Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1922-08-03
MAKING A TARIFF LAW.
Handful of Men Dictate Provis-
ions of Measure.

consumer, tor every American,
young OF old, little or large, is a
consumer, and every commodity
Of The many thousands that
Americans eat, wear or consume
III any way is touched by the tar
lff, that touch usually meaning
an increase to the consumer, says
d writer in the Dearborn lnde-
pendent.
Under the constitution of the
United STATES all revenue meas
uresLa tariff act Is revenue
measure-must originate III the
house of representatives. There
tore it was,| of course, Ill the
house of representatives that the
McCumber- r'ordney bill, now be-
fore the United States senate,
had its origin.
The first stage Of the enact
ment OF the pending bill began
Oh January y, 1921, when the
ways and means committee OF the
house began open hearings pre-
liminary to what was announced
would be u permanent revision OF
the tariff. These hearings con-
tinued for about three weeks and
after the hearings had been com
pleted the minority members OF
the ways and means committee
in this congress they are Demo
crats-were excluded, and the IL
majority, or Republican mem
bcrs, were divided into some half
dozen subcommittees. TO each OF
these subcommittee was assigned
the task of fixing the rates. The
regular rules of the house were
suspended and the bill was then
put through the house under the
gag rule.
When the bill reached the sen-
Aate it was referred TO the finance
committee, Of which the late Sen
atora'enrose Of Pennsylvania was
chairman. There the formality
of hearings was again gone into
just as it had been i'll the house
committee. These closed, again
the minority membership the
Dcmocrats-were excluded, and
the majority, or Republican,
members, sat themseles down to
write, or rather rewrite, the bill
The only departure from the
plan the house committee adopt
cd was that the majority mem
bers made themselves singl,
committee -of-the-whole instead OF
into subcOmmittees.
This accounts in some measure
fol the fact that it required tho
senate committee SO much Longer
10 rewrite the bill than it had re
quired the house committee tt
write it in the beginning. Afte1
months of work the bill was II
nally reported to, the senate b.
the chairman of the finance com
mittee, Senator McCumber O.
North Dakota, who succeeded t.
the important post OF the lat
Senator ~PenrOse. Supposedly l
is being deliberated upon in tn
senate chamber at this time, an'
IT, is being considered after
fashion. 1t is being debated any
where from & to II hours daily
and is likely to be debated fo
many, many weeks, for under tn
senate rules, unlike those OF tn
house, debate may not be limited
save by two-thirds vote, am
that the majority can't muster
But regardless of the importanc
Of the item under consideration
or how important the industr
affected by the proposed rate o
duty, it is an actual fact tina
there are seldom more than
dozen senators on the floor dul
ing the debate, and frequentl
the number does not exceed
half dozen.
Chairman McCnmber in charg
Of the bill, and Senator Smoo
next ranking Republican men
ber Of the finance committee
who probably knows more abot
wshat is in the bisl than anybod