Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-07-12
HOPE TO adjust
TARIFF TANGLE
President Will Seek to Line Up
Republicans at Confer
ence Tomorrow
ELASTIC PROVISION cRux
Me- CLINTON w. GILBERT


conyright, foaa, bv Public Ledger Company
washington, July 12.-The confer
.rco between President Harding and the
Senate leaders which will probably take
n,,ce tomorrow will have most impor.
tnnt hearing or, the fate of tariff, leg
;s,otion. As matters stand the Senate
10 moving toward deadlock on the
senator Edges speech yesterday, de.
.,or,ng that he would vote against the
toriff bill unless wide elastic provision
s;ving the President authority to ad-
' Inst rates should be adopted has brought
{ ;bo opposition toia focus. Am6ng others
| 10 senator Jones, Of Washington, who
will sneak in n few days. going even
further than Mr.. Edge in his opposition
! TO the bill.
delegation Of Legislative powers to create
4 tariff commission having as great an
authority over duties rs the Interstate
commerce Commission has over railroad
rstes Mr.. Jones will also vote against
the tariff bill unless the tariff commits.
sion features are strengthened.
On the other hand. the old fashioned
tariff advocates like McCumber and
members of the agricultural bloc like
Gooding are opposed to the elastic fea-
tures and to the enlargihg OF the tariff
COMMISSIONS powers.
Democrats Look for Issue
The Democrats for partisan reasons
will oppose the elastic provisions, hop
Inc TO make the tariff the issue against
tbe Republican party in the coming
campaign. A deadlock on the tarif ana
-. n..I kA tc hn
Have. will be disastrous to the party In
nowrr ms an evidence of its incompe-
tsnce md because the business interests
NJ the country wish tariff legislation rs
soon as possible In order to know where
they stand. =,
Either a deadlock or a passage OF the
thrift without the elastic features will,
Il is believed by the Democrats, accrue
10 the advantage of themselves.
The most moderate Of the elastic pro-
visions Is the committee amendment
known as 315 A, which provides that
the President may raise or lower rates
fxed in the bill to the extent of 80
per cent. This provision satisfies Mr..
Edge. but it does not 90 far enough to
satisfy Mr.. Jones. Senator Freling-
huysen would also strengthen the Tar
If Commission. but it is not known
whether he will vote against the bill
unless the elastic clause is adopted.
Since the speech Of Senator Edge
there has been much talk Of not at.
tempting to pass tariff legislation at
this session. But the bill with the
elastic features and the Strengthening
of the Tariff Commission may be made
The coming campaign and the need for
action is so great that every effort will
be made to unite the party upon an
elastic tariff program III the con.
ference with President Harding.
May Win Over Old Guard :.
II is believed the President will be
able 20 force the extreme protectionists
Of the McCumber- Gooding type into
line at least for the 315 A amendment.
The position taken by Senators Edge
and LenrOot and to be taken by Senator
Jones and perhaps also by Senator
Poindexter will aid him in accomplish
Ing this. - -,
IN doubt until the final vote is taken
after the conference committees Of both
houses have made their report. About
chances of delay are enormous. About
1900 amendments remain to be disposed
Of. Progress Is slow. Opinion is
divided. No open filibustering is neces-
sary to delay the measure until 1t be.
comes impossible to reach a vote before
election.
The Democrats wish to avoid the re.
sponsibility for filbustering the bill to
death.
Prospects Of Passage Dim
Nevertheless the prospects Of legis.
lation never looked DINNER than they
do on the eve of the conference between
the Senate leaders and the President.
The estimated date of final passage
is steadily being put back. One OF
the best judges Of the legislation Sit
uati0n among the Senate leaders
short time ago named September 10