The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-07-22
WASHINGTON
From our Regular Correspondent.

The tariff continues to be the
chief topic of interest in Washing
ton and every one is waiting almost
with bated breath for some clear
indication of the course of the con-
ferrees. Tne situation is unusual
ly compile ated because of the in
lection of two unknown factors in
the equation. One is the "down-
ward revision" influence of Presi-
dent Taft. The other is the stand
pat" influence of Speaker Cannon
"Close friends" of the President
are authority for the statement that
the outcome of the conference will
be "a Taft bill', embodyiug the
reductions of the House bill, those
of the Senate bill and few more
injected by the President himself
for good measure. Other ''close
friends" of the President are au-
thority for the assertion that he is
worried over the situation that his
best efforts are not producing the
results he expected and that it will
be imposs Bile for him to accom-
plish sufficient improvement to
make it possible for him to sign the
the bill without considerable COM
junction. There is no doubt the
President is doing all in his power
to induce the conferrees of the two
houses to accept the lowest rates in
every instance but it is probably
equally certain that thus far in
sufficient progress has been made
10 enable anyone to determine what
the outcome will be.
~
There are some serious obstacles
to the enc which the President
seeks. The House conference com
mittee, made up by Speaker Can
non 10 serve his own ends and to
counteract the progressive tenden-
cies of Chairman Payne, is a strong
ly stand Pat" aggregation and
with the exception Of Mr.. Payne the
few who are disposed to reduce the
duties are so beholden to the Speak
er that they will place his will be-
fore their convictions. This means,
of course. that to accomplish such
the President must convert the
Speaker and, as MIR. Cannon is so
fond of saying, 1T is hard to teach
an old dog new tricks. The
President is especially anxious for
free hides, free iron ore, free coal
and free petroleum. Taking the
last first, the very makeup OF
the committee is against free pc
troleum, entirely apart from the
wishes of the Speaker. For the
House there are representatives
Dalzell of Pennsylvania and Cal
derhead Of Kansas, both advocates
of tariff on petroleum, while the
Senate is represented in part by
Senator Penrose of Pennsylvania
another ardent advocate of duty
on oil and the man whose deter
mined fight in the Senate led to the
imposition in the eleventh hour of
the countervailing duty carried in
the Senate bill. Added to this is
the position of Speaker Cannon who
has never forgiven the House for
placing petroleum on the free list "a
gainst his wishes, who has a num-
Der of independent oil producers in
his own district who want a duty
on oil, and who is determined that
whatever else the conferees may do,
the duty on oil shall not be stricken
out, shall be increased if possible.
*"
Representative Dalzell and Sen.
ator Penrose will also stand out to
the last ditch for a duty on coal.
The indications are that the rate
may be reduced to so cents a ton,
or 40 cents, but beyond that there
is little prospect that the conferrees
will go, despite the earnest entrea'
ties of the President. Of course
the Pennsylvania men will hold out
for the duty on iron ore. Mr.. Dal-
zell was never known to vote a.
gainst anything advocated by the
Steel Trust, nor is Senator Penrose
likely to. Senator Burrows, in
whose state are located the largest
ore beds, will stand with the
Pennsylvanians and altogether the
prospect of free iron ore in not
brilliant.
*4*
The Senate conferees are not par
ticularly interested in placing a
duty on hides but Mr.. Calderhead
is. In fact it is generally supposed
that his advocacy of this duty was
a large factor in his being placed
on the committee. And finally,
SDeaker Cannon is hound nv a har.