The Washington times., 1909-04-04
THE REVOLT AGAINST THE
HOUSE TARIFF BILL.

from day to day pointed out in these
columns, the House is full of insurrec-
ton against the Payne tariff bill. The
leadership of the House, on the Repub-
llcan side, IS in a quandary. 1t had
hoped to force the bill to passage under
a rule, and it finds that the effort to
do such thing will surely invite de-
feat on the motion to adopt the rule.
That means turning the initiative over
10 the critics of the measure, with no
body able to guess what they would do
to it.
Tie ground for the revolt is not diff
hcult to discover. From all parts of
the country come protests couched in
the most unmistakable language.
against the bill. The country finds
that, having asked for bread and been
promised it, stone is offered to it.
Its digestion is not just in condition
to make the morsel tempting. Its dis
position is even worse than its diges-
ton Disguised and disaffected over
the sum nary fashion in which the Cam
non organization crammed the old rules
down the throat of the House. the coun
try is IN a frame of mind TO stand lit
tie nonsense IN connection with the
tariff measure: 1t sees special ses-
sion, which has cost the country many
thousands of dollars every day it has
been In session, and viii continue to
run up the expense bills so long as il
shall last, making revision which is
revision in little except name. In MANY
respects, indeed, the bill appears, on
analysis, TO be a backward rather than
n forward step The country will not
have it. Every Congressman who has
any convictions or any scintilla of cOur-
age to fight, is getting word from home
that his constituents are with him. he
may 90 to the limit without being
called to account. The one thing which
tile people are demanding is that the
Payne bill shall not be passed until it
shall have been modified in the direc-
ton of reducing the cost of living.
The same report comes from every
Where Indianapolis business men sent
a great petition, demanding changes in
this direction. The New England Dry
Goods Association has protested against
the upaccountable and unnecessary in
creases In many schedules, and the re-
tenticn of duties in others which ought
10 be lowered Chicago and every
r other Western city Is fairly roaring in
protest. It comes from the consumers
who expected cheaper living and see
only the prospect of dearer; from the
women, who find that pretty much
everything that women use is increased
in cost; from the manufacturers, who
have been hoping for cheaper raw ma
terials and are denied them; from the
exporters, who have demanded adjust.
ments which would extend their op-
portunities in foreign trade, and who
find that instead they are likely to get
measure that will arouse new com
mereial antagOnisms abroad.
Responding to this nationwide pro-
test, the membership of the House has
baked against rushing the Payne bill
to passage. The House has reused it
self TO some sense of its responsibility
for the legislation. The bill is to be
made in conference, perhaps; but in the
end the House viii have the privilege
of instructing conferees, and that privi-
iege should be employed in support of
a measure originally made just as salts
factory as possible.
The leaders of the House are going
10 be compelled TO concede more than
they expected. Theft trading stock is
at low ebb, when Wisconsin stands
for reductions on lumber and paper,
two of its greatest products, in the
hope OF getting in exchange reductions
in necessaries OF life.
The spectacle of the thrashing machine
manufacturers of the country pleading
for removal Of their protection, which
they say they don't need, in order that
they might secure tariff concessions
from other countries and thus extend
tration of protection gone stark mad.
Protection of that sort of a product
certainly is Of no use 70 anybody ex-
cept the manufacturer; and he comes
here TO beg that it be taken away from
him. He says he can make and sell
more of his goods without IT. Yet the
committee had retained it in the bill
This is merely typical. There are
many BIKE cases. The time has come
when tariff bill ought TO be made
with new idea in mind; the idea, first,
of considering the consumer. and, second,
OF considering the foreign market, The
Ways and Means Committee, lacking
the luster Of some constructive genius