The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-07-23
ny Ernest O walker

in framing the new tariff law is about
4 10 be selected. In q few days iis mem
bcrs will take their seats around a
mahogany table in some large meeting
| hall in one Of the marble Office build
ings Messengers will guard the state.
| ly portals While the halls Of the Sen.
ate and the House are deserted day In
and day out for week or two, this
| third legislative body will deliberate
In secret. Their product will be the
tariff bill as Senate and House must
approve IL, az the President will sign
| it. and as it will become the law of the
! land.
! The members Of this third legislative
! body are hardly elected. They are des.
! ignated or nominated. Half of them
will be from the House of Representa-.
tves and half from the Senate. Speak
err Cannon will name the half of its
members who come from the House.
| Vice President Sherman will announce
| the half who come from the Senate.
The list. however, will be made up for
him by the Senate leaders and, in fact,
by Senator Aldrich, chairman of the
Finance Committee. The House could,
but never does, take the nomination of
its men, who are officially known as con.
ferees, from the Speaker.
Rarely in the history of legislation is
there conference committee of the
two houses of more importance than one
that sits for the adjustment of differ.
ences in "A tariff bill. Usually confer.
ence committees are composed of six
men, three from the House and three
from the Senate. But tariff bill con
fercnees are larger, and usually have
consisted Of eight Senators and eight
Representatives. That makes the third
legislative body consist of sixteen mem.
bers. A great deal and wide variety
of gossip always precedes the selection
of these men. 1t goes TO the extent
even of conjecture about the selection
of men outside the committees
which have had to do with the framing
of the tariff bill But it is certain that
the conference on the Aldrich. Payne
tariff bill will be composed of Repre-
sentatives from the Ways and Means
Committee aud of Senators from the
Finance Committee. 1t is reasonably
certain that the conference will com
prise ten Republicans and six Demo
| Gratis.
The general rule is to name the five
| Republican seniors and the three Demo.
cratic seniors in service on each of
the two tariff committees. That means
the five and the three whose names are
printed at the top Of the respective
Republican and Democratic lists of
committee members. There will be
some departure from that this year for
two or three different reasons. One is
that Eastern Senators and Representa-
tives predominant at the top of the
Ways and Means and also at the top
of Finance. The rest Of the country
must have something like equal -epre-
sentation in adjusting the tariff clauses
which are in dispute. Speaker Cannon
will be the chief factor in bringing
about this equalization, as the Senate
is a greater stickler for the observance
| of seniority than is the House
The Speaker and Senator Aldrich,
who will determine the membership OF
the conference, have not yet agreed
upon the men, although there has been
much gossip and conjecture about it
even for couple Of months. They will
undoubtedly talk the matter over be.
tween themselves. 1t it almost a GER
tainty that the Democratic members,
1 >
will be taken from the top of the Com
mittee lists. They are of about as
| much importance to the deliberations
as the fifth wheel is to a coach and
are included largely as matter of
formality and courtesy. These Demo-
cratic conferees will probably be:
For the Senate, John w. Daniel, of
Virginia; fernando d. Money, of Mis-.
sissippi; Joseph W. Bailey, of Texas.
For the House, Champ Clark, of Mis-.
| souri,; Oscar w. Underwood, of Alaba-
ma, James NJ. Griggs, of Georgia.
Four of the ten Republican members
of the Conference can also be named
with certainty as follows;
The Senate, Nelson w. Aldrich, of
Rhode Island; Boise Penrose, of
Pennsylvania.
For the House, Serene Z. Payne, of
New York; John Dalzell, of Pennsyl-
vania.
These are really the four men who
| will dominate the conference. Mr..
| Aldrich is chairman of Finance and
! Mr.. Payne of Ways and Means. Every
one of the four is as arch a standpatter
| ms is to be found in all the world.
| Each is familiar with the hard fighting
and intricate parliamentary law which
governs conference committees. All of
the four, except Senator Penrose, serv-
| ed on the Conference over the Dingley
| bill
1t is noteworthy coincidence that
Senators Aldich and Julius C. Burrows,
| of Michigan, who will probably be one
of the Republican conferees, are the
only survivors among the Senate tariff
conferees of July, 1897. Allison, of
Iowa; Plat, of Connecticut; Jones, of
| Nevada; Vest of Missouri; Jones, Of
Arkansas, and White, of California,
have all passed over Payne and Dial
zell, with one exception are the only
members of the House now in public
life who served on that 1897 Conference
from the south end of the Capitol, Sem
ator Bailey then the Democratic minor
] ity leader, was one of their associates,
| II is probable that the other six Re
publican conferoes win be the follow
ing men;
| For the Senate Julius G. Burrows