The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-30

It is an interesting feet that the ew'
 greatest producing tarfff law
 the United States has ever had follow
 ed one upon the heels of the other Men will ever differ as to the direc
 cause of the failure of both measurei | to produce the necessary revenue, bu ! the remote cause was & miscAlculatior l in the framing of both. The Mckinle,
 bill put sugar on the free list and gavt
 a bounty to domestic sugar. The two l items resulted in a loss to the righ
 side of the treasury balance 9f ovei
 $50. .o00.0o9 a year. The Wilson law set
 up an income tax provision which wal turned down by the Supreme Court and that resulted In q deficit under the | operation of the Wilson tarin. It is
 stated by Stanwood most impartial and | thorough of all the tarin historians | but who confesses to protection lean
 ings,' that the Wilson tariff would have produced a surplus atfer the first year
 but for the overturning of the income
 tax by the highest court. ' He likewise assumes that the cause
 of the vast proportion of the deficit
 under the Mckinley law was due tc
 the falling of of imports after the l election of Mir. Cleveland, in anticipa. | tion Of the low rates to be had under
 the forth hcoming tarin revision. but he
 adds that even then there would have
 been no deficit had sugar not been
 placed on the free list under that la " The country might well have pre- | pared itself for the sort of tarif law l that MT. Cleveland would not honor
 with his signature. from the course | which events took at the Democratic National Convention of 1892. The con- | servative wing. of the party dominated the Committee on Resolutions, which brought in as mild demand for tariff | revision as one could wish to see. But the convention would have none of 1t. By a vote of 5s4 to s42 1t turned down the proposed plank, and went after protection and the Mckinley law ham
 mer and tongs. It was the most radi- | cal tariff declaration ever made by any
 responsible party.
 The events of the year following the election of Mir. Cleveland constitute the most remarkable series of trans
 actions In the history of American
 tariff legislation. Possessed of large
 majority in the House and a comfort
 able margin in the Senate, the Demo- crats were forced to make such a re-
 markable series of concessions to mem . bers of their own party that the Will son tarin law emerged from the leg islative mill loaded down with protec- ton.
 There Is e story of a dealer in her.
 ring who was asked whether he was
 for protection or free trade He came
 out unqualifedly for free trade on ev-
 erything but herring. There were
 enough men of this stamp among the
 Democrats of the Fifty-third Congress
 to prevent ths passage of any consist
 ent low tarsn measure. Even as the
 bill was reported to the House by MT
 Wilson, 1t was not entirely satisfae-
 tory to him. He said he had found
 that not all who marched braveIy in
 the parade were found in line when
 the nusketry began to rattle and that
 friends of reform had fallen away
 when definite low tariff chedule was
 presented. But after 1t reached inc
 House the bill was amended upward. A
 process that was continued in the Sen ate. The number of Democratic
 speeches In favor of some specific item or protection Is one of the remarkabl
 things about the measure. The whole Louisiana delegation favored a duty on sugar. The Troy shirt and collar mak : CTS did not lack for champions who
 made protection on shirts and collars
 the condition of their support for the
 completed measure. Some of the
 southern Democrats wanted q duty on | coal ana Iron ore. and . Western free l trader said the bill suited him excent that he wanted a duty on silver lea d ore. which was produced in his dis | trict.
 The low tariY press of the country grew insistent for immediate action
 after Cleveland was inaugurated. One paper longed for the day when the
 American laborer could sleep under A
 wool blanket once more instead of one
 of shoddy. Tariff reform started out
 bravely. At the extra session called to consider currency matters the Ways and Means Committee was framed up. and consistent low tariff man-Crisp of Georgia-was made Speaker. VII Ham l.. Wilson. low tariff man of the Cleveland school. was made Chair man of Ways and Means.
 The Committee gave a month for hearings. They had treasury officials to assist fin the preparation of the bill For this they were roundly criticised by the Republicans, but they succeeded in pulling the records on their critics, and therein showing where they had done the selfsame thing and defended It, for which they were now criticising the Democrats
 On December 1s the bill was report ed to the House. It covered 140 pages. printed In the usual bill style and type. It did reduce the duties on most things. and provided for free raw ma teriaIs Even this was regarded as l sort of halfway measure by the out | and-out low tariff people. After the usual Christmas recess the House got | down to the consideration of the bill | In dead earnest A rule was brought | in limiting the debate and providing | the machinery for the consideration of | the bill. The Republican fought this | tooth and nall, and resorted to the ex- pedient of breaking a quorum by re- | fusing to vote. It will be remembered that in the Congress which passed the | Mckinley bill. Speaker Reed and his | supporters condemned such tactics with | all the earnestness at their command, | and MT. Reed counted the Democrats A s | present whether they voted or not. | Now he was the minority leader, and | his old opponent was In the chair. 1 Crisp refused to invoke the Reed meth cd of getting a quorum. but adopted the course of arresting members in | order to get enough together to do | business. By telegraphing every ab- sentee of his own party to come post haste. Crisp was able to pass his rule , after three days of fruitless balIotine. Even on this final vote not a Repubii- can Is recorded for or against the rule. After week ot general debate, during