SCIENCE AND INVENTION: CARNEGIE INSTITUTION.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902 (February-March).
Visit of Prince Henry of Prussia.
A visit by Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of the German
Emperor, was an event of considerable importance, in what it
signified of friendly relations between Germany and the United
States. The Prince arrived on the 22d of February and remained
in the country until the 11th of March, visiting and being
entertained at Washington (and Mt. Vernon), Annapolis, West
Point, Philadelphia, New York, and making a six days trip into
the West.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902 (March).
Creation of a Permanent Census Bureau.
After long urging, Congress, in February, 1902, passed a bill
authorizing the organization of a permanent Census Bureau in
the Department of the Interior.
{667}
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902 (May).
Unveiling of a Monument to Marshal de Rochambeau.
A joint resolution of the two Houses of Congress, in the
following words, was approved by the President on the 21st of
March, 1902:
"That the President be, and is hereby, authorized and
requested to extend to the Government and people of France and
the family of Marshal de Rochambeau, commander in chief of the
French forces in America during the war of independence, and
to the family of Marquis de Lafayette, a cordial invitation to
unite with the Government and people of the United States in a
fit and appropriate dedication of the monument of Marshal de
Rochambeau to be unveiled in the city of Washington on the
twenty-fourth day of May, nineteen hundred and two; and for
the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this resolution
the sum of ten thousand dollars is hereby appropriated, out of
any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the
same, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended
under the direction of the Secretary of State."
The invitation was conveyed to the President of France by an
autograph letter from President Roosevelt, while Secretary
Hay, at the same time, communicated it officially, through the
American Ambassador at Paris, to representatives of the
families of Marshal de Rochambeau and the Marquis de
Lafayette. France, in response, sent a battleship, the
_Gaulois_, bearing a general and an admiral, with two
aids each, and two officials from the foreign office. The
invitation was accepted by the present Count and Countess de
Rochambeau; and, as explained by Ambassador Porter in a
despatch, "Mr. Gaston de Sahune de Lafayette and his wife, not
being able to proceed to the United States, the invitation is
accepted for Mr. Paul de Sahune de Lafayette, who has been
living in the United States for the last two years and who
speaks English. He is the brother of Mr. Gaston de Sahune de
Lafayette."
The ceremonies of the unveiling of the monument took place at
Washington on the 24th of May, and were followed by official
hospitalities to the guests of the occasion at Washington,
Annapolis, West Point, New York, Newport, and Boston. With the
sailing of the _Gaulois_, on the 1st of June, the
formalities of the visit came to an end.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902 (May).
Establishment of the Republic of Cuba.
Transfer of Executive Authority from U. S. Military Governor
to President-elect Palma.
See (in this Volume )
CUBA: A. D. 1901-1902.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902 (May-November).
The Restoration of the White House.
Until 1902 the residence and the executive offices of the
President of the United States were crowded together in the
historic White House, with increasing inconvenience and
impropriety. Many projects for their separation had been
discussed, involving generally the erection of a new mansion
for the chief magistrate; but they had no result until
President Roosevelt, with characteristic resolution, took the
matter in hand. His emphatic pronouncement that "under no
circumstances should the President live elsewhere than in the
historic White House" appealed strongly to a very common
public feeling, and smoothed the way for an undertaking which
speedily cleared the White House of its secretarial and
clerical offices and made it a fit and worthy residence for
the chief citizen of the Republic and his family.
On consultation with the Park Commission of Washington, and
especially with the architect, Mr. McKim, who was one of its
members, as to the expenditure of the annual appropriations of
Congress for repairs to the White House, it was decided to be
thriftless policy "to patch a building that needed thorough
reconstruction. When asked for his ideas as to such
reconstruction, Mr. McKim advised that a temporary one-story
building be located west of the White House, nearly on the
site once occupied by Thomas Jefferson’s offices, and be
distinctly subordinate to the main building; and that the
White House be restored to its original uses as a residence.
This solution commended itself to the President, but lateness
in the session of Congress seemed to make the project
impossible of immediate execution.
"The discussion was still in the academic stage when, one day
[in May, 1902], Mr. McKim outlined his ideas to the late
Senator McMillan, who straightway asked the cost of the
proposed changes. Pressed for an immediate answer, Mr. McKim
made a rough estimate. The Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill was
then pending in the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and
within an hour from the time the figures were given that
committee agreed to insert an item for the restoration of the
White House and for the construction of temporary executive
offices. To Senators Allison and Hale the President afterward
submitted the architect’s scheme; and when the item was
reached during the passage of the bill in the Senate, the plan
was received with favor, and the appropriation was agreed to
without objection."
It passed the House with equal promptitude. The President then
stipulated that "the work should be completed in time for the
next social season, and that the executive offices and the
living portion of the White House should be ready in November,
1902. That meant a campaign. Stones for floors and stairways
must be selected piece by piece at the distant quarry; steel
must be found to replace the over-tired wooden floor-beams;
velvets and silks must be woven; hardware must be fashioned;
and a thousand and one details must be looked after, because
in less than six months the White House was to be made over
from cellar to garret, and every piece of woodwork, every item
of furniture, each ceiling and panel and moulding, must be
both architecturally correct and also befitting a house of the
latter part of the eighteenth century. Such was the task which
the architects, Messrs. McKim, Mead & White, took upon
themselves. …
"The total amount which Congress placed in President
Roosevelt’s hands for both the executive offices and the
White House was $530,641, and he might expend the money either
by contract or otherwise in his discretion. This amount was
based on estimates furnished by the architects, with the
understanding that any portion saved on one item might be used
on others, a very happy proviso, as it turned out, because the
electric wiring had to be entirely renewed, new heating
apparatus provided, and even a new roof put on the house--all
unforeseen requirements. …
"At the outset the architects discovered that simply by
carrying out completely the early plans as to the exterior,
and by making certain rearrangements in the interior, the …
White House problems could be solved, at least for the
immediate future, without destroying one single feature of the
historic building. …
{668}
"By the restoration of the east and west terraces the White
House now rises from a stylobate 460 feet in length, thus
greatly enhancing the dignity of the structure. The roofs of
these terraces (which are level with the ground on the north)
are surrounded with stone balustrades bearing electric lamps."
_Charles Moore,
The Restoration of the White House
(Century Magazine, April, 1903)._
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902 (June).
Reclamation (Irrigation) Act of Congress.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902 (October).
Failure of Projected Purchase of the Danish West Indies.
See (in this Volume)
DENMARK: A. D. 1902.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902-1903.
Friendly course of Germany in undertaking Proceedings,
with Great Britain and Italy, against Venezuela.
Recognition of the Monroe Doctrine.
Intermediation of the United States.
"If any proof were needed of Germany’s purpose to maintain
good relations with our country [the United States], her
course in the Venezuela matter has amply supplied it.
See (in this Volume)
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1902-1904]
Indeed, the fact that Germany came to an understanding with
our government before taking forcible measures against
Venezuela is of most momentous significance. Why? Because this
was the first explicit recognition of the Monroe Doctrine by
any Continental Power. It is a notable milestone passed in the
history of our country and its relations with European
governments. It gives the Monroe Doctrine a validity no longer
to be disputed. All this was instantly recognized in Germany.
‘America for the Americans,’ said a great Berlin daily, ‘has
become an irreversible fact.’ German Jingo organs were dazed,
and angrily exclaimed, ‘Must we ask permission at Washington
to collect our claims from Venezuela?’ Papers of more rational
temper, however, accepted Germany's course, as not only
without detriment to her dignity, but as in harmony with her
political interests. Indeed, this saner section of the German
press was even pleased that the government had thus made such
an emphatic disavowal of the aims and dreams of the noisy,
fantastic Pan-Germans."
_W. C. Dreher,
A Letter from Germany
(Atlantic Monthly, March, 1902)._
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902-1903.
Extension of Civil Service Classification
to Rural Free Delivery Service.
Order concerning Unclassified Laborers.
See (in this Volume)
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902-1903.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902-1905.
Negotiation and Senatorial Destruction of the Hay-Bond
Reciprocity Treaty with Newfoundland.
See (in this Volume)
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1902-1905.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1902 (February).
Creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor in
the National Government.
The Bureau of Corporations.
"The establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor,
with the Bureau of Corporations thereunder, marks a real
advance in the direction of doing all that is possible for the
solution of the questions vitally affecting capitalist and
wage-workers. The act creating the Department was approved on
February 14, 1903, and two days later the head of the
Department was nominated and confirmed by the Senate. Since
then the work of organization has been pushed as rapidly as
the initial appropriations permitted, and with due regard to
thoroughness and the broad purposes which the Department is
designed to serve. After the transfer of the various bureaus
and branches to the department at the beginning of the current
fiscal year, as provided for in the act, the personnel
comprised 1,289 employees in Washington and 8,836 in the
country at large. The scope of the Department’s duty and
authority embraces the commercial and industrial interests of
the Nation. It is not designed to restrict or control the
fullest liberty of legitimate business action, but to secure
exact and authentic information which will aid the Executive
in enforcing existing laws, and which will enable the Congress
to enact additional legislation, if any should be found
necessary, in order to prevent the few from obtaining
privileges at the expense of diminished opportunities for the
many.
"The preliminary work of the Bureau of Corporations in the
Department has shown the wisdom of its creation. Publicity in
corporate affairs will tend to do away with ignorance, and
will afford facts upon which intelligent action may be taken.
Systematic, intelligent investigation is already developing
facts the knowledge of which is essential to a right
understanding of the needs and duties of the business World.
The corporation which is honestly and fairly organized, whose
managers in the conduct of its business recognize their
obligation to deal squarely with their stockholders, their
competitors, and the public, has nothing to fear from such
supervision. The purpose of this Bureau is not to embarrass or
assail legitimate business, but to aid in bringing about a
better industrial condition—a condition under which there
shall be obedience to law and recognition of public obligation
by all corporations, great or small."
_Message of the President to Congress,
December 7, 1903._
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1903 (February).
Passage of the Act to further regulate Commerce with Foreign
Nations and among the States, known commonly as
the Elkins Anti-Rebate Law.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1903 (FEBRUARY).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1903 (October).
Settlement of the Alaska Boundary Question.
See (in this Volume)
ALASKA: A. D. 1903.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1903 (October).
Lease from Cuba of two Coaling and Naval Stations.
See (in this Volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1903.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1903 (October).
New Treaty with China.
Two Ports in Manchuria opened to Foreign Trade.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1903 (MAY-OCTOBER).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1903 (October).
Commercial Relations with Germany as affected by the
new German Tariff Law.
See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1902 (OCTOBER).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1903-1904.
The Financial Crisis.
See (in this Volume)
FINANCE AND TRADE: A. D. 1901-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1903-1904.
Contention against Canadian claims to Sovereignty over Land
and Sea in Hudson Bay Region.
Canadian Measures to establish it.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1903-1904.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1903-1905.
Investigation and Prosecution of the "Beef Trust," so called.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1903-1906.
{669}
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1903-1906.
Unearthing of Extensive Frauds in the Land Office.
Late in December, 1902, the Secretary of the Interior
Department, the Honorable Ethan Allen Hitchcock, received
information which led him, with the President’s approval, to
demand the resignation of the Commissioner of the Land Office,
Binger Hermann, of Oregon. Mr. Hermann was a man of importance
in the Republican party, and he rallied powerful influences to
his support. They could not anchor him durably in the Land
Office, but they did delay his departure from it for about a
mouth, during which time he is said to have destroyed
thousands of letters and documents bearing on land frauds
which he was under suspicion of having protected and promoted.
Returning to Oregon from Washington he sought and obtained
from his party an election to Congress, to fill a vacancy
which death had caused opportunely, and this seemed to augment
his political power. But agents of the Interior Department
were in Oregon and other Western States at the same time,
gathering evidence which soon removed all doubt of the huge
conspiracy of fraud which Commissioner Hermann had been a
party to, and which had wide ramifications wherever public
lands of value were open to entry, under the Homestead Act,
the Desert Land Act, or the Timber and Stone Act.
The frauds were carried on under false appearances of
compliance with the requirements of law, and the dismissal of
Hermann had not cleared from the General Land Office all the
treacherous connivance which made them possible. Other allies
of the land-thieves were tracked to their official desks, some
at Washington, some in the Interior Department, some in
Congress, and some out in the land offices at the West. Then
the Federal Grand Jury at Portland, Oregon, began to turn out
indictments, on evidence handled by Francis J. Heney, now
entering on a famous career, as special prosecutor for the
Government. Mr. Heney was appointed by the President on the
recommendation of Secretary Hitchcock and Attorney-General
Knox, with neglect of advice from Oregon Senators and
Congressmen. One of the first of the indictments found struck
an Oregon Senator, John H. Mitchell, and brought him to a
prison sentence, which death rescued him from. Another put a
member of the House of Representatives, J. H. Williamson, on
trial; a third put its brand on a recently removed United
States District Attorney, John H. Hall. Binger Hermann, a
State Senator, and several special agents of the Land Office
were among the other subjects of prosecution, besides a large
number of private operators in the land-thieves’ ring.
These proceedings were at the beginning of vigorous measures
which have gone far towards, if not fully to the end of
arresting the frauds which were rapidly robbing the nation of
the last of its valuable public lands.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1904.
Representation in the Interparliamentary Union.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1904-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1904 (May).
Kidnapping of Mr. Ion Perdicaris at Tangier, for Ransom.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1904-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1904 (May-October).
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
See (in this Volume)
ST. LOUIS: A. D. 1904.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1904 (May-November).
The Presidential Election.
Parties, Candidates, and Platforms.
Election of President Roosevelt.
The questions of leading interest and influence in the canvass
preliminary to the Presidential election of 1904 were
undoubtedly those relating to the governmental regulation of
interstate railways and of the capitalistic combinations
called "trusts"; but those questions had not yet acquired the
height of importance in the public mind which they reached
before the next quadrennial polling of the nation occurred.
The question of tariff revision and a moderated protective
system, in the interest of the great mass of consumers, was
rising in interest, especially at the West; but that, too, was
but mildly influential in the campaign. As for the
imperialistic ambitions that had been excited for a time by
the conquests of 1898, they had cooled to so great a degree as
to offer no longer much challenge to opposition; opinion in
the country now differing on little more than the length of
time to which American guardianship over the Philippine
Islands should be allowed to run. The voters of the United
States, in fact, made their election between the men who were
offered to it as candidates, far more than between the parties
and the policies whom the candidates represented; and
President Roosevelt was reelected on personal grounds, in the
main, because the kind of vigorous character he had shown was
greatly to the liking of a large part of the people.
The first nominating convention to be held was that of the
Socialist party, whose delegates met at Chicago, May 2, and
nominated for President Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana; for
Vice-President Benjamin Hanford, of New York.
On the same day the United Christian Party, whose declaration
of principles appears below, met at St. Louis.
The Convention of the Republican Party, also held at Chicago,
came next in time, June 21, and, with Theodore Roosevelt, of
New York, for reëlection as President, it named for
Vice-President Charles Warren Fairbanks, of Indiana.
The Prohibition Party, in convention at Indianapolis, June 29,
named Silas C. Swallow, of Pennsylvania, for President, and
George W. Carroll, of Texas, for Vice-President.
On the 4th of July the People’s or Populist Party held
convention at Springfield, Illinois, and nominated Thomas E.
Watson, of Georgia, for President, with Thomas H. Tibbles, of
Nebraska, for Vice-President.
Meeting two days earlier, in New York City, but in session
some days longer, the Socialist Labor Party named for
President Charles Hunter Corregan, of New York, and for
Vice-President William Wesley Cox, of Illinois.
The convention of the Democratic Party opened its session, at
St. Louis, on the 6th of July. Its nominee for President was
Alton B. Parker, of New York; for Vice-President Henry G.
Davis, of West Virginia.
The National Liberty Party met at St. Louis on the 7th of July
and put forth its platform of principles.
The last of the nominations were presented on the 31st of
August, at Chicago, by a convention representing a new party,
the Continental, whose candidates then named declined and were
subsequently replaced by Austin Holcomb, of Georgia, for
President, and A. King, of Missouri, for Vice-President.
{670}
With some abridgment, the declarations of principles and
pledges of party policy adopted by these several conventions
on the main questions at issue are given conveniently for
comparison in the following arrangement by subjects:
Trusts.
The Republican Party contented itself with a brief boast of
"laws enacted by the Republican party which the Democratic
party failed to enforce," but which "have been fearlessly
enforced by a Republican President," and of "new laws insuring
reasonable publicity as to the operations of great
corporations and providing additional remedies for the
prevention of discrimination in freight rates."
The Democratic Party condemned with vigor the failure of
Republicans in Congress to prohibit contracts with convicted
trusts; declared that "gigantic trusts and combinations" "are
a menace to beneficial competition and an obstacle to
permanent business prosperity;" denounced "rebates and
discrimination by transportation companies as the most potent
agency in promoting and strengthening these unlawful
conspiracies against trade," demanded "an enlargement of the
powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission," "a strict
enforcement of existing civil and criminal statutes against
all such trusts, combinations and monopolies," and "the
enactment of such further legislation as may be necessary to
effectually suppress them."
The People’s Party set forth the proposition that, "to prevent
unjust discrimination and monopoly the Government should own
and control the railroads and those public utilities which in
their nature are monopolies." It should "own and operate the
general telegraph and telephone systems and provide a parcels
post." Corporations "should be subjected to such governmental
regulations and control as will adequately protect the
public," and demand was made for "the taxation of monopoly
privileges, while they remain in private hands, to the extent
of the value of the privileges granted."
The Continental Party contended for a guarded chartering by
Congress of "all railroad and other corporations doing
business in two or more States," and for having the "creating
of ‘corners’ and the establishing of exorbitant prices for
products necessary to human existence … made a criminal
offence."
The United Christian Party declared that "Christian government
through direct legislation will regulate the trusts and labor
problem according to the golden rule."
The Tariff.
The Republican Party declared "Protection" to be its "cardinal
policy," maintenance of the principles of which policy is
insisted upon; wherefore "rates of duty should be readjusted
only when conditions have so changed that the public interest
demands their alteration," and "this work cannot safely be
committed to any other hands than those of the Republican
party."
The Democratic Party, on the contrary, denounced "protection
as a robbery of the many to enrich the few," favored "a tariff
limited to the needs of the Government, economically
administered," and called for a "revision and gradual
reduction of the tariff by the friends of the masses, for the
commonwealth, and not by the friends of its abuses, its
extortions and its discriminations."
The People’s Party declared for a change in our laws that
"will place tariff schedules in the hands of an omni-partisan
commission."
The Continental Party limited its declaration on this subject
to one pronouncing for an "adherence to the principles of
reciprocity advocated by that eminent statesman, James G.
Blaine, as applied to Canada and all American Republics."
Capital and Labor.
Public Ownership.
Socialism.
The Republican Party recognized "combinations of capital and
labor" as "being the results of the economic movements of the
age," but "neither must be permitted to infringe upon the
rights and interests of the people"; "both are subject to the
laws, and neither can be permitted to break them."
The Democratic Party expressed similar impartiality, in
favoring "the enactment and administration of laws giving
labor and capital impartially their just rights."
The People’s Party pledged its effort to "preserve inviolate"
"the right of labor to organize for the benefit and protection
of those who toil." It would seek "the enactment of
legislation looking to the improvement of conditions for the
wage-earners, the abolition of child labor, the suppression of
sweat shops and of convict labor in competition with free
labor"; also the "exclusion from American shores of foreign
pauper labor," and "the shorter work day."
The Continental Party adopted these expressions of the
People’s Party, in identical words.
The National Liberty Party asked "that the General Government
own and control all public carriers in the United States."
The Prohibition Party declared itself "in favor of … the
safeguarding of the people’s rights by a rigid application of
the principles of justice to all combinations and
organizations of capital and labor."
The United Christian Party pronounced simply for "Government
ownership of coal mines, oil wells and public utilities."
The Socialist Party pledged itself "to watch and work, in both
the economic and the political struggle, for each successive
immediate interest of the working class": for "shortened days
of labor and increases of wages"; for "insurance of the
workers against accident, sickness and lack of employment";
for pensions; for "public ownership of the means of
transportation, communication and exchange"; for graduated
taxation of incomes, etc.; for "complete education of children
and their freedom from the workshops"; for "free
administration of justice"; for "the initiative, referendum,
proportional representation, equal suffrage for men and women,"
etc.; and for "every gain or advantage for the workers that
may be wrested from the capitalist system and that may relieve
the suffering and strengthen the hands of labor"; but in so
doing it proclaims that it is "using these remedial measures
as means to the one great end of the co-operative
commonwealth."
The Socialist Labor Party declared that "the existing
contradiction between the theory of democratic government and
the fact of a despotic economic system … perverts government
to the exclusive benefit of the capitalist class"; wherefore,
"against such a system the Socialist Labor Party raises the
banner of revolt, and demands the unconditional surrender of
the capitalist class."
{671}
Nomination and Election.
Initiative and Referendum.
The Democratic Party declared for the election of United
States Senators by direct popular vote.
he People’s Party demanded "that legal provision be made under
which people may exercise the initiative and referendum, and
proportional representation, and direct vote for all public
officers, with the right of recall."
The Continental Party demanded "the enactment by the several
States of a primary election law"; the "elimination of the
party ‘boss’"; "direct legislation by the method known as the
initiative and referendum," and the possession by each State
of "the sole right to determine by legislation the
qualifications required of voters within its jurisdiction,
irrespective of race, color or sex."
The Prohibition Party expressed itself in favor of the popular
election of United States Senators; of "a wise application of
the principle of the initiative and referendum," and of making
the right of suffrage "depend upon the mental and moral
qualifications of the citizen."
Natural Resources.
Land.
Reclamation.
Waterways.
The Republican Party pointed simply to the fact that it had
"passed laws which will bring the arid lands of the United
States within the area of cultivation."
The Democratic Party congratulated "our western citizens upon
the passage of the law known as the Newlands Irrigation Act,"
claiming it as "a measure framed by a Democrat, passed in the
Senate by a non-partisan vote, and passed in the House against
the opposition of almost all Republican leaders, by a vote the
majority of which was Democratic." It declared for "liberal
appropriations for the improvement of waterways of the
country," and pronounced its opposition to "the Republican
policy of starving home development in order to feed the greed
for conquest and the appetite for national prestige."
The People’s Party asserted that "Land, including all the
natural sources of wealth, is a heritage of all the people,
and should not be monopolized for speculative purposes; and
alien ownership of land should be prohibited."
Each of the party platforms was fluent on many other topics,
such as the protection of citizens at home and abroad, the
Panama Canal, territories and dependencies, injunctions,
public economy, taxation, monetary questions, pensions, the
civil service, army and navy, merchant marine,
liquor-licensing and prohibition (the specialty of the
Prohibition Party), divorce, polygamy, etc.; but these entered
so little into the canvass that the party declarations on them
had small effect, if any, on the popular vote.
At the election, in November, the votes given to the
Republican nominees numbered 7,623,486; to Democratic,
5,077,971; to Socialist, 402,283; to Prohibition, 258,536; to
People’s, 117,183; to Socialist Labor, 31,249.
The electoral votes cast were 336 for Roosevelt and Fairbanks;
140 for Parker and Davis.
The States which gave Republican majorities were California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West
Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming,—32.
Democratic majorities were given in Alabama, Arkansas,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia,—12.
In Maryland, where the electors are chosen by the Legislature,
6 votes were given to the Democratic candidates and 2 to the
Republican.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1904 (October).
Initial invitation by the President to the holding of a Second
Peace Conference.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1904 (November).
President Roosevelt’s Renunciation of any Third Term Candidacy.
On the evening of the day of election, as soon as the result
was known to have given him a second term in the presidential
office, President Roosevelt issued the following
acknowledgment and announcement to the country:
"I am deeply sensible of the honor done me by the American
people in thus expressing their confidence in what I have done
and have tried to do. I appreciate to the full the solemn
responsibility this confidence imposes upon me, and I shall do
all that in my power lies not to forfeit it. On the Fourth of
March next I shall have served three and one-half years, and
this three and one-half years constitutes my first term. The
wise custom which limits the President to two terms regards
the substance and not the form. Under no circumstances will I
be a candidate for or accept another nomination."
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1904-1905.
Beginning and Organization of Work on the Panama Canal.
See (in this Volume)
PANAMA CANAL: A. D. 1904-1905.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1904-1909.
Progress of State, County, and Town Prohibition.
See (in this Volume)
ALCOHOL PROBLEM: UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905.
Arbitration Treaty with Mexico.
See (in this Volume)
MEXICO: A. D. 1904-1905.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905.
Reopened Controversy over American Fishing Rights on
the Newfoundland coast.
See (in this Volume)
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1905-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905.
Assistance to San Domingo against threatening Creditors.
See (in this Volume)
SAN DOMINGO: A. D. 1904-1907.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905 (February).
Concentration of Forest Service in the Department
of Agriculture.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905 (February-June).
Recovery from France of the body of Admiral John Paul Jones.
On the 13th of February, 1905, President Roosevelt addressed
a Message to Congress which gave the following information:
"For a number of years efforts have been made to confirm the
historical statement that the remains of Admiral John Paul
Jones were interred in a certain piece of ground in the city
of Paris then owned by the Government and used at the time as
a burial place for foreign Protestants. These efforts have at
last resulted in documentary proof that John Paul Jones was
buried on July 20, 1792, between 8 and 9 o’clock P. M., in the
now abandoned cemetery of St. Louis, in the northeastern
section of Paris. About 500 bodies were interred there, and
the body of the admiral was probably among the last hundred
buried. It was encased in a leaden coffin, calculated to
withstand the ravages of time.
{672}
"The cemetery was about 130 feet long by 120 feet wide. Since
its disuse as a burial place the soil has been tilled to a
level and covered almost completely by buildings, most of them
of an inferior class. The American ambassador in Paris, being
satisfied that it is practical to discover and identify the
remains of John Paul Jones, has, after prolonged negotiations
with the present holders of the property and the tenants
thereof, secured from them options in writing which give him
the right to dig in all parts of the property during a period
of three months for the purpose of making the necessary
excavations and searches, upon condition of a stated
compensation for the damage and annoyance caused by the work.
The actual search is to be conducted by the chief engineer of
the municipal department of Paris having charge of
subterranean works at a cost which has been carefully
estimated. The ambassador gives the entire cost of the work,
including the options, compensation, cost of excavating and
caring for the remains as not exceeding 180,000 francs, or
$35,000, on the supposition that the body may not be found
until the whole area has been searched. If earlier discovered,
the expense would be proportionately less."
The President recommended an appropriation of the sum named,
"or so much thereof as may be necessary for the purposes above
described, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary
of State."
On the 14th of April following a telegram from the Ambassador
at Paris, General Horace Porter, announced that his "six
years’ search for the remains of Paul Jones" had resulted in
success, and described the identification of the body. This
had been verified by Doctors Capitan and Papillault,
distinguished professors of the School of Anthropology, who
had ample particulars of information from which to judge.
Arrangements were made at once for sending a naval squadron,
under Admiral Sigsbee, to France, to bring the remains to the
United States. This was done in the following June, when the
relics of the first of American naval heroes received the high
honors that were due to his exploits. They were deposited in a
vault on the grounds of the Naval Academy at Annapolis.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905 (June-October).
Mediation by the President between Russia and Japan.
The Peace Treaty of Portsmouth.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1905 (JUNE-OCTOBER).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905 (July).
Proclamation of the Death of John Hay, Secretary of State.
"John Hay, Secretary of State of the United States, died on
July 1st. His death, a crushing sorrow to his friends, is to
the people of this country a national bereavement; and it is
in addition a serious loss to all mankind, for to him it was
given to stand as a leader in the effort to better world
conditions by striving to advance the cause of international
peace and justice. He entered the public service as the
trusted and intimate companion of Abraham Lincoln, and for
well nigh forty-five years he served his country with loyal
devotion and high ability in many positions of honor and
trust, and finally he crowned his life work by serving as
Secretary of State with such far-sighted reading of the future
and such loyalty to lofty ideals as to confer lasting benefits
not only upon our own country, but upon all the nations of the
earth.
"As a suitable expression of national mourning, I direct that
the diplomatic representatives of the United States in all
foreign countries display the flags over their embassies and
legations at half-mast for ten days; that for a like period
the flag of the United States be displayed at half-mast at all
forts and military posts and at all naval stations and on all
vessels of the United States. I further order that on the day
of the funeral the Executive Departments in the city of
Washington be closed, and that on all public buildings
throughout the United States the national flag be displayed at
half-mast.
"Done at the city of Washington this third day of July, A. D.
1905, and of the Independence of the United States of America
the one hundred and twenty-ninth. Theodore Roosevelt."
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905-1906.
American Claims against Venezuela.
See (in this Volume)
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1905-1906, and 1907-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905-1906.
Part taken in the organization of the International
Institute of Agriculture.
See (in this Volume)
AGRICULTURE.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905-1906.
The new Period of Inflated Exploitation of Capital.
Increased Cost of Living.
See (in this Volume)
FINANCE AND TRADE: A. D. 1901-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905-1907.
Receivership of San Domingo Revenues.
The "Modus Vivendi" and the Treaty.
See (in this Volume)
SAN DOMINGO: A. D. 1905-1907.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1905-1909.
The Cabinet of President Roosevelt during his Second Term.
During the second term of President Roosevelt his Cabinet
underwent the following changes: On the death of John Hay, in
July, 1905, Elihu Root became Secretary of State, and
continued in the office until January, 1909, when he resigned,
and was succeeded by the Assistant Secretary of State, Robert
Bacon. Leslie M. Shaw left the Treasury Department in 1907,
and the secretaryship was given to George B. Cortelyou.
William H. Taft continued in charge of the War Department
until his nomination for President, in 1908, when General Luke
E. Wright was called to his place. Charles J. Bonaparte,
appointed Secretary of the Navy at the beginning of the
President’s new term, was transferred in 1907 to the
Department of Justice, succeeding Attorney-General Moody,
appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court, and being
succeeded in the Navy Department by Victor H. Metcalf,
previously Secretary of Commerce and Labor. In the Department
of the Interior, Secretary Hitchcock resigned in 1907, and
James R. Garfield, previously Commissioner of Corporations,
came into his place. George B. Cortelyou had been called to
the Post Office Department at the beginning of the new
presidential term, and transferred thence to the Treasury
Department in 1907. His place in the Post Office was then
filled by George von L. Meyer. The Secretary of Agriculture,
James Wilson, remained at the head of that Department
throughout the term. On the transfer of Mr. Metcalf from the
Department of Commerce and Labor to that of the Treasury, in
1907, his place in the former was taken by Oscar S. Straus.
{673}
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906.
Joint Action with Mexico in Central American Mediation.
See (in this Volume)
CENTRAL AMERICA.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906.
Act for the Preservation of the Scenic Grandeur
of Niagara Falls.
See (in this Volume)
NIAGARA FALLS.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906.
Dealings with Turkey facilitated by making the
American Minister an Ambassador.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1906.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906.
Enactment of a National Pure Food Law.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906 (January-April).
Represented at the Algeciras Conference on
the Morocco Question.
Instructions to the Delegates.
Declaration made on signing the Act of the Conference.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906 (March).
Supreme Court Decision enforcing the Demand of the Government
for the production of Books and Papers by the so-called
Tobacco Trust before a Federal Grand Jury.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1906.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906 (April).
Laying the Corner Stone of an Office Building for Congressmen.
On the 14th of April, 1906, the corner stone of a building
designed to supply each member of the House of Representatives
with an office was laid with ceremony, the President
delivering an address. Besides 410 distinct offices, the
design of the building contemplated a large assembly room for
public hearings before committees of the House. Its estimated
cost was something over $3,000,000. A corresponding office
building for the Senate was also in view.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906 (April).
Convention with British Government for Determining and
Marking the Alaska Boundary Line.
See (in this Volume)
ALASKA: A. D. 1906.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906 (April-July).
Long and Widespread Suspension of Coal Mining,
both Anthracite and Bituminous.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1906.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906 (June).
The Joint Statehood Act.
By the Joint Statehood Bill, approved by the President June
16, 1906, Indian Territory and Oklahoma were united to form
the State of Oklahoma, the people being authorized to adopt a
constitution. Arizona and New Mexico were proffered a similar
union, in a State to be called Arizona. On the question of
such union the Bill provided for a vote to be taken in each
Territory, following which, if a majority in each should be
found to favor the union, delegates to be chosen at the same
election should meet and frame a constitution for submission
to the people. The contemplated vote was taken at the election
of November 6, and resulted in the rejection of the proposal
by Arizona, while New Mexico gave assent. The project was thus
defeated.
The plan of union was successful, however, in the creation of
the State of Oklahoma. Delegates to a convention for framing
its Constitution were elected November 6, 1906; the convention
began its session on the 20th of the same month, and finished
its labors on the 16th of July, 1907. By proclamation of the
President the new State,—the 46th of the Federal family,—was
admitted to the Union on the 16th of November following, under
the Constitution which had been ratified by vote of a majority
of the citizens of each of the Territories now united in it.
For some account of the Constitution;
See (in this Volume)
CONSTITUTION OF OKLAHOMA.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906 (July-August).
The Third International Conference of American Republics,
at Rio de Janeiro.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906 (August).
The Brownsville Affair.
On the 13th of August, 1906, a riotous affair of a
much-disputed nature occurred at Brownsville, Texas, in which
one man was killed and two, at least, were wounded. The
shooting was alleged to have been done by colored soldiers who
formed part of a battalion of the Twenty-fifth Infantry,
United States Army, stationed at Brownsville. An investigation
of the affair convinced the President that some few soldiers
of the battalion were guilty of what had been done, and that
their comrades knew of their guilt, but were shielding them,
by assertions to the contrary. On this belief he ordered the
entire battalion to be discharged from the service, and angry
controversy over his action arose at once. The negro soldiers
were championed by a considerable part of the Press of the
country, and by a section of Congress when it met. The
evidence of their guilt was declared to be more than doubtful,
and the authority of the President to issue the order of
discharge was challenged.
In the annual report of the then Secretary of War, now
President Taft, the action of President Roosevelt was firmly
sustained. Secretary Taft’s version of the circumstances of
the affair was substantially to the following effect: Some
number of men, from a battalion of 170, formed a preconcerted
plan to revenge themselves upon the people of a town for
insults which they resented. They left their barracks about
midnight and fired into the houses of the town for the purpose
of killing those against whom they had a grievance. They did
kill one man, wound another, and seriously injure the chief of
police. There can be no doubt, therefore, that this squad of
men were guilty; the purpose of one was the purpose of all.
Within a few minutes after the crime was committed, the men
returned to their places in the ranks (a call to arms having
been sounded), and must have been among the last to take their
places, for the firing continued after the formations had
begun. The absence of their rifles from the racks could not
have escaped the attention of the sergeants who had the keys;
yet all the sergeants swear that the rifles were in the racks,
untouched. It is impossible that many of the battalion who did
not take part as active members of the conspiracy were not
made aware, by one circumstance or another, of the identity of
the persons who committed the offense, instead of giving to
their officers or the inspectors the benefit of anything which
they knew tending to lead to a conviction of the guilty men,
there was a conspiracy of silence on the part of many who must
have had some knowledge of importance. "These enlisted men,"
said Secretary Taft, "took the oath of allegiance to the
Government, and were to be used under the law to maintain its
supremacy. Can the Government properly, therefore, keep in its
employ for the purpose of maintaining law and order any longer
a body of men, from five to ten per cent. of whom can plan and
commit murder, and rely upon the silence of a number of their
companions to escape detection? "
{674}
Mr. Taft then called attention to the fact that "when a man
enlists in the army he knows that, for the very purpose of
protecting itself, the Government reserves to itself the
absolute right of discharge, not as a punishment, but for the
public safety or interest." He thus corrected the supposition
that the discharge was a punishment either of the innocent or
the guilty. He said further: "The discharge ‘without honor’ is
merely the ending of a contract and separation from the
service under a right reserved in the statute for the
protection of the Government, which may work a hardship to the
private discharged, but which, in the public interest, must
sometimes be arbitrarily exercised."
Of the repeated investigations, Congressional and military,
that ensued, and of the protracted disputation, led in
Congress by Senator Foraker, and echoed in the newspapers, it
is needless to attempt an account; for no greater certainty as
to the facts in the case can be recognized to-day than when
Secretary Taft's report was made.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906 (August-October).
Insurrection in Cuba.
American Intervention called for.
The Cuban Government dissolved.
Provisional Government established by Secretary-of-War Taft.
See (in this Volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1906 (AUGUST-OCTOBER).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906 (October-November).
Segregation of Orientals in San Francisco Schools.
Resentment of the Japanese.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906-1909.
The Provisional Government of Cuba.
Reinstatement of the Republic.
See (in this Volume)
CUBA: A D. 1906-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1906-1909.
The Reform of the Consular Service.
See
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1907.
Monetary Panic.
Distress among the Speculative Great Capitalists.
Industrial Paralysis.
Unemployment for Labor.
See (in this Volume)
FINANCE AND TRADE: A. D. 1901-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1907.
Enactment of a new Law of Citizenship.
See (in this Volume)
NATURALIZATION.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1907 (January).
Act to prohibit Corporations from making Contributions
in connection with Political Elections.
The following Act of Congress was approved by the President,
January 26, 1907.
"That it shall be unlawful for any national bank, or any
corporation organized by authority of any laws of Congress, to
make a money contribution in connection with any election to
any political office. It shall also be unlawful for any
corporation whatever to make a money contribution in
connection with any election at which Presidential and
Vice-Presidential electors or a Representative in Congress is
to be voted for or any election by any State legislature of a
United States Senator. Every corporation which shall make any
contribution in violation of the foregoing provisions shall be
subject to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and
every officer or director of any corporation who shall consent
to any contribution by the corporation in violation of the
foregoing provisions shall upon conviction be punished by a
fine of not exceeding one thousand and not less than two
hundred and fifty dollars, or by imprisonment for a term of
not more than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment in
the discretion of the court."
According to a statement presented to the Senate in February,
1908, the laws of the following nineteen States and
Territories contain provisions for the publicity of election
contributions or expenditures originally enacted at the dates
given:
Alabama, 1903;
Arizona, 1895;
California, 1893
Colorado, 1891;
Connecticut, 1895;
Iowa, 1907;
Massachusetts, 1892;
Minnesota, 1895;
Missouri, 1893;
Montana, 1895;
Nebraska, 1897;
New York, 1890;
Pennsylvania, 1906;
South Carolina, 1905;
South Dakota, 1907;
Texas, 1905;
Virginia, 1903;
Washington, 1907;
Wisconsin, 1897.
The laws of the three following States, which contain no
publicity provisions, forbid corporations to contribute in any
manner for political purposes: Florida, 1897; Kentucky, 1897;
Tennessee, 1897.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1907 (April).
First National Peace Congress.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1907 (June-October).
Represented at the Second Peace Conference.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1907-1909.
The World-round Cruise of the Battleship Fleet.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908.
Supreme Court Decision affirming right to specially limit
the Hours of Labor for Women.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR PROTECTION: HOURS OF LABOR.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (April).
Conditional Ratification, by the Senate of the Peace
Conference Convention for the Pacific Settlement of
International Disputes.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (April).
Treaty with Great Britain respecting the Demarcation of the
International Boundary between the United States and Canada.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1908 (APRIL).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (April).
Convention for the Preservation and Propagation of Food
Fishes in waters contiguous to the United States and Canada.
See (in this Volume)
FOOD FISHES.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (April).
Passage of Act relating to the Liability of Common Carriers
by Railroad to their Employees.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR PROTECTION: EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (April-November).
The Presidential Election.
Parties, Candidates, and Platforms.
Election of President Taft.
In the interval between the presidential elections of 1904 and
1908 the Trust and the Tariff questions had both received an
increase of attention and of real study, and were factors of
more influence in the latter than in the former election. The
energy with which President Roosevelt had pressed both
legislative and executive action, towards a more effective
restraint and regulation of monopolistic combinations, had
greatly strengthened his party in public favor. His
extraordinary personal force, moreover, had made itself felt
in many quickenings and stimulations of public spirit and of
governmental action, which gave a cheering experience to the
country.
{675}
The various ends to which this worked, and especially on the
lines which looked to the rescuing of the rich natural
resources of the country from private monopoly and reckless
waste became associated in thought with the President, and
widely talked of as belonging to "the Roosevelt policies."
Popular satisfaction with these policies and their champion
would have given Mr. Roosevelt a renomination by his party, if
he had not emphatically reiterated his pledge of four years
before, that "under no circumstances" would he "be a candidate
for or accept another nomination." There were some who strove
to persuade him to be false to that pledge; but they were not
the people who esteemed him most truly. Naturally the
nomination that would have gone again to Mr. Roosevelt if he
had been free to accept it sought a candidate so closely
identified with what he had stood for and labored for that no
departure from the favored "policies" need be feared. Quite as
naturally that candidate won a large majority of the popular
votes.
The first nominating convention held in 1904 was that of the
People’s or Populist Party, which sat in St. Louis April 2-3,
and again named its old leader, Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia,
for President, with Samuel W. Williams, of Indiana, for the
second place.
Reverend Daniel Braxton Turney, of Illinois, was the next to
be named for President, and L. S. Coffin, of Iowa, for
Vice-President, by the United Christian Party, at Rock Island,
Illinois, May 1.
On the 10th of May the Socialist Party met in convention at
Chicago and was in session until the 18th, again nominating
Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana, and Benjamin Hanford, of New York,
for President and Vice-President.
The Republican convention was assembled at Chicago, June
16-19, and its nominees were William Howard Taft, of Ohio, for
President, and James Schoolcraft Sherman, of New York, for
Vice-President.
The Socialist Labor Party, at New York, July 24, nominated,
for President, August Gillhaus, of New York; for
Vice-President, Donald L. Munro, of Virginia.
At Denver, July 7-10, the Convention of the Democratic Party
named, for the third time, William Jennings Bryan, of
Nebraska, for President, and for Vice-President John Worth
Kern, of Indiana.
The Prohibitionists convened at Columbus, Ohio, July 15-16,
and the candidates named by them for President and Vice
President were Eugene W. Chafin, of Illinois, and Aaron S.
Watkins, of Ohio.
The last of the parties to meet in convention was that
organized by William R. Hearst and named the Independence
Party. The candidates put forward were Thomas L. Hisgen, of
Massachusetts, and John Temple Graves, of Georgia.
Of the eight political parties which offered candidates to the
voters of the nation, four presented them on special grounds,
aside from which their standing on other questions of public
policy was but slightly and incidentally made known. The
"platforms" of the remaining four were of the scope of general
politics, defining positions taken on all or most of the
political discussions of the time. The declarations of these
latter on the questions which enlisted real interest in the
country will be given, as in the treatment of the party
platforms of 1904, under a dissected arrangement, by subjects,
for convenient comparison; while the former cannot easily be
dealt with in that analytic way. In both cases the distinctly
declaratory text of the platforms, only, will be given, with
some abridgment, as follows:
Trusts.
"The Republican Party," it asserted, "passed the Sherman
anti-trust law over Democratic opposition, and enforced it
after Democratic dereliction. … But experience has shown that
its effectiveness can be strengthened and its real objects
better attained by such amendments as will give to the Federal
Government greater supervision and control over, and secure
greater publicity in, the management of that class of
corporations engaged in interstate commerce having power and
opportunity to effect monopolies."
The Democratic Party demanded "the enactment of such
additional legislation as may be necessary to make it
impossible for a private monopoly to exist in the United
States." Among the additional remedies required it specified
three:
(1) "A law preventing a duplication of directors among
competing corporations";
(2) requirement of a federal license for a manufacturing or
trading corporation, "before it shall be permitted to control
as much as 25 per cent. of the product in which it deals, the
license to protect the public from watered stock, and to
prohibit the control by such corporation of more than 50 per
cent. of the total amount of any product consumed in the
United States"; and
(3) " a law compelling such licensed corporation to sell to
all purchasers in all parts of the country on the same terms,
after making due allowance for the cost of transportation."
The People’s Party declared that "the Government should own
and control the railroads and those public utilities which in
their nature are monopolies," including the telegraph and
telephone systems, and should provide a parcels post. From
those trusts and monopolies which are not public utilities or
national monopolies it demanded a withdrawal of the special
privileges they enjoy; taxation of all such privileges while
they remain in private hands, and "a general law uniformly
regulating the powers and duties of all incorporated companies
doing interstate business."
The Independence Party denounced all combinations which "are
not combinations for production, but for extortion," and
demanded "the enforcement of a prison penalty against the
guilty and responsible individuals controlling the management
of the offending corporations." It advocated, "as a primary
necessity for sounder business conditions and improved public
service, the enactment of laws, State and National, to prevent
watering of stock, dishonest issues of bonds and other forms
of corporation frauds."
Tariff.
The declarations of the Republican and Democratic national
conventions touching a revision of the tariff have been quoted
already in this Volume.
See (in this Volume)
TARIFFS: UNITED STATES.
The Independence Party, like the Democratic, demanded a
revision of the tariff, not by its friends, but by the friends
of the people, and declared for a gradual reduction of tariff
duties.
{676}
Capital and Labor.
Injunctions.
The Republican Party recited the enactments of the existing
Congress in the interest of labor, and pledged "its continued
devotion to every cause that makes for safety and the
betterment of conditions among those whose labor contributes
to the progress and welfare of the country." On the burning
question of the interference of courts of law, by writ of
injunction, with labor "strikes," it declared that, while "the
Republican Party will uphold at all times the authority and
integrity of the courts," it believes "that the rules of
procedure in the writ of injunction should be more accurately
defined by statute, and that no injunction or temporary
restraining order should be issued without notice, except
where irreparable injury would result from delay, in which
case a speedy hearing thereafter should be granted."
The Democratic Party gave expression to the same desire to
maintain the dignity of the courts, but had seen that
"experience has proven the necessity of a modification of the
present law relating to injunctions," and added: "we reiterate
the pledges of our national platforms of 1896 and 1904 in
favor of the measure which passed the United States Senate in
1896, but which a Republican Congress has ever since refused
to enact, relating to contempts in Federal courts and
providing for trial by jury in cases of indirect contempt. …
We deem … that injunctions should not be issued in any case in
which injunctions would not issue if no industrial dispute
were involved." Its further declarations were against any
"abridgment of the right of wage-earners and producers to
organize for the protection of wages and the improvement of
labor conditions"; for "the eight hour law on all government
work"; for the enactment by Congress of a "general employers’
liability act," and for the creation of "a department of
labor, represented separately in the President’s cabinet."
The Independence Party denounced "the so-called labor planks
of the Republican and Democratic platforms as political
buncombe and contemptible clap trap," and asserted "that in
all actions growing out of a dispute between employers and
employees concerning terms and conditions of employment no
injunction should issue until after a trial upon the merits;
that such trial should be held before a jury, and that in no
case of alleged contempt should any person be deprived of
liberty without a trial by jury." In further declarations the
party indorsed "those organizations among farmers and workers
which tend to bring about a just distribution of wealth," and
favored legislation to "remove them from the operation of the
Sherman anti-trust law"; endorsed the eight-hour work day, and
would have it applied to all work done for the Government;
called for legislation to prohibit "any combination or
conspiracy to blacklist employees"; demanded "protection for
workmen through enforced use of standard safety appliances and
provision of hygienic conditions"; advocated State and Federal
inspection of railways to secure a greater safety for
employees and the travelling public; condemned the manufacture
and sale of prison-made goods; favored a Federal department of
labor, with its chief in the Cabinet; and called for a Federal
inspection of grain.
The People’s Party condemned "all unwarranted assumption of
authority by inferior Federal courts in annulling by
injunction the laws of the States," and demanded legislation
to "restrict to the Supreme Court of the United States the
exercise of power in cases involving State legislation";
condemned the "attempt to destroy the power of trades unions
through the unjust use of the Federal injunction"; demanded
the abolition of child labor in factories and mines,
suppression of sweat shops, exclusion of foreign pauper labor,
the enactment of an employers’ liability act and measures
against carelessness in the operation of mines; opposed the
use of convict labor; favored the eight-hour work-day, and
"legislation protecting the lives and limbs of workmen through
the use of safety appliances"; declared that when working men
are thrown into enforced idleness works of public improvement
should be inaugurated.
Banking and Currency.
The Republican Party approved "the emergency measures adopted
by the government during the recent financial disturbances"
and declared the party to be "committed to the development of
a permanent currency system, responding to our greater needs."
It favored the establishment of a postal savings bank system.
The Democratic Party pointed to the panic of 1907, "coming
without any legitimate excuse," as furnishing additional proof
that the Republican party "is either unwilling or incompetent
to protect the interests of the general public," having "so
linked the country to Wall Street that the sins of the
speculators are visited upon the whole people." It declared
the belief that "in so far as the needs of commerce require an
emergency currency, such currency should be issued, controlled
by the Federal Government and loaned on adequate security to
National and State banks." It pledged itself "to legislation
under which the national banks should be required to establish
a guarantee fund for the prompt payment of the depositors of
any insolvent national bank under an equitable system which
shall be available to all State banking institutions wishing
to use it." It favored a postal savings bank "if the
guaranteed bank can not be secured, and believed that it
should be so constituted as to keep the deposited money in the
community where the depositors live."
The People’s Party reiterated its belief that "the issuance of
money is a function of government and should not be delegated
to corporation or individual." It therefore demanded "that all
money should be issued by the Government direct to the people,
without the intervention of banks, and shall be a full legal
tender for all debts, public and private, and in quantities
sufficient to supply the needs of the country." It also
demanded postal savings banks.
The Independence Party made a similar declaration, "that the
right to issue money is inherent in the Government," and it
favored "the establishment of a central governmental bank,
through which the money so issued shall be put into general
circulation." It also called for an extension of the parcels
post system and for postal savings banks, the deposits in
which should "be loaned to the people in the locality of the
several banks."
Railroads.
The Republican Party approved the railroad rate law and "the
vigorous enforcement by the present administration of the
statutes against rebates and discriminations"; believing,
"however, that the interstate commerce law should be further
amended so as to give railroads the right to make and publish
traffic agreements subject to the approval of the commission."
It declared for legislation and supervision to "prevent the
future overissue of stocks and bonds by interstate carriers."
{677}
The Democratic Party asserted "the right of Congress to
exercise complete control over interstate commerce, and the
right of each State to exercise like control over commerce
within its borders"; and it demanded a needed enlargement of
the powers of the interstate commerce commission. It
recommended a valuation of railroads by the commission. It
favored legislation to "prohibit the railroads from engaging
in business which brings them into competition with their
shippers"; to prevent the overissue of stocks and bonds, and
to "assure such reduction in transportation rates as
conditions will permit." It approved the laws prohibiting the
pass and the rebate. It favored giving to the interstate
commerce commission "the initiative with reference to rates
and transportation charges," also permitting it, "on its own
initiative to declare a rate illegal," and otherwise enhancing
its efficiency.
The Independence Party advocated "a bill empowering shippers
in time of need to compel railroads to provide sufficient cars
for freight and passenger traffic and other railroad
facilities through summary appeal to the courts." It also
favored "the creation of an Interstate Commerce Court, whose
sole function it shall be to review speedily and enforce
summarily the orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission,"
and it urged that the Commission "should proceed at once with
a physical valuation of railroads engaged in interstate
commerce."
Natural Resources.
Public Lands.
Waterways.
The Republican Party indorsed "the movement inaugurated by the
administration for the conservation of natural resources";
commended "the work now going on for the reclamation of arid
lands"; reaffirmed "the Republican policy of the free
distribution of the available … public domain to the landless
settler," and declared it to be "the further duty, equally
imperative, to enter upon a systematic improvement, upon a
large and comprehensive plan, just to all portions of the
country, of the water harbors and Great Lakes."
The Democratic Party repeated "the demand for internal
development and for the conservation of our national resources
contained in previous platforms," covering lines of policy the
same as above, and adding "the development of water power and
the preservation of electric power generated by this natural
force from the control of monopoly." It insisted upon "a
policy of administration of our forest reserve which shall …
enable homesteaders as of right to occupy and acquire title to
all portions thereof which are especially adapted to
agriculture, and which shall furnish a system of timber sales
available as well to the private citizen as to the larger
manufacturer and consumer." It called for regulations "in
relation to free grazing upon the public lands outside of
forest or other reservations until the same shall eventually
be disposed of." It favored the "immediate adoption of a
liberal and comprehensive plan for improving every water
course in the Union which is justified by the needs of
commerce," with "the creation of an ample fund for continuous
work."
The People’s Party declared that the public domain is a sacred
heritage of all the people, and should be held for homesteads
for actual settlers only; alien ownership should be forbidden.
The Independence Party rejoiced "in the adoption in both the
Democratic and Republican platforms of the demand of the
Independence party for improved national waterways." It
declared for the reclamation of arid lands and generally for
the conservation of the country’s natural resources. It called
for provision to be made for free grazing on public lands
outside of forest or other reservations. It protested against
the sale of water and electric light power derived from public
works to private corporations.
On other subjects touched in their platforms the declarations
of these parties varied little from those of 1904, and cannot
be regarded as having much historical significance.
Of the remaining parties, which are organizations with special
objects, the Socialist set forth the most elaborate programme
of demands, under three headings,—General, Industrial, and
Political. The first included "immediate Government relief for
the unemployed" by public works of many descriptions;
collective ownership of railroads, telegraphs, etc., and all
lands; "collective ownership of all industries which are
organized on a national scale and in which competition has
virtually ceased to exist"; inclusion of mines, quarries, oil
wells, forests and water-power in the public domain.
Industrial demands included improved industrial conditions;
shortened work days; a weekly rest-period of not less than a
day and a half; effective inspection of factories and shops:
no child labor under sixteen years of age; no interstate
transportation of products of child labor; substitution of
compulsory insurance against unemployment, illness, age, etc.,
for all official charity. Political demands were for extended
and graduated inheritance taxes; a graduated income tax; equal
suffrage for men and women; the initiative, referendum,
recall, and proportional representation; abolition of the
Senate; abolition of power in the Supreme Court to pass on the
constitutionality of legislation; amendability of the
Constitution by a majority vote, election of all judges for
short terms; free administration of justice; further measures
for general education and conservation of health.
The Socialist Labor Party repeated in substantially the same
words its general declarations of 1904, against a "despotic
economic system," as quoted above, under the heading "Capital
and Labor."
The Prohibition Party embodied its fundamental object in
demands for the submission of a constitutional amendment
prohibiting the manufacture, sale, etc., of alcoholic liquors
for beverage purposes; suppression of the liquor traffic in
all places under the jurisdiction of the National Government,
and repeal of the internal revenue tax on alcoholic liquors.
To this it added demands for a popular election of United
States Senators; graduated income and inheritance taxes;
postal savings banks; guarantee of deposits in banks;
regulation of corporations doing an interstate business; a
permanent tariff commission; uniform marriage and divorce
laws; enforcement of law against the social evil; an equitable
employers’ liability act; court review of post office
decisions; prohibition of child labor in mines, workshops and
factories; suffrage based on ability to read and write the
English language; preservation of the resources of the
country, and improvement of highways and waterways.
{678}
The United Christian Party, basing its platform, as before, on
the ten commandments and the golden rule, favored "direct
primary elections, the initiative, referendum, recall, uniform
marriage and divorce laws, equal rights for men and women,
government ownership of coal mines, oil wells and public
utilities; the regulation of trusts and the election of the
president and vice-president and senators of the United States
by the direct vote of the people."
The votes cast at the popular election, November 3, numbered
7,637,676 for the Republican nominees; 6,393,182 for the
Democratic; 420,464 for the Socialist; 231,252 for the
Prohibitionist; 83,183 for the Independence; 33,871 for the
Populist; 15,421 for the Socialist Labor. The total of votes
polled, including a few thousands to other than party
nominees, was reported to be 14,863,711.
The States which gave Republican majorities were California,
Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah,
Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming,—29.
The States which gave Democratic majorities were Alabama,
Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia,—16.
Maryland, where the electors are chosen by the Legislature,
divided its vote, giving 6 to the Democratic nominees and 2 to
the Republican.
The total vote in the Electoral College was 326 for Taft and
Sherman and 157 for Bryan and Kern.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (May).
The Emergency Currency Act.
See (in this Volume)
FINANCE AND TRADE; UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (July).
Remission to China of Part of Boxer Indemnity.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1901-1908.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (October).
Reply of Secretary Root to the announcement from Belgium of
the Annexation of the Congo State.
Recognition of the Annexation reserved.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1906-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (November).
Supreme Court Decision in Case of Virginia Railroads vs.
the State Corporation Commission of Virginia.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS. UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908 (NOVEMBER).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (November).
Exchange of Notes with Japan embodying a Declaration of
Common Policy in the East.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1908 (NOVEMBER).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (December).
Extension of the Competitive System of Appointment to
Fourth Class Postmasters in a large section of the Country.
See (in this Volume)
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908 (December).
Relief for the Survivors of the Earthquake at
and around Messina.
See (in this Volume)
EARTHQUAKES: ITALY.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908-1909.
Diminished Consumption of Whiskey and Beer.
See (in this Volume)
ALCOHOL PROBLEM: UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908-1909.
The Government giving attention to Liberian Affairs.
See (in this Volume)
LIBERIA: A. D. 1907-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908-1909 (August-February).
The Country Life Commission, and its Report.
On the 10th of August, 1908, President Roosevelt addressed a
letter to five gentlemen whom he asked to serve upon a
Commission on Country Life. The five thus addressed were
Professor L. H. Bailey, New York State College of Agriculture,
Ithaca (named as Chairman of the Commission); Mr. Henry
Wallace, of _Wallace’s Farmer_, Des Moines, Iowa;
President Kenyon L. Butterfield, Massachusetts Agricultural
College, Amherst; Mr. Gilford Pinchot, of the United States
Forest Service; Mr. Walter H. Page, of _The World's
Work_, New York. Subsequently, Mr. Charles S. Barrett, of
Georgia, and Mr. William A. Beard, of California, were added
to the Commission.
In his letter to the original appointees the President wrote:
"I doubt if any other nation can bear comparison with our own
in the amount of attention given by the Government, both
Federal and State, to agricultural matters. But practically
the whole of this effort has hitherto been directed toward
increasing the production of crops. Our attention has been
concentrated almost exclusively on getting better farming. In
the beginning this was unquestionably the right thing to do.
The farmer must first of all grow good crops in order to
support himself and his family. But when this has been secured
the effort for better farming should cease to stand alone, and
should be accompanied by the effort for better business and
better living on the farm. It is at least as important that
the farmer should get the largest possible return in money,
comfort, and social advantages from the crops he grows as that
he should get the largest possible return in crops from the
land he farms. Agriculture is not the whole of country life.
The great rural interests are human interests, and good crops
are of little value to the farmer unless they open the door to
a good kind of life on the farm. … The farmers have hitherto
had less than their full share of public attention along the
lines of business and social life. There is too much belief
among all our people that the prizes of life lie away from the
farm."
The Commission entered promptly on its task, of obtaining wide
and exact information as to the existing conditions of farm
life and work in the country, as to homes and schools; means
of communication and intercourse, by postal service,
telephone, highway, electric railway and other railways;
neighborhood organizations to promote mutual advantages in
buying and selling; profitable sale of products; supply of
labor; facilities for business in banking, credit, insurance;
sanitary conditions; social entertainment; meetings for mutual
improvement, etc., etc.
{679}
This was sought, in the first instance, by a circular of
questions, about 550,000 copies of which were sent to names
supplied by the United States Department of Agriculture, state
experiment stations, farmers’ societies, women’s clubs, to
rural free deliverymen, country physicians and ministers, and
others. To these inquiries about 115,000 persons have replied
before the report of the Commission was made, "mostly with
much care and with every evidence of good faith."
In addition to the replies given to the circular questions, a
great number of persons sent carefully written letters and
statements that were invaluable. At thirty places, in all
sections of the country, the Commission, or part of it, held
appointed hearings in November and December, and obtained much
light from those. Its report of the conclusions to which it
had been led was presented to the President on the 23d of
January, 1909, and transmitted by him to Congress on February
9th.
The Commission found an unquestionable lack in the country of
a well organized rural society, and came to clear conclusions
concerning the many causes therefor, which are fully discussed
in its report. The leading specific causes are summarized with
brevity at the outset, as follows.
"A lack of knowledge on the part of farmers of the exact
agricultural conditions and possibilities of their regions;
"Lack of good training for country life in the schools;
"The disadvantage or handicap of the farmer as against the
established business systems and interests, preventing him
from securing adequate returns for his products, depriving him
of the benefits that would result from unmonopolized rivers
and the conservation of forests, and depriving the community,
in many cases, of the good that would come from the use of
great tracts of agricultural land that are now held for
speculative purposes;
"Lack of good highway facilities;
"The widespread continuing depletion of soils, with the
injurious effect on rural life;
"A general need of new and active leadership.
"Other causes contributing to the general result are: Lack of
any adequate system of agricultural credit, whereby the farmer
may readily secure loans on fair terms; the shortage of labor,
a condition that is often complicated by intemperance among
workmen; lack of institutions and incentives that tie the
laboring man to the soil; the burdens and the narrow life of
farm women; lack of adequate supervision of public health."
To this summary of main deficiencies the Commission adds the
following, of chief remedies:
"Congress can remove some of the handicaps of the farmer, and
it can also set some kinds of work in motion, such as:
"The encouragement of a system of thorough-going surveys of
all agricultural regions, in order to take stock and collect
local fact, with the idea of providing a basis on which to
develop a scientifically and economically sound country life;
"The encouragement of a system of extension work in rural
communities, through all the land-grant colleges, to the
people at their homes and on their farms;
"A thorough investigation by experts of the middleman system
of handling farm products, coupled with a general inquiry into
the farmer’s disadvantages in respect to taxation,
transportation rates, cooperative organizations and credit,
and the general business system;
"An inquiry into the control and use of the streams of the
United States, with the object of protecting the people in
their ownership and of saving to agricultural uses such
benefits as should be reserved for these purposes;
"The establishing of a highway engineering service, or
equivalent organization, to be at the call of the States in
working out effective and economical highway systems;
"The establishing of a system of parcel posts and postal
savings banks;
"Providing some means or agency for the guidance of public
opinion toward the development of a real rural society that
shall rest directly on the land. …
"Remedies of a more general nature are: A broad campaign of
publicity, that must be undertaken until all the people are
informed on the whole subject of rural life, and until there
is an awakened appreciation of the necessity of giving this
phase of our national development as much attention as has
been given to other phases or interests; a quickened sense of
responsibility in all country people, to the community and to
the State, in the conserving of soil fertility, and in the
necessity for diversifying farming in order to conserve this
fertility and to develop a better rural society, and also in
the better safe-guarding of the strength and happiness of the
farm women; a more widespread conviction of the necessity for
organization, not only for economic but for social purposes,
this organization to be more or less cooperative, so that all
the people may share equally in the benefits and have voice in
the essential affairs of the community; a realization on the
part of the farmer that he has a distinct natural
responsibility toward the laborer in providing him with good
living facilities and in helping him in every way to be a man
among men; and a realization on the part of all the people of
the obligation to protect and develop the natural scenery and
attractiveness of the open country.
"Certain remedies lie with voluntary organizations and
institutions. All organized forces, both in town and country,
should understand that there are country phases as well as
city phases of our civilization, and that one phase needs help
as much as the other."
In his Message communicating the reports of the Commission to
Congress the President focussed attention on four "great
general and immediate needs of country life" which stand out
of the exhibit before all others:
"First, effective coöperation among farmers, to put them on a
level with the organized interests with which they do
business.
"Second, a new kind of schools in the country, which shall
teach the children as much outdoors as indoors and perhaps
more, so that they will prepare for country life, and not as
at present, mainly for life in town.
"Third, better means of communication, including good roads
and a parcels post, which the country people are everywhere,
and rightly, unanimous in demanding.
{680}
"To these may well be added better sanitation: for easily
preventable diseases hold several million country people in
the slavery of continuous ill health.
"The commission points out, and I concur in the conclusion,
that the most important help that the Government, whether
National or State, can give is to show the people how to go
about these tasks of organization, education, and
communication with the best and quickest results. This can be
done by the collection and spread of information."
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908-1909.
Spasmodic Process of Recovery from
the Financial Crisis of 1907.
See (in this Volume)
FINANCE AND TRADE: A. D. 1901-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1908-1909.
Second Conference of State Governors and Report
of National Conservation Commission.
Its Inventory of Natural Resources.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909.
Existing Treaties with China and existing Enactments relative
to the Admission of Chinamen to the United States.
The Question of their Consistency with each other.
Chinese Complaints.
The present Status of the Question.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909.
The Census Bill and the President’s Veto.
he Amended Bill, which became Law.
See (in this Volume)
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909.
Protest against the Russo-Chinese Agreement of May, relative
to Municipalities on the line of the Chinese Eastern Railway.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1909 (MAY).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909.
Trouble with Nicaragua.
See (in this Volume)
CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (January).
The Waterways Treaty with Great Britain, concerning Waters
between the United States and Canada.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (February).
Anti-Opium Act.
See (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (February).
Initiative in securing International Opium Commission
at Shanghai.
See (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (February).
Invitation of Canada and Mexico to a Conference on
the Conservation of Natural Resources.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: NORTH AMERICA.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (March).
The Inauguration of President Taft.
Intimations of Policy in his Inaugural Address.
His Cabinet.
The ceremonies of the inauguration of President Taft on the
4th of March were performed under singularly unfavorable
circumstances, in consequence of one of the most dreadful
storms that ever visited the Capital. Trains blocked by it
contained thousands of people who reached Washington too late
for what they had travelled far to witness or to take part in,
while those who did arrive on the scene were hardly gladdened
by their success. The President, however, accepted the
untoward conditions with a characteristic high-hearted
equanimity. His inaugural address, delivered in the Senate
Chamber, instead of in the open air at the East front of the
Capitol, opened with the following words:
"Any one who takes the oath I have just taken must feel a
heavy weight of responsibility. If not, he has no conception
of the powers and duties of the office upon which he is about
to enter, or he is lacking in a proper sense of the obligation
which the oath imposes.
"The office of an inaugural address is to give a summary
outline of the main policies of the new Administration, so far
as they can be anticipated. I have had the honor to be one of
the advisers of my distinguished predecessor, and as such, to
hold up his hands in the reforms he has initiated. I should be
untrue to myself, to my promises, and to the declarations of
the party platform upon which I was elected to office, if I
did not make the maintenance and enforcement of those reforms
a most important feature of my administration. They were
directed to the suppression of the lawlessness and abuses of
power of the great combinations of capital invested in
railroads and in industrial enterprises carrying on interstate
commerce. The steps which my predecessor took and the
legislation passed on his recommendation have accomplished
much, have caused a general halt in the vicious policies which
created popular alarm, and have brought about, in the business
affected, a much higher regard for existing law. To render the
reforms lasting, however, and to secure at the same time
freedom from alarm on the part of those pursuing proper and
progressive business methods, further legislative and
executive action are needed."
From this general intimation of the course to which his mind
was turned, the incoming President went on to a more specific
unfolding of his views on many subjects of governmental care.
The following is a summary of the suggestions of future policy
conveyed in the Address:
Reorganization of the Department of Justice and the Bureau of
Corporations of the Department of Commerce and Labor and of
the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Tariff revision in accord with the promises made in the
national platform adopted at Chicago.
A continuation of scientific experiments in the Department of
Agriculture for the improvement of agricultural conditions.
The enactment and carrying out of laws for the conservation of
the resources of the country.
Maintenance of the army and navy in such a state of
preparation as will insure a continuance of peace with other
countries.
A continuation of that treatment of aliens which will insure
for the people of the United States respect and fair treatment
among the peoples of other countries.
The enactment of legislation which will empower the Federal
government to enforce treaty promises made to other countries
within every State.
Such changes in the monetary and banking laws as will insure a
greater elasticity of the currency.
The enactment of a law providing for postal savings banks.
The encouragement of American shipping through the use of mail
subsidies.
A continuation of work on the Panama canal along the plans
which have been adopted for a lock type with such energy as
will insure the earliest possible completion of the work.
The continuation of a colonial policy which will still further
increase the business prosperity of our dependencies.
{681}
The betterment of the condition of the negro in the South
through observance of principles laid down in the Fifteenth
Amendment.
The promotion of legislation for the protection of labor and
the betterment of labor conditions.
On the day following his inauguration the President named his
chosen Cabinet to the Senate, and the nominations were duly
confirmed, as follows.
Philander C. Knox of Pennsylvania, to be Secretary of State.
Franklin MacVeagh of Illinois, to be Secretary of the Treasury.
Jacob M. Dickinson of Tennessee, to be Secretary of War.
George W. Wickersham of New York, to be Attorney-General.
Frank H. Hitchcock of Massachusetts, to be Postmaster-General.
George von L. Meyer of Massachusetts, to be Secretary
of the Navy.
Richard A. Ballinger of Washington, to be Secretary
of the Interior.
James Wilson of Iowa, to be Secretary of Agriculture.
Charles Nagel of Missouri, to be Secretary of Commerce and
Labor.
A few days after the appointment of the Cabinet, Mr.
Dickinson, the new Secretary of War, in a speech at Chicago,
explained why President Taft had chosen him, a Democrat, for a
place in a Republican Cabinet, and why he had accepted it. He
said that Mr. Taft, as President of the whole country, desired
to have a representative of the South among his counsellors.
To have chosen a Southern Republican would have been to
perpetuate the bitter sectionalism which it was Mr. Taft's
desire to obliterate. He had therefore chosen a Democrat who
had voted against him. Mr. Dickinson continued:—
"That his purpose was broad, magnanimous, and patriotic none
can question. The wisdom both of his purpose and his selection
must be tried by time, but I have every assurance that his
action in appointing me, and my action in accepting, are
approved by the South, and, having this approval, I can bear
with equanimity any criticism from individual Democrats
elsewhere."
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (March).
Passage of new Copyright Act.
See (in this Volume)
COPYRIGHT.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (March-August).
Tariff Revision.
The Payne-Aldrich Tariff-Act.
See (in this Volume)
TARIFFS: UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (May).
Creation of the Senate Committee on Public Expenditures.
An important incident of the Special Session of Congress which
was called by President Taft immediately after his
inauguration, was the creation by the Senate of a new Standing
Committee, on Public Expenditures, the function of which was
indicated in the following resolution of the Senate, adopted
May 29:
"Resolved, That the Committee on Public Expenditures be, and
they are hereby, authorized and directed, by subcommittee or
otherwise, to make investigations as to the amount of the
annual revenues of the Government, and as to the expenditures
and business methods of the several departments, divisions,
and branches of the Government, and to report to the Senate
from time to time the result of such investigations and their
recommendations as to the relation between expenditures and
revenues and possible improvements in Government methods; and
for this purpose they are authorized to sit, by subcommittees
or otherwise, during the recesses or sessions of the Senate,
at such times and places as, they may deem advisable, to send
for persons and papers, to administer oaths, and to employ
such stenographic, clerical, expert, and other assistance as
may be necessary, and to have such printing and binding done
as may be necessary, the expense of such investigations to be
paid from the contingent fund of the Senate."
Seven members of the Committee are the chairmen of the seven
committees in the Senate to some one of which every bill
providing for revenue or carrying an appropriation is
submitted. "Thus," as has been remarked, "is provided a medium
for better co-ordination and co-operation between what may be
termed the revenue and appropriation committees. The powers of
existing committees are not affected, but an avenue is
provided for concentration and distribution of information—a
committee forum for the discussion and recommendation of
fundamentals affecting the Government."
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (May).
Establishment in the Government of a General Supply Committee.
On the 13th of May the President issued an Executive Order
establishing an Administrative General Supply Committee, which
is to purchase all supplies for Government use, paying one
price instead of several prices for the same supplies.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (May).
Second National Peace Congress.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (July).
Proposed Constitutional Amendment authorizing
the Levying of an Income Tax.
Without a dissenting vote, on the 5th of July, 1909, the
Senate adopted a joint resolution providing for the submission
to the several States of a proposed amendment to the
Constitution of the United States, as follows:
"Article XVI.
The congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on
incomes, from whatever source derived, without any
apportionment among the several states and without regard to
any census or enumeration."
In reporting this action, a newspaper correspondent of
considerable sagacity remarked that the ease with which the
resolution glided through the Senate, and would with certainty
pass the House, must be regarded as "an indication of the
expectation of the representatives of capital and of high
protection that twelve states can be found among the forty-six
in the union to refuse their assent to the amendment, in which
event it will fail."
The endorsement of the House to the resolution was given on
the 12th, by a vote of 317 to 14, the negative votes being all
from Republicans. An attempt to have the resolution amended so
that the constitutional amendment would be submitted to state
conventions for ratification instead of to legislatures was
ruled out of order, and an appeal from Speaker Cannon’s ruling
was voted down, 185 to 143, on a strict party division.
{682}
The first State to act on the proposed amendment was Alabama,
where it was ratified by the Legislature and signed by the
Governor, August 17.
In the State of New York, on the 5th of January, 1910,
Governor Hughes addressed a special message to the
Legislature, recommending that the amendment in its proposed
form should not be ratified. He said: "I am in favor of
conferring upon the Federal government the power to lay and
collect an income tax without apportionment among the States
according to population. I believe that this power should be
held by the Federal government so as properly to equip it with
the means of meeting national exigencies.
"But the power to tax incomes should not be granted in such
terms as to subject to Federal taxation the incomes derived
from bonds issued by the State itself, or those issued by
municipal governments organized under the State’s authority.
To place the borrowing capacity of the State and of its
governmental agencies at the mercy of the Federal taxing power
would be an impairment of the essential rights of the State,
which, as its officers, we are bound to defend. …
"The comprehensive words, 'from whatever source derived,' if
taken in their natural sense, would include not only incomes
from ordinary real or personal property, but also incomes
derived from State and municipal securities. It may be urged
that the amendment would be limited by construction. But there
can be no satisfactory assurance of this. The words in terms
are all-inclusive. …
"In order that a market may be provided for State bonds, and
for municipal bonds, and that thus means may be afforded for
State and local administration, such securities from time to
time are excepted from taxation. In this way lower rates of
interest are paid than otherwise would be possible. To permit
such securities to be the subject of Federal taxation is to
place such limitations upon the borrowing power of the State
as to make the performance of the functions of local
government a matter of Federal grace."
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (July).
The Question of American Participation in the
Hankau-Szechuan Railway Loan.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1904-1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (September).
Visit of a Commercial Commission from Japan.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1909 (SEPTEMBER).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (September-October).
Tour of President Taft.
Meeting with President Diaz on Mexican Soil.
In the fall of 1909 President Taft made an extended tour of
the country, from New England to the Pacific Coast and
southward to Mexico and the Gulf, speaking to great assemblies
at many points on all the important questions, political and
economical, that were then before the country. In the course
of the tour a meeting between President Diaz of Mexico and
himself was arranged, and took place on the 16th of October,
first at El Paso, on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, and
then at Ciudad Juarez, on the Mexican side, formal visits
being thus exchanged. Finally, in the evening, President Taft
was entertained at dinner in the Mexican city by President
Diaz. This was a second time that a President of the United
States had left the soil of his own country while in office,
President Roosevelt having done the same at Panama in 1906.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (October-November).
Further Disclosures of Corruption in the Customs Service.
The shameful disclosure in 1907-1908 of Sugar Trust frauds on the
Federal Treasury afforded glimpses of a state of corruption in
the Customs Service of the Government, at the port of New York
especially, which were more than verified within the next year
and a half.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1907-1909.
The Collector of Customs, Mr. William Loeb, Jr., who took
charge of the New York office in the spring of 1909, exercised
a watchfulness which soon put him on the traces of fraud, and
he pursued them with an energy and determination that cannot
have been brought into action before. The first case brought
to light was that of a cheese-importing firm, the members of
which, father and son, were found to have paid bribes to
weighers of the Custom House for false reports of the
quantities on which duties were paid. Conviction was obtained
by means of evidence from some of the guilty officials, who
were given immunity and retained in service, in order to
secure information without which, it was said, the
well-covered corruption in the service could not be
successfully probed. In his annual report, made in December,
1909, Secretary MacVeagh, of the Treasury Department, had this
to say of the vigorous reformatory measures thus undertaken at
the port of New York, and of the significance of the
consequent revelations:
"The revelations made and proven were so startling and
impressive that opposition was silenced; and in this silence
the necessary, clear-cut measures could be carried out without
meeting serious obstructions.
"It soon developed that the frauds of the American Sugar
Refining Company, while, perhaps, the most important
instances, were as had been apprehended, symptoms of a
diseased condition, not universal by any means, but almost
general. And difficult as it always is to sufficiently bring
to light the facts of such a condition to afford a basis for
rehabilitation, this has been already largely accomplished.
Much has been discovered to afford an understanding of the
situation, with the result of numerous seizures, of numerous
prosecutions made or projected, and of important and
successful beginnings of a complete rehabilitation. While the
recovery of evaded duties, and the prosecution of individuals
have been of large significance, the greatest asset to the
government of these disgraceful conditions is the knowledge
and the light which guarantee in time a wholesome
reorganization.
"The study of the causes of the demoralization which has been
revealed is still incomplete, but the main causes are evident.
It is clear, for instance, that the influence of local
politics and politicians upon the customs service has been
most deleterious, and has promoted that laxity and low tone
which prepare and furnish an inviting soil for dishonesty and
fraud. Unless the customs service can be released from the
payment of political debts and exactions, and from meeting the
supposed exigencies of political organizations, big and
little, it will be impossible to have an honest service for
any length of time. Any considerable share of the present cost
of this demoralization to the public revenues, to the
efficiency of the service, and to public and private morality
is a tremendous amount to pay in mere liquidation of the small
debts of political leaders.
{683}
"It is also clear that the widespread disposition of returning
American travellers to evade the payment of legal duties has
greatly helped to create the conditions which have become
intolerable. Those Americans who travel abroad belong to the
sections of the people which most readily create public
sentiment, and are most responsible for it; and the fact that
in so many instances these travellers are willing to defraud
the government out of considerable or even small sums creates
an atmosphere on the docks that strongly tends to affect the
morale of the entire customs service. And when to this is
added the frequent willingness upon the part of these
responsible citizens to specifically corrupt the government's
men, then the demoralization is further accentuated."
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (November).
Arbitration of the Alsop Claim against Chile.
See (in this Volume)
CHILE: A. D. 1909.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1909 (December).
Proposal to neutralize Manchurian Railways.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1909-1910.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1910 (January).
President’s Message on Legislation relating to "Trusts"
and Interstate Commerce.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1910,
and
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1910.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
Movements of Reform in Municipal Government.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
Comparative Statement of the Consumption of Alcoholic Drink.
See (in this Volume)
ALCOHOL PROBLEM.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
The Interchange of People between the United States and Canada.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1896-1909.
----------UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: End--------
UNITED STATES SENATORS:
Proposed Election by Direct Popular Vote.
"On December 3, 1895, the State of Idaho, taking advantage of
that provision of article 5, which permits States to apply to
Congress for authority to hold a constitutional convention,
passed a resolution requesting Congress to call such a
convention. Since then the States of Wyoming, Ohio, Minnesota,
Montana, Utah, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada,
Washington, Tennessee, South Dakota, Colorado, Oregon,
Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois,
Wisconsin, New Jersey, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Indiana, Texas, California, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Alabama,
have taken legislative action in some form or other expressing
either a demand similar to that of the State of Idaho, or a
sympathy with the intent of the Idaho resolution. These
thirty-one States form a constitutional two-thirds of the
forty-six States of the Union.
"One of the complications which have arisen in connection with
these resolutions is the fact that only twenty-four of them
are of record as having been actually received by the Senate
of the United States. One of them, that of the State of Ohio,
which was the third State to act, was only recently discovered
to be in the Senate files. It is possible therefore, that
since the question of submitting the proposed amendment has
become a live issue, a further search of the files may
increase the number of State resolutions on this subject which
are actually on hand.