Evening star., 1909-03-10
PLAY ON WAGE GARNER
Arousing of Fears to Beat
Tariff Reduction.
TRUTH IN OBSERVATION
Warning to Labor to Be Prepared to
Shorten Sail.
REAL HUE AND CRY IS NOT YET
Pulling and Hauling From Various
Sections-Wiu Tear Committee
Bill to Shreds.

'They are setting out to beat tariff re-
duction the same way they beat Bryan
every four years: working on the fears
of the wage-earner and the business
man. remarked a politician at the Capt.
tol today.
Well there's many a true word spoken
in Jest. and there is more truth than ia
cetiousness In the observation quoted 1t
Is a fact that the laboring men in the
factories connected with the several
classes of Industries affected by the
tariff schedules are having their atten-
tion brought to the practical working of
tariff reduction as affecting their own
employment and wages.
1t is one thing to whoop it up for
tariff revision" as an abstract theory
an academic proposition in the campaign
and quite another to face the application
of the theory to particular. factory en-
ploying a certain number of operatives
at wages which are fixed upon the basis
of the protection furnished by the tariff
on imported products.
The leading representatives of all hnss
Of industries have been to Washington
In the past four months. have threshed
over with ways and means committee
men the status of their respective indus
tries, cost of products. wage cost and
the question Of whether they can or can
not stand a reduction of tariff.
Warning to Labor.
These men have gone back to their fac
tories. looked over their books. contem-
plated the state Of trade in the country
generally and have figured out to deci
mails the actual effect Of the proposed re-
ductions in the protection now given.
The result is in many cases a warning
n "a tn f0r lie "A Io
prepared to shorten sail. Official notice
was given yesterday by two great indus
tries-steel and wooden goods manufactur-
ers-that reduction in the tariff will mean
a cut in wages. The hearings before the
ways and means committee fairly TEEN
with similar statements. applied to other
industries.
The reply of the radical revisionists is:
oh. this is the usual threat. the familiar
bugahoo Of the stendpatters. They are
trying to scare the laboring men and the
business interests To which the oppo-
nents of radical revision reply: We'll. you
remember what really did happen after
you passed the Wilson-Gorman bill There
were bare backs and hungry stoma chs in
plenty after you failed to heed the warn
ing them And so it goes.
Real Hue and Cry Later.
But the real hue and cry has not set up
yet. 1t will come when the tariff sched-
committee are actually announced and
the manufacturers face a practical issue.
Then you will hear from the country. 1t
is safe to assume that the public at large
has paid little attention to the hearings
before the committee They were too
technical perhaps. The DEBATES in the
House will attract the interest of the
public. and the wOrkingman. coming
home from the sweat and toll of the day,
will read in the evening papers some per-
tinent facts about his own case.
There will be pulling and hauling from
the various sections: conflicting interests
will clash. and the sparks will fly in the
halls of Congress. Not only will section
be arrayed against section but even the
same interests will be divided. See what
Schwab, the steel magnate. said in his
interview published today-that the steel
plants of the Atlantic seaboard will have
TO bear the brunt of foreign importation,
while the plants in the west can contem-
plate reduction with more complacency.
being protected to an extent by freight
rates. See how the coal miners of ada
cent states. Pennsylvania and West Vir-
ginia. divided over reciprocity with
Canada on coal. Observe the divisions
among the different branches OF the lum-
ber industry. and all along the line.
And the shade of the late Winfield
Scott Hancock the man who was
laughed to death because he said the tar
in was a local issue" Sam Blythe
SAYS. Will IOOk on tnc scene from a perch
above the Speakers rostrum and smile a
Shostly. sardonic smile.
~'Market' Awaits With Fear.
The business world. and especially the
speculative branch OF it, known as 1.-THE
market" Is awaiting with fear and trem-
bling the announcement of the schedules
much decentralization marking the interim
The trouble is that the agony promises to
be long drawn out The interests will
realize pretty soon that the first action on
the tariff schedules, the recommendation OF
the committee on ways and means is far
from being conclusive. Indeed, II cannot
justly be claimed as more than indicative
of trend.
1t is an absolute certainty that the
House will tear that committee bill into
shreds. With the dissentons and differ
ences among the various groups by sec
tions. of democrats and republicans in
the House. it is not regarded possible
to put through an irOn-clad, amendment
proof bill.
And the Senate-wel. words are not
handily available to adequately describe
the ambush which awaits that offspring
OF the ways and means committee when
ii crosses the threshold of the House of
its fathers and ambles s,nateward. There
is an ominous sound in the north end of
the Capitol, Whirring of grindstones and
"A sharpening Of snickersnees. a dampenns
edge of the steel.
Wool hides. lumber steei-these are
four big schedules which there are
almost as many differences as there were
Guesses as to who struck Billy Patterson.
They will have to be composed in the
Senate and II will take some time to do 1t.
Payne Revising Draft of Bill.
Serene f. Payne. the chairman of the
ways and means committee. is person
ally revising the preliminary draft of
the tariff bill. which will go TO the gov
ernment printing office this week. The
present plan is to have the first print
of the bill made without the rates of
duty appearing in it. On the night be-
fore the bill is introduced the rates will
he inserted and a corps of. copy readers
will make the final corrections. No
schedule or provision within the bill is
free from the possibility OF being
changed between now and the day the
bill is introduced. AT the final meeting
of the committee at which the bill will
he passed upon by the republican mem
hers. every item will be reviewed
The proposition TO place duty on cof-
fee is understood to be a matter concern
ing which there Is much difference of
pptniou amon- plefnnerS nf he Suh-