Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1894 — THE STRUGGLE ENDED. [ARTICLE]

THE STRUGGLE ENDED.

The House Recedes and Passes the Senate Tariff Bill. Chairman Wilson Estimates the Profits to the Sugar Trust, at •40,000,000. The protracted struggle over the tariff bill came to an end at 6 p. m., Monday, Aug. 13, when the House, by a vote of 133 tolos, discharged the House conferees and accepted the Senate bill with its 634 amend men ts. The vfetor y fort he Sen ate was complete. The Democratic conferees of the House at last admitted'that they were beaten, and that anothervetevouldnot be risked in the Senate, that it must be either the Senate bill or no bill. The whole question was precipitated at the caucus held just before the House convened, Monday, at which, after a thor--tntgh- —review of the situation -and speeches in favor of receding by Speaker Crisp, Chairman Wilson and it was decided to take the Senate bill and immediately afterward pass separate bills placingxoaj, iron ore, sugar and barbed wire on the-free "list,- and by so doing place"tlie"HoiisTi6n''nVcbfd'and~at _ ica^t _ partially overcome the, humiliation involved m its defeat.- The program arranged in the caucus was carried out to the letter in the House after an ironclad special order. The scenes in the chamber throughout the day and evening were exciting and at times sensational. The galleries were packed and the members applauded and cheered their respective leaders to the echo. Under the terms of the order but two hours were allowed for debate on the main proposition to recede and agree to the Senate amendments to the tariff bill. Bourke Cockran of New York and Mr. Tarsney of Missouri; both Democratic members of the ways and means committee, cfefwevvd aM seusatioßxi i speeches, denouncing the surrender of tlie House as cowardly and indefensible. The Speaker replied to Air. Cockran, whose effort was a brilliant one, with such temper that the latter took it as a personal affront, although the Speaker disclaimed such intention, and made a vicious lunge atSpeaker(Tisp. ’ There was no attempt on the part of the Democratic leaders to claim a victory. They all admitted that they were accepting the inevitable, justifying their action on the ground that the Senate bill was infinitely better than the McKinley bill. The most startling feature of the day, perhaps, was Mr. Cockran’s eloquent appeal to Chairman Wilson to name the Democrats in tlie Senate who threatened the defeat of all tariff legislation if tho aitempt to adjust the d i(Terences between the two houses was persisted in, but Mr. Wilson made no response. Chairman Wilson’s speech in the caucus was very bitter. Regarding the-protec-tion given to the sugar trust by the Senate bill, Mr. Wilson said that the Trust now had $120,000,000 worth of sugar, and even if it had but $100,000,000 worth it would make a profit of $10,000,000 the minute the bill passed and $6,000,000 a year thereafter. Senator Turpie. in an Interview, said, that while this was not the bill he wanted yet it must be admitted that it was the best tariff bill ever passed since the Walker tariff. It was better than the Morrison bill, better than the Mills bill, and 50 per cent, better than the McKinley tariff. The tariff bill, as it now stands, only lacking the President's signature to become a law. gives free wool, free lumber, free flax, jute and hemp, with a reduction of the duty on coal and iron and an income tax. In a letter to the New York World on the tariff situation, ex-Prcsident Harrison says: - I decline to talk at length regarding the action of the House Democratic caucus, but one consideration is obvious to everyone. namely, that the determination of the House to reporj, special tariff bills will tend strongly to prevent that business improvement which may have resulted from any definite result on the tariff question. I expect to make a few emphatic remarks on that aspect of the. crisis during the coming Indiana campaign. Benjamin Haekison.