The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-08-03
TARIFF MEASURE
IS AGAIN HALTED
'Nigger In the WoodpiIe'' Is
Sought By the Leaders
,CONFERtES ARE At OUTS
AldNch and Payne Are Very Busy
Striving To Compromise Matters
and Bring About Completion
of the Bill.

Washington, August 2--Tariff legislation
has been delayed again ny the hide and
leather question, and as a result the con-
ferees were called together once more to-
day. The session was for the purpose of
enticing out into the open a certain
"ebony- hued person who was reported
by the western senators to have been seen
lurking In the wood pile. The western
ers complained that the leather schedule,
as arranged by the conferees with the
approval of the President, is unfair to
the states interested In protected hides.
1t was agreed today that some action
must be taken to concliate them if the
conference report is to be adopted.
Without thought of serious obstacles in
the pathway of the conference report,
Senator Aldrich caused the report to be
taken up today as soon as the Senate met.
As is usual. the Senate leader and his
assistants moved about to ascertain
whether there had been any change of
sentiment. They were not long in learn
ing that the charge that there was a
joker In the compromised hide and
leather question had upst the comfortable
majority they had previously counted for
the adoption of the report.
Lack of Understanding.
The difficulty appeared to be a lack of
understanding between the conferees, the
President and the western senators CON
cerning the condition under which the lat
ter consented to hides being placed on ths
free list. The westerners claimed they
had been led to believe that all boots and
shoes of leather were to be dutlable at 10
per cent, and that all harness was to
be dutiable at 20 per cent. When the
conference report was issued it appeared
that the reductions applied only to ar
ticles manufactured In chief part of the
class Of hides, which were to be made
free of duty The reductions would moi
apply to shoes, the uppers of which were
made OF calfskin, or to harness, the chic.
value OF which was calf skin. Some oi
! the SENATORS were extremely bitter ir
| their condemnation of .he compromise
| They said they had been fooled, that thu
| President had been fooled and that the
| trick played on the consumer was nothing
| short of buncombe Finding that the
westerners were not amenable to argu-
| ment, some of the Senate leaders and
| some of the dissatisfied members hurried
| to the White House These all were in
| formed that the President had not beer
fooled. He was reported to have told al
of his callers that he fully understood the
character of the compromise.
Defense Of Action.
1t was declared by the conferees, In
| defense of their action, that the course
| pursued was necessary from a parlia-
mentary standpoint. To have reduced
all boots and shoes, they said, would
have compelled the re-submission OF
the conference to the house Confining
the reduction to articles made from
hides, re-submission Of the paragraph
was not necessary for the reason that
the hide paragraph was in controversy
between the conferees with range OF
action from free to a duty of Is per
cent.
Senator Aldrich was among those
who called at the White House. When
he returned to the capitol he issued a
call for session Of the conferees, in
Guiding the House republican members
They assembled at 3:20 p. m. The
western senators were ushered into
conference chamber singly or in pairs
Audiences were given to senators Hey
burn, Warren, Carter, Sutherland
Brown. Borah and Bourne. Invitations
had been issued to Senators Dixon
Burkett and Clark of Wyoming, but
they did not accept.
Senator Aldrich and Representative
Payne stated unequivocally that the
language employed in adjusting the
hide controversy was not "joker"
An effort was made to reach an un-
derstanding with the men from the cat
tie raising states. They said that the
word had gone out over the west that
free hides had been given for cheap per
sh oes and harness, and that their con-
stituents would not be satisfied with
any other bargain. Senators Brown
and Borah both had letters from the
President bearing upon the alleged
Joker" The senator's read these let
ters to the conferees The letter to
Senator Borah was in response to one
he had written. The President as
serted in this letter that the leath er
and hide schedule, as adopted by the
conferees, was just as he had under
stood 1t. He said his understanding
was that the reduction on leath err goods
should be made on those manufact ctured
of hitherto dutiable hides and should
not include manufactures of hitherto
free hides.
Shoes for Farmers.
Continuing, the President argued tn at
farmers wear shoes made Of the kind
of hides that would pay the low duty
and that practically all harness is
made from dutiable leather and there
fore would be reduced to the 20 per
cent ad valorem.
In the Brown letter the President is
said to have added a rather sharp criti-
cism of legislators constantly finding
''jokers." Appeals were made to both
senators to support the conference report.
The contention of the range" senators
Is that the President is In error, both as
to hides from which the farmers shoes
are made and concerning harness.
After the westerners had departed the
conferees discussed ways and means of
meeting the situation. Representative
Mccall Of Massachusetts opposed apply
ing the low rates on boots and shoes to
products other than those which would be
affected by the abolition of the duty on
hides. Others argued that the westerners
had been embarrassed by the misunder-
standing to such an extent that they
could not be expected to give their sup
port to the report on terms other than