined l sugar coming from Germ any and other
 countries giving bounties.
 Morris Doubts Statement. | Representative Morris of Minnesota. who framed the amendment, Is examining the Dingiey and other laws to determine whether MT. Payne's point is good. MT. | Morris said that from his inquiry so far he did not think the claim was good. but | if 1t was the matter could easily be rem edied by amendment.
 The Senate is by no means decided as to what 1t will do with the bill. The meas ure reached the Senate a few minutes after that body convened today, and was received with exceptional interest, which was made evident by the private com ments of Senators.
 The bill goes to the committee on rela- tons with Cuba. which is composed of seven Republicans and four opposition Senators. Mir Platt of Connecticut being chairman. Being asked today if he felt disposed to outline his views of the prob able course of the committee with refer ence to the measure, Senator Platt de- ctined to say more than that a meeting would be called at an early date to decide upon a course of action, merely adding We are not going to lose our composure, but will consider the question carefully" The best opiniop is that the bill will re- main in committee for some time. and Republican Senator suggested the possi- bility of an investigation into the ques- ton of probable benenciaries under the proposed reduction if made If the bill had passed the House without an amendment removing the differential on refined sugar it would have received the support of two of the four members of the opposition. These are Messrs. 444 os.~<I