The Ward County independent., 1921-09-08
WASHINGTON NEWS
LETTER
BY PARKER LA MOORE

: BY PARKER LA MOORE 81
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The Senate Finance Committee, Of
which Senator McCumber is menl-
Der, has settled down to . months
hard work on the tariff and tax laws
which are to be whipped into shape
for presentation to Congress when the
recess ends September 2lst. Hear
ings will be concluded first upon the
tariff bill, and the new revenue meas
ure will then be considered. Both
bills have passed the House.
The committee is still very much
in the air as to the exact nature of
the bill to be reported. The House
bill. is not satisfactory to some men,
bers and changes in the bill are likely
to be made. Senator Smoot, Of
Utah, one of the authorities in Con-
gress on revenue and financial MAJ
tiers, has come forward with an en-
tirely new bill based upon the sales
tax proposal and has stated that he
will press the bill for favorable ac-
tion despite the attitude Of Senator
Penrose, chairman of the committee
who is disposed to frown upon the
Smoot proposal. Since the tariff bill
is still holding the attention of the
committee the comparative strength
of the two leaders has not yet mani
tested itself. The House Commit
tee ON Ways and Means considered
the sales tax proposal for time, and
at least one of the committee men,
bers, Bacarach, of New Jersey, open
" espoused its cause, but as the COM
mittee settled down to business the
propoition fell by the wayside aad
the bill that passed the House was
reported in much the same general
form as the bill now before the Sem
ate committee.
The tariff bill will be reported to
the same when the revenue bill has
been disposed of. A change will
have been made in the wool schedules
but the measure will otherwise be
much the same as when it passed the
House.
Senator Borah's bill which would
exempt American vessels from pay
ing Panama Canal tolls will be con-
sidered when the Senate meets again,
an agreement having been reached
before the recess that q vote would
be had upon the bill October 10th.
Other measures demanding early at
tention are the Graham resolution
imposing a heavy tax upon A. %. F.
war materials reimported from
France for sale in this country, and
a measure extending the life of the
farmers emergency tariff bill. The
revenue revision bill will be given
priority in the Senate in accordance
with the wishes of the administration
and since the emergency tariff, which
expires by limitation November 9th.
would otherwise 60 out of effect be-
fore the enactment of the permanent
tariff law resolution has been Of.
fered by Congressman George M
Young, North Dakota, extending the
application of the present law fol
two months.
Although the House will also re-
convene September 21st, it will then
hold three day recesses, during which
no important business will be trans
acted, until October 3rd, by whicn
time it is expected the Senate will
have passed upon the tax bill.
The House of Representatives will
probably make short work of the rev
enue bill when it is returned from the
Senate unless drastic changes have
been made in the act which are not IN
accord with the views of House lead
ers. The House program thereafter
is not as yet fully announced and it
may be some time before the tariff
bill is>ready for conference. Repre-
sentative Fordney, q strong friend OF
adjusted compensation legislation fo1
the ex-service men, in a recent speech
in Michigan stated that soldiers
bonus bill would be enacted by Con-
gress by December. Fordney intro.
duced such bill upon the opening OF
the present session and this may mean
that he intends to press his bill TO,
action when the House is once more
underway. Such a bill passed the
House in the last Congress and would
no doubt pass the present one if il
should be reported. This would mean
a "passing Of the buck" back to- the
Senate Finance committee. This
committee, it will be recalled, report.
ed the McCumber bill and then had il
returned by the motion Of its own
chairman, following the request Of
President Harding. However, the
President then intimated that he would