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nent of the bill was Senator R. M. La Follette, of Wisconsin, who conducted a filibuster against the same, during which time he held the floor of the Senate continuously for eighteen hours. His efforts, however, were unavailing, for the bill was fi nally passed on May 30, just before the adjournment of Congress.

In 1908 public attention was absorbed by the elections of President and Vice-President and numerous State officials. The greatest interest centered in the nominations of the Republican and Democratic parties, but more particularly the former because it was generally supposed that President Roosevelt would use his influence to insure the nomination of one who was favorable to his policies and who would carry them out to their ultimate successful completion. The first important party to hold its convention was the Populist party which at St. Louis on April 3 nominated Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, and Samuel W. Williams, of Indiana. In May the Socialist party at Chicago nominated Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana, and Ben Hanford, of New York; on June 18 the Republicans at Chicago nominated William H. Taft, of Ohio, and on the 19th James S. Sherman, of New York; William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, and John W. Kern, of Indiana, were nominated by the Democrats at Denver on July 16; Eugene W. Chafin, of Illinois, and Aaron S. Watkins, of Ohio, were nominated by the Prohibition party

at Columbus, Ohio, on July 16; and the Independence party at Chicago on July 28 nominated Thomas L. Hisgen, of Massachusetts, and John T. Graves of New York (formerly of Georgia).

The Republican platform, beside indorsing the policies of the Roosevelt administration, declared "that the rules of procedure in the federal courts with respect to the issuance of 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 when irreparable injury would result from delay," etc. The financial panic of 1907 was scantily and feebly dealt with, but promises were made, among other things, for a better currency system; for a complete revision of the tariff by a special session of Congress immediately after the inauguration; for the "enforcement in letter and spirit of the XIII., XIV., and XV. amendments to the Constitution, which were designed for the protection and advancement of the negro"; for the immediate admission of the territories of Arizona and New Mexico as separate States; and for free trade "with limita"with tions" with the Philippines.

The Democratic platform protested against allowing the government to remain in the "grip of those who have made it a business asset of the favor-seeking corporations "; and denounced the increase of Federal office-holders, the "frightful ex

travagances" " of the party in power, "the absolute domination of the Speaker" of the House, and Roosevelt's interest in Taft's nomination as the "establishment of a dynasty." It demanded publicity in campaign contributions (although a law to this effect had been enacted two years before); a revision of the tariff by the reduction of import duties and the adoption of a graduated scale to bring the tariff down to a strictly revenue-producing basis (as against the Republican plan for continued protective duties and the adoption of maximum and minimum rates in order to obtain concessions from other countries). It also proposed to license corporations doing 25 per cent. of the business of the country in their lines and to prohibit any corporation from doing more than 50 per cent. of the business. It demanded that bank deposits be guaranteed by the government as a means of preventing panics; and hinted at the exclusion of the Japanese by declaring the party" opposed to the admission of Asiatic immigrants who cannot be

amalgamated with our population, and whose presence among us would raise a race issue and involve us in diplomatic controversies with Oriental powers."

The result of the election was an overwhelming victory for Taft, who received an electoral vote of 321 against an electoral vote of 162 for Bryan. Mr. Taft was inaugurated on March 4, 1909, and selected the following men for his cabinet: Philander C. Knox, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of State; Franklin MacVeagh, of Illinois, Secretary of the Treasury; Jacob M. Dickinson, of Tennessee, Secretary of War; George von L. Meyer, of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Navy; Frank H. Hitchcock, of the District of Columbia, PostmasterGeneral; James Wilson, of Iowa, Secretary of Agriculture; George W. Wickersham, of New York, AttorneyGeneral; Richard A. Ballinger, of Washington, Secretary of the Interior; and Charles Nagel, of Missouri, Secretary of Commerce and Labor.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1909–1913.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT TAFT.

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President Taft's inaugural address - Enactment of the Payne-Aldrich tariff law - Revolt of the Progressives Provisions of the new law The tariff board and the cor oration tax Passage of the income tax bill The Ballinger-Pinchot controversy - Prosecution of the Sugar Trust - The Mann-Elkins Act - Creation of the Commerce Court and other commissions - The Wickersham bill The Standard Oil and Tobacco Trust decisions - - Prosecutions of other trusts The fisheries award - Dissatisfaction with the tariff — The overthrow of Speaker Cannon Rise of the Progressive Party - Democratic gains - Defeat of tariff revision by Taft's vetoes Defeat of the reciprocity treaty with Canada - The peace treaties with England and France Abrogation of the treaty with Russia - Other measures, investigations and events of Taft's administration - The elections of 1912.

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In the interval between election and inauguration usually not so much. a breathing spell as a breathless preparation for new duties - Mr. Taft conducted himself with becoming dignity and judicial serenity. His midwinter sojourn in the South, ostensibly for rest, meditation and Cabinetbuilding, was nevertheless filled with duties that not only placed him in the public eye but proved the kindly disposition toward him of the great body of his fellow citizens. Probably no other President has entered office with so few enemies or so general a suspension of prejudgment.

The inauguration on March 4 occurred with a setting of spectacularly bad weather conditions, but was otherwise auspicious. The inaugural address, wise and temperate, " had not a word in it," said a leading New York paper," to disturb the peace of "to mind of any honest man,' nor, remarked another, "anything of the

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heat and fury of the prosecutor." In the very first paragraph the new President declared it to be his unequivocal purpose to make the maintenance and enforcement of the Roosevelt reforms a most important feature of his Administration. All references to proposed changes in the interstate commerce and anti-trust laws contained a reassurance to business that they "shall conserve only stability and healthy growth.' His well-known views on the tariff were restated as a conception of a "protection equal to the difference in the cost of production abroad and the cost of production here," and he added: "In the making of a tariff bill the prime motive is taxation and the securing thereby of a revenue "-stopping short of appending the word "only" which forms the crux of the Democratic view of the tariff. And in the handling of phases of the Southern question and of injunctions, Mr. Taft outlined a

well-matured, just, disinterested, constructive policy, that appealed to intelligent men regardless of party.

On March 6 President Taft issued a call for a special session of Congress to convene on March 15, on which day it assembled and reëlected Speaker Cannon, somewhat dampening the choice, however, with slight modifications of the House rules as a precursor of greater changes to follow in succeeding sessions. The next day Sereno E. Payne, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, introduced a tariff bill embodying the results of several months of anticipatory investigation, in which hearings and documentary evidence covering over 4,000 articles had been under advisement; and the battle-royal over the tariff measure of 1909 was on.

After a long debate the House passed the Payne bill on April 9, and sent it to the Senate which, on April 12, reported a substitute measure known as the Aldrich bill. The Payne bill placed iron ore, and petroleum and its products, on the free list; made reductions on iron and steel and their manufactures, and on chemicals, coal, hides and lumber; and increased the duties on many textiles, and on gloves and hosiery-the two latter items to a startling extent. The Aldrich bill made even fewer concessions— the rate on lumber, for instance, being 50 per cent. higher than in the House bill. So extreme was the character of this bill that the powerful

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group of Western Senators* (who dissented and made vigorous but unavailing protests against the provisions, finally voting negatively on the conference report) became known as Insurgents" or "Progressives." These, with the twenty "Insurgents" of the House whose activities. had thus far taken the direction of opposition to "rules," formed the nucleus of what afterwards came to be known as the Progressive movement, leading finally to the formation of a new party bearing that name.

In spite of strenuous opposition more, in fact, from the new element just referred to, in the Republican party itself, than from the Democrats

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