Whether the Senate Finance Com
mittee be against the American valu
ation plan or for the American valu
ation plan, this vital feature of the
llousfe tariff bill should be thor
oughly debated from the floor of the
Senate. It was scarcely mentioned
In tjbe other branch of Congress, al
though it was reported out by the
Ways and Means Committee and
edopted by the House. This is not
the right way to handle any of the
legislative business of the American
people.
Legislation of the supreme national
import the tariff is never ought to
be jammed through Congress, it
never ought to be smuggled through,
and it never ought to go through by
default as the momentous American
valuation plan might do if the tariff
bill should go into the joint confer
ence committee of the two houses
without a complete discussion of the
valuation plan on the floor of the
Senate.
If the tariff measure is thrown into
conference committee without full
?and fair discussion of the valuation
plan and other important matters
before it leaves the Senate there is
a chance that it may never be de
bated or considered in the open.
Whatever might be agreed upon in
the joint committee conference could
and in all probability would be ac
cepted by both houses without the
general membership understanding
the meaning of the thing it was ac
cepting or knowing what the country
thought about it or wanted done
with it.
