Evening journal., 1909-07-31
Saturday, July 81. 1909
THE TARIFF BILL.

A SIGH of relief goes up throughout the
( n country as the end Of the special session
of Congress approaches. The bill as revised oy
the conferees has been reported. 1t IS reasonably
certain that the measure will soon be before the
President for his signature There is little doubt
that Taft will sign the bill.
The fight over the revision of the tariff has been
one of the most remarkable in the history OF the
country. When the special session was called, rev
believed that the country would witness pro-
longed combat of giant forces. The House quick
lv settled down to work and was not long pre-
pairing a measure that was heartily commended
on all sides There were some defects in 1t that
it was expected the Senate would correct Instead
OF doing so, the Senate remodeled the bill almost
completely 1t improved the bill in some ways, but
in others il so changed the schedules as to cause
much dissatisfaction.
Hapbily. however. the Senate did not have the
power to enact the measure 1t had prepared un-
der the direction OF Mr.. Aldrich. The conterees
and the President became busy, and as a result
we have what may in fairness be called a revision
downward The bill is a compromise measure
such as all tariff bills must be But the President,
no doubt thinks that he can fairly hold that his
promises TO the country OF a revision downward,
while having always in mind the protective prin-
ciple have been kept
Perhaps the most notable development of the
debate in the Senate over the measure was the
breaking up of the parties in a number OF in-
ssrTnccs lRstcad of opposing the bill ON general
principles. the Democrats IN many cases. were
the strongest allies of Mr.. Aldrich. Democratic
Senators from the South pulled him out of many
a hole. They ignored the demands of their party
platform and boldly stood forth for protection
when it seriously affected their own localities.
The attitude of these Senators shows more
clearly than ever that there is strong party in
the country which is opposed to the tariff. With
the growth of industries in the South there has
come demand for protective duties. This falling
away of the Democratic Senators from what
were supposed to be the time honored principles
of the party has been so irritating to an element
OF the party that there has been talk of forming
new party. but this talk is unlikely to develop
into anything tangible.
The protective sentiment as shown by the Sen
ate has really been greater among the Democrats
than it was during the Cleveland times when it
was sufficient TO mangle the Wilson bill so that
President Cleveland refused 10 sign IT, Had the
Democrats won the last election and undertaken
a revision of the tariff, they would most likely
have failed in their attempts and their failure
would have been more humiliating than it was
with the Wilson bill.
The consequence is that if the Democrats go
before the country as opposed to the tariff bill to
be enacted and signed by President Taft, they will
be confronted with their own record in the Senate
The people will believe that no matter what their
promises may be about future revision Of the
tariff the Democrats, if they had the opportunity,
would be held up completely by their protection
ist group in the Senate.