The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-04
DEMOCRATS MAY PASS WOOL BILL
 OVER TAFT VETO Cotton Tariff Bill Passes House By Vote of
 POP to 91
UNDERWOOD MAKES
 STRATEGIC MOVE
Secures Adoption of Amendment Put ting Lemons on the Free List. Wool Conference Between
 House and Senate

" dSHlDr tOn, iuS dct fouPPSi sSN 's all the democrats and by 30 insurgent republicans, the democratic cotton tariff bill, the third of the big tariff revision measures brought forward by the dem- ocratic House of Representatives, passed that body early this evening by 2o2 to 91 The bill cuts the average tariH on cotton manufactured goods from 4s to 27 per cent ad valorem. 2l per cent reduction in the duty that the demo- cratic estimate would reduce revenue by about $3,0o0.OO
 Not an amendment was offered to the bill, although the republicans attacked it vigorously on account oS alleged in- creases in certain items over the rates of the Payne-Aldrich law.
 Scarcely had the cheers that greeted the passage of the cotton revision Diii subsided when Democratic Leader un- derwood, calling up the free list plil as
 it passed the Senate few days ago accomplished a strategic move which surprised the republicans.
 MT Underwood asked for a confer ence on all the amendments to the Tree list bill except that of Senator Gronna of North Dakota, putting cement on the free list. He urged that the House ac- cept that amendment, adding to IL lemons.
 Pacific coast republicans made inef- fectual attempts to stop this sudden and unexpected putting of lemons on the free list but the amendment carried. The change gave the House democrats what they claimed to be an added ad- vantage in dealing with the Senate In the conference committee.
 Call Absent Members
 Tonight the republican leaders in both houses of Congress called in absent mem bersl from all parts of the country in prep aration for threatened attempt or the democrats to pass the wool tarlH Diii over the Presidents veto. The demo- cratic leaders in the House have asserted within the last 24 hours that they have the necessary two-thirds majority to pass the wool bill over the Presidents veto, and have been doing effective missionary work in the Senate today. The republican managers in the House insist tonight that they have enough votes to prevent the two thirds majority in support of the wool bill.
 The wool conference will start at 10 O clock tomorrow morning, when the com mittee of the House and Senate will meet in the effort to effect a compromise. It IS possible that the compromise can be se- cured at one sitting of the committee, in which case the bill will come back to the two houses tomorrow or Saturday Speaker Clark tonight appointed as con- ference committee on the free list bill the same conferees who will act on the wool. bill, Representatives Underwood, Randell of Texas and Harrison of New York, democrats; Payne and Dalzell, re- publicans.
 The progressive republicans who voted for the cotton bill today were Represen- tatives Akin of New York, Anderson, Davis, Lindbergh, Miller. Steenerson and Vostead of Minnesota; Esch. Kipp, Lem root, Morse and Nelson of Wisconsin; French of Idaho Hanna and Helgerson of North Dakota; Haugen Hubbard and Woods of Iowa; Jackson, Madison, Reese and Young of Kansas; Lafferty of Ore gon; Kent and Stephens of California; Kinkaid, Norris and Sloan of Nebraska LaFolette and Warburton of Washing ton.
 Democratic Caucus Attacked
 Eitter attacks on democratic caucus methods by Representative Payne of New Tory and other republican leaders and a charge by Representative Prouty of Iowa, republican insurgent, supported by Rep resen.ative Mccall of Mass chusetts and Representative Hill of Connecticut, that the Underwood bill made enormous in- creases in the tariff on certain cotton cloth manufactured In southern mills, marked the closing hours of debate on the cotton bill.
 Former Republican Speaker Cannon up- held the democratic caucus policy, de- claring that this is government ny narty organization while Representa- tive Ienroot. republican insurgent earn estly defended the cotton measure and dcnounced the attempts of his fellow re- publicans to make it appear that the bill revised any schedule upward.
 Representative Prouty said that until today he had intended to support the cotton bill. but figuring with his pen Gil. he found that the ad valorem rates on cotton cloth valued at between z and F cents, a type of cloth manufactured almost entirely in southern mills had actually been increased as high as 2o0 per vent above the Payne bill rates. Democratic Leader Underwood replied that ad valorem tariff schedules had to be hAed on an average basis placing oerta'n rates between two lines, ton and bottom. and that MT Prouty had picked out the single schedule, under which there was an apparent increase. He said that under this schedule last year just Sl]i0 of the s7Oo,OO0.0OO worth of cotton goods consumed in this country were i'm ported. He asserted that MT. Prouty's s | charge was too trivial to be treated seri- ously
 Representative Harrison of New York a member of the ways and means com nitlee, ealing the charge "picayunish and conie,nptible,' said ''I am not southern r,an. bu; I absolutely repudiate the jn- situations that any sectonalsm or fa- vor las been shown in this bill'' Representative Payne moved the bill bs recommitted to be held in commit tee until the tariff board reports at the regular session in December. The mo- ton was lost without roll call. Then the