Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1902-04-19
VICTORY FOR BEET SUGAR
Hepburn Of Iowa Votes with Insurgents
to Override Ruling of Chair,
BURKETT AND MERCER EXPLAIN VOTES
Opinion General that the Bill in Its
Present Form Cannot secure
Enough Votes to Pass In
the senate.
(From a stan Correspondsnt) }

WASHINGTON, April To-; Special Tele-
gram. )-The first sk,rmlsh between the beet
sugar men uud ,he ways and means com
mittoe Was fought today and the beet sugar
mel won a decisive victory. Until last
night there seemed to be no ground for
the optimism Of Messrs. Tawney of Min
nesota, Smith of Michigan and their fol-
lowers who have insisted for several weeks
past that they would knock out Payne,
Dalzell, Steele and Grosvenor, ways and
means leaders But last night the demo-
Gratis in caucus decided to vote solidly
against the chair, II the chair ruled that
the proposition to abolish the differential
against refined sugar was mot germane."
That action by the democrats gave the
called insurgents" renewed hope. Then
followed the convincing speech Of Hep
burn of Iowa and the scholarly argument
of Littlefeld of Maine in support of the
amendment of Morris OF Minnesota absorb
ing the differential against refined sugars.
The fight was won before the vote was
taken. But the great majority in favor
of American interests as against the in
terests of the Sugar trust under Cuban
reciprocity was unexpected.
Messrs Mercer and Burkett voted with
the ways and means committee to sustain
Mr. Shermans ruling against the Morris
amendment to abolish the differential being
germane. In this they were with the Iowa
delegation with the exception of Colonel
Hepburn, who remained an "insurgeht' to
the finish But they all Joined in and sup
ported the bf1l after 1t had been amended.
In explaining his own vote and that of Mr..
Mercer, Mr.. Burkett said to The Bee corre
spondent:
Burkett and Mercer Explain.
"The beet sugar men said that taking
off the differential would not hurt the beet
sugar industry. We believe it would help
the consumer but neither of us thought it
was in order as an amendment to this
bill. After the house decided It was in
order, we could only vote for 1t or against
it, We voted for it, believing It to be in
the interest Of our constituents"
The four fusion members from Nebraska
held a caucus early in the day and de-
cided to not only vote against the ruling
of the chair. but to strike off the differ
entail, making it. a party matter. They
stood by their agreement.
The fate of the measure in the senate
can be safely predicted. There were
twenty-five republican senators, including
Messrs. Millard and Dietrich, ready TO vote
against the bill as it reported from
the ways and means committee. and now
that IL has been made distasteful to the
sugar rehners., who hoped to profit TO the
extent~ef 20 per cent, and who are re-
garded as its progenitors, there seems to
be no hope Of its passing at all.
senators watch Fight.
Among the senators who were conspicu-
Gus on the floor of the house during this
memorable debate were Messrs. Dietrich,
Millard, Dolliver and Clark OF Wyoming,
who showed intense interest throughout
the discussion. remaining in the chamber
until the final vote was taken.
Senator Warren introduced a bill today
providing for the appointment of an ad-
ditional circuit judge for the Eighth cir
suit.
Representative Tongue OF Oregon intro
dueed a bill today authorizing the census
department to collect statistics relative to
| irrigation and crops raised by irrigation
covering the crop year Of 1902. Should this
bill pass 1t will give employment to a num-
ber Of special agents.
Miss Gertrude Dietrich. daughter of Ne
braska's senior senator, Joined her father
! today on a short visit from her school at
| Bryn Mawr.
Miss Laura B. Houtze. daughter of j..
| Il. houtLe Oh Lincoln' aiii'Vu i"
| ton yesterday and is the guest of Mr.. and
| Mrs. w. z. Andrews.
| John Alphe of Wist. S. D., has been ap-
pointed a railway mail clerk.
| Postmasters appointed Nebraska, F. G.
Wallace, Sawyer, Fillmore county, vice r.
G.. Williams, jr.. resigned. South Dakota.
Ole Aune, Marindahl, Yanktou county. Wyo-
ming, Natter Johnson. Cosburn, Big Horn
county.
| The postofhce at Dairyyille, Grundy
| county, Ia, has been ordered discontinued
| after April 80
postofice has been ordered established
| at Houck. Natrona county Wyo., and Ed
ward o. Houck appointed postmaster.
civil service examination will be held
June 8 for an assistant matron in the In
dian school at Rapid City. S. D.