Evening star., 1909-05-05
DELAY DUE TO OPPOSITION
Westerners Will Contest Every Foot
in Tariff Battle.
LA TOILETTE FULLY PRIMED
Miss Lois Swami Is Given Sitting
for Portrait by the President.
Smallest Man at White House.

IiOSpCCl VI early VI SOH-
gress. as President Taft is advised. is
not as encouraging as it was less than
a week ago. when Senator Aldrich and
others told him they expected to get
away from Washington on or about
June /.
The President now understands that the
earliest possible date of adjournment is
in the neighborhood of June 10. with
every probability that July 1 will see
Congress just winding up the wor.- it
was called here to perform.
Reasons for this change in the situa-
tion are many. Strongest is the fact that
westerners, like Senators Dolliver, Cum
Minis, La Toilette and Nelson, are de-
termined to make the stiffest sort of a
fight to change the tariff bill along lines
demanded in their states.
These western senators will fight the
bill in the Senate. In the House they
will have the backing of representatives
from their states.
Senator La Toilette was at>the White
House today with a big, black portfolio,
fat. with argument and data-ammuni-
ton he will fire off in the Senate in op-
position to the Senate bill. He didn't
have chance to unfold this cartioaI Of
manuscript upon the President because
of the presence in the executive offices
Of crowd Of visitors. He let the Pres
ident know, however, that he had suff;-
cient material to hold forth for several
days.
Hard Battle Assured.
The attack upon the schedules of the
new tariff bill promises to be vicious all
along the line, with debate warming up
with the spring atmosphere. Having
sided with no particular faction in the
Senate as to the bill, the President can
afford to hold off until the right min
ute and then try to bring the elements
together In party harmony and favorable
to. a bill that will commend itself to the
mass of the people,
Regarding propositions for raising reve-
nue. by means supplementing the tariff
the President still holds to the position
that IL the new tariff will furnish suffi-
cient revenue there is no need to resort
to untried laws. When the tariff bill has
finally passed, however, it will be subject
ed to expert examination on behalf of the
President If he finds that it does not
a revenue raiser he will then or at later
time propose means for bringing in money
from other sources.
First among the different propositions in
favor with the President is an inheritance
tax Next is an excise tax upon the div
idends of corporations. Third Is an in
come tax. They would be proposed in the
order named. the President valuing them
In that order.
The President intends to give much
study to the bill in it's last stages, SO as
to be fully informed as to the revenue
probabilities under the measure as well as
to its effect upon the people through the
country. There will be little use in spend
ing time upon 1t now no one being able
to predict the outcome.
More Protection for Fruit Asked.
Senator Flint and Representative Smith
of California introduced to the President
a delegation of California citrus fruit
growers, who are clamoring for higher
duties on their products. They ask for
more duty than is now charged under the
Dmgley bill.
They claim that they must have this
protection to continue their business The
wholesale fruit dealers on the other hand,
claim that the duty desired by the fruit
growers will give them an absolute mo-
nopoly on lemons and similar fruits and
cause sharp advances in the prices to
consumers.
Gen. j. Warren Keifer. Maj. Campbell
and Public Printer Donnelly called on the
President today to ask him to be present
Sunday night in the National Theater to
on the blowing up of the Maine. This lee
ture Is for the benefit of a fund to be
raised for the building of a monument to
those who lost their lives in the disaster
M VI. TdThcT anu -. y. Dell were
among Washington visitors who saw the
President today.
Senator McLaurin and Representative
Collier of Mississippi introduced to the
President Miss Edna Maxine Laurens of
Livingston, Mont. Representative Kin
kead of Nebraska introduced s. Hart
man and Mrs Hartman of North Platte,
Neb. Representative S. w. Smith intro
duced friends.
Smallest Man in World.
The smallest man physically in the
world today shook hands with one Of the
largest. physically and mentally. The
little fellow was Nicholi. the Russian
prince who is at the Eagles carnival this
week Nicholi is thirty-two years old.
weighs sixteen pounds and is twenty-five
and a half inches high. The President
asked him many questions.
The President gave another sitting to-
day TO Miss Lois Swami, who is painting
Iife-size portrait of Mr.. Taft for the
Yale societies. The portrait. a three
quarter-length full-face picture, is near
ly finished and is declared to be one OF
the best Mr. Taft ever had taken.
Miss Swami is the second artist to
whom the President has granted sittings
since his Inauguration. The first was
Sorolla the Italian portrait painter. who
is now putting the finishing touches TO a
picture ordered by Charles P. Taft, the
to his million-dollar art collection in Gin
cinnati
The Situation in Panama.
Representative Campbell of Kansas has
returned from Panama. where he went
with a party of congressional friends to
watch the work upon the great canal. Mr..
Campbell told the President of his obser
vations today zone cannot understand
the extent of the work that is being done
on the isthmus between Panama and
Colon" said Mr.. Campbell. by reading
accounts of 1t in reports. newspapers and
magazines. 1t is great work from any
point of view. combination OF bitches
and dams is working out the problem of
the isthmian canal More than 30 600 men,
working with drills, compressed air. dy-
Mantle, wheeibarrows. picks steam show
els, dirt trains and implements for un-
loading trains, all working in perfect har-
mony without excitement. combined. arc
bringing about the final results. Ships will
60 there in five years
THE ships are to be elevated from the
sea level to a height of eighty-five feet
by a system of three locks at Gatun. at
the Atlantic end Each of these locks
is to be 1000 feet long and 40 feet
ufda There will be three athar re