Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-19
SLOW TARIFF MAKING.

oIOV AMI AIAl1\O
MO wonder Senator Nc Cumber, in
~ charge of the republican tariff
bill, lost his head and his temper
the other day in the senate when
he charged that a conspiracy of
republican newspapers, importers
and department stores were in
league to discredit and delay his
high tariff bill. The senate COM
mittee over which the North Da-
kota senator presides, made 1887
amendments to the house tariff
bill. They were many months at
the job. Every sort of interest sent
a representative to { the major
ity members of the committee. The
democratic members were excluded
from the hearings SO that they
would not get wise to the argu-
ments used by the representatives
of these special interests. In near
ly every instance these representa-
tives wanted a higher rate than the
high rates given them in the lower
house bill, and in nearly every case
they got what they came for. The
2,2S7 senate amendments to the
house tariff bill we're pretty near
all raises. Since the bill has been
reported to the senate 200 of these
amendments have been acted on. It
has taken the senate seven weeks
to act on these two hundred amend
ments. In a good many OF them
the action taken by the senate has
: been to cut down the rate to the
house figures or below them. In
a number of these cases the evil
dence submitted of their outrage
Gus character has been so strong
that the committee that granted
these rates has itself moved to cut
them down. There are still more
than 1000 Of these amendments to
be considered by the senate and
if it consumes the same amount of
time on them that it did IN the first
two hundred, it will take about
70 weeks to reach the last one.
Long before that time the present
congress will be dead and a new
congress take its place, and then
the whole solemn farce would have
to be done over again.
No wonder the republican lead
ers are in something of a panic
over the situation. Once more
they are talking about cloture and
some method Of shutting off debate
and pushing their tariff bill through
in bulk without giving separate
consideration to the items in it.
There is ever some talk Of post
poning it until after election and
then putting it through before this
congress expires next March. They
will hardly dare to do that. how
ever. 1t would be too plain and
open confession Of their incapacity.
Their reputation as a do-nothing
congress is already too notorious.
Failure to pass a tariff bill would
be a confession of the justice of
their bad reputation in this respect.
Then there is the president
pounding congress on the tail to
pass the ship subsidy bill before it
adjourns. He is even willing to
lay the tariff bill aside to get that
done. But the ship subsidy bill is
not going to get through the SEN
ate without a lot of debate, unless
the republicans can get some sort
of cloture on that bill bill. also.
This would seem very doubtful as
a good many republican senators
from the west are understood to be
opposed to it and the democrats
are practically a unit against it.
IT the ship subsidy bill displaces
the tariff bill, the latter is in dan
ger. Besides, the soldiers bonus
bill advocates will demand the
same consideration for a subsidy to
the soldiers that the presiden,
urges for a subsidy to ship owning
magnates. Realizing these facts
the republican leaders are reported
. to be in no frame of mind to per.
nit the tariff bill to be displaced
for any other legislation. They arr
in the position of the hunter who