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Show I! W00LANDSU9AR BLOCK THE WAY ;! OP TARIFF BILL t 1 Manufacturers Swamping the Senate Finance Committee . With Protests Against Underwood Measure. . ! AMENDMENTS MAY BE PART OF PLAN Democrats Lining Up Behind ) the Party Bill, but Strong I Sentiment Prevails in Fa- vor of Slight Protection. ' 1 WASHINGTON, May 23. Wool and ! sugar, the stumbling blocks of the - i tariff, held the attention of the senate ! finance subcommittees and senators in general todaj, the legislative air be-I be-I ing filled with rumor6 oC contemplated changes and alliances and counter ru-! ru-! .j mors of a further tightening of the administration forces for free wool and free sugar in three jears. Great interest was attached to a public statement made by Senator I Walsh of Montana, condemning the proposition to put wool and sugar on ! the free liBt, which gave rise to a to-, to-, port that he might join with Senators Randell and Thornton of Louisiana and vote against the bill. In that case the senate Democratic majority boing only six, the vote on the tariff bill . would be a tie, necessitating the vote of Vice President Marshall to pass it-Should it-Should this develop thoro are somo i Democrats who believe that Senator Poindextor of Washington, the only avowed Progressive in the senate, will vote with them on the bill. ThiB would give leeway for another Democrat Demo-crat to desert in tlie final vote. Coming Fight. Administration leaders declared today to-day that, the situation relating to the much disputed schedules looked very favorable for the Underwood bill, but they look forward to an interesting session in the party caucus -when the southern ad western representatives will have an opportunity to make a determined struggle against free wool and free sugar. A rumor that several of them would unite to remain out of the caucus was denied by party leaders, lead-ers, thougli one of them declared that he would not blamo Senator Walsh, should be determine to stay out if it became apparent that the caucus would not yield on sugar and wool. "William Whitman, a leader of the woolen interests in tariff consideration, considera-tion, had an interesting hour with Senator Sen-ator Stone's subcommittee, attacking the woolen manufactures schedule. Mr. Whitman declared the proposed duties on wool manufactures were 30 per cent less than the rates in the Wilson tariff act, which he said was supposed to be a free trade bill. Sep-ator Sep-ator James urged that economic conditions con-ditions in production justified a difference dif-ference of 30 per cent at this time as compared to conditions when the Wilson Wil-son law was enacted. Foreigners Ready. Asked if free raw wool would not prove beneficial to his interests, Mr. Whitman said it might eventually. At E resent, h'o said, his company had on and a large supply ot raw wool bought under tariff rates and that he would be at a d,i3advanage in working this off while pther manufacturers manufac-turers were buying and manufacturing with wool purchased on a free of duty basis. He declared that foreign manufacturers manu-facturers had enormous amounts ot woolen goods stacked away read' to put on the American market as soon as the proposed bill becomeB a law. Julius JTorstiuann of Passaic, N. J., also appealed for an extension of the time when the wool schedule shall become be-come effective- He urged that the raw wool schedule should, not become effective until three months after the passage of the act and the duties on woolen manufactures six months after, in order to givo the trade an opportunity opportu-nity to work off goods manufactured under present conditions. Henry T. Oxnard, recognized as the head of the delegation representing the "beot sugar interests, appeared bo-fore bo-fore Senator Williams's subcommittee to protest against the proposed sugar schedule. He presented the case of the beet sugar men at length, maintaining that free sugar would be a blow to the industry in this country. Change Reported. An important change in the bill as it passed the house, it was reliably reported re-ported today, has been made by Senator Sena-tor Stone's committee in the metal schedule. Thoy are declared to have decided to put pig iron and ferro manganese man-ganese on the free list. The Underwood Under-wood bill levies a 10 per cent duty on pig iron and 15 per cent on ferro manganese, man-ganese, used in the manufacture of steel. An argument over thc6e rates developed in the house. Majority Leader Underwood and Representative Palmor of Pennsylvania maintained that thoy should not bo free listed bo-cause bo-cause they wore a good source of revenue. reve-nue. The Eenate subcommittee is said to have reversed this decision, maintaining main-taining that thoy both are products of the United States Steel corporation and raw material for the independent 6teel manufacturer, and should bo on the free list for that, reason. B. A. Levitte of the Now York Merchants' Mer-chants' association, and S. Christy Mead of tho New York Merchants' exchange, ex-change, appeared beforo Senator Williams's Wil-liams's subcommittoo in opposition to tho amendment suggested by Assistant Attorney General Denison and Assistant Assist-ant Secretary of tho Treasury Curtis, whioh would give the secretary of tho treasury power to proclaim general import im-port values. They urged that if such fen amendment is accopted, the rates Bhould be proclaimed from day to day base4 on the conditions of the foreign market |