Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1911-05-26
SCHEDULE X IS
FULL Of SNAGS
Democrats Find First Attack on
Tariff Not Very Easy.
PARTY HARMONY is IN PERIL
Anderson's Pension Bill Causes En-
barrassment in the House-Granue
Joins in Attack on Steel Trust
Harmon and the Ohio
Scandal.
BY WILLIS j, ABBOT.

by Willis v. ABDUL
Washington.-The dissension among
the Democratic members Of the ways
and means committee, which has been
noted already in the newspapers, is
very real and rather serious. 1t all
grows out of Schedule K" the wool
schedule, which during the campaign
the Democrats gayly promised would
be the first of the enemy's works upon
which they would move Now they
find the attack not quite so easy. AS
one of the members of the committee
said to me:
For almost score Of years the
wool men have been loading down the
schedule with technicaliites, intended
to obscure it's meaning and confuse
the neophyte, until now it is as com
plicated as one Of the late Sam
Lloyd's puzzles. Immediately after the
adjournment of the regular session last
March we began employing experts to
unravel the tangle, and to figure out
the effect of various changes in the
schedule on the wool grower and the
WOODEN manufacturer. We have had
ten Of these expert gentlemen thus far,
and today seem about as far from a
solution Of the problem as ever Many
of our members favor free wool That
is good Democratic doctrine, but it
means an immediate loss of about $20,-
100000 in revenue. A few months
hence We might be able to do this pru-
IDENTITY if the procession of states adopt
ing the income tax continues. Only
five more are needed now. But it will
be months, perhaps year or more, be-
fore this resource will become avail
able, and meantime we cannot sacri-
fee the wool revenue.
Mr.. Andersons Plan
Then there are some of our members
who advocate an immediate cut in the
duty with continuing fixed annual re-
auctions until the desired goal of free
wool should be attained The present
duty IS 35 per cent. Chairman Oscar
Underwood favors an immediate cut
OF Is per cent, or even 20 per cent,
and a further reduction of three per
cent every year until the entire duty
Is wiped out. Would that involve any
loss in revenue? Experience shows
that a cut in duties stimulates i'm
portations so that up to certain point
the lower duties produce in
creased revenues They would slim
ulate manufactures in this country,
both foreign and domestic How much?
That is one of the problems with
which our ten experts have been crap
ping.
Finally two members of our com
mittee stand frankly for strictly pro-
tective duty on wool They are in
too small minority to affect the COM
mittee's action, but their position en-
phasizes differences of opinion which
will inevitably delay our report. A
caucus of the party may become nee
esssry."
Any material delay in presenting the
new wool schedule to the house. or
port itself, will mark the first break
in the Democratic discipline this ses-
sion. Thus far in committee and on
the floor the Democratic program has
proceeded as smoothly as a river of oil
Or, as cynical Republican put it to
a Dragging group of his political foes,
las placidly as the Niagara river few
miles above the falls But it will be
a marvel if Schedule X does not dis
turb this sweet dream of peace Had
the difficulties which beset that SEIZED
ule been apprehended earlier, it is
probable that the iron and steel
schedule would have been reported
ahead of it, but the subcommittee
in charge Of that task could not be
ready on such short notice. Some
Democratic congressman deplore this.
Anderson Embarrasses Democrats.
In the Ohio delegation is a
representative, Carl G. Anderson,
just beginning his second term. Mr..
Anderson is a member of the commit
tee on invalid pensions, and further
has pension bill of his own which
contemplates the addition of about
S45,000,000 to the annual pension roll.
These facts plus Mr.. Anderson's
'pernicious activity" have caused the
house Democrats much concern and
almost sent the Ohio congressman in
to exile to escape the reproaches Of
his outraged colleagues
For be 1t known the Democrats hate
to vote for additional pensions. Par
ticularly do they object to increasing
the budget by S45,000,000 at a time
when they are DESTROYS of putting on
the free list many articles of import
that now bring in revenue. On the
other hand they do not desire to vote
against pension bill on the eve of a
presidential election. The 'old sol
der vote" Is a serious factor in Indi-
ana, Ohio and New York, and if the
veterans do not always vote as they
shot, they are apt to vote as their ap-
petite fsr pensions suggests. So the
Anderson bill was immured in COM
mittee there to anguish and die.
Unhappily for Democratic strategy,