Chapter XIX: , page 276 (10)

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.