THE ROLL CALL
THE RoU Call ON MEN AND MEASURES Remember These Men TWO YEARS AGO President Tapt branded Schedule K —the woolen schedule of the Payne-Aldrich law—"indefensible." That brand still sticks. The...
...Miller, (Minn...
...Speaker, again referring to that Winona speech, the President said that with reference to the vetoing of the Payne-Aldrich bill: " 'It would have left the question of the revision of the tariff open for further discussion at the next session, which would have suspended the settlement of all our business down to a known basis upon which prosperity could proceed and investments be made.' "Then the President sustained the approval of the Payne-Aldrich bill on the ground that to leave the question open would disturb business...
...But I have no sufficient data upon which I can judge how Schedule X ought to be amended or how its rates ought to be reduced in order that the new bill shall furnish the proper measure of protection and no more...
...and when Congress has acted, performing its constitutional duty in presenting a bill to the Executive, I submit it ought to receive his approval unless he shows affirmatively or presents some facts tending to show that that bill is wrong in some particular...
...Put to the Test HIS VETO came duly before the House of Representatives...
...They are the kind of representatives you must have at Washington if your will is to be finally given expression into law...
...all the potent power of patronage...
...President Tapt was indignant...
...But we can not be tinmindful of the fact, Mr...
...With his motives we had little concern and less sympathy...
...Taft in doing so...
...Now, if he would be consistent, unless he knows or has information that this bill is not protective, he ought to sign this bill in order not to disturb the woolen business of this country by further revision at the next session...
...Volstead, (Minn...
...It was not "scientific...
...He pointed out not a single weakness in the bill before him...
...Hanna, (N...
...Morse, (Wis...
...Nothing can swerve them from serving your best interests...
...He merely said, "Wait for my tariff board...
...Speaker, in the discussion of the question now before the House I do not believe there is any occasion for an exhibition of temper upon either side...
...Y.) Kent, (Cal...
...It was "blind...
...It is possible that the Executive does not know, but every Member of this House knows, that there will not be a revision of Schedule K within the next 90 days unless this bill becomes a law...
...That duty was imposed upon the Congress of the United States, and not upon the Executive...
...There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe, And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law...
...SPEAKER, the entire burden of this message is the same argument as was presented upon the floor of this House day after day during the consideration of this bill—to await the action of the Tariff Board—with one exception, and that is the concluding portion of the message, where the President says: " 'There is no public exigency requiring the revision of Schedule K in August without adequate information, rather than in December next with such information.' "The Executive thereby implying, and in fact expressly stating later on, that this will involve only a wait of 90 days before a revision of Schedule K can be had...
...Following are the Progressive Republicans who voted to pass the bill over the President's veto: Akin, (N...
...He says: " 'There is a widespread belief that many rates in the present schedule are too high and are in excess of any needed protection for the woolgrower or manufacturer...
...Indeed, he spurned what little help that body of "persons" (to...
...Lenroot Points the Way IT WAS CERTAIN that a vote was to be taken on the question of over-riding the President's veto...
...Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm, With the standards of the peoples plunging thro the thunderstorm...
...Now, Mr...
...They are neither to be cowed by threats of party punishment nor frightened by the prestige of presidential disapproval...
...quote the joker in the Payne-Aldrich law giving them the right to political existence) very modestly extended to him...
...What has caused the change...
...He was too indignant to point out to Congress wherein and in what respects it was defective...
...neither do I believe it to be a proper occasion for the delivery of merely political speeches, without reference to the question at issue...
...I share this belief and have so stated in several public addresses...
...Steenerson,(Minn...
...Hubbard, (la...
...Their's is the spirit that made the old "Iron Brigade" famous...
...Let me say right here that the Constitution of the United States did not impose upon the Executive of this country the duty of framing tariff bills or determining what rates should be imposed...
...Lenroot of Wisconsin took the floor...
...Wait for the tariff board's report, clamored the Stand-patters...
...Did those of you who are now pleading for postponement agree with that position of the Executive then...
...Mr...
...Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales...
...Is it entirely in good faith...
...Murdock, (Kan...
...Speaker, I insist that the-veto of the President never ought to be exercised upon ignorance on his part as to facts, but only upon information, when a bill is presented to him for his approval, that it is wrong in some particular...
...Now, with reference to this Tariff Board, it has assumed great importance very recently in the minds of some gentlemen...
...Speaker, in conclusion, I want to say just this: There are some Members on this side of the aisle who I know have been labored with very earnestly in the endeavor to change their votes upon this question...
...Young, (Kan...
...MEN MY BROTHERS, men the workers, ever reaping something new: That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do: For I dipt into the future, far as human, eye could see, Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be...
...Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue...
...Anderson, (Minn...
...Jackson, (Kan...
...They voted conscientiously to reduce the duties of the Woolen Trust...
...This was the question: Will the House on reconsideration agree to pass the bill, the objection of the President to the contrary nothwithstanding...
...Applause...
...Said Representative Hardwick: "We were more than willing to help destroy this iniquitous protective system...
...Warburton,(Wash) Helgeson, (N.Dak...
...Behind it was all the prestige of "the titular head" of the Republican party...
...Nelson, (Wis...
...TENNYSON...
...He did NOT say, "Wait for my tariff board," whjen he undertook to lower the tariff down to nothing at all upon the products of the farm...
...He showed not a single item that had the earmarks of carelessness...
...Does the President in this message assert or attempt to show that these rates are not protective...
...The debate was intense, even bitter...
...And yet your President, the man who said the schedule this bill seeks to lower was 'indefensible,' vetoes this bill that offers to the shivering poer in the United States of America a reduction of practically 40 per cent, on the clothing that they wear, a saving to them of $200,000,000 per annum...
...Davis, (Minn...
...The sole question, Mr...
...He simply says he does not know...
...It was results we were after...
...The sincerity, the courage, the strength of conviction of Republicans were to be put to the test...
...He said with reference to it: " 'I do not intend, unless compelled or directed by Congress, to publish the result of these investigations, but to treat them merely as incidental facts brought out officially from time to time and as they may be ascertained and put on record in the department.' "Then these important findings were to be treated as merely incidental facts and not to be published at all...
...The President could not obliterate it if he would...
...Woods, (la...
...Lenroot, (Wis...
...They have earned your unfaltering support...
...Reconsider the bill and pass it over the President's veto, was the demand from the Democrats...
...La Follette,(Wash...
...And, Mr...
...But when we had endeavored to extend the relief for which Mr...
...Nor have I sources of information which satisfy me that the bill presented to me for signature will accomplish this result.' "Now, Mr...
...Every member of this House knows that when we come back next December for the reconsideration of Schedule K many of the very gentlemen upon this side who are now advocating that we wait for the Tariff Board will debate this bill as long as possible...
...Norris, (Neb...
...Mr...
...They Stood Firm THE VOTE was taken...
...But we, each of us, have a duty to perform—to examine this message of the President and decide for ourselves whether his position is well taken...
...It was "tinkering," forsooth, and "tariff for politics only...
...Remember these men...
...Speaker, that we are called upon to determine at this time is whether or not the veto message of the President presents sufficient reasons to cause any Member of this House who ¦voted for this bill when it was sent to the President to change his vote, and that is the question which I propose to discuss...
...Madison, (Kan...
...Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world...
...When we invite our recent partner to join us in giving to the masses of the American people cheaper blankets, cheaper stockings, cheaper shoes, and cheaper necessities of every kind, we find the gentleman who was so deeply concerned for our newspaper friends most indifferent, nay, most obstinately hostile, and we can account for his change of front on no other hypothesis except that, having, as he supposes, already placated the newspapers and the magazines, he finds it unnecessary to make any further concession to the masses, and fears to offend the protected interests by further revision...
...Speaker, I wish to quote a line or two from the speech of the President at Winona, which has been republished in the Record this morning...
...At that time he gave his ideas on the importance of the Tariff Board...
...Not a line...
...Haugen, (la...
...Speaker, I wish first to call attention to this paragraph in the veto message of the President...
...It was only when the notoriously excessive duties of the Woolen Trust were cut down by the Progressive Republicans and the Democrats that the presidential bosom throbbed with solicitude for his tariff board...
...Burden of the Message NOW, MR...
...But he does veto-a bill which Congress passed for the purpose of making it less —much less—"indefensible...
...And let me say, Mr...
...Vote to sustain the President because he is the "titular head" of the Republican party (self-styled) in spite of the fact that he offered not a single specific objection to the bill...
...Give the consumer this just and necessary relief, urged the Democrats and Progressives...
...we are more than willing to help pull the top row of bricks from the tariff wall, and we were glad to cooperate with Mr...
...They held steadfastly to their convictions, in the absence of detailed and scientific objections from the President, and voted again when opportunity was presented for the relief they have been striving so hard and so long to secure for the ninety million consumers they are bounden to serve...
...and when this roll is called, those who do change, if there be such, can not, in my opinion, escape being convicted before the country of either being insincere when they voted for this bill when it was sent to the President or else of not daring to express their convictions now for fear of incurring the displeasure of the administration and the losing of Federal patronage...
...What was the duty of Republicans—progressive Republicans...
...It was an unpleasant situation for a timid Republican, however progressive...
...But instead of leaving this money in the pockets of the people, by his veto he makes it continue to flow into the coffers of the Woolen Trust...
...He failed to note whether the "blindness" was merely mental astigmatism or inability to see the rosy hues of trust extortion...
...Lindbergh, (Minn...
...He signed it, and afterwards declared that the woolen schedule was 'indefensible.' This bill vetoed by the President seeks to lower a tax not only gathered by the Woolen Trust, but one gathered by the undertakers' establishments and by the drug stores of the country...
...Speaker, that less than two years ago most of the gentlemen who are now crying for postponement of action because of the Tariff Board were themselves opposed to the creation of a Tariff Board...
...Taft so loudly clamored in the case of his newspaper friends, who are the chief beneficiaries of Canadian reciprocity, we found our erstwhile ally become our most inveterate and uncompromising foe...
...Here is what he said: "Mr...
...Or vote as they voted before, to lighten the great burden of the masses of people...
...Did you agree...
...I have always believed it very important, and if there was the slightest possibility that the report of this Tariff Board would be acted upon by the other side of the House and in good faith upon this side of the House, and by another body, my position might be different than it is today...
...Speaker, that I frankly concede that the President is entirely within his rights in sending to this House to examine this veto message...
...It will be debated for months before another body, and I venture the prediction now, and I shall refer to it at the next regular session, that many of those who are now advocating waiting for the Tariff Board will themselves repudiate the action of that Tariff Board when it comes in upon this schedule...
...Said Ollie James: "The President of the United States did not need any Tariff Board report to enable him to sign the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill...
Vol. 3 • September 1911 • No. 36
