The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 25, 1897, Page 1

VOLUME LXX3 I.—NO. 115. R PRICE FIVE CENTS. MOCRATS | SSMILTHE TARIFF BILL Vitriolic Speech of an Hour || by McMillin of Ten- 1 nessee. FIERCE ATTACK TUPON THE TRUSTS. Republicans Accused of Stealing the Victory of Last No- vember. GROSVENOR OF OHIO MAKES A TART REPLY. He Pictures th> Many Industries That Hav: Been Ruined by the Wilso: Bill. WASHINGTON, D. March 24.—Rep- resentative A. F. Fox. ths Mississippi Democrat who succeeded Senator Money from the Fonrth District of that State, opened the third day’s debate upon the tariff bill. He opposed the bill for the reason that the protective tariff system aided manufacturers at the expense of the farmers. It could not be otherwise, he said, for what was done for one class must Decessarily be at the expense of the other. Sims (D.) of Tennessee followed in a similar speech against the bill. Williams (D.) ot Mississippi also op- posed the bill. It would not in his opin- ion, he said, produce the desired results, any more than the repeal of the purchas- ing clause of the Sherman bill at the spe- cial sessicn in 1893 produced the “confi- dence” in our currency that was then beld-out to be tbe inevitable condequence of declaring against the free, uniimited and independent coinage of silver. The difficulty under which the people were laboring was not that the country was buy- ing gonds from abroad, but that it was not buying them from anywhere—it bad not goi the money to-buy AtsH. A fourth speech against the bill was made by Terry (D.) of Arkansa: Sayers (D.) of Texas protested against the passage of the bill for the reason that sufficient time was not allowed the House in which to consider it. The distingnished gentleman from Towa (Dolliver), said Mr. Sayers, spoke eluauently yesterday of the beauiies and benelits of protection. The first extended speech of the day was that of Jobnson (R.) of North Da- kota, a member of the Committee on ‘Ways and Means, in support of the bill. He addressed himself in the beginming to the financial necessities of the Govern- ment. It required §500,000,000 a year to pay the ordinary expenditures of the Government, and unless some great calamity befell the country which wouid | destroy its capacity and its powers, no Congress could ever assemble in these halls that would be other than a biflion- dollar Congress. It was agreed on ail hands that most of this money should be raised by a tariff, but what kind of a tanff should be levied made the difference between the parties. It was a sharply defined defeose, and upon the adoption of one or the uther—protective or revenue— he believed depended the prosperity or depression of the business of the gountry. ‘This bill, Johnson said in conclusion, was s patriotic as the flag, as broad as the country. [Applause.] At I McMillin (D.) of Tennessee rose to oppose the bill, and his appear- ance was the signal for appiause from his political associates. He opposed the bill in aspeech of more than an hour's length. He asserted theat there was no necessity for imposing additional taxes at this time, and’ that with even ordinary economy there would still bea large surplus in the treasury when Congress should assemble in December. Pioceeding to the merits of the bill Me- 1 illin said the Republicans of the Lountry had been taught a lesson regard- ing bounties, and 1 this connection he taunted the majority with having aban- doned free sugar, the beauties of which rang through these halls seven years ago in the melodious tones of the present chief magisirate, then the chairman of the committes on Ways and Means. By their arguments McMillin claimed that the Republicans admitted that a tariff was a tax and a burden paid by the con- sumers. Continuing, he said: “Not only have the gentlemen reimposed this burden of taxation, but in doing o they have taken good care of the corporations and trusts which now control the sugar market.In the presonce of these gentlemen who framed this bill it was demonstrated by witnesses who canie before the Ways and Means Committee at the hearings, first, that a i gantic trust existed in this country to con- trol manufacturers, regulate prices and increase their profits; -secondly, that the wings of ti trust, the Eastern and the Western, have entered into an agreement by which they farm out and appropriate the territory of this great Government and these 72,000,000 people among them- selves, each agrseing to supply certain portions of the territory, and not to in- vade the other’s territory, nor within the other's territory cut prices; thirdly, that in order to carry out this scheme and in- sure 1ts perpetuity and profits, the Ame can Sugar and Kefining Company con- trols absolutely the price of refined sugar every day. Notwithstanding the develop- mentof these facts, the profit to the trust is raised by this bill from one-eighth of a centa pound by the present law to from 36.to 50 cents on the hundred pounds dif- ference between raw and refined. “1 opposed putting sugar on the free list originally and the substitution of a Enajackens Fom R AE Soout garding M. Lititiay's SCENES AT CANEA. [From the London Daily Graphic.] CONSTANTINOPLE, TumkEY, March 24.—The Turkish squadron, consisting of three armorea frigates of 6000 tons and ten guns each, one iron-clad corvette of bounty paid for a tax received. I believe vet that the sugar tax, being purely and almost wholly a revenue tax, is a legiti- mate tax, but I do not believe that while levying that tax we ought to foster and perpetuate the sugar trust in the way that it is done in this bill.” McMillin eriticized also the increase in duty on tin plate made in the bill, nouncing it as unwise and oppressive, Another item in the bill which met his disapproval was the retention of the pres- ent daties on pig iron and steel rails, while the manufacturers of them in the United States were exporting their products. He devoted much time toa consideration of the agricultural scheduie, which he denounced an attempt to humbug the farmers. “This bill,” said McMillin, **carries not only higher rates of duty than the present law and higher rates than the McKinley bill, but higher than any law ever passed by an American Cougress or groaned under by an Amerivan people. The rates on woolen goode were not only hizher than ever seen, but the rates on raw wool have been increesel by imposing higher duties on the wool coming from certain | countries than were heretofore imposed. The rate of duty borne by woolen goods, taken as a whole and averaged, would amount to between 99 and 101 per cent. Thus it is proposed to destroy all poss:bil ity of reaching foreign markets with our woolen goods, to tax the carpets and clothing of the people more than double what they are taxed now, to hamper man- ufacturers by excessive duties on raw ma- terial and proclaim to the American peo- ple that ageinst the exactions of the avaricious there is to be no relief.”” The reciprocity clause of the bill, Mr. Miilin said, was a remarkable feature of his extraordinary bill. “It is remark- able,” he said, ‘‘for the fact that it gives i1to the hands of the President absolutely ie power to impose taxes and remit taxes at pleasure,” He made much fun of the free list, and said that the majority admitted that over the McKinley bill this measure increased taxes on the following schedules: Chemi- cals, oils and paints; earth, earthenware and glassware; wood and manufacture: of wood; sugar, from 14.55 to 7L1 per cent; tobacco and manafactures of to- bacco, 16 per cent; agricultural products; spirits, winer and other beverages; flax, hemp and jute and manufactures of; wool and manufactures of wool; silk and silk goods: pulp, pavers and books: sundries. In conclusion McMillin said: *I beg the gentlemen on the other side to re- member that their victory obtained last fall was obtained by snch an expenditure of money, such an exhibition of bulldoz- ing snd force, and such a prostitution of elections as was never before witnessed in this land. They must not take such a verdict as the established and irrevocable will of the American people. I beg them to remember that a purchased verdict cannot stand. [t is true tuat Benedict Arnold sold himself to infamy, but he did not thereby sell down the Revolution. “It is true that Judas sold his Savior to the cross, but he did not thereby sell down the plan of salvation. The Demo- cratic party has suffered defeat before, and by stern adherence to never-failing princi- ple it has regained power and readminis- tered government. Let us now and here resolve anew that the principles of Jeffer- son, of Jackson and of Polk shall be the principles of the Democratic party now, as they have been in the past, and'as sure as day succeeds night it will return to power and restore the Government to the coustitutional moorings from which it has been wrested by such mal-lezisiation as that which is being forced upon us to- dey.” McMillin_ was liberally applauded dur- ing his speéch, and his time was extended half an hour. Grosvenor (R.) of Ohio then took the floor to reply. Bpeaking of the condition of the country in November, 189, he de- clared that ne in tne history of the United States was there so much of terror, foreboding and doubt in the minds of men as on that da This great calamity had come mpon the country substantially by reason of the single act of the Democratic ‘Tongress, the repeal of the McKinley law. The issue of 1896, upon whici the battle had been fought and the victory won, was the issue of protective tariff. Every intei- ligent man who participated 1n the cam- paign and went tron one State to an- other was conscious now of the fact that more than a million voters who had heen bhumbugged by the speciouscry of the communists of tax upon weaith and en- terprise and the hope for better times through a debased currency, nevertheless voted for McKinley because of bis posi: Some of the Crack Troops of the Sultan. s et e Standard of the Pera Artillery Regiment. tion on the tariff question. It was the Mc- Kinley law misrepresented and misunder- stood that aided our overthrow in 1893, butit was the McKinley law with the blessings we received from it during its short life that became the . talismanic word that swept McKinley into nomina- tion and carried the country in 1596. The ‘ruit-grower of Caiifornia, robbed and ruised by the Wilson bull, cried | loudly to Republicans for assistance, and from Alabama and Georgia, and conspicu- ously from Louisiana, came earnest de- mands for the passage of this bill. , If the members of ‘the Republican side of this house should see fit to publish all the letters they have reccived from the hemp and tobacco growing States of the Sonth in favor of this legislation, surprise and astonishment would be upon the faces of the men who with their backs to the rising sun were seeing, hearin: and know- ing nothing but the inadequate Bourbon doctrine of a bygone day. He taunted the Democrats and their allies on the floor of the House with mak- ing a pretext that they had not time to Frepare a substitute for the pending bill. “Why,” he asked, “‘do you not offer the Wilson bill? If youdid not blunder in its passage; if its passage was not a crime; if its introduction into business affairs of the country did not damage and condemn the business of the country, why do you not offer it jubstitute here? Why do you not take its specitic doctrines, its ad valorem duties, its protection to special ciasses of industries, its abandonment of others, its uncertainties, its bad Englisn and worse politics, and cling to it?” Speaking of the provisions of the Ding- ley bill he' said: “We have provided'in this bill for the expenditure in the United States of ultimately more than $300,000,000 per annum to the laborers of the country above that which has been derived hereto- fore. “We look forward to the time, not far the United States, a million men who voted, who worked to promote the sheep industry of the couuntry, will receive rich and permanent reward, and when the flocks of rhe country will increase in valne directty by the operation of this’ bill $50,- 000,000 in a single year. We believe that the jarmers on the mighiy farmsof the West and on the alluvial soil of the'South will everywhere be benefited by this bul.” Replying to the eulogy of the Demo- | eratic party delivered by General Wheeler distant, when a million wool-growers in | Grosvenor arraigned it for all and closed by saying: And it is the Democratic party' here to-day, represented by a heterogeneous mass of conflicting political opinions that prey upon each other, differ with each other, have no policy for the future, no pride of political ancestry, no hope of po- titical posterity, that stands A wandering mass of shapeless flame, pathless comet and & curse. He congratulated his “distinguished leader” that his name was to be associated with another actof redemption. Lincoln’s name, he said, bad been forever linked with his emancipation proclamation. Me- Kinley’s name had been linked with the McKinley law and Dingley’s law, ana Dingley’s name would go sonunding down the corridors of time asthe champian of the law that after the great struggle of 1896 brought back the country to prosper- ity and peace. 1In the course of his remarka Grosvenor was interrupted by Bell (Pop.) of Colorado, who asked about the statements made in the campaign of the return of the prosper= ity immediately upon ‘the election of Mc- Kinley. Grosvenor replied that he never knew of any one uing the word “immediately,” and he doubted if Bell could produce a speech with it in. Bell—Yes, many of them; 1 heard them. Grosvenor—Well, however, that niay be, I want to say to the gentleman that never since the time when the' morning stars sang together for joy and the sons of God rejoiced has there been such rejoicing as there was in the hour succeeding the an- nouncement flashed by the telegraph over the Iand and under the sea that Willism McKinley had been elected. [Loud ap- planse.] Anotner member of the majority of the Ways and Means Committee, Kvans (R.) of Kentucky, foliowed Grosvenor in advo- cacy of the bill. 2 The hour of 5 o’clock having arrived the committee rose and the House took a recess until 8 P. 2t Livingston (D.) of Georgia:was the first spesker at to-nieh's session and indulged in balf an hour’s protest against the tariff bill. A tariff that would bear equally upon all sections of the country and treat all interests alike, he said, ail parties could support, but: this bill benefited the manufucturers at the expense of the |- masses. Belford (R.) of New York said the Re- { publican party was in power to-day under a solemn pledge to give the people a speedy execution of their will. There was no room to douot the nature of the com- mission given by the people. They had decreed an immediate return to the finan- cisl and industrial policies under the operation of which the country had shown the most remarkable growth in the history of the world, and ‘‘we will com- mand the largest share of popular re- spect and retdin the fullest measure of popular confidence by simply giving the people what they 'have asked for, giving it to'them at'once and then going bome, let- ting the bill work'out its beneficent re- sults.” ~ Castle (Pop. and D.) of California at- tacked the bill most vigorously. The proper title of the monstrosity, as he des- ignated 1t,'should be, in His opinion, “to foster trusts and to pauperize and_peo: ize the agricultural laborers o the United States.”” The primary object of the bill, he said, wes neither to raise revenue nor to en- courage the industries ot the United States, but was designated by its authors for the express purpose of enabling the powerful trusts to stand up the people of the country and to legally rob them. “We are to-aay,” Castle said, “in the transitorial stage, passing from a re- publican.into the most odious form of government known in history—a moneyed oligarchy. Rome in her dectine had her Cataline; America has her Hanna.”” [Ap- plause and hisses.] Brown (R.) of Ohio said it was not necessary to hold a long session of Con- grens 10 execute the commission placed in its hands by the passage of the tariff bill. In the opposition to it, ho said, we see the final struggles of another “lost cause.” ‘The new member as well as the old could and did see, in this struggle the old contest between two different systems of labor. Saging that he should vote for the bill, Kerr (R.) of Ohio criticized the reciprocity feature as being in his opinion fatally defective. The concessions proposed in the schiel he said, were so insignificant in comvparison with what we must ask in exchange that any nation negotiating with us for them would be without either dignity or sense. He urged the substitu- tion for the provisions of the bill of the reciprocity sections of the McKi bill, born in, the brain of James G. Blaine. - The last ‘speech of thie evening was de- livered by Otdstead (R ) of Pennsylvania in support of the bill, who addressed six Representatives on the floor and a acore of visitors in the galieries. At 11 o’clock the committee rose and on motion of Sherman (R.) of New York the House adjourned. 2000 tons and five guns, one river gun- boat, one cruiser, three torpedo boats and two torpedo destroyers, which has been Iying at Galliopolis for the past few days awaiting orders, has been ordered to pro. ceed to Smyrna and Salonica. issued an irade this morning summoning into active service forty-four battalions of the whole of the contingent of 1890. e TURKEY BUYING WARSHIPS. Three Ironclads to Be Added tothe Nary of the Suitan. LONDON, Ene.. March 24 —The officials of the Foreign Office deny the statement made by the Chronicle that the powers have accepted a proposal made by the Sultan that King George of Greece shall occupy and administer the Government of Greece and appoint a high commis- sioner for the island, together with tlie in- timation that the King would name his son as high commissioner and that the Cabinet would discuss the matter to-day. The Daily News to-morrow will say that Lord Salisbury, on his way to Cimiez whither he goes to act as Minister in at- tendance upon the Queen, will stop for a night in Paris for the purpose of having an interview with M. Hanotaux, the French Foreign Minister. The Daily News says also that the pow- ers nave accepted the proposal for the establishment of a neutral zone along the Greco-Turkish frontier, and will require the Greek and Turkish troops to withdraw from the territory included in the zone. The Daily News will publish a dispatch from Athens denying the statement' that the Greek Government is in favor of mak- ing the island of Crele a priccedom under Prince Georze-of Greece. The Standard will to-morrow print a dispatch from Constantinople stating that the Porte has insiructed the representa« tives in Europe of the Turkish Govern- ment to enter into negotiations for the purchase of three ironclaas at a costof £1,500,000. —_—— TURKS DEIVEN OFF. Fall in an Attempt to Carry Supplies to Mataza. CANEA, Crere, March 24.—An Aus- trian ironclad’ to-day prevented a Greek steamer and a sailing vessel from running the blockade. ; . I Another attempt was made by the Turks The Sultan | the reserves of the second army corps and | TURKISH RESERVES ARE CALLED INTO ACTIVE SERVICE Sultan Mobilizing the Entire Fighting Force at His Command. 'SQUADRON ORDERED TO SAIL. Smyrna and Salonica the Destination of the Watships—King George of Greece Hutls a Final Defiance at the - Powers. the fort at Malaxa, but the essay resulted in failure, the Turks being driven off by the insurgents around Malaxa and pur- sued to the environs of Suda, where the fire from the Turisk warships compelied the rebels to retreat. Another effort to supply the forts with provisions will be made to-night. A strong force of insurgents, it is said, is preparing for au attack vpon Kissamo, and the admirals commanding the foreign warships have issued a warning similac to that contained in Admiral Canevaro's proclamation. The townspeople of Canea have been greatly encouraged by the proclamation issued yesterday by the Italian admiral enjoining the insurgents and Greek troops not to attack certain forts. Dot Hgauaii KING GEORGE’s ¥INAL DEFL Wilt Never Agree to the Scheme for Cratan Autonomy. ATHENS, Greece, March 24 — The Emphemois, which is regarded as reflect- ing the views of King George, in an article upon ihe Cretan difficuity emphaticaily reafirms the position of the King. The article concludes: “The King will never join liimself with the powers in pre:sing the. Uretans to &u- cept autonomy and the suzerainty of tke Sultan, nor will he ever consent to such a solution of the difficulty, The Cretans reject autonomy, which their King rejects also, and will accept only one solution, namely: That upon which the will of the nation and the will of the Cretans shali agree. Every effort exerted by the powers in Crete will have its counter stroke on the frontier and beyond."” Considerable anxiety is felt here for the safety of the Greek steamer Hera, which started for Crete on March 19 with a cargo of provisions for the Greek troops in the island, and has not yet returned. On board the steamer were the President of the Chamber of Deputies and a number of other prominent persons. g GROWL OF THE BEAR. What Will Bappen (0 the Grecks if They Contiseme Stubdorn. NEW YORK, N. Y., March 25.—A special cable dispatch to the Herald from St.” Petersburg says: Advices received here show thai Colonel Vassos is busy spreading a report.among the Creian in- surgents that the powers wish to deliver | them into the hands of the Turks. The Greeks themselves openly declare that their aim is to set Europe by the ears, but that is well known nere and is being thoroughly checkwated. It the Greeks continue to prove stubborn they will probably receive a notification thnt in case they force the situation by compelling th: Turks to attack they need expect neither help nor sympathy. REBEL KEPULSLS KEPOKTED, Fictory Claimed by the Spaniards in Zwo Engagements. HAVANA, Cusa, March 24.—General Linares reports that his command of 1600 men, comprising infantry, cavalry snd artillery, left Ong, in the province of San- tiago de Cuba, and at La Sal ranch en- countered several parties of rebels under the leadership of Cebreco, with whom they had a sharp engagement. Tlie rebeis were fiually forced to retire from their po- sitions, which were occupied by the Span- ish troops. Itis reported thatthe camp of Calixto Garcia’s column has been captured by the Spaniards after a severe fight, at the con- clusion of which the insurgents were found to have left sixteen of their number dead on the field. The capture of the camp was effected by adashing cavalry charge., The rebeis were re-enforced by the band under Rabi and awaited the troops at Baire Arriba, but were obliged to retire to a point within sight of Jiguani. In the course of these journeys and the engagements the Tebels lost twenty-seven killed. The Spaniaras had one lieutenant and four privates wounded. By order of Captain-General Weyler, Isabella Rafael Bourke, an English pris- oner who has been for some time detained at Cienfuegos, was yesterday released. g s May Represent the Pope. LONDON, Ex., March 24.—The Stand- ard will to-morrow publish a dispateh from its correspondent in Rome saying that in the allocution of the Pope at the coming consistory his Holiiness will refer to the mission of Mgr. Merry del Val, the Papal delegate to the Catholic church in . If his mission is conciuded in ne dispatch further says, Mar. Del Val will probably represent the Pupe at the celevration in June next of the com- plation of tue sixtieth vear of the reign of Queen Victori ;O TELO Put Buck to Port, LONDON, ExG, March 24.—The Ger- man bark Christine, Captain Warneke, from Lonaon, March 14, for S8an Francisco, to-day to convey & supply of provisions to i returned to Deal to-day. i