Amador ledger., 1906-03-16
Washington
Letter.
(From Our Regular Correspondent.

sion for tariff legislation which the
secretary of war and the bureau of
insular affairs has declared absolute
ly necessary for their commercial
development. The Payne tariff bill
has been killed in committee In the
senate, and while it is possibility
that it may be called up by the chair
man on resolution on the floor, this
course is not considered likely. The
vote in the committee is said to have
been six to seven. What show the
bill would have should 1t get before
the senate is questionable. 1t passed
the house by an almost unanimous
vote, but there was foreboding then
that something would happen to it in
the senate, and it possible that the
opponents of the joint statehood bill
will take heart froma this defeat OF
the tariff measure as indicating that
their friends have "delivered the
goods,'' ON the tariff question, and
the combination will work equally
we'll on the statehood proposition.
If the action of the senate committee
also means the death of the joint
statehood bill, many people will
think the discontinue of the island
ers was cheap price to pay for 1t.
The statehood bill has been politics,
and small politics at that, from the
start. There would be many dry eyes
over the demise of the measure. AZ
to the Payne bill, it may be we'll to
recall that it provided for free trade
with the islands except in the case of
tobacco, rice and sugar. These we're
to be admitted at 25 per cent. of the
Dingley rates whereas they now pay
| rs per cent. 1t was claimed by the
opponents of the measure that its
passage would mean Immediate and
immense development of the three
crops named with the result of kill
ing these industries in the United
States. Consequently the bill has
been fought bitterly by the sugar,
tobacco and rice interests, which are
all very powerful. Whether the fore
bodings they expressed we're we'll
founded, will remain mystery tor
some time to come, but the officials
who had studied the problem on the
ground declared such fears unfounded
and said that the passage of the bill
would merely mean a general impetus
to trade between this country and the
archipelago and would never flood
the United States with cheap sugar,
rice and tobacco.
Senator Dollver has come out
strongly for the unamended Hepburn
rate bill In the senate despite the fact
that that senator Tillman Is in charge
cf the measure. The whole rate
situation is so beautifully and hope
lessly mixed that 1t is hard to say
what the result will be when the
smoke of oratory clears away. But it
looks as though the question of
Judicial review would be tackled on
to the bill and there might be a
couple of other comparatively un-
important amendments. President
Roosevelt has expressed himself as
satisfied with the amendments pro-
posed, and if he is not nobody thinks
he will hesitate much at confiding his
lrTinr To hn 10 nj
as heretofore that all he wants is
action, and he will not stand out on
either verbiage or political effect. He
was much interested in the fate of
the Payne bill and said frankly that
it ought to pass. But if there is any
really vicious tampering with the
rate bill, the White House may be
relied on to make itself actively un-
pleasant. And just how unpleasant
it can be on occasion, the present
congress has not run the risk of find
ing out.
If you really want to defeat the
live stock transportation bill that is
about ready to be reported from the
house committee, take a suggestion.
Do not waste time in writing to
"your congressman. The chances
are that the letter will 60 into the
waste basket with nine-tenths of the
other mail that his secretary opens
and he never sees. Rather go to the
lieutenants, who are looking after
his "fences" in your own district
and impress on them that unpleasant
things will happen If he does not
line up on the side of humanity when
the bill comes to vote on the floor
of the house. The bill in question,
whichiis being strongly fought by the
Humane society and rightly so, will
allow the transportation Of livestock
on the railroads for thirty six hours
without food or water. The secretary
of agriculture, who comes from a
cattle state and should know better,
has been won over by the live stock
shippers and says he is convinced the
cattle will suffer less on the longer
run than through being hustled in
and out of the cars to be watered and
fed every twenty eight hours or less.
Twenty eight hours is the limit OF
starvation now allowed by law, but
the cattle men want it extended,
while the humane society wants