The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-11
CHAMP CLARK IS DAzED
 BY DEFEAT OF PLANS
Serene Payne, the Author of the Blll, Is Not Much Worried, as He and Others Think the Error
 May Be Remedied.

washington, Apru 1U.--AI no tune III the history of the Standard Oil com pany and it's relation to legislation has there been uncovered such a scandal as was revealed today. In the bill which passed the House yesterday it was generally presumed that petroleum. crude and refined, it's accessories and by products, were on the free list.
 Through an analysis of the bill as passed by the House and today re- ported to the Senate 1t Is discovered that none of the by-products of oil re- nneries except parafhne, are mem toned in the Payne bill in any manner whatsoever.
 In the expiring moments of the Houses consideration of the tariff sch edule joker was rung in on suspecting members and 1t was passed. Democrats were asleep. They vainly imagined that they were bargaining for free oil. Champ Clark, minority lead ST, seemed particularly pleased and gratified when yesterday morning Rep resentative Payne, chairman of the ways and means committee, asked that his (Clark's) amendment fixing an ad valoremd uty of l per cent on oil be disagreed to and an amendment for free oil he substituted.
 Democrats EIated.
 The democratic members cheered. They had won the republicans to their side, in the militant fight they made against the oil monopoly To have the chairman of the ways and means com mittee go ever farther than their bill haz elen provided for, was happy news.
 Members patted each other on their backs, not metaphorically, but physi- cally. Surely times had changed, they imagined.
 It was pretty trick. An ordinary young reporter. one with no reputation in the journalistic world, discovered the joker.
 He found that on page 158, section 637, under the chedules of oils--oils on the free list-that petroleum. crude or refined was mentioned. Then tur- ing to section of the third division of the bill, on page 1e2 of the measure, it was revealed that this interesting paragraph was inserted. It reads:
 "Bug Under the Chip"
 That there shall be collected and paid on the impostation of all raw or unmanufactured articles not enumer- ated or provided for In this act a duty of 10 per centum, ad valorem, and on all articles manufactured in whole or in part, not provided for in this act, duty of 20 per centum ad valorem."
 Thus the by-products unmentioned in the oil schedule are to have an ad valorem duty of 20 per centum and 1t must be remembered that the by-prod- ucts of refineries are the chief sources of revenue; that the profits of oil man. ufactories like the one at Whiting, Ind, Bayonne. N. J., and other places main tained by the Standard Oil afford that company its chief source of revenue and profit.
 Speaker Cannon, who even the day be- fore the bill passed the House, made an irnpassioned speech in favor of 9 per cent ad valorem tax on oil and who, after the resolution of MT. Payne reducing the schedule to the free list, made no dis sent. declined tonight to utter a word . either in defense or in criticism of this joker. But Mir. Payne is less timorous.
 Payne's Opinion.
 "Yes," he said, T knew what we were doing. I hold that any or all products of oil come in free. While the language of the bill may not state so specifically, yet the common unuerstanulnK was ana IS that oils by-products are to be admitted free. Our courts have given us interpre- tations. We know where we stand"
 Tt is one of the worst scandals I have over heard of since I have been in public life,' said Senator Culberson. floor leader of the democratic side of the Senate in an interview. What we-the Senate side shall do. am not prepared at this mo- ment to state. But it may be interesting for some to listen to the proceedings that will take place Monday. Were I a member of the House, under the circum- stances I should, the first thing Monday morning when that body meets seek to have the whole bill reported back, recon sidered and its false and scandalous joker expunged."
 Champ Clark Dazed.
 Champ Clark was dazed when informed of the joker. He read and re-read the paragraph.
 T don't know can't understand" he said. Give me time to think about it."
 MT. Clark has not called caucus of democrats so far to consider the situation. ell is deliberating. But his democratic friends are advising him to take drastic action, and to do so without delay.
 Representative Vreeland who cham pioned the cause of Standard oil and whose amendment was ignominiously de- feated, did not appear surprised at all when informed tonight that the joker had been discovered.
 Continuing with his interview. Mr. Payne said:
 ..I made the statement in all good faith on the floor of the House yesterday that the amendment to be voted on Wednesday would not only put oil on the free list but it's products as well. am firmly con- vinced that this Is true. The term re- fined includes in itself all the products of petroleum, however many there may he You cannot name one of them that does not, to my mind, come within the meaning of the word refined petroleum.
 nParafine is a product of petroleum, and though 1t is on the free list in par agraph by itself in the Dingley bill. the < treasury department has ruled all along