El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-04-13

wv HEN the Saith congress assem-
NJ bled in December. 1895,
Thomas B. Reed of Maine
was elected speaker, and he appointed
as chairman of the ways and means
committee a representative from his
own state-Nelson Dingley. On De-
cember &c Mr.. Dingley reported a tar
if bill imposing a duty on wool of co
percent o4 the schedule assessed In
the Mckinley act, and making an adj
dition Of Is percent to the duties i'm
posed by the Wilson German act on
a large number of manufactured ar
ticles. The bill contained a proviso
that no duty should exceed that as
sessed by the Mckinley act Of 1890.
This bill was considered under special
rule and was passed by an overwhelm-
ing majority after only four hours OF
debate 1t went to the senate, where
it was referred to the finance COM
mittee.
Although the Republicans had a
nominal majority of that committee,
it was, in fact, controlled by the free
silverites. The committee adopted as
a substitute for the house tariff Dill
a measure providing for the free COIN
age of silver and instructed its CHAIR
man, the venerable senator Morrill,. to
he performed with reluctance and sad
ness. Thus ended the career Of the
first DingIey bill. and thus began the
two years struggle between the gold
and silver forces which resulted IN
1896 in the election Of William McKin-
ley to be president.
Mckinley Cells Extra Session.
President Mckinley called an extra
session Of the 55th congress to meet on
March Is, 1897. The ways and means
committee had held hearings during
the life OF the preceding congress ana
on the first day of the session Mr.
Dingley introduced a tariff bill ito
provide revenue for the government
and to encourage the industries of the
United States" which was referred 10
the committee on ways and means.
Speaker Reed who had been reelected.
then announced the appointment Oh
the new ways and means committee
with Mr.. Dingley as its chairman
Four days later Mr.. Dingley reported
the bill back to the house. and spe-
cial rule was adopted which provided
for a vote on March 81, and which
prevented the offering Of amendments
by Democrats or any members opposed
to the bill Under this stringent rule
the bill was passed by the house as
recommended by the committee with
out change, and was sent to the SEN
ate
Has EveutfuI Career.
No tariff bill ever passed had such
an uneventful career in congress as
the Direiey act. But. as always has
been the case, the senate was out pre-
pared TO accept the house bill. and the
senate organization did not possess the
machinery to enforce immediate action
so desired.
In the senate the bill was taken up
by Mr.. Aldrich, and in the S72 amend
merits which the senate passed MT
AIdrich was the moving power. As
a matter of fact Mr.. Aldrich had more
TO do with the Mckinley bill than did
Mckinley. more to do with the Ding
ley bin than did Dingley, and more
to do with the Payre-Aldrich bill thsn
did Payne; although it was not until
the last bill was passed in 1903 that
his name was hyphenated with that of
the chairman Of the ways and means
committee Of the house as the JOINT
author Of the measure
Comes Up In Senate.
The Dingley bill was taken up III
the senate on Nav %. 1897. Mr. Al
drieh explaining at length the charac-
fer of the changes proposed the COM
nfttee amendments were mostly re-
auctions Of the duties assessed In the
house bill. a fact that resulted from
the peculiar constitution OF the
finance committee which was COM
posed of six Republicans, six Demo
Gratis and senator Jones OF Nevada
who classed himself as a silver Re
nubIican." but who had supported
Bryan for president. Mr. Jones held
the balance of power in the commit
tee and the Republican majority IN
the senate was so narrow that 1t was
necessary to make concessions to the
silver element
But after June l senator Aldrich
frequently withdrew committee amend
ments proposing reduction of duties
from the house rates and Gston offered
amendments actually increasing the
house duties. The result was that
when the senate got through with It's
work the general scale Of duties was
higher than that of the house bill, IN