The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-23
Last Congress Passed a Total
 of 9711 Bills
LONG TARIFF SESSIONS
Congress Will Devote a Great Deal of Extra Time to Tariff Discussion Until the Measure Is
 Finally Settled.
By WATTERsoN sTEALEY.

By PATTERSON sTEALEY.
 Washington. March 22.-(Special) )-Leg- islation by Congress has increased almost incredibly during the last decade. Thous- ands of measures are introduced at every session but the number enacted ordinarily is comparatively insignificant. The devel- opment of the countrys resources and the increased demands of the people are indicated, however by the immense in- crease in the number of laws passed.
 This increase" Col. w. M Palmer, in charge of the enrolled bills of the Senate says lis particularly noticeable during the last ten years. Prior to that time there was little variation In the number of measures enacted into law by successful congresses. In the last decade the increase has been astonish- ing. During the first and second sessions of the Fffty-ffth Congress 147s bills were passed by the House and Senate and messaged' to the President In the third session of the same Congress GA measures were enacted into laws In the Fifty-sixth Congress 1862 measures were passed, in the Fifty-seventh 27s1, in the Fifty eighth 4O41 in the Fffty-ninth 6940, and in the Sixtieth the Congress- which ended March 4, the number of bills enacted into law reached the great total of 9711.''
 Colonel Palmer, who compared and carried to the White House all of these bills, not one of which ever was lost or mislaid, was appointed to the com mi 1ad nf fha IS years ago from New Jersey, by the late Senator Sewell
 Colonel Palmer predicts that the num- Der of measures passed by the present Congress will exceed that of any pre- ceding Congress.
 Action on Tariff Bill.
 Demands from the business interests of the country from the Atlantic to the Pa cific and from the Canadian border line to the gulf that the tariff bill be en- acted into law with the least possible delay have caused the House leaders to take under consideration a plan to prolong it's daily sessions until the bill has been sent to the Senate.
 It is understood that it has been ten- tatively agreed to have the House meet at 10 o'clock In the morning sit until 6 in the afternoon, take short recess \ for dinner and resume discussion in the evening
 This plan, if it is adopted will con- tinue until such a time as the House has finished consideration of the busi- ness and it will be resumed after the Senate has finished its extensive amend ments So far as could be learned this afternoon there Is no serious opposition to this plan for the reason that prac- tically every member of the Congress has received scores upon scores of let ters urging prompt action on the tariff bill.
 Money for President.
 That determined effort will be made during this session of Congress to re- store the s25OOO appropriation for the Presidents travelling expenses is the re- port today among senators and members of the House close to Mr. Taft.
 The President not longer than a day or two ago expressed his fear that although on his western trip next summer he want ed to go to the Seattle exposition and to Alaska, he might not be able to go far ther than Denver, because of the heavy expense the travelling would involve.
 He pointed out his aversion to dead headism" while President and remarked that the necessity of his carrying large party of clerks and stenographers would make the expenses very heavy.
 Friends of the President it is under stood, have taken the matter up and are making a canvass to see what chance there would be to put such an appro- priation through both houses of Congress. The idea. of course, Is to add the s25,- GOO travelling expense without interfering with the s25.00e increase of the President's salary authorized by the last Congress. --->----~-------~>~-~~---~- the Dingley bill," the report continues. and by reason of the provision In para graph 637, popularly known as the 'joker.' continues to be protected by tariff duty of 99 per cent, which enables it to domi- nate and exploit the American market and to levy tribute upon the public, there by piling up millions of dollars of ill-got- ten gains'
 The report further contends that a sfmi- lar joker in the paragraph providing for the free entry of coffee places a duty coffee equal to the export duty i'm posed by the country from which it is fm- ported, and that the consumer must pay both the export duty of the other country and the import duty of the United States. The tax on tea is also attacked, the claim being made that the s7000,000 which 1t is proposed to raise by imposing a duty on tea, represents the amount from which the cost of living will be increased by this tax.
 Criticism is made of the metal schedule, and it is contended that hides having been placed on the free lisct, the duty on leather, shoes, harness, and other leather manufactures should also be removed. Referring to the reduction of 5-100 of a cent in the duty on refined sugar, pro vided by the Payne bil the report de- clares:
 Theoretically, the trust receives "a blow between the eyes In reality, this in- f1nitesimal reduction of the Dingley rate will not reduce the price of refined sugar "a prime necessity of life-to the con sumner In any degree whatsoever. Ger tainly that reduction may be properly de- nominated as a sham"
 The demands insist that they be given free opportunity to offer amendments to any paragraph in the bill during an un- limited consideration of the measure under the nve-minute rule