West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1909-07-22
OUR washington LETTER
Considerable Conjecture as 10 Out
come Of Tariff Bill.
POOR SHOW FOR REDUCED RATES
President Will Have Hard Job Con-
.ertins Speaker Csnnon-Trusts
Do Debating.
POOR SHOW FOR REDUCED RATES
From Our Regular Correspondent.

hAHhiNSIoN, July ZO.-lhc tarln con-
tinues To be the chief topic Of interest in
Washington and every one is waiting al
most with batcd breath for some clear in
dication Of the course of the conferees.
The situation is unusually complicated be-
cause of the injection OF two unknown
factors in the equation. One is the down
ward revision" influence Of President
Taft. The other is the "stand pat" in
fluence of Speaker Cannon.
Close friends" of the president are au-
thority for the statement that the out
come of the conference will be ga Taft
BILL" embodying the reductions of the
house bill, those of the senate bill, and a
few more injected by the president him
self for good measure. Other ",lose
friends" OF the president are authority
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 impossible for him to ac-
complish sufficient improvement TO make
it possible for him TO sign the bill without
considerable conjunction.
There is no doubt the president is do.
| ing all in his power to induce the CON
ferees of the two houses TO accept the low
est rates in every instance, but it is prob,
| ably equally certain that thus far INSULT
cient progress has been made to enable
any one to determine what the outcome
will be-
There are some serious obstacles to tn,
end which the president seeks. The nous,
| conference committee, made up by Speak
er Cannon to serve his own ends and e
counteract the progressive tendencies o
Chairman Payne, is strongly "stanC
pat' aggregation, and with the exception
OF Nh: Payne, the few who are disposeC
to reduce the duties are so beholden t,
the speaker that they will place his will
before their convictions. This means, O
course, that to accomplish such the presi
dent must convert the speaker, and, a
MIR. Cannon is so fond of saying, "It i
hard to teach an old dog new tricks. ,
The president is especially anxious 70
free hides, free iron ore, free coal, an,
free petroleum. Taking the last first, tn
very makeup OF the committee is agains
free petroleum, entirely apart from tin
wishes of the speaker. For the hous
there are Representatives Dalzell, OF Penn
sylvania, and Calderhead, OF Kansas, bot
advocates of a tariff on petroleum, Will
the senate is represented in part by Sena
tor Penrose, of Pennsylvania, anothe
ardent advocate of duty on oil and tn
man whose determined fight in the senat
led to the imposition in the eleventh hou
OF the countervailing duty carried in tin
senate bill.
Added to this is the position of Speake
Cannon, who has never forgiven the hous
for placing petroleum on the free lis
against his wishes; who has number G
independent oil producers in his own dis
trict who want duty on oil, and who i
determined that whatever else the con
ferees may do the duty on oil shall not b
stricken out-shall be increased ifpossible
|
Representative Dalzell and Senator Pen
rose will also stand out TO the last ditto
for a duty on coal. The indications ar
that the rate may be reduced to 80 cent
ton, or even 40 cents, but beyond tina
there is little prospect that the conferee
will go, despite the earnest entreaties @
the president. OF course the Pennsyl
vania men will hold out for the duty OF
iron ore. Mr.. Dalzell was never know
to vote against anything advocated by TN
steel trust, nor is Senator Penrose likel
to. Senator Burrows, in whose state ar
located the largest ore beds, will stan
with the Pennsylvanians, and altogethe
the prospect of free iron ore is not yer
brilliant.
The senate conferees are not particu
larry interested in placing duty on hides