THE ROLL CALL
The Roll Call ON MEN AND MEASURES Diluting Cannonism for Home Consumption THE DIFFERENCE between the record of an AldricH "rubber-stamp" senator and a "me-too" Cannon congressman reflects the...
...That after leaving the office of commissioner he became counsel for the Green and Cunningham claimants, contrary to federal law on that point...
...There had been a record vote in the previous session on the original proposition to buy these automobiles with public money, and Kennedy was recorded as in favor of the scheme...
...That immediately on becoming secretary of the interior, Ballinger ordered the restoration to entry of many waterpower sites on western rivers that Secretary Garfield had withdrawn...
...That the main objection to the Pinchot letter appears to have been that It gave to the country a conservation message in advance of that of the President...
...It is an object lesson in the machine "policy" of being right to be wrong...
...That Ballinger permitted an official of the land department to draw $500 a month from the Harriman railroad interests, in addltion to his government salary, for lecturing upon lands covared by the Harrlman lines...
...A few goof votes must be distributed here and there through the record for campaign use and to enable him to make a showing of serving the people...
...And Kennedy voted with them...
...HE VOTED FOR THE PAYNE BILL WHEN IT PASSED THE HOUSE, AND FOR THE PAYNE-ALDRICH BILL WHEN IT WAS PRESENTED IN THE CONFERENCE REPORT...
...Its politics has always been dominated by the influences of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad...
...But the statesman from the first Iowa failed to get the scores balanced in time to record a vote on the motion to table President Roosevelt's message on the employment of secret service agents in the detection of public land thieves...
...The System congressman, on the other hand, and especially if he has an eye to reelection by a constituency of some political intelligence and progressivesm, must dilute his Cannon ism by voting now and then against Sys-, tem measures that are cleafiy branded as such in the public mind...
...It is equally progressive (?) with that of Tawney of Minnesota and Smith of Iowa...
...They can stand together for the common good, for they are capable of great enthusiasm and self-sacrifice.—Professor Walter Rauschenbusch...
...Love and Sheridan were practically agreed as to the necessity for more investigations...
...That Ballinger misinformed the President as to a decision of the comptroller of the currency relative to the Forest Service administering operations on forests in Indian reservations...
...While voting for the Tawney amendment reducing the tariff on lumber, he voted against free lumber...
...That Ballinger sent a young, inexperienced lawyer to supercede Glavis In defending the government's rights in these gigantic InThat Glavis...
...That, while commissioner, Ballinger had opposed Roosevelt, Garfield and Pinchot in the creation of the Chugach national forest, covering a part of the Cunningham claims in Alaska, and soon afterward Ballinger resigned as commissioner...
...that several Alaska claimants in particular objected to contributing without some favorable action on claims That about this time the Guggenheim-Morgan syndicate secured, through dummy entries and otherwise, options on the Cunningham and other properties which, with its railroads, would hav* given it control of resources worth a billion...
...The regulars lost and Calendar Wednesday was sustained...
...A few of the faithful can vote on each roll call for "home consumption" and, by taking turns, all who need to can "fix up" their records for coming campaigns without any loss to System control...
...For the short time for which he has been representative in Congress from the first district of Iowa, the record of Hon...
...And finally he voted with the regulars against unseating Cannon as Speaker of the House...
...others were on propositions so bad that the little handful of Cannon leaders voted practically alone...
...But the appropriation was defeated and its defeat angered the machine leaders...
...Glavis heard nothing more of it until given his discharge from the service...
...He voted with the regulars and for Cannonism in voting for the passage of the resolution...
...That after telling his conspiracy story to the President...
...That there had been no surveys of the lands withdrawn as stated by Secretary Ballinger In a letter to Senator La Pollette, May 25, 1909...
...Jones...
...The System senator takes his Aldrichism "straight...
...When the question came up on March 15 of the present session, Kennedy was paired in favor of the appropriation...
...To do this skillfully requires on the part of the congressman knowledge of his constituency, good political judgment, and some very close figuring and balancing of scores...
...That Commissioner Dennett stated he knew of no frauds, yet affidavit showed such admissions had been made to him...
...He voted again with the regulars and for Cannonism against the amended resolution...
...WHEN THE VOTES WERE COUNTED AND IT WAS FOUND THAT CANNON HAD BEEN SAVED, KENNEDY WAS OF THE FIRST TO JUMP TO HIS FEET AND POUND HIS DESK ACCLAIMING MADLY THE SAVING OF THE CZAR...
...If he votes wrong too often he may be defeated for reelection, and his usefulness to the System be ended...
...That Ballinger ordered Chief Engineer Davis of the reclamation nervice to segregate withdrawals made by Secretary Garfield for power sites, but to do it quietly so as not to attract public atten-tion...
...During Kennedy's first session in the House, 261 yea and nay votes were recorded...
...That while the Roosevelt and Garfield view and policy had been that the government could withdraw public lands in the absence of specific law to the contrary, Balllnger's view has been that it cannot without a specific law...
...Kennedy began his pro-System record in the House before he was warm in his seat by voting for Cannon for Speaker and for the adoption of the Cannon rules...
...That Clarence Cunningham said the Secretary had promised him patents on his coal claims within ninety days...
...that in 1907 Ballinger advised Glavis to go slow on investigations and "muckraking," as it was interfering with the raising of campaign funds for next years election...
...Of the fifteen roll calls on which he voted with seeming independence some dealt with such momentous questions as the number of watchmen to be employed in the House office building...
...Being an aggressive statesman, he made a speech during his first session, in which he discussed hazing at West Paint...
...That his attitudehas been one of assumed indifference, if not hostility, toward investigation and the Protection of the govern-ment, on the plea of former connection with the coal cases as counsel...
...The brazen notes of Cannonism dominate throughout and the intermittent scratching of recurring "irregular" votes serves only to add to the noisesomeness and irritation of the piece...
...He knows that there is many a slip between the will of the people and the selection of a senator by a state legislature...
...The effect upon one who studies the record of Kennedy's brief congressional career is like that produced by hearing a cracked record played upon a phonograph...
...He voted again with the regulars and for Cannonism in voting to sustain the Speaker's ruling that the Norris resolution was not in order...
...THAT BALLINGER, as commissioner of the land office, had an intimate and thorough knowledge of the Alaska coal cases, gained through numerous conferences with Special Agents Jones and Love and Glavis and through frequent reports made by them to him...
...Faced squarely with the proposition to supercede the Calendar Wednesday Rule, Kennedy "dodged" the vote...
...When the fight was fairly opened, the regulars saw that they had reckoned without their host...
...That Ballinger visited Secretary Garfield at the latter s home in Ohio in 1908 and laid before him an affidavit from the Cunningham claimants saving that no combination was contemplated, yet *n option to the Guggenhelms had been given and accepted in 1907...
...Kennedy took no part in the debate cn the tariff, and in the voting he worked in the same shift with Smith and Tawney and Captain Hull of the 7th Iowa, of whom more hereafter...
...That when in December, 1907, Glavis was sent west to make a thorough investigation...
...that they lacked the votes to make their contention stand...
...Then the Systemites are forced to line up for Cannonism and for what they truly represent, and take their chances on open records with the public sentiment of their districts...
...That soon thereafter the executive order went forth that no more information was to be given out by government subordinates without permission...
...Again Kennedy preserved the balance for the System in voting, on the one hand, against the bill to make land grabbing easy by doubling the size of homestead entries in the semi-arid West and against the System's Ship Subsidy Bill, and by voting, on the other hand, on four roll calls in favor of the Vreeland and Aldrich-Vreeland emergency currency schemes for Wall Street and Standard Oil...
...The Roll Call ON MEN AND MEASURES Diluting Cannonism for Home Consumption THE DIFFERENCE between the record of an AldricH "rubber-stamp" senator and a "me-too" Cannon congressman reflects the difference in the manner of their election...
...He voted again with the regulars and for Cannonism in voting against the substitute offered by Norris for his original resolution...
...That Senator Heyburn of Idaho, who, with Senator Carter of Montana, is the most outspoken foe in congress of conservation, had an interest in Alaska claims, also Congressmen McLachlan of California and Kinkald of Nebraska...
...As against these votes, however, the balance was struck in favor of the System when Kennedy voted later against the Appalachian and White Mountain Forest Reserve and for the bill to consolidate coal entries and facilitate coal land grabbing in Alaska...
...and the rest were votes cast on a few measures, such as Roosevelt's Appalachian and White Mountain forest conservation measure, and the Oregon-California Land Grant Resolution,—measures concerning which public sentiment was too strong for a weak congressman to treat it with disregard...
...In proposing legislation, Kennedy has run mainly to private pension bills, although in one instance his "constructive statesmanship" attained the dignity of a bill for a public building in his district...
...Eleven times he avoided the issue, and answered "present...
...That the Reclamation Service has felt itself more or less openly opposed and discredited by the Secretary of the Interior ever since he assumed office...
...It was claimed by the machine leaders that this census resolution was privileged under the Constitution and should supercede business entitled to consideration under the Calendar Wednesday Rule...
...He voted again with the regulars and for Cannonism in voting against the motion to order the previous question on sustaining the Speaker's ruling...
...If the System management has a fiw votes to spare it graciousity yields to the necessities of the situation...
...He voted with the regulars and for Cannonism in voting for a recess until four o'clock in the afternoon and at four o'clock in the afternoon, in voting again to give the Speaker another day to rule...
...That after leaving he Profited by government secrets, yet at secretary, and with the same information, put the responsibility and interpretation of tne law upon subordinates That as counsel he attempted to get patents for the claims, although admitting to Glavis, in consultation- that he had doubts about their validity...
...That Glavis was told not to investigate members of Congress Interested in Alaska...
...The congressman must be elected by the people...
...That as commissioner, private citizen ansd as secretary of the interior he personally directed opertions relating to these cases, assuming authority in instances where subordinates had hitherto acted along...
...When the vote was had by which the appointment of the Bal-linger-Pinchot Investigating Committee was taken from the Speaker, Kennedy "stood pat" with the machine and voted against the people and for Cannonism...
...The first congressional district of Iowa contains the city and railroad center of Burlington...
...On the remaining 236 roll calls, Kennedy is found voting with the lieutenants of Cannonism 222 times...
...In the hope that another day would find their position stronger, they moved to postpone action to the following da...
...Thirteen times Kennedy is recorded as "not voting...
...After voting first to put hides on the free list, he voted later for a ten per cent duty...
...Then came the introduction of the Norris resolution for a change of the rules of the House, and Kennedy voted with the regulars and for Cannonism in voting for a recess in order to give Cannon time to marshal his forces...
...With little variation he voted the Cannon-Aldrich-Payne program...
...That herequested suspension of examinations that he might urge remedial legislation, favorable to the claimants, upon con-gress...
...They came back at the Progressives with the introduction of a resolution, relating to the census law, but brought forward for the purpose of breaking down the little concession of rule reform which had been forced by the Insurgent fight on the Cannon rules at the opening of Congress, namely, the provision that Wednesday of each week should be devoted to the consideration of bills which had been reported by committees, and without reference to the favoritism of the Committee on Rules or the Speaker...
...Employers may yet rue the day when they filled their factories with women, because they were cheap...
...That Ballinger ordered Schwartz to consult Postmaster General Hitchcock as well as the President in appointing Alaska agents...
...The next day, he voted again with the regulars for Cannonism, and for delay...
...That in the restoration of withdrawn lands Ballinger did not act on the recommendation of the Reclamation Service, as the President seemed to think, but on his own responsibility...
...Here Kennedy began his legislative career as a member ot the state legislature of Iowa...
...That Ballinger promised to ask Attorney General Wickersham for an opinion on the legality of the Cunningham claims, but failed to do so until forced to such action by Glavis and Henry M. Hoyt, then assistant attorney general...
...The people look into his record...
...That Ballinger ordered verbally (refusing to make the order in writing) that the reclamation service recommend restoration of the lands withdrawn by Garfield to protect power sites...
...Investigation of Alaska Coal Claims Points Thus Far by the Investigation...
...When the next day came, Kennedy voted with the regulars, and for Cannonism, in voting to lay on the table the appeal from the Speaker's decision that the Norris resolution was out of order...
...In the tariff session Kennedy's record shows the same lopsided balancing of scores...
...And when the Cannon machine was driven to the desperate recourse of coalition with Tammany Democrats, he lined up a third time, under a bi-partisan System leadership, to prevent real reform of the House rules by voting for the Fitzgerald resolution...
...Of course, there come times of crises, as in the recent House fight on Cannonism, when the management needs all its votes...
...However, it is to his record on the roll calls that we are constrained to look for a proper expression of the Kennedy statecraft—emphasis on the craft...
...General recognition of this fact long ago found expression in the common parlance of Iowa politics which hail named that part of the state embracing the first district, the "Burlington Reservation...
...At the opening of the Congress, Kennedy lined up with the regulars and voted for Cannon for Speaker...
...His promotion to Congress was due, first, to his reliability to the interests that controlled the politics of the district, and second to Kennedy's equipment as a glad-hand-card-index-organizer politician...
...Charles A. Kennedy is a very good illustration of this distinction between System representation in the House and in the Senate...
...Aside from the tariff, the great issue of the present congress has been Cannonism—Cannon and the Cannon rules...
...Four times again that day Kennedy voted with the regulars in support of Cannonism...
...The fight, that memorable week in March, in which the Insurgents and Democrats won a victory in putting Cannon off the Rules Committee and transferred from the Speaker to the House itself the power of appointing the committee, began with a controversy over an item in an appropriation bill for the maintenance at government expense of automobiles for the Vice-President and the Speaker...
...He voted again with the regulars and for Cannonism in voting against the previous question on the Norris resolution...
...When the fight was renewed the next day on the census resolution, Kennedy voted with the regulars and for Cannonism to order the previous question...
...If he votes right too often he will lose caste with the System management...
...That Pinchot had the permission of Secretary Wilson to write the letter to Senator Dolliver which brought about his dismissal...
...Miles C. Moore turned up in Washington and immediately the writing of patents was begun...
...That Ballinger ignored the unfavorable report of Special Agent Jones and ordered the clearlistlng of the Cunningham claims on the Love report which Love also declared did not justify or recommend clearlisting...
...That Forester Pinchot wrote the President last fall that he would not be silent over frauds on the government even if it involved his official position...
...He lined up again and voted against the Clark resolution to amend the rules...
Vol. 2 • April 1910 • No. 15
