The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1910-05-27

Senator McCumber was ell
ected as a membe of the fin-
ance committee of the senate
on March 22, 1909. This is one
of the committees Of the high
est rank in the senate and was
especially an important COM
mittee in the special session Of
the sixty-frst congress, for to
this committee was referred
the tariff bill as it was passed
the house. The committees Of
the senate report through their
chairmen and the chairmen Of
the committees always has
charge of the legislation re
ported from the committee.
Senator Aldrich was chairman
of the finance committee and
as such reported it and had
charge of it during it's passage
through the senate. No mea-
sure will be even considered by
the senate unless favorably re
ported by a committee and,as a
rule, the senate accepts the
determination of it's com
mittees. The house tariff bill
was amended in many essential
features by the finance COM
mittee of the senate and then
recommended to pass. s7se%
Some of the newspapers of
the state have already severely
and occasionally malevolently
criticised the senator's work in
connection with the tariff bill.
yet none have cited any facts
substantiating their accusa-
tons. The senator has not an
swered these criticisms. We
submit his record during the
special session to the people as
a complete answer. Let them
take it and Judge for them
selves.
The national republican plat
form pledged a revision of the
tariff. That Senator McCum-
Der understood to mean in most
cases a downward revision,
measured by the difference in
cost of production at home and
abroad. This work he took up
with three great principles in
mind. First: The party pledge
must be redeemed; second:
The law must adequately pro-
tect the interests of the wage
Garner and of all classes of the
American people, and especial
ly the agricultural interests of
the people of North Dakota;
third: That the real purpose
of the tariff law is to raise suf-
ficient revenue to meet the
growing expenditures of the
government and the schedules
of the law must always -recog-
nize this principle. He favored
substantial reductions of duties
in most instances, but for the
retention of duties affording
adequate protection to the pro-
ducts of the tillers of the soil,
he fought valiantly and sue
cessfully. AS proof of these
declarations we cite few
amendments which he offered.
On page 1913 of the Congress
sional Record he offered an
amendment placing barbed
wire on the free list. He Sc
cured duty of one-fourth of
one cent per pound, being a
reduction of thirty-seven per
cent of the Dingley rate.
fOn page 3717 he moved to
insert. the house provision,
placing bituminous coal on the
free list. He advocated free
coal. Unable to secure that he
accepted a compromise of 45
cents per ton and 10 cents per
ton for slack, being a reduction
of 33 per cent of the Dingley
rate. Anthracite coal is on the
free list.
On page 1875 he offered an
amendment providing for free
lumber. He very earnestly ad-
vocated free lumber. and his
discussion of that. subject ap-
pears on forty four pages Of the
record. However, the lumber
interests Of the coast, through
their representatives in the
senate, insisted on protection
Iagainst the Hindoo and other
cheap oriental labor Of British
Columbia, asserting that unless
such protection was given them
lthey would be forced out Of