The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-03-31
AMERICAN TARIFF LAWS
XVII. The Whom German Low
BY Frederic ]. Haskin.

kMIguN0M0E0DauENn NDMmEBMDMufa 1
| The Wilson bill. as 1t passed the
House. carried with 1t many amend
ments that could not successfully ne
gotiate q passage through the Ways
and Means Committee, and ex-Speaker
Reed tainted the Democrats with pass
| Ing amendments over the prostrate
forms of the members OF that commit
/ tee. As the House bill Jared boldly
forth to the Senate wing of the Capt.
| toll, its hackers little dreamed of the
| SHARES and pitfalls that awaited 1t at
ter getting inside the Senate chamber.
| OF course the Republicans were united
| against II. There We're many Demo-
| Gratis who were outspoken in their OPP
position, with others who were not
openly against II, but who sought TO
| emasculate 1t without seeming to OPP
pose the party principles. David b.
Hill said early and often that he would
never support IL SO long as the income
tax provision remained in II, and he
continued OF that mind to the end. Both
| Louisiana Senators were as firmly
| fixed In their opposition to free sugar
as was every Republican in his oppo-
sition to free wool or free manufac-
| lures. German (Md.), Brice (o), Smith
| IN. j., and several others had greater
protection leanings than low tariff in
cIinations, and before the Wilson bill
got past them 1t showed that fact
plainly.
AS soon as the measure got to the
senate 1t was referred to the Finance
Committee. That body took no imme-
diate action, but the Democratic mem
bers placed IL In the hands Of senator
Vest and Senator Mills for REVISION
before its consideration by the fuli
committee. Mr.. Mills was not mem
Der of the Finance Committee, but
was the. author OF the Mills bill. These
| two men were pairing down the sched-
ules framed by the House. When the
high tariff Democrats got hold OF this
information they promptly handed out
| the ulttmatum that II the bill did not
give higher duties than the House
measure. 1t could not command their
| support This being the case, a DEM
| ocratic caucus was called, ana IL was
| there decided to make such conces-
sions as would command the support
of forty-three Democrats. That meant
heavy increases In numerous sched-
u1es.
When the Finance Committee got
through with the House bill it looked
| as IL 1t had been drawn through
| brush pile backward. Free coal ana
free iron ore had been decapitated
free sugar had given place to a 40 per
cent duty. with an added dinerentlal
of one-eighth cent per pound. on the
WHOLE such a big gap had been cur
out of the Wilson bill that one could
drive a coach-and-four through H.
with room to spare. The concessions
that were made to the advocates Oh
low tariff were few and far-between
The bill was returned to the Senate
two months after II had been handed
over to the Finance Committee. Then
came three weeks OF general debate.
| Outranking every other enort IN
length and thoroughness was the
speech of Senator Quay Of Pennsylva1
MIA. 1t was in reality three different
speeches OF a number of chapters each
and altogether they embrace 23l pages
a the printed Record-4o0.000 words
in all. This probably constitutes the
greatest speech-making feat ever ac'
complished in either branch of Con-
gress, or in any other legislative body
on earth, for that matter. In the SEN
ate there have been numerous In.
stances of talking against time, ano
sometimes such tactics have served &c
defeat the best-laid plans of whole
administration, but at no time mas th'
Quay record been equalied quay
could AFFORD to fight for delay. Vers
| recently the statement was made D!
one of the Heutenants OF Speaker Can
non that every day the insurgents post
poned the enactment OF new tarif
law IL means an extra cost OF $l0,OOV''
600 to the nation. 1t is to be presume6
that the changes now proposed VIII no
he as great as those then contemplated
Quay was confessedly for the higher
tariff and s10.000.0o0 day was wortf
talking for.
| The Democrats started out with o
policy of allowing the Republicans &c
do all the talking, upon the view tna'
they would the sooner talk themselves
out. But this policy was not carried
out The old saying that 1t takes two
to make quarrel was exempllneo !.
/ The tariff bill might have become q
law a month or more earlier had the
| Democrats lived up to their first reso-
| luton. Senator Aldrich has followed
/ that course in most debates which ne
manages. and did so with great sue
cess when considering the Dingley
| bill. On the very first day of the &C
tual consideration of the tariff Dill
| line by line. Aldrich displayed his su-
j preme knowledge of men and his de-
| tective ability. He knew fully just
what sort OF trading was going on to
muster the necessary forty-three votes
| for the passage of the bill, and he told
the Democrats point blank that 1t was
useless as yet to discuss the time the
law was to go into erect, Since the
majority themselves did not know yet
| what provisions the bill would con-
/ tain, what concessions would have to
be made, or when a required majority
could be mustered. He told many
/ Democrats more than they themselves
know about what was going on within
their own ranks.
Il A little later he worked the most
monumental game of BLUM on the
Democrats that has ever occurred In
the Senate. He first stated that there
i was not a single man on the Demo
cratic side who could tell just what
1 his party in the Senate was standing
for Mr.. Lindsay (Ky) responded thai
IL the Republicans would allow the
L Anal vote to be taken that evening they
would find out what the party stood
/ for. Aldrich announced that his side
was ready for the aye and hay vote
| that very afternoon on the bill as II
! came from the House. The Democrats
would not take up the gauntlet thus
/ thrown down. and Aldrich went after
them with another proposition--thai
the vote should be taken on the meas
ure as IL was amended by the Senate
/ Finance Committee. Even this they
would not accept on the spot. but after
ward sought to do so. Aldrich then
refused, saying that many new amend
4 ments had since been made by the
1 Finance Committee, and that he had
certainly not intended to give the
Democrats an indefinite option. Sena-
tor White of California. accused him
of permitting himself to be called
and declined to respond. This refer
ence to poker brought from Aldricf
/ the statement that he had never be-
toro hAard that a nlayer could call a