Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-22
TARIFF CUT BATTLE
YST|RUP SENATE
Westerners, if Defeated on
F. Debenture Plan. Might
=. Seek Slash.
By MARK SULLIVAN.

The controversy about farm relief
need not obscure the situation. Hard
ly any legislative situation ever was
more clear The Lower House will pass
its farm relief bill, which is the ortho-
dox and accepted one. Everybody in the
Lower House who is for farm relief at
all is for this bill.
Congressman Dickinson of Iowa was
close enough to literal accuracy when
he said this bill has practically unani-
nous consent all along the line" Some
who favor the bill may have mental
reservations, but this bill conforms to
the program for farm relief that won
out in the presidential campaign last
year. This bill will be passed by the
House probably by Thursday, and prob
ably by an overwhelming majority.
Meantime, there is in the Senate an
other bill, the one with the debenture
plan. 1t cannot yet be called the Sem
ate bill because 1t is by no means GER
tain a majority of the Senate will vote
for it. On the contrary, it decidedly
cannot be called the bill of the Repub-
lican majority in the Senate, because
fully four-fifths Of the Republican SEN
ators oppose it.
= Minority Initiated Bill.
This debenture plan is initiated by a
small minority of about eight Western
Republican Senators and is supported
by many Southern Democratic Senators
because the bill gives TO exported cot
ton bounty of cents a pound. 1t is
opposed by some Eastern and Northern
Democrats. In this cleavage running
across party lines the Senate bill, with
Its debenture plan, may or may not
command a majority of the Senate.
If the debenture plan should pass the
Senate there will then be a tug-of-war
between Senate and House. That tug
of-war will be won by the House. because
the House has more confidence in the
good faith and practicability of its bill
and because the House, in broad sense,
has sitter morale than the Senate.
In short. the senatorial iniators
are certain to be beaten. The Ques-
ton then will be where will they go
from there? After their defeat will
they take it out" on the protective
tariff on manufactures? The tariff
just now Is in the background and will
remain there until after the fight on
farm relief comes to a determination
But even though the tariff sleeps, there
IS potential dynamite in it.
Western Leaders May Ask Cut.
The present program. about the tariff
Is to make few changes, mainly up
ward, "the fewer the better" as Speak
er Longsworth put it. and then stop
The program on the tariff contem-
plates no changes downward, or very
few.
The question that invites speculation
Is whether the Western Senators, after
being defeated on their debenture plan
Of farm relief, will initiate a broad
movement for tariff revision downward
In the past they have said they would
They have always threatened that I'M
less the East would concede what they
demanded on farm relief, they would
then attack the East on the protec-
tive tariff on manufactures. Whether
that treat was strategic bluff. or was
something more substanciadl. soon will
be known.
A little over Is months ago, when
the Western Senators were making a
drive for their then plan of farm re-
lief, the equalization fee, they put their
tariff threat into concrete form. One
Of them, McMaster of South Dakota,
introduced Senate resolution which
read:
Resolved. That many Of the rates
IN the existing tariff are excessive, and
that the Senate favorS an immediate
revision downward of such rates. :"
establishing a closer parity between
agriculture and industry"
Senate Then Fell in Line.
That resolution, in those words, passed
the Senate on January 16 last year by a
vote of 81 to "a. Nothing further was
done because the Senate, whether on
account of the threat or not, fell in line
and passed the equalization fee, which
was the form of farm relief the Western
Senators were demanding. In the fight
on the resolution, Senator Shortridge of
California, defending the tariff, asked
McMaSter of South Dakota to name the
tariff rates that were excessive. Nc
Master recited an alphabetical list be-
ginning with aluminium, which Is an in
dustry frequently mentioned by hostile
Senate debaters in connection with Sec
rotary Mellon. OF the 81 Senators who
voted for that resolution, 10 were West
ern Republicans and A were Demo-
Gratis.
OF the 81. all except still are in the
Senate. The entire could be de-
Quoted, and leave 46, which is within
8 of majority of the Senate. Also
some, and possibly all, the successors o.
the 8, feel the same about the tariff
as their predecessors did.
In those figures and in this situation
lies the real possibility of tense and
interesting fight in the present Con.
gresS. In these figures lies the real trump
card of the Western Senators. They
may or may not command majority
for their debenture plan of farm relief
The likelihood is they do not. Appar-
emily, however, they do command ma
jority, or close to one, for immediate re-
vision downward of excessive rates IL
existing tariff schedules" At least, the,
command close to a majority unles!
some of them have changed their mind.
since January 16 last year.