Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-06-05
Everybody Is Seeking A.
ter Information
Regarding The Reasons for
Every New Schedule.
Tariff Debates Will Prove Profit.
able to the Country.

|
liz the Senate. That is the cry oppo-
nents are raising. They are Demo-
cratic opponents and Western Republi-
can opponents. A few days ago it
seemed to all the wise ones that the
| barriers were being broken down.
| The opposition would soon collapse.
| The tariff bill would be signed by the
| clerk of the Senate. There would be a
| conference, there would be a debate.
| there would be a signature up at the
White House. And then adjournment,
hurrah, hurrah!
| But in the breach of the opposition
| walls. there stilt stand a few men.
Senator Bristow, of Kansas, tall, lean,
| lank and angular is in the thick of the
coterie defiant and inquisitive Sena-
tor Bailey, Of Texas, lately in a game
Of fisticuffs with a New York Times
correspondent, is also asking questions
and declaiming. Neither of them will
down. Each has a following of in
quisitive men, who are constantly
wanting to know why thus and so.
And this array of Interrogation marks
now appears formidable. The Demo-
Gratis and Western Republicans want
to know the reasons for every sched-
ule and when the reasons have been
given they enter upon debate.
All this may be important from the
| low tariff standpoint. The considera-
ton of the tariff bill is bristling with
politics. The campaign of 1910 IS loom
ing ahead. 1t will be a preliminary to
the campaign of 1912. The big west
ern constituencies are rampant so
| their Senators and Representatives
say. you have now made your fight
say the Senate regulars to the pro
gressive" Republicans. "You have
fought long enough so that your peo-
pie can not help understanding that
you have done all you can do. What
is the use? Every time you let us have
roll call, you are beaten by about
| the same old Majority
"Ah, but we are getting a lot of in
formation" the Democrats and the
Western Republican Senators respond.
This is an educational campaign we
are conducting. Never before in all
the history of tariff bills, has 4 Senate
debate yielded so much information
about the intricacies of a tariff. The
Finance Committee Senators are tell
ing us something new every hour that
the Senate is in session. We propose
to keep laundering away for a while.
All this will be the foundation for the
campaign for tariff revision we are go
ing to start anew one of these days.
OF course, we know that we can not
change votes here in the Senate. You
are too strongly organized for us. But
we are going to appeal to the people.
We are gathering in this debate the
material for our next combat"
There is an element Of truth in the
assertions on both sides. The debate,
long and tedious as it is. will probably
prove profitable to the country in the
long run. And it is well for the cOun-
try to understand as much as possible
about the significance of important
legislation that Congress is enacting.
On the other hand the business in
terests Of the country are clamoring
| for a settlement of the tariff question.
Merchants want to lay plans for their
| fall trade. The owners of factories
want to start up at full blast. New
enterprises, extensive industrial i'm
provements are under contemplation.
| The banks are full of idle money.
Bankers want this surplus to be earn
| ing interest. But first of all men en-
gagged in trade and industrial enter
prises want to know what the tariff
| rates are going to be. A change here
| or there in the tariff law might wipe
| out the profit of an enterprise as at
present organized.
The business cry. however, does not
| appeal to the opposition. "You Re
| publican leaders are responsible" say
VAt- 800
rush through legislation here on that
sort of an argument Then the west
| ern country, from which the Repubi-
can insurgents come. is not an exten-
sive manufacturing section. Iowa, Ne
braska, Kansas, Minnesota. South Da
kota. That comprises about all the
inSurgent Senators. In most of those
states a big factory would be almost
as much of a curiosity as a modern
battleship. And the comparatively
| few factories that those states have are
engaged in manufactures that grow out
of the agricultural industry-the big
| flour mills of Minneapolis, for instance.
And these big imperial states in the
| heart of the country are protected
from foreign competition ia their prod
ucts by the great distances from the
seaboard, which means prohibitive
| freight rates for incoming products.
| Cotton goods, wooden goods. boots and
shoes and scores of manufactured arti-
cles that these imperial states in the
very center of the country use in guam
titles are made in the great manufac-
turing states to the East.
Even the insurgents from Nebraska,
Kansas, South Dakota. and Minnesota
can be as nimble as anybody else in
piling bricks upon the tariff wall when
it helps them and their constituents.
All at once, the other day, Senators
Bristow, LaFollette, Nelson, Burkett
and others of the ultra Western pro
gressive group" wheeled out of the
Democratic column and caught step
with Aldrich, Hale. Lodge, Root, Pen
rose and other high tariff men. 1t was
sight that will long be remembered.
Barley was the cause. The Senate FL
nance Comittee had recommended a
duty of 30 cents a bushel on barley.
where the House had voted "a cents.
The barley raising states said "a cents
was not enough, although the House
at the very eleventh hour had raised