Evening star., 1909-04-12

Senator Aldrich Of Rhode Island chairs
man of the finance committee, reported
the new tariff bill to the Senate five min
utes after that body convened at noon
today. He announced that 1t was re-
ported by the majority of the committees
the minority dissenting. Thereupon he
gave notice that he would ask the Senate
to adjourn until Thursday next, so that
the minority members of the COMMITTEES
might have an opportunity to examine
the measure.
No sooner had he taken his seat than
Senator Daniel of Virginia. ranking demo-
crat on the finance committee. got on his
feet and entered protest against the
manner in which the bill was handled In
committee.
II favor the motion of the senator from
Rhode Island that the Senate adjourn unI
til Thursday" he said. because the
democratic members of the COMMITTEES
| have had no opportunity to read this bill.
They have been virtually eliminated from
the preliminary consideration of it and
have not had the benefit of the counsels
of the committee. They would have
liked very much to have had the beheft
of such counsels'
Action Denounced as Tyrannical.
Mr.. Daniel then insisted that the pro.
cedure had been contrary to parliamen-
tary law. The democrats. he said, had
an opportunity to vote upon but one
question in connection with the cons.d-
Grafton of the bill in committee and that
was as to whether or not 1t should be
favorably reported. OF course. they had
voted mo because they didn't know
| what was in the bill He thought II was
due the democrats of the Senate and of
the country that 1t be made known gen.
orally that the democratic members OF
the committee had been given absolutely
no opportunity to form an opinion about
the measure.
He said he recognized that the republic
cans had been charged by majority vote
of the country with framing the tarin
BILL but he asserted strongly that the
minority should have been given the same
facilities for consideration Of the tarfm
that the republicans enjoyed. The demo-
Gratis should have been present at the
hearings and had an opportunity to cross
examine the witnesses, he declared They
should also have been given the valuable
adjunct in the shape of government ex-
perts. The greatest source of information
for a senator, in Mr.. DanieFS opinion.
was always his colleagues, and he said
that source had also been denied the DEM
ocrats.
II do not wish to use rough words and
I certainly do not entertain rough feel
ings for the members Of the finance COM
mittee,' concluded the senator from Vir-
ginia "and | believe the majority menu
bers think they acted according to their
duty in this matter: but l nevertheless
regard their action as tyrannfcal and OPP
posed to the free and open consideration
of this important question"
Culbertson Questions Aldrich.
When Mr. Daniel had finished. Senator
Culberson of Texas. the minority leader,
asked Mr. Aldrich whether a report ac-
companied the bill.
mo" replied Mr. Aldrich. That has
not been the custom when dealing with
tariff bills"
1T has not been the custom Of Senate
committees. added Mr.. Culberson. TO
report bill that has not been considered
by committee"
The minority leader then asked Mr..
Aldrich if the bill was read in committee.
He received the reply that the reading
would have taken a month under the cir
cumstances.
did the minority have an opportunity
to read the bill?" asked Mr.. Culberson.
Mr.. Aldrich responded to this question
by saying that he proposed to move ad-
journment until Thursday SO that the
minority could read the bill. He remind
ed the minority leader that he was not a
member of the finance committee.
mo, but l am member of the Senate,
retorted Mr.. Culberson. quickly.
Mr.. Aldrich next told the minority lead
er that Ii was not customary TO tell what
happened In committees.
How about telling what didn't hap
pen?" queried Senator Daniel
Bailey Says Protest Is Justified.
Here Senator Bailey of Texes. one OF
the minority members of the committee.
took OCCASION to say that he believed It
should be stated on the floor that the bill
was not read in the committee this morn-
ing before the vote was taken-not q line
of it-and that no consideration had been
given to any part of 1t by the full COM.
mittee. He disagreed with Mr.. Aldrich
about the propriety of discussing what
happened in the committee, and announc-a
ed that at a later date he would have
something to say on that score. The pro-
cedure I'm this Instance had been so ex-
ceptional. he said, that the minority was