Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-18
SESSION LIKELY
Congress May Be Convened
After March 4.
TO REVISE THE TARIFF
THE PRESIDENT APPARENTLY IN
CLINED TO EARLY ACTION.
Has Been in Consultation With the
Leaders Of the Party-His Course
Not Fully Determined.

The calling Of Congress in extra session
early after the Inauguration of President
Roosevelt, March 4, 1905. is the strongest
kind of probability. The revision of the
tariff will be the work for the extra session,
and there will probably be nothing else
The President has by no means deter
mined upon such a course, but his mind is
inclined that way. The matter is so far
In abeyance that the President will not
even discuss the tariff in his forthcoming
message to Congress. The reason for this
Is apparent. He does not care to proclaim
his attitude In advance of the strong prob
ability that he will be called upon to state
his recommendations on this subject upon
the assembling of Congress in extra ses-
sion Moreover. the President has not had
time to discuss the subject Of tariff re-
vision with Speaker Cannon and other
leaders of the party. He has entered upon
such discussions. but they are merely the
beginning of his conferences In that di-
rection. He will not act until he has
obtained the views of every republican en-
Tilted TO express an opinion, and of every
one VINO wants TO say something. This is
not because he has not pronounced views
or ms own, but because he knows that he
Will receive many valuable suggestions
Inclined to Tariff Revision.
me uuth is that the president is gradu-
ally leading his party toward tariff re-
VISION. There is not much difficulty In
doing this, even with the ".t:...d pat peo-
pie. In view Of the arguments favoring an
extra session and notifications of the
Dingley act
The first important question that suggests
Itself to the mind of the President and to
many of the other leaders is this: Is the
republican party going into the next presi-
ION, until
the tariff? If anything like a majority of
the wise men of the party determine that
the party can afford to do this then there
VIII be no extra session for tariff tinker
ing, ana the Dlngley law will not be
touched in the next four years According
70 the best Judgment so far put before the
President. there must be no ''monxeying''
with the tariff on the eve of the nett con-
gressional election or the next presidential
election. So 1t is a question pure and
simple of notifications early next year or
nothing for four years more.
The republicans will not repeat their err
rors of 1890 and other years and thev nro
pose to escape future campaign that will
be full of uncertainty and of party and
public division on the wisdom of tariff
changes. DO it now or not at ALL is to he
the slogan of the wise men of the party.
The Presidents mind is open to conviction
as to what is best. He has not failed to
point out to some of his stand pat" friends
what happened in 1885, when the repub-
licans were swept out of Congress in q
whirwind and when they had fewer men,
bers of that body elected for the next Com
gfeSs than the democrats elected this year
The defeat was attributed to the passage
of the Mckinley tariff bill on the 1st of
october and its going into effect on the eve
of the election.
Disadvantage of Postponement.
To leave tariff modificati tions to the regu-
lar session beginning year from next De-
cember would mean that the revised tariff
measure would not be perfected until some
time in the following summer, when the re-
publicans, not the democrats, would have to
do the explaining. Astute republicans agree
that the explanations had better be made
year before the election. There would
also be whole year for sore spots in the
party to heal and for the fighting elements
to get together. The democratic method of
lighting within the party both before and
after an election is not to be emuated All
factlonal troubles as far as possible all
dlnerences on the tariff and other questions
are to be put out of the way before 1908.
That 1t is a far-seeing policy is already ad-
mitted, and some democrats are hopjng
that they can similarly harmonize their
own ranks before the next presidential
year.
The republican asprants for the presi-
dental nomination in 1908 will, 1t is under
stood, add their influence to that of the
President in taking the position that the
tariff must be revised now or passed over.
The best information from some of the men
who Will enter the field in 1908 is that thew
will favor immediate tariff revision. They
will follow what now appears to be the in
clination of the President, although. as stat
ed. 1t is true that the President is omen to
conviction