The Washington herald., 1909-08-08

with one accord have voiced IN the pres!
their confident belief in another era o.
general prosperity now at hand. Thii
universal optimism has been the keynote
Of the week and is so inslstent as tC
largely overwhelm the divergent opinion,
about the Payne-Aldrich act itself.
That opinions about that law do diffei
widely may be judged from the mos
casual view OF the discussion in Congress
Just before the final votes were taken
No less than twenty Republicans in the
House and seven in the Senate voted
against this distinctly Republican meas
ure along with the minority. making the
margin in the House dangerously close
and giving that minority fresh hope OF
returning to the rext Congress meta
morphosed into a full-hedged majority
To these insurgents the measure is frank
ly humbug and Misrepresentation, the
words used by Senator Dolliver. They
and the Democrats insist that it is up
ward revision OF the tariff and they
charge Taft with having surrendered tC
The standpatters at the outset.
On the other hand 10 Messrs. Payne and
achievement In economic legislation
standing for the welfare of the American
people and the prosperity Of American
Industries
Not perfect tariff bill. is the candid
admission of the President himself upon
afflxing his official signature. but still
containing sufficient decreases In rates "a
Justify the statement that It is "a sub
stantial downward revision.f and that il
Is the result Of a sincere effort 10 comply
with party promises as generally under
stood. What Is perhaps OF more impOr-
tance is President Tafts intimation that
he will begin gathering data on which
70 seek further revisions in future.
Having done the work for which II was
called IN extraordinary session, Congress,
did adjourn on Thursday after the Speak.
er had made his committee assignments
for the regular session.
The Senate at 2 p. m. Thursday adopted
the conference report on the tariff bill
by the vote Of f7 TO 81 Seven Repub-
hcans were recorded against ii as bolt
ers. They were: Nelson and Clapp. OF
Minnesota; Cummins and Dolllver, OF
Iowa; Beveridge OF Indiana; Bristow. Of
Kansas and La Toilette. OF Wisconsin
No Democrat present voted for the re-
port, but Aldrich said that McEuery had
authorized him 10 say that II present hc
would support the report IN the clos
Ing hours OF the discussion several Of the
Insurgents reiterated their reasons for
not accepting the bill. and Bailey smoke
for the minority. Bailey sneered at the
claim of the President and the House
had won a victory IN conference lie
asserted that the Senate had yielded on
80 amendments while the House had
yielded on 500. He charged that the in.
creaEed tax on tobacco had been inserted
Il make up for the reduction OF the cor
poratlon tax from 20 l per cent SalC
Bailey: You have taken the tax out oi
the farmers hides, but the Westerr
farmers will take il out OF your hide,
IN the next campaign"
The fate Of the bin had been momen-
tarily threatened on Monday. when after
the measure had come back from tho
House approved by n vote Of 195 10 lS3. Il
was discovered by the range" Senators
that the leather schedule did not apply "a
all classes Of boots and shoes. in fact. 20
a very small part of them. These men
paved the air with such vigor with
threats Of voting against the whole bill
that they compelled the managers TO re-
convene the conference committee. There
upon il was agreed that after the passage
OF the bill by the Senate a concurrent
resolution should be rushed through for
the purpose Of changing the phrasing OF
the leather schedule 70 suit the rangers.
Consequently as soon as the vote was
taken In the Senate on Thursday such a
b resolution was brought in and passed
~laler being approved by the House, and
1 lpe the way was cleared for the signing
az DE bill by the President.
MI tho final dfvfsiou of tho TTousa ova-
tht tariff bill twenty Republicans had
bored over the traces to vote against
thelA partys measure - namely. Carey
Davik Gronna. Haugen. Hubbard, Keifer
Lenrobt. Linbergh. Mann. Miller Muir
dock, 4 Nelson, Nye. Poindexter. South
wick. Stevens. Steenerson. Volstead
Woods. and Kendall All except one OF
these (5outhwlck OF New York;, were
from Western or Northwestern States
Two Democrats Rroussard and Estopinal
OF Louisiana, voted FOR the bill.
During the debate in the Senate on
Wednesday. Hale admitted the soft i'm
peachment OF Beveridge that the con-
ferees had deliberately destroyed the real
idea of a tariff commission by limiting
the powers conferred on the President 70
the appointment OF a clerical force for
the collection Of information needed IN
minimum clause. No mention is made
of salaries and the right TO report 70
Congress is denied the commission Hale
said that the conferees did not want 70
create a commission, which could forever
keep tariff legislation open,
Opponents Of the customs court feature
Of the bill were able to at least defer
its realization by having the necessary
salaries Of the judges left out Of the
urgent deficiency bill. This was expected
20 put the matter over until the regular
session.
The signing OF the bill occurred at
BIOS q m. in the Presidents Room at the
Capitol where President Taft had come
with six members OF his Cabinet 10 IA
cilitate the adjournment Of Congress.
He wrote the signature with a fountain
pen belonging to Representative Payne.
junction with that OF Senator Aldrich.
The conferees were also present TO wit
ness the signing
After returning TO the White House
the President gave out a statement to
the public. He said he had signed the
bill because he believed II TO be the
result Of a sincere effort on the part OF
the Republican party TO make a down
ward revision and 70 comply with the
promises of the platform as they had
generally understood. and as I inter-
pretsd them in the campaign before
election" At the same time he admit
ted that Is was mot a perfect tariff bill
or a complete compliance with the prom
ises made, strictly interpreted" but
thought that a fulhllment free from
criticism could not be expected He
went on 10 say that while there were
some increases on luxuries the decreases
made were sufficient TO Justify the state
ment that this bill Is a substantial down
ward revision and a reduction of exces-
sive rates" On the other hand, he re-
minded the public that IL was not a free