The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-06-07

| important one yet adopted.
He showed also how he voted fol
other changes which have practically
taken the control of legislation out OF
the hands of the speaker and which all
the insurgents" by the way, voted
| against.
About the Rules Committee.
AS proof of the exaggerated impor-
lance which many people attach to the
committee on rules, he read from the
| Record to show that SO far from abso-
! lutely controlling all legislation, as the
insurgents have tried to make 1t ap-
pear, this committee, in fact, but sell
dom touches any bill.
In the Fifty-eighth congress, for ex-
ample, 4,O41 bills were passed and
| only eight were touched in any way
/ Fifty-ninth congress 6,940 acts were
I passed and ten of them came in con-
tact with the committee on rules. In
| the Sixtieth congress, with 1851 acts'
only two bills were brought up on the
| floor by the committee on rules. And
so far in this session, although some
thing like 5000 bills have been passed,
the committee on rules has not made
single report.
his intention to make some remarks
about the speaker of the house, but he
had noticed in a recent editorial In the
Kansas city Star this sentences:
at isn't Cannon that the real in
SurgenIS In ana Out VI COA6iOS9 AAe~'N
been fighting"
In the face of that admission, which
so clearly exposed the hypocrisy OF the
whole Cannon and Cannonism cam.
paign, Mr.. Scott said that 1t dld not
seem to be necessary to spend any
time on the subject. He merely ex-
pressed the hope that somebody would
carry the news to his dlstlngulSneo
opponent that he must either quit
fighting Cannon or expose h1mSef 70
% denounced nv the
Kansas City Star as not real out
only a sham "insurgent."
The Payne Tariff Law.
Turning from these merely personal
matters and taking up the tariff ques-
ton, Mr.. Scott sketched rapidly the
way in which the Payne law had been
made. showing that instead of being
written by Aldrich and Cannon as the
reckless muckrakers nave tried 10
make it appear, it was really made by
committee of eighteen men, VINO
worked night and day upon 1t for
many months.
He quoted from Champ Clark, the
Democratic leader, who declared thar
he had never done such hard work IN
his life as he did on this bill, and he
wanted to place himself on record as
declaring that every man on the COM
mittee worked with no. other thought
than honestly to get at the truth anc
make the best bill they could.
He declared that the duties had been
lowered on practically every article of
necessity, particularly upon all food
stuffs, and that the increase had been
on luxurieS or, so small in amount as
rot to affect the retail prices. He
pointed out the singular fact that the
prices of many articles upon which
the duty had been reduced had risen,
while the prices of some upon which
the duty has been increased had fallen,
showing how impossible. it is to ex-
plain the tendency of prices by the
tariff.
If Failure to Pass Payne Law.
Pointing out the fact that failure to
pass the Payne law would have left the
Dingley law in effect. he showed that
those who voted against the Payne
law voted against free trade with the
Philippines, against the maximum and
minimum law, whereby we have been
able to compel other nations to treat
us fairly, against the corporation tax
law, against the tariff board which
President Taft believes to be the most
vital part of the bill, and against
heavy reductions in duties on steel.
shoes, harness, lumber, and scores OF
other things.
So far from not being a general re-
vision downward, Mr.. Scott declared
that there is much evidence to show
that in some of the schedules at least
the duties had been reduced too much
rather than too little. He cited the re-
cent heavy importations of shoes and
cotton and other goods from Europe
and referred to the fact that pig iron
bad recently been laid down in Seat
tie from China cheaper than it could
be brought across the continent from
Pittsburg.
He dwelt upon the great advantages
which have accrued to American trade
from the maximum and minimum
clause of the new law, and predicted
that the tariff board created by the
law would result in obtaining accurate
information upon which to base future
tariffs which would go far to take this
vexed question out of politics, and to
give the country really scientific and
accurate tariff law.
The Work of Congress.
Mr.. Scott then discussed briefly the
work of the present session of con-
gress, referring to the new railroad bill,
postal savings banks and other import
ant measures, and closed with a strong
appeal to Republicans to lay aside the
differences which had sprung up among
them by reason of misunderstanding
and false representation, and work to-
eether in support of Republican princi-
pies and the Republican administration.
1.-The issue in this primary campaign
said Mr.. Scott in conclusion, lis the
integrity of the Republican party. Shall
it's organization be upheld and its dis
Cipline be maintained so that it may re-
main in the future. as it has been in
the past an effective instrument of
government, able to enact it's pledges
into law and thus fulfill its duty to the
country; or shall 1t be disrupted and
demoraized by the strange doctrine
that Democratic newspapers shall die
tate it's nominations and that the mi
nority snail rule?
That is the question that confronts
the Republicans of the Second district
in the preliminary campaign, AMI can
not bring myself to believe there is
any doubt what their answer will be.
Il cannot bring myself to believe that
the Republican party of this district
wants to secede from the Republican
party of the nation. Secession has
rever been a popular doctrine among
the people of Kansas and 1 don't be-
lieve it will be now.