Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-05-18

Shortly after the passage of the Will
son-Gorman tariff the house Democrats
treated the country to a unique perform
ance-an attempt to revise the tariff that
had been enacted by their votes. They
put sugar on the free list in one bill they
passed, and did the same with many 9TH
err items. William NJ. Springer, as Dem
icratic chairman of ways and means, had
resorted to the same sort of tactics the
session following the enactment of the
Mckinley law, and with great effect.
Now the Democrats were using this same
method. II they had sought to bring
reproach upon bill of their own making,
they could not have pursued course
more conducive to that end. Ex-Speaker
Reed called them the ''pop-gun" tariff
bills. They passed the house but landed
in a senate pigeon-hole, of course.
The next congress was Republican, and
the situation was almost the reverse or
that when Morrison offered his "hori-
zontaI' bill. Speaker Reed had selected
Nelson Dingley as chairman OF ways ana
means-another very unusual perform
ance. since 1t has never been customary
to have the speaker and the ways and
means chairman from the same state
Dingley brought In another horizontal
bill. only 1t provided for horizontal In
creases instead of reductions. 1t imposed
duty on wool 60 per cent as great as
that Of the Mckinley law, and duty OF
10 per cent more than the rates OF the
WiIson-Gorman tariff on most manufac-
lures. The similarity to the Morrison
horizontal bill goes further. Morrison
provided that no duty imposed hereun-
der shall be less~than those of the Nor
rill tariff Dingley provided that no
duty hereunder shall be higher than those
of the Mckinley law.
The bill passed the house by a vote of
OBS to SO. When the measure went to the
senate, which was now nOminally Repub-
lican, but strongly for free coinage, 1t
had the misfortune to get its wires cross
ed with those of the white metal. The
senate committee on finance amended the
tariff bill by substituting a bill for the
free coinage of silver and instructed the
venerable Morrill, to report it. There the
matter ended, except for the few times
it was taken up by the senate to allow
free silver senator to air his views on
his favorite topic.
The Republicans wanted to make the
tariff the paramount issue in 1896. On
that issue William Mckinley was the log
ical candidate. and with "Bill Mckinley
and the Mckinley bilr' as the rallying
cry, he easily outdistanced Speaker Reed
in the race for the nomination. 1t is said
that if the Republicans had thought the
free coinage of silver would be the is
sue. Reed might have been the successrui
candidate, since Mr.. Mckinley had not
been as orthodox as Reed on the money
question. The wish of Mr.. Bryan was
that the tariff question should play Sec
ond fiddle in the fight, and he made 1t so.
After the campaign was won and McKin-
ley inaugurated the question arose as to
which should be considered first, tariff
revision or financial legislation. The doubt
was finally resolved in favor of the tariff,
which was to be considered at a special
session of congress. It met twelve years
to the day Before the present extra ses-
sion.
When the Dingley bill was introduced
It was pointed out by the Dmocrats that
the<e was no occasion for any change
of the tariff. They offered figures
showing that the Wilson-Gorman law
was at that very moment producing
surplus and indicating that it would con-
tinue to do so. But the Republicans had
formulated their program and they pro-
ceeded to carry it out. In introducing
the bill Mr. Dingley stated that the du-
ties levied were a compromise between
those of the pending law and those of
the Mckinley law. The Democrats con-
troverted this point and declared that the
rates would average higher than those
of the Mckinley law. AS matter of
fact the actual operation of the law prov
ed the Democrats to be more nearly right
in that contention than the Republicans.
The average rate on free and dutiable
goods during the first four years of the
Dingley tariff was approximately IS per
cent. During the forty-seven months un-
der the Mckinley tariff the average was
approximately q per cent. Taking duti-