New-York tribune., 1909-07-08
THE END IN THE SENATE.


1t is easy to understand the rapid progress
made in the last few days with the Senates
tariff bill The Senate does business In Pc
culiar way 1t may debate an apparently in
consequential detail in pending measure with
wearisome persstency. 1t has fought for weeks
proposals TO shade tariff duties on certain ar
tcles by trifng percentages, yet 1t Is aDle, Wheh
the time comes, to adopt at one sitting pro-
visions of vast Importance like the establish
ment of ma Ximum- minimum rates, which in
troduces a new feature into our tariff policy;
the creation Of a permanent tariff commission
which promises TO revolutionize our methods of
tariff making, and the imposition of a tax on
corporation profits. which marks both striking
enlargement of the federal taxing power and
novel assertion of federal jurisdiction over the
affairs of corporations created by the states,
affected with no federal interest and not en-
gagged in interstate commerce Proposals like
these are disposed of with startling celebrity,
after DAYS have been spent IN fencing over the
exact measure OF protection needed by pro-
ducers of iron ore, hides, quebracho and pine
apples
The explanation is that the real conflicts in
the Senate are generally below the surface
Certain questions are settled in the open with
a good deal of combativeness, but the most i'm
portant questions are not pressed until 1t is
clear from tests on the floor and polls in the
lobbies where the mastery lies and just what
the managers Of a bill must put into it or leave
out of il in order TO insure its support by
dependable majority. 1t has been true of all
hotly disputed legislation in the Senate that
when the situation has clarified, when the in
tentiOns and wishes Of q fixed majority have
been ascertained beyond doubt, the opposition
has Welded and the measure. completed at the
last moment has gone through with rush.
Few Senators care 10 fight against what they
consider the inevitable. The customs and tradi-
tions of the body dictate that in return for the
extreme freedom allowed TO the individual he
shall recognize the right of the majority 10
speedy action once the stability of the majority
is demonstrated and its programme is fully
made up.
Mr.. Aldrich and his associates on the Finance
Committee have shown their ability to enforce
a certain policy. They have exercised absolute
control in the revision Of the free and duuable
lists They have undone the work of the
House Of Representatives in liberalzing the
Dingley schedule and opening the way for
just and scientific application of the theory ot
protection. The Senates tariff bill is for all
practical purposes mere redraft OF the Ding
ley law. The Finance Committee supported by
a majority of the Republican majority and
minority-sometimes majority-of the Demo
cratic minority. has maintained unbroken
TO approve the lower House rates or to retain
the rates of the Dingley law in preference 10
increased new rates. 1t has been apparent ever
since the vote on the iron ore duty was taken
that the stand pat" combination in the Senate
WAS strong enough 10 have its way.
Mr. Aldrich and his supporters have had their
way with the dutiable schedules and the free
list Yet in q larger sense they have lost their
fight For they have had TO confess that their
bill was incapable of producing sufficient rev
enue after stoutly maintaining that it was
capable and have had to incorporate into it
form Of special taxation much more objection
able than the House bills inheritance tax which
they discarded They have also had TO make
provisions for q board OF experts TO furnish
data for guidance In applying the rule laid
down by the last Republican National Conven-
ton, that the protection given the domestic
producer ought to cover the dfferential in cost
of production here and abroad, plus a reason
able margin OF profit. Had such data been
available this summer, 1t requires no stretch Of
imagination to hold that they would have COM
PEELED the framing of measure widely different
from the present Senate bill
There is an excellent prospect that some Of
the faults of the Senate draft will be cor
rected in conference committee. a return in
the main TO the House rates Of duty would be
the wisest step which the Republican party
could now take Perhaps Mr.. AldTich and his
associates may see their way clear to permit
a more or less complete restoration of the
House schedules. The public will hope for the
best Meanwhile it has the assurance that even
the Senate bill, through its administrative pro-
visions. vetoes the enactment of any successor
of its own haphazard and unscientihc kind.