Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-11

| sage Of this bill the democrats elected
| the President and
Republican Control the House of
X presentatives
~ VIC 0oAo'o' but the Senate
returned to republican control. The Mills
| bill, the democratic tariff measure which
| had for its chief feature free raw ma
terial. was defeated. President Cleve-
| land decided to force the fighting, and
in 1SsS he conducted his campaign for
reelection chiefly upon the tariff issue.
| The election resulted in his defeat, the
election of Benjamin Harrison as Presi-
dent and a republican majority in both
| houses of Congress-eight in the House
and two in the Senate. Notwithstanding
this narrow margin the republicans de-
| termtned to revise the tariff along pro-
| tective lines
The new Congress, the Fifty-first OPEN
ed with a storm. Thomas b. Reed was
elected Speaker of the House after he had
| defeated Mckinley In the republican eau
Gus. Mckinley then was made chairman
of the ways and means committee, upon
! which he had served for many years.
| By unseatinS democratic members whose
elections were contested, the republican
| ma jOrity was increased from eight to
twenty-five; by the revolution of the rules
the dilatory tactics of the filbustering
democrats we're checkmated, and at last
| the republicans were in position to push
| through their bill.
| The ways and means committee in this
Congress was one of the strongest ever
| constituted. 1t consisted of eight republic
| cans-William Mckinley Of Ohio, after
| ward President; julius G. Burrows Of
Michigan. afterward senator: Thomas M.
Bayne of Pennsylvania, Nelson Dingley,
jr.. of Maine, afterward author af tariff
| bill: Joseph T.. Mckenna of California,
now a justice of the United States SUI
prcme Court: Serene +. Payne Of New
| York, afterward author of another tariff
| bill; Robert NJ. La Toilette of Wisconsin,
afterward governor and now senator
and John Ii. Gear of Iowa, afterward a
senator. The five democrats on the COM
mittee were John q. Carlisle Of Kentucky,
| afterward senator and Secretary Of the
Treasury; Roger Q. Mills of Texas. after
ward senator; Benton McMillin of TeI<
nessee, afterward governor of his state;
! Clifton r. Breckenridge of Arkansas, aft
erward ambassador to Russia, and Ros-
| well =. Flower Of New York, afterWard
governor Of the empire state.
| Il
| The basis of the Mckinley bill as re-
ported to Congress was the Aldrich meas
ure which the
Aldrich Gave Base Senate had
for Mckinley Bill. substitute for
the Mills bill in the preceding Congress,
but upon this basis Maj Mckinley and
his associates built superstructure char
acterized by many novel departures from
the established lines of tariff legislation.
| Three features Of the bill were especially
! remarkable The first was that it in
| Guided protective duties upon all agri-
| cultural products save one-sugar. Sec
| II ;a1 in NJ
tariff for sugar bounty of cents per
pound on all sugar grown in the United
| States. And. third. it placed protec-
| tive duty OH tin plates, which had never
| been manufa ctured in the United States.
| the object being to create an opportunity
| for the establishment of a new industry.
| The Mckinley tariff bill in its title was
| denominated "a bill to reduce revenue.
to equalize duties on imports and for
| other purposes" The one marked re-
duction of duty in the hill was the free
| sugar. proposition. which. unfortunately
| for the republicans. did not go into effect
| until several months after the bill was
| passed and not until after the republican
party had suffered the most humiliating
| defeat of its entire career. The free
sugar and bounty proposition was struck
out OF the tariff law four years later
and has not yet been reinstated. but the
| other two novel features OF the Mckin-
| ley bill are, and have been for many
years, fixtures in our tariff system.
| Agricultural products are still protected,
| the Mckinley bill provisions being re-
| vived in the Dngley act. and continued
| in the Payne-Aldrich law. Tin plates
| still are protected. and the tin plate in
| dustry has been permanently established
| i'm the United States. The Mckinley bill
| was a success in SO far as it was, designed
| to reduce the revenue. perhaps even a.
| greater success than its authors intended
| 1t increased duties on so many COM
modities which 1t designed to protect that
| importations fell off and the receipts from
| the custom houses suffered correspondence
| ly. The result was that the surplus in
| the Treasury was dissipated and in its
| stead a deficit appeared. The greatest los;
| to the revenues resulted from the free
sugar schedules. while at the same time
\ the expenditures were increased on ac-
| count of the domestic sugar bounty.
| Tariff historians agree that although
Senator Adrich perfected the bill, ad.
justed and har-
Brought the Farmer monized its provi-
Into Partnership. o o,uns a.; ano S worked
| Mckinley is entitled to the credit of con-
ceving the general purpose and scope of
| the measure. He rendered to the cause OF
protection an invaluable service when he
| threw the mantle Of discriminating duties
L