Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-13
NORMAL PATH SEEN
FOR TARIFF BILL
High Schedule Advocates
Must Yet Be Defeated,
Declares Observer.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

BY MARK SULLIVAN.
Since the arrival Of some important
members Of the Lower House in wash
ington there have been informal ex-
changes of views between them, or per-
sons rejecting them, and, on the other
hand, leaders of the coalition that is
making the Senate version of the bill
Enough has been done to make it safe
to say this tariff bill will go to confer
ence in the normal way. there will be
mutual discussions Of differences in the
normal way, there will be compromise
in the normal way, and in the normal
way probably a compromise bill Will
emerge.
All this, being the normal and usual
process, would be the opposite Of news
but for one fact. A course contrary to
this has been rather SenSationally pre-
oicted by Senator David Reed of Penn
sylvania. Also a course contrary to this
is theoretically hoped for by some high
tariff advocates of the type recently
made conspicuous in the person Of Mr..
Grundy of Pennsylvania. These par
ticular high tariff beneficiaries want
the House to deadlock" the present
bill. want to carry the high tariff issue
into the congressional elections next
year, want to win those elections, and
then want to write a thoroughsoing
years from now.
"FanaticaP' Advocates.
This latter view is practically con-
fined to high tariff advocates OF the
more fanatic sort existing outside the
world of politics. No considerable num-
Der of persons in politics entertains
anv such notion. Senator David Reed
of Pennsylvania, while he predicts dead
lock between the two houses, does not
20 the fantastic length Of some OF the
high tariff business men. Senator Reed
has predicted, on at least two pubic
occasions, that the two houses will
deadlock and that consequently there
will be no tariff bill enacted. On one
occasion he has predicted that the en-
tire Republican delegation in the Lower
House from his own State, Pennsyl-
vania, would take the course leading to
deadlock and no bill.
This allusion to the Lower House by
Mr.. Reed causes predictions coming
from him to be somewhat more than
predictions. He has double role in
the political world. He IS q Senator
from Pennsylvania, the only one so
long as Mr.. Wares fate remains in
suspense.
Largest Delegation.
Mr.. Reed is also one of the two or
three Republican leaders In the State
that has the largest single Repub-
lican delegation In the Lower House
Pennsylvania has 81 Republican men,
berS Of the Lower House out of total
of 232. If Mr.. Reed be accepted as
able to speak for a solid block of IA
per cent of the total Republican men,
bership of the Lower House, his pre-
diction about the Lower Houses prob
able action would be formidable and
ominous.
Senator Reeds attitude has the fur
Their quality of angering and stifening
the coalition in the Senate They be-
came more implacable against Reed
and what he represents than before, If
that were possible. If one should ac-
cept the picture of Reeds attitude as
seen by the coalition, one would see a
not very appealing spectacle. AS the CO.
alition puts it, Senator Reed leads a
fight In the Senate for certain kind
of tariff bill. He makes the fight under
a Republican and the Republicans are
supposed to be in power. In his night he
is beaten.
Won't Accept Defeat.
Thereupon, as the coalition sees 1t,
Senator Reed declines 70 accept oeIeat
in a sportSmanlike spirit He says he
will use the Pennsylvania Republican
delegation in the Lower House to save
him from the consequences OF having
lost the fight himself. All this is as
1t appears TO the coalition. Senator
Norris of Nebraska has made especial
" harsh remarks about Senator Reeds
craftsmanship.
IF Senator Reed is to be accepted as
speaking authoritatively for the Repub-
lican Pennsylvania delegation In the
? z.,... rYo.,~a - Sx,oaa1A gIY16Ot1hta6fv be
able to throw q monkey wrench" into
the normal processes that should result
in q compromise between Senate and
House, Some leaders in the Lower
House, coming from States other than
Pennsylvania, say that no matter what
Mr.. Reed does about the Pennsylvania
delegation in the Lower House the rest
of the House and its leaders will pro-
coed upon the normal path toward an
arnicable conference with the Senate
and compromise bill
Bellicosity Not Shared.
The Lower House as q whole, and the
more temperate leaders of it, do not
share Senator Reeds die-hard belli-
costly. Their expectation is to receive
this Senate tariff bill when done as they
would any other Senate bill.
Their further expectation Is to enter
conference with the Senate in good
faith intention to give and take. The
Senate coalition on its side also intends
to practice give and take. The coalition
has said this rather solemnly through
Senators Borah and Norris. While all
this is true, it is also true that some Of
the contrasts between the respective
bills of the House and Senate are such
as to make compromise O delicate and
difficult business
In the net of the situation, the very
great probability is that House and
Senate will ultimately manage to COM
promise The latter stages of the COM
promise process will be attended by
some public connection centering
around the flexible tariff revision. OF
all the differences between the two
Houses, the flexible provision Is the one
most likely to give rise to strain.
(CopyriRht, 1927