St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1909-04-14
Letter from WASHINGTON.
The Coming Of Spring The Tariff De-
bate and the Prospects of the BILL
President Taft Making Good.


81 to you. Whether it is a well-dispose
1g spirit or not you must infer from wha
IN follows.
Spring early summers with u
at last, but it was long time on tn
C. way. 1t edged along this way severa
& times before, but evidently forgot some
thing and went back for it. Probably i
- is here to stay at last, but since the in
ie auguration bareback" nobody can pre-
! dict what an hour will bring forth in tn
'e way of weather. Yesterday at noon tn,
) thermometer stood at 800 in the shade
u this noon at 400. The tulips, narcissus
& jonquils and other early front yard flow
> ers are now in full bloom, and the roses
are fast breaking out of bud Some trees
are well leaved out, while others are
: hardly started. The magnolia trees are
f in full bloom, and the azaeas and other
Towering shrubbery in the parks and
along the avenues are all doing their
humble best to glorify this happy Easter
season. So the day comes this year with
a lavish gladness of blossoming beauty
to welcome it on every hand, and with
all the dumb children of the Giver arising
from mother Earth re-incarnate in beau
tiful new robes ofpraise.
All these multitudes of reborn children
on every hand, picturesque and vibrant
in robes of glory, which lift up their
heads to me and extend their hands in
rejoicing with me in recreation, attract
me beyond all things else, and would
claim all my time and mind. The wealth
of open-springing flowers on every SIDE
the breath and the sense and the "feel'
OF the spring, the insistent hand OF dear
old mother Nature, the throbbng beat
OF new life in her breast away out in the
country beyond the brick walls, all
would lead me far afeld tonight. God |
made the country; man made the town
and tariff bills and politics and all the
things which draw natural men and wo-
men away from the eternal harmony and
restful peace of quiet ways.
The tariff bill, practically the sole work
OF this session of congress, is now
through the House. Monday it will be
put up to the Senate, and by the time
this is in print that body will be we'll be-
gun with its struggle with it. The Sen-
ate committee on finance, which is
charged with the duty of taking it from
the House and revising it for the Senates
consideration, has been in session long
hours every day during all the time
which the House has given to the consid-
grafton of the bill, and has amended it
section by section as fast as the sections
were acted on and disposed of by the ,,
House. In this way the Senate had the
Dill all ready for introduction in that /
body as soon as the House had finished c
With it. The Senate committee paid not
he slightest attention to changes made a
n the bill by the House, but took the bill S
rs it was originally introduced in the e
house and amended it to suit itself. The =
senate OF course is not bound by the act s
on of the House in the least 1t can take n
he original bill and strike out everything IL
kept the enacting clause and substitute -
| bill ofits own. In this case it has not S
zone as far as that, and much of the c
'riginal bill is left intact. In some GER le
ain important particulars, however, the d
'enatecommittee has substituted amend v
nents OF a sweeping and far-reaching a
haracter. AS | write, these are not def Y
itely known. \
During the consideration of the bill in c
he House the Senate has done nothing. D
nd has only been in formal session for :
w minutes twice week. No other
usness except the tariff and the re- 81
lactment of the census bill, which failed fo
st session because of the presidents fr
Ito, will be allowed at this special 81
ssion. All the time will be given to the &C
lritf bill, which will be pushed as rapidly 81
possible. The census bill is already 70
trough. 1t is now expected that the &c
III revising the tariff will be passed by Ct
lie Senate by the first of May, at the a
rthest. Certainly it should not re. &c
llre more time in the Senate than in the al
ouse However. it was helped through n
lie House by the cloture rule cutting he
Il debate, something which cannot be pl
oplied in the Senate. Each one of the az, ac
senators can talk on each one of the III
items if he cares to, and there to
IN be nothing devised to take him off tn
S feet. Of course there will be much az
lrnest debate in the Senate, and at 90
mes it will look as if they were going fin
talk all summer, but as the colored
an said in the watermelon patch "the wi
lrky's hour is jes' befo de dawnw n I1a
dlvidually the senator's feel that the or
IL should become law at the earliest ser
'ssible moment compatible with its loo
cent and orderly consideration. and COZ
'thing like filibustering or factious MIC
position is expected 1t is said that in
e business of the country is suffering wi
ON tariff uncertainty at the rate of S n
ON five to ten million dollars aro.. :.