JULY 30, 1909
The Commoner.
EDUCATIONAL SERIES
"Do Special Interests Control the United States Senate?''
The New York World in its issue of July 17,
printed the details of a secret mooting held in
Chicago in October, 1908, at which meeting a
compact was arranged between wool growers
and woolen manufacturers. Senator Dolliver
of Iowa, was one who declares that such an
agreement existed.
Following this publication, the World printed
the following interesting dispatch:
Great Chebeague Island, Mo., July 17. W. C.
Hunneman, a leading carded-wool manufacturer,
who for months has been fighting the carrying
out of the conspiracy between worsted-wool
manufacturers, headed by William Whitman of
Boston, and the wool growers of the west to
keep the Dingley wool schedule intact in tho
new tariff measure, which was exposed by the
World today, throws "much additional light on
what Whitman. called a "solemn pact" and "the
proudest achievement of his life" in a letter
addressed by Mr. Hunneman today to Senator
Lodge.
Mr. Hunneman concludes his letter by a de
mand on Senator Lodge that the contributions
made to the republican congressional campaign
fund by tho parties to the wool conspiracy bo
made public.
. "I have based my argument In this letter
only on known facts," he writes. "They en
shroud the republican majority In the senate
with a dense cloud of suspicion so dense that
it should lead the senators from Massachusetts
to Insist that it shall be lifted before the Payne
Aldrich bill becomes a law.
Publish tho Names
"With these facts so plain I want to ask,
Will not you and Senator Crane make the de
mand? Will not you begin by demanding that
.the names of the contributors and the amount
of each contribution to the republican congres
sional fund of 1908 shall be made public at
once?
"If the publication of that list should dis
close large contributions by the worsted inter
ests, no house, senate nor president could face
the storm of opposition to the Payne-Aldrich
schedule K, the wool schedule. If you will not
make the demand that the list be published,
why not?"
In a previous latter to Senator Lodge Mr.
Hunneman charged that "a pact had been made
between the worsted perfple and the wool grow
ers, that this pact was relied upon to pass the
bill, and so Senator Warren delivered the west
ern senators and Whitman the eastern senators."
Replying, Senator Lodge took violent excep
tion to the suggestion that his vote had been
"delivered' by Whitman or anybody else. Mr.
Hunneman replies by saying that he desires to
"correct the misapprehension your letter indi
cates you are laboring under that there was
any reflection on you or any other senator per
sonally and individually," adding:
"The idea I intended to convey and which, it
seems to me, is a plain construction of my
words, is that the senators were delivered by
reason of their allegiance to a party, and that
this party had been controlled by the special
interests of which Senator Warren and William
Whitman are leading representatives."
He charges the members of the senate finance
committee with bad faith in their treatment
of .the wool interests and the consumers, and
with a determination not to permit the facts
to be placed before them.
Snubbed by Tariff Makers
"The carded wool people went before tho
finance committee with facts and a just cause,"
he writes, ''and they were met with silence,
coldness, indifference, or :n some cases, with
contempt and the statement that the committee
would summon no witnesses, nothing could bo
done, and that the carded woolen manufactur
ers had better go into some other business.
"You, Senator Lodge, can not escape from
your share of responsibility for such methods
of legislation. You have played a leading part
in this extraordinary legislative proceeding; and
for one who, like myself, believes in your per
sonal integrity, there is but one explanation of
your course namely, that you have not applied
your great natural abilities to the systematic
and thorough study of this question so as to
understand the injustice of the senate bill; that
under these circumstances you and tho other
republican senators, with tho exception of tho
ten 'progressives have 'gone along' with tho
party machine, deluded with tho idea that tho
passing of a bill of somo kind was paramount,
and that the redress of wrongs you did not un
derstand was" of minor impdrtanco.
"To tako this view of tho case is showing
great consideration for you as an individual
senator, for you have been silent when tho
petition, not for free wool but for tho equaliza
tion of wool duties, was before the senate, and
have spoken long and unreservedly for free
hides. You have voted for an unjust duty on
wool and for no duty at all on hides.
"With this record before mo you will seo
how difficult you have made it for me to under
stand your course and how much consideration
is shown to you in explaining your action on
the wool and wool goods tariff as the result
of party discipline.
Was Tlicro a Conspiracy?
"This brings us back to the question: Has
this party action been in accordance with a
pact between tho wool growers and tho worsted
spinners? You must admit there was and Is a
powerful motive for such a pact. On the ono
hand Is William Whitman, representing tho
worsted spinners, who now under tho Dingley
bill are in the enjoyment of enormous and un
fair advantages at the expense of tho carded
woolen manufacturers, of tho growers of light
shrinking wool in the middle west and of tho
consumers of wool goods. On tho other hand
are tho sheep ranchmen of tho faT west raising
heavy shrinking wool, which is protected by
prohibitory duties running up to 700 per cent.
"Why has the republican majority in the sen
ate stood pat with them?
"You say in your letter: 'Neither my col
league nor myself can be 'delivered' by any one,
and I know of no one who would make tho at
tempt. I met Mr. Whitman accidentally and
talked with him for perhaps fivo minutes. Ho
made no attempt to influence my action, and I
never heard from him in regard to tho subject
in any way.'
"It is not by direct and personal appeals to
Individual Senators and representatives, among
whom are men as honorable as Henry Cabot
Lodge and WInthrop Murray Crane, that these
great corporations 'deliver' their vote's. It Is
by hidden methods beginning befor.e the elec
tion of the people's representatives and which
leave the individuals apparently untrammelled,
hugging the delusion that they are 'obeying
the dictates of their conscience, while in reality
they are only parts of a powerful political ma
chine. "To trace the influence of the worsted trust
on this tariff legislation It is necessary to go
back to the time last year when tho republican
party was seeking tho suffrages of the people
and was in sore need of funds with which to
conduct tho campaign."
As to Motives
Mr. Hunneman flatly denies that he and those
opposed to tho continuance of the Dingley wool
duties are prompted only by selfish Interests.
"You are mistaken," he tells Senator Lodge,
"if you think I would object if you should say
'that my desire for the revision of the wool
schedule was owing simply to my personal in
terests.' I expect you will hear me as an in
terested witness and all I ask is that you de
cide in our favor only so far as we can prove
the justness of our case.
"You stato that if you are mistaken regard
ing the house rates on by-products you were
misled by the carded woolen manufacturers
themselves, who appeared before the finance
committee and 'urged the reductions made in
the house on tops and noils as the essential
reductions desired for the benefit of their in
dustry.' You are wrong regarding both tho
reductions and who it was that misled you. The
duty on tops is of no direct concern to tho
carded woolen manufacturers, as they do not
use tops, while the following extract from the
brief filed with your committee by Gordon Dob
son, on April 7, shows how plain tho carded
woolen manufacturers made it to you that tho
house reductions on by-products were worthless
as a- measure of relief to i'telr industry: 'Tho
Dlngloy duty on theso by-product la prohibitory
and tho Payno bill gives no rcllof, because tho
rates, although slightly loss, are still prohib
itory.' An Affront
"To assume, as you do, that a reduction from
20 cents to 18 conts on noils means anything
Is an affront to tho cardod woolen manufac
turers, and, as I wroto you, will havo only ono
effect, nnd that is raako them oven moro angry
than they aro now. Tho cardod woolen manu
facturers reject a specific duty on wool and by
products, regardless of shrinkage and valuo,
as utterly unfair. Thoy havo from tho begin
ning based their petition on an ad valorem duty.
And yet you aro willing to bollovo that shaving
a prohibitory specific duty of 20 conts to tho
oxtont of two cents is what tho carded woolen
manufacturers want.
"Tho cardod woolon Industry is being starved
to death by prohibitory duties on by-products
which, In tho caso of noils, vary from CO to 1G0
per cent. And this outrage on Justice Is ag
gravated by tho fact that tho low rates aro on
tho high priced stock and tho high rates on tho
low priced material suited for wool clothing for
tho poor.
"I read this in your letter to mo: 'You say
that you only ask Justice, but tho wool growers
and tho worsted manufacturers tako precisely
tho same ground, and their conception of justlco
differs from yours. What seems simple Justlco
to you appears unjust to them, and what thoy
think right you think grossly unfair.'
"Schedulo K in tho senate and Dingley bills
lays a duty rising to 700 por cent on tho wool
adapted for carded woolen goods and a duty
running as low as 23 por cent on tho wool used
by worsted mills. Do you think that Is justlco?
Questions and Answers
"It prohibits the importation of wool by
products, depriving the carded woolen mills of
an adequate supply of thoso necessary materials
depriving tho people of warm clothing and en
abling tho American worsted mills to sell their
by-products at a high price. Is that Justlco?
"It allows tho worsted mills to Import class
two washed worsted wools at a single duty of
12 cents a pound, and by a double duty of 22
conts prohibits tho cardod woolon mills from
importing class ono washed wools. Do you call
that justlco?
"Of tho total protective duty on worsted
cloth, 82 per cent Is on yarn and only 18 por
cent additional on cloth, although the labor
cost on tho yarn Is only 40 per cent and on tho
cloth 00 por cent additional. This places the
weavers of worsted cloth at the mercy of tho
spinners and Is rapidly promoting a powerful
worsted yarn trust. Do you call that Justice?
"Theso questions carry their own answer.
"You say that 'what seems simple Justlco to
us appears unjust to tho wool growers and
worsted manufacturers.' I deny It. It is not
concelvablo that any ono would call these things
that I have mentioned just. Tho wool growers
havo not justified them, because they could not.
Their spokesmen in tho senate Smoot, War
ren, Carter, McCumber and Aldrlch havo in
dulged in the most ridiculous sophistry and
evasion. The other senators, of whom you aro
one, who voted for theso things uttered no word
in their defense.
Brazen and Defiant
"As for the worsted spinners, they are so
brazen, they apparently feel so secure In the
possession of their power, that they admit the
inequalities of tho tariff and defy thoso who
complain. You will find many admissions of
this kind in the tariff hearings this year.
"Here are the words of William M. Wood
to the ways and means committee in 1897. Mr.
Wood was then the treasurer of the Washing
ton mills and was proposing a duty in place of
free wool:
" 'In our experience it is unjust for the wool
growers to demand a specific duty on wool. It
prevents the manufacturer, who is compelled to
follow the demands of the consumer, from se
curing more completely tho domestic market.
He must make the quality of goods wanted, and
if he does not the foreign manufacturer sup
plies the want. A specific duty, arbitrarily
placing 12 cents a pound or any rate per pound
on wool handicaps the manufacturer under theso
circumstances. He is at a great disadvantage in
buying the necessary foreign wool to make the
particular quality of fabric desired, wools which
can not be raised in this country.'
"Mr. Wood is now the president of the laTgest
worsted corporation In the world, tho American
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