The Washington herald., 1913-09-22
TARIFF CONFERENCE
TO END THURSDAY
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gress. who have been w,un.n-
| form of substitute for the Clarke cotton
| tax amendment have about agreed and
i, is now expected that the conference
will have little trouble on this featRe
! Of the tariff bill.
The proposed substitute is along the
| lines of what has come to be known as
! the Smith-Lever amendment. so called
because senator HOke Smith proposed
il in he Democratic caucus as sub
stitute for the Clarke amendment. and
Representative Lever Of South Carolina
has been advocating it in the House.
II provides nine standards OF CONNER
cial cotton and requires that whenever
trader in cotton for future delivery is
called on for settlement he shall he re-
quircd 90 make good on the basis of
value of one OF the nine standard grades
to he prescribed in the law. Failing to
do 80. he shall he penalized by a tax
Of 50 cents a bale for each bale of cot
ton covered by his contract for which
there was no actual delivery.
Unless there is change in the situation
the cotton-taN amendment will take the
form outlined above, and the only work
confronting the COnferees IS to put the
substitute in language that will express
Inc meaning ana intent VI Allt law =
makers and not he open to misconCep-
tion or be rendered invalid by the courts
because OF antiquities.
Tariff conferees will resume their work
this morning. Many important matters
in the schedules and free list still are
in disagree ement The date when the
wool duties shall go into effect is one
o. the most important Inc House made
the wool schedule effective Immediately
on the passage of the bill. The Senate
amended the bill to provide that free
raw wool duties should take effect De
ccmber l, and the lower duties on the
manufacture of wool should go into
effect January l next
Burlaps and bags in the jute schedule
are still in the balance Two important
paragraphs affecting cotton cloths and
cotton threads and yarns are in dis
pute. Lead and zinc, which have been
fought over almost from the day the con-
ference began, are still unsettled. In all,
ten or twelve paragraphs are in dispute
in the schedules and free fist.
Following the disposition of these mat
ters and possibly before the conferees
will take up the income tax. 1t is GER
tain to lead to considerable negotiation
before an agreement can be reached. The
customs administrative features drawn
by the House were almost entirely re-
written by the Senate, and then in their
hopeless quest for a solution of the prob
lem the Senate Committee reported In
favor of a joint commission of the two
houses to revise and codify the customs
laws. 1t is expected that
there will he sharp controversy in the
conference over the administrative fea-
lures.
Chairman Simmons said yesterday that
he hoped the conference would conclude
Its work by Wednesday night, and it is
understood that the conferees will work
to bring about an agreement in time TO
have the report go to the houses on |
Thursday, but they admit that it is a |
task they have set for them |
selves. 1t may take the entire week to |
bring the bill out of conference.
Most of the estimates in Congress are |
that the President will have the bill be- |
fore him for his signature about Oc- |
tober /.