The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-07-23
CONFEREES CONSIDER THE
TARIFF Bill IN SECRET

eauso ~ biz work on ihe corporation
/ iaN, Senator Flint. of California, would
be acceptable but there Is little pros
| poet Of his appointment. unless Sen.
ator Burrows decides that he does not
want TO serve. The Rhode islander
wants men who are good fighters aud
| for that reason Senator Hale. Of Maine,
| viii be a very desirable acquisition
| lie is said 70 be the stiffest combatant
in conference that either house Of Con
gress can send forth and furthermore
is high protectionist
Speaker Cannon has been con.
templating several plans for the selec
| ton of his conferees. He has had il
in mind to choose them according to
the geographical location of their dis
tricts and, of late, has been consider.
| ing with more favor the choice Of men
for their familiarity with certain in
dustries For instance Chairman Payne
is quite familiar with textile subjects
such as cotton and woolens. The Speak
er is anxious TO reduce the represen'
| tation from New England, and at one
time thought of eliminating Represen-
tative Mccall on the excuse that Mr..
Payne could look after the textile in.
terests with which New England is
concerned in the bill But Represen.
tative Mccall, as the ease now stands,
will be put upon the conference because
Of the need of some one to support the
fight for free hides, which the House
voted.
| Representative Hill, of Connecticut
is the fourth Republican member Of
Ways and Means, but the Speaker in.
| tends to eliminate him because he Is
| from New England and because he is
very self willed and will not ego
along" with the House leaders. At
| present he has il in mind to designate
| William A. Calderhead, an old soldier
| from Kansas, TO represent the agricul.
tural interests and Joseph w. Fordney.
Of Michigan, to look after the lumber
interests. Both are high protectionists.
There is little in the agricultural SEIZED.
ule to cause contention in conference.
A majority of the items in that SEIZED.
ule are beyond the jurisdiction of the
conference, as both houses voted the
same rates of duty in most instances.
| The House voted lower rates in the
lumber schedule than did the Senate,
but Mr.. Fordney, who has been en-.
gagged in the lumber business for many
years, fought like a tiger for higher
rates than the House would accede 10.
| 1t is claimed that he could look after
the interests Of the Pacific Coast quite
MS well as Representative Needham, Of
| California, or Representative Cushman,
of Washington, both of whom have been
considered for a place on the confer.
ence to look after Pacific Coast inter
ests. Those interests, however, are
largely lumber and agricultural prod
ucts.
Representatives Mccall, of Massachu.
sets, and +. d. Crumpacker, Of Indi.
ana, are about the only Republican
members of Ways and Means who
could justly be termed low tariff men
1t is probable that, in any event. Speak.
er Cannon will PUT but one low tariff
Republican on his conference and that
will be Mr. Mccall. There is only
one low tariff Republican on Finance,
Senator McCumber. Of North Dakota
He has not been considered at all as
prospective conferee.
Estimates Of the time required for the
conferees to complete their work range
all the way from one week to three
| weeks. In the fourteen schedules there
| is much less matter, likely TO become
! the subject of fierce contention, than
there was in the Dinglcy bill Of 1897.
| The first schedule in the bill, that on
chemicals and paints, has little for the
| conferees to wrangle over except n
few duties on paints In Schedule b,
! comprising earths, earthenware and
glassware, there is little difference be.
tween the two houses, except on Ger.
tain qualities Of glass on which the
Senate lowered the duties. Schedule
c deals with metals and manufactures
of. There are fractional differences in
the rates on many articles but these
probably will not be difficult 10 adjust.
A good fight is likely on schedule, hav.
ing to do with lumber and manufactures
of wood. The two houses are in sub.
stantial accord on Schedule +, having
to do with sugar and molasses, AS they
are on Schedule +, dealing with tobac.
co. After agricultural products, comes
Schedule II, where the Senate has rails.
ed the duties on wines and spirits. The
House is expected to accept most Of
those increases with little discussion on
| the part of its conferees. Only few
\ items in Schedule /, pertaining to cot
tons will be within the jurisdiction of
| the conference, but those few, touching
yarns and thread and countable cotton
cloths, as they are styled will provoke
a big fight in conference in all prob.
ability. The Senate raised the duties
materially on those classes Of goods.
Senate and House have agreed In
most of the items in the jute and fax
schedule. The conference contention
win center over the action of the Sen
ate in placing n duty on jute and jute
butts. which is the raw material of the
manufactures in much Of that schedule
and in the Senate's placing cotton bag
ging on the free list, The outcome
will probably be the recession of the
Senate in both cases so that iute butts
will go on the free list and cotton
bagging will be restored to the dutiable
list.
Little or no contention Is expected
over Schedule X, affecting woods and
woolens. The only differences between
the two houses are over low grades OF
woods used In making carpets and over
l.. Ia