New-York tribune., 1909-04-25


In tie colloquy the other day in tn" Senate
bat,,,oap Mr. AIdrfch. on the one side, ana
Alessrs. Nelson Dolliycr and BeveridGe, on the
other an important difference Of opinion was
mainly develonpd Il related 10 the theory Oh
which tariff revision should proceed FROM MI
Aldrch's remarks il is evident that ne NeiieN -
thai the pending revision should be techhical
and formal involving a slight readjuStment "l
rates on certain schedules. but 20 marked de-
partura from the ground plan ct the b'h@lt'
LAW Practically all the changes maze III IliS
House measure by the Senate Finance Commit
tee have been returns to the Dngley rates and
cIassif7cations Thus the Houses increases "L
duties on hosiery and gloves were abandoned
ard rl,a DingIev rates were restored Iron ore
made free bv the House was lUt back on the
dutfah hIa list Hides also made free i'll the
Pavnp bill are Il 90 back fo their present
IutiaIle status. \ tax is TO be levied again Oh
coal and duties in the lumber schedule are 10 he
pushed back nearer 10 the Dingley level only
I'm Increasing the duties on vines ana liquors
has the Senate Finance Committee departed
materially from the lines of the present law.
The practfcal identity OF the law and the Sen
ate draft is conceded by Mr.. Aldrich. Accord
ing to his calculations. the Senate bill had it
been in effect in the fiscal wear 1906-0I, would
have produced SS0D0CO0 more revenue than
did the DiugIev law There would have been
an increase of 100000 in collections on
wines and liquors and II S5.o0u.oGO through the
checking Of CndervaluatonS-
The question naturally arises why. in order
10 effect such slight changes IN our tarl1 SyS-
TEN as are promised in the Senate bill, the
country should have been called On 10 undergo
the disturbances to business incident TO Il re-
vision Did the Republican party contemplate
so inconsequentiaI a readjustment Of tariff
~
national platform and demanded the calling OF
an extraordinary session Of Congress TO carry
out the party's promise: Did the country expect
the massage of bill like the Senate bill. merely
giving an increase of SS.060.OoD in revenues 10y
means Of added taxes on imported wines ana
LIQUORS and stricter regulations 10 prevent false
declarations: That is certainly not the general
understanding. Senator Dolliver presented
modera+a and logical view Of the matter when
he said on Thursday:
have not been one of those who sought 70
nlsh the country a-. certainly not my own
rartv forward 10 q -a.l-ton OF the tariff But
cannot refrain from entering an individual dis
sent from the proposition that il was the pur-
nose Of the President in calling this Congress,
or the purpose of the party in practically order
ing the Congress to be called together, IN It's
rIa+forr77 OF last year. either to leave the Ding
lev tariff act as i is OF to increase its rates
! have an opinion that the American people
expect us II il can be done, 10 reduce the sched-
llleS Of the IlgleE IariI act SpIlltN ilsiI 1 w
not believe that any Republican desires to sacri-
flee any American industry in that particular or
the wages of American labor. But there are
millions Of people in the United States VINO
agree with my hOnored friend the Senator from
Minnesota that some of these schedules ought t.
he revised.
Mr. Dolver was not anxious to preclpltate
n revision. knowing that the task is an onerous
one and usually frauGht with political danger
to the party assuming it, by reason Of the
many local diSsatsfactions which 1t must Gre
ate Yet he is right in saying that once hav-
ing undertaken to recast the schedules. the
party in power should do something positive
to redeem its pledges and to meet obvious pub
III. expectations. Tie weakness Of the Senate
bill as il stands is that il represents no suf-
ficiently definite change from the DinGley pro
gramme-a programme with which the cOun-
try has plainly expressed dissatisfaction. To
that extent the Senate revision defeats its own
purpose 1t does not offer evidences Of a "a
tional adjustment to present conditions which
the public can grasp and accept.