which proposed to make the bill retroactive, so as to apply to all goods imported after April 1, whether the bill should become a law by that time or not. The certainty of the passage by congress of a bill that would increase the duties levied under the law in force greatly stimulated importations and the object of the Grosvenor amendment was to secure to the government the rate of duties on such importations under the new schedule. The amendment was adopted by the house by a vote of 200 to 140. The affirmative vote was made up of the republicans and one silverite (Newlands of Nevada). The negative vote was composed of the democrats and some of the populists. The following did not vote: Hartman (Mont.), Jones (Wash.), Martin (N. C.), Shafroth (Col.), Shuford (N. C.) and Stroud (N. C.).

A vote was taken on the bill on the 31st of March, when it passed by a vote of 205 to 121. Of those who voted in the affirmative 199 were republicans, 5 were democrats and 1 was a populist (Howard of Alabama). The negative vote was made up of 114 democrats and 7 populists. Twenty-one frained from voting, of whom eighteen were populists and three were silverites.

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The bill was sent to the senate and referred to the finance committee. Upon reaching the committee the entire bill was rewritten and instead of the 169 pages, as it left the house, it became a bill of 230 when it left the senate finance committee. The debate on the bill in the senate was opened by Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island, who gave a general synopsis of its contents, with the reasons for the proposed changes in the law. Several exciting scenes occurred while the bill was before the senate, the most notable being the charges made by Senator Tillman of South Carolina on the 28th of May, when he offered a resolution for investigating "the open charges of corruption" made against senators and the sugar trust regarding the controlling of legislation. The senate did not, however, take any action on the resolution. The rate of duty on raw cotton was the subject of an animated debate.

The senate added the reciprocity, retaliation and stamp tax on bonds, debentures, certificates of stock, etc., clauses. A number of efforts were made to incorporate a clause providing that when any article is manufactured or controlled by a trust it should be placed upon the free list, but nothing further was done than to secure the insertion into the bill of the anti-trust provision of the law of 1894. A vote in the senate was reached on the 7th of July, when the bill was passed by a vote of 38 to 28. The following senators voted for the bill: REPUBLICANS.

The following senators were paired, the first named being a republican and the second a democrat:

Aldrich of Rhode Island with Murphy of New York; Chandler of New Hampshire with McLaurin of South Carolina; Frye of Maine with Gorman of Maryland; Gear of Iowa with Smith of New Jersey; Hansbrough of North Dakota with Daniel of Virginia; Hoar of Massachusetts with Harris of Tennessee; Thurston of Nebraska with Tillman of South Carolina; Wolcott of Colorado with George of Mississippi.

The bill then went to a conference comImittee of the two houses and work was begun on it July 9, 1897. July 17 the conference committee reached an agreement. Among the changes made are the following: The tax on stocks and bonds was aban

doned; the house sugar schedule with some important changes was adopted; the schedule now reads in part: 'Sugars not above 16 Dutch standard, etc., testing by the polariscope not above 75 degrees, ninety-five one-hundredths of 1 cent per pound, for every additional degree thirty-five one-thousandths of 1 cent per pound additional; on sugar above 16 Dutch standard and on refined sugar the duty is 1 cent and ninetyfive one-hundredths of a cent per pound. Works of art, excepting books for libraries, were placed on the dutiable list, as were also cotton ties, burlaps, matting, etc.; cotton ties will pay a specific duty of one-half a cent and on the other articles the duty has been slightly decreased from the senate rates; the wool schedule as agreed to by the conferees provides for a duty of 11 cents per pound on first class, 12 cents per pound on second class and on third class wools 4 cents per pound when valued at less than 12 cents per pound and 8 cents per pound when valued above 12 cents; the duty on hides has been reduced from 20 per cent to 15 per cent ad valorem; it is said that a "strong fight" was made to have hides restored to the free list.

The measure finally passed the house July 19 and the senate July 24 and became a law at 4:04 n. m. of that day when the president affixed his name to the bill.