The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-02
Debate Drags TGdiousIy Along With Little to Relieve
 the MOnOtOny
REPUBLICAN LEADERS IN
 MIDDLE OF A BAD FIX
Time for Closing Debate on Tariff ls Still So Far Away That Supporters of the Bill Are Much Wor-
 ried at the Delay.

Washington. April g.-Dragging itself
 tediously along general debate on the
 tariff was continued in the House of
 Representatives today and tonight. The
 Payne bill came in for it's usual con-
 demnation from the democrats, the re-
 ductions being characterized pretexts
 and shams, and the bill as a whole as
 "a hsige mephistophelean joke" Messrs. Gaines of West Virginia and Mccall of Massachusetts. both members of the ways
 and means committee, defended their
 measure, although the Massachusetts
 member wanted something specific in it
 regarding the course to be pursued to-
 ward the Philippines.
 The anticipated action regarding the
 fixing of a time for closing the debate
 was not taken in view of the complex
 situation in which the republican lead
 CTS found themselves.
 In addition to Messrs. Gaines and Me
 Call. those who spoke the measure
 today included Messrs. Cantrill of Ken
 lucky, Dearmond of missouri, Hardy of
 Texas.
 MT. Young of Michigan spoke at con-
 siderable length on the question of free iron ore and MT Finley of South Carolina and MT. Floyd of Arkansas were able to make speeches before the House took a recess at o'clock
 Biz Crowd Assemblies. When the house met again at o'clock there was quite large crowd in the galleries The feature of the night ses- sion proved to be the humorous address | of MT. Burnett of Alabama, who kept 1 the members on both sides of the House
 in continuous laughter. Interesting infor- nation regarding the coal trade was l given by MT. Hughes of West Virginsa, while MT, Reynolds of PennsSlvania, 1 urged protection for the independent blast | furnaces of New York, New Jersey and | Pennsylvania.
 The first speech at the night session l was the maiden effort of MT. Thomas of | Kentucky.
 MT Hamlin of Missouri MT. Poindex- ter of Washington and MT. austin of Tennessee, were the other speakers at the night session. In order that there might be sufficient time for all the speak CTS before 10:30, when the House must
 adjourn under the rule for general de- l, bate on the tariff bill. the clocks were
 turned back 30 minutes, the House ad- l journing at Il D. m
 cantriPs First Effort. l Opening the uay $ uepdle, NIT. 1dHtili | Of Kentucky, in his maiden speech as a l representative discussed the tobacco anl | hemp schedules. Because tobacco was | the prey of a great trust he said, it 1 needed protection. The bill, he declared, l offered no protection to hemp as 1t per- | mitted the product of a great foreign l competitor to come into the United States | free. For both MT. Cantrill urged that | the bill be amended so that they may
 not be discriminated against. but that | such duty for revenue should be ap- l piled as would not cripple those indus l tries in his state and elsewhere l A general defense of the bill was made | by Mr. Gaines of West Virginia, a mem | Der of the committee on ways and means. 1 In preparing the Payne bill he said the
 committee proceeded on the principle that l if there was anything in the Dingley l schedules more than enough to protect 1 and behind which persons could com ] bine and unduy hold up prices, the re- l publican party was required to Top oit l that excess and that" he said i've l have undertaken to do in this bill | Answering MT. Hardwick of Georgia. l who asked if enough had been Topped off | on refined sugar to affect the sugar trust, | MT Gaines said that all excess duties on 1 refined sugar had been taken on thar | could be removed without threatening the | American beet sugar industry.
 DeArmond's Criticism.
 The method of preparation. considera- l ton and probable passage of the Payne | tariff bill was the basis of a speech made l by Mir DeArmond of Missouri. Good l Judgment fairness and patriotism should | be made the basis of the formation or a
 tariff law, he said and not partisanship. l The Payne bill, he declared, should have | been considered by the ways and means | committee and not by the republican members alone. The whole question now l in the minds of those supposed to take 1 charge of affairs in the House was not | how to improve the Dill, but how to get | the bill through with the least change by l the dangerous commoners
 l In his sarcastic description of the meth- | ods by which the republican leaders were trying to get the bill through brought | forth loud applause from the democrats. | He declared it to be his right to vote on | every schedule in the bill and protested l against his district being deprived of | vote us he said was proposed by the re- ', publican leaders.
 l In inc opinion of Mir Mccall of Massa- | chusetts. of the committee on ways and i means, the Payne bill should be amended i by declaring after ten years or drifting 1 inst what it means to do with the Phsfip- l pine islands.
 Assault on the Bill. l A general assault on the bill was made by MT Hardy of Texas. The Payne bill, 1 he declared, was as hard to pull out of | the republican party as healthy tooth l from a sick man. The reductions in It 1 he characterized as empty pretexts and | shams. Tn fact" he said. this whole
 bill is one huge mephistophelean joker on | its face' He declared that the measure as an entirety was revision upward and not downward. and insisted that the 1 coarsest and cheapest articles for the poor | were still the most heavily taxed. Discussing the drawback provision. ana
 the so-called jokers' in the Dill, Mr. | Hardy excaimed
 You built your bill to help the Stand