CAnhon
MflNX<J.
Glass_El^i-£>-iBook
C^
ixrm
^^^•ATE
«^,'.'^?f.^r^n
2d Sessifli/
SPEECH OF
HON.
CANNON
G.
J.
DELIVERED AT KANSAS
CITY, MO.,
FRIDAY NIGHT, NOVEMBER
26, 1909
PRESENTED BY MR. HALE
December
Ordered
to lie
7,
on the table
1909
and
to
be printed
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1909
\^ n
DEC
D.
b\
20
OF
/
1909
D.
SPEECH OF HON.
FRIDAY
Mr.
CANNON AT KANSAS CITY,
NOVEMBER 26, 1909.
G.
1.
Toastmaster and Citizens:
United States Senate in 1851
it is
When
among
come upon the
national stage too
the great questions had been settled.
Benton had been a foremost
figure in the Senate for years, a giant
the greatest statesmen whose
They had
history.
Sumner entered the
Thomas H. Benton congrat-
Charles
said that
ulated him, but remarked that he had
late, as all
MO.,
NI(;HT.
dealt with
and
names are found
settled
many
in
American
great questions, but
they performed merely the overture in the great drama of a people's
government.
Benton's dream of a railroad to the Pacific has been more than
Not one but seven
ized.
bands of
steel
railroads
real*
bind the continent together with
and make the whole nation homogeneous.
The cannonball
express and the fast freight carry the people and exchange their products over the whole country
service
sent
more
readily
was performed within the confines
Benton
service in
to the Senate,
any country on
and now
and economically than similar
of a single State
when
Missouri
at one-half the cost for similar
earth.
DEVELOPME.NT OF THE WEST.
Kansas City was a frontier post when Benton
died,
and beyond lav
"Bleeding Kansas," the most turbulent territory on the American continent.
To-day Kansas City
gateway
to a
is
the metropolis of the Southwest and the
new empire.
The twelve States that have been organized from the Louisiana
chase to-day have almost
ited to the
if
])ur-
not quite double the wealth that was accred-
whole United States when Benton died.
In i860 our total
wealth in the United States was given as $16,000,000,000.
To-day the
wealth of the twelve States carved out of the Louisiana territory
is
estimated at nearly $30,000,000,000, or one-third of the total wealth of
the whole United States.
(3)
sometimes wonder what Benton would think could
I
and see what
Government has made
strides the Federal
century in crossing state
half
his spirit return
the last
in
not to dominate but to benefit the
lines,
people of the States; to aid in the construction of transcontinental
improve
roads,
state
rivers
and harbors, reclaim
commerce, put the stamp
of
rail-
arid lands, regulate inter-
Government on our meat
to give
it
currency throughout the world as readily as our gold, guarantee puritv
by quarantine
of the people's food, protect health
hours of railway employees, and
make
their
laws, regulate the
employers on interstate
railroads responsible for injuries.
sometimes wonder also whether the great body
I
now
live in this
legislation
newer West
by Congress
Lincoln, or even
in
realize
of the people
who
what a revolution has taken place
in
the last half century since the election of
what has been done
since McKinley's election as Presi-
dent and the enactment of the Dingley law only twelve years ago.
THE DINGLEY LAW'S SUCCESS.
The
Fifty-third Congress, which enacted the
appropriated $917,000,000,
Wilson-Gorman
and President Cleveland had
tariff
to
law,
borrow
$265,000,000 to help out the revenues and meet the ordinary expenditures of the Federal
That Democratic
Government.
tariff
produce the necessary revenue for even Democratic
to
law failed
simjilicity in
administration.
President McKinley was heralded as the advance agent of prosperity,
and the
Fifty-fifth
Congress that enacted the Dingley law twelve years
ago was called upon to ])rovide for the extraordinary expenditures of
the
war with Spain.
to support
It
had
to a])])r()priate nearly half a billion dollars
our army and navy
in
that war, apply war taxes to meet a
part of the expenditures
and
and the
did so, and the
as
it
I'hili|)piiU'S.
It
])rovide for the
go\ernmcnt of Porto Rico
GoxernuKiU
also issued bonds,
has always done for war e.xpetiditures; but the Dingley law proved
to be the best
riwiuu- ])ro(Uieer we have ever had, as the Wilson-Gorman
law ])roved to be the
])()orist.
The-
Dingley law, whicli was protective,
brought the total net ordinary rc\iinies of the I'ederal (^lovernmenl
from
$348,o(K),()()() in
[\w last \i'ar of
$4()5,o<K),{)()o in [\\v lirst
withstanding the
taxes,
tlic
Deinoeratie aduiinislratioii to
yearof the Ri'publiean adniinist ration, and not-
re])eal of thi'
war taxes
in
m;<)I, cintin<; olT thi' stani])
and reducing the taxes on toliaeeo and
l)eer,
the total net ordi
nary revenues under the Dingley law
in
1907 mounted up to $663,000,000,
or the greatest revenues ever brought into the Federal Treasury.
What was
That law gave protection, produced prosperity
the cause?
at
home, expanded our foreign commerce, and enabled the Government
to
extend
its
operations to meet
who clamored
for internal
many
of the aspirations of the people
improvements, expansion of the army, mod-
and developing the waste
ernizing of the navy, protecting the forests,
places in the arid region.
So the development has gone forward
for twelve years,
lican Sixtieth Congress appropriated $2,000,000,000
cratic Fifty-third Congress appropriated less
How
did
we spend
it?
and the Repub-
where the Demo-
than $1,000,000,000.
army
Rebuilt the navy and reorganized the
at a cost of $2,000,000,000; doubled the appropriations for the military
and naval academies; diverted $50,000,000
for the revenues for the
reclamation of arid land; quadrupled the appropriations for the Depart-
ment
ice;
of Agriculture
;
doubled the appropriations for the diplomatic serv-
appropriated $200,000,000 for the construction of the
Panama
Canal;
more than doubled the appropriations for the Post-Office Department,
with $40,000,000 a year for rural free delivery, and reduced the national
debt to
less
than
it
was before the
election of
McKinley and the war
with Spain.
PROGRKSSIVE LEGISLATION.
We have enacted new laws that were denounced as
they were under consideration, but which are
short of expectations.
We
revolutionary
now looked upon
when
as falling
have enacted a railroad rate law; a pure-
food law; secured the denunciation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty which
stood in the
way
of the
Panama
Canal, and more than half constructed
that great waterway; created the Department of
and
in that established
begun a national system
in the investigation of corporations;
tion; passed
Commerce and Labor
a Bureau of Corporations which has great power
an employers'
of irriga-
liability law, a safety-appliance law,
a law
limiting the working hours of railway emplo^^ees, a meat-inspection law,
the denatured alcohol law, a law creating a permanent census bureau,
a law for the proper administration of the National Forestry Service, an
emergency currency law, admitted Oklahoma as a State, established
rural free delivery, authorized more public buildings than had been
constructed by the Government in
enacted a new
tariff
law, which
tions are not great enough.
all its
some
previous history, and finally,
critics
denounce because the reduc-
.
NECESSITY FOR REVENUE.
who insisted that the tariff should be further lowwho are dissatisfied because we have not gone
Gentlemen, we can
faster and farther and appropriated more money.
If we want to return to the tariff of 1894,
not eat our cake and have it.
known as the "Wilson law," we must also return to the democratic
vSingularly the critics
ered are the
same
critics
simplicity of expending less than $500,000,000 a year, or go bankrupt.
the enactment of the Dingley law in 1897 the estimates furnished
vSince
by the executive departments have been greater than the appropriations
by more than $481,000,000.
For the
fiscal
year 1909 the estimates were
$71,000,000 greater than the appropriations, and the Treasury deficit
was more than $60,000,000; and
for the present fiscal year the estimates
were $59,000,000 greater than the appropriations, while there
is
still
a
Treasury, or greater expenditures than we have revenues
deficit in the
to meet.
REVENUES MUST BE ADJUSTED TO MEET EXPENDITURES.
The Federal Government, with
year,
is
appropriations of $1,000,000,000 a
a tremendous organization, with
enthusiastic
men
at the
desire to forward the
all
its
dition, just as the
head
many
work they have
in
and
They
hand with the utmost expe-
heads of departments in any great business corpora-
tion are energetic in their efforts.
But there must be some power
adjustment of the revenues to meet expenditures
well as in every business organization,
responsibility on Congress.
in
energetic,
able,
the departments and bureaus.
of
in the
of
Government as
and the Constitution places that
Congress has not had a light task to perform
adjusting the revenues and making the necessary cuts in the estimates
of the various
ment and
But,
the
in
departments so as not to cripple any part of the Govern-
at the
same time conserve
the credit of the nation.
addition to the estimates i)resente(l by the (kpartmenls under
mandate
of law, every
92 vSenators have
one
of the 391
demands from
mated by the chairmen
Members
of the
their constituents,
and
of tlie various connnittees that
it
House and the
has been
lia\'e
esti-
jurisdiction
over appropriations that each year these fleniands are almost
if
not c|uite
rcxenue
is
therefore
double the ap])ro])riations.
Tiu' prineipU' of raising
a vital question in our system of goverununt
I
tlie
believe that the
new
tariff
law
will prot(.t-t
our industries and produce
neeessar\' rexeiiui' for carr\ing forward the griat policies
the Go\ernnient has enl(
ixd.
upon which
THE PAYNE BILL
— INCREASES
REVENUES.
The Monthly Summary
Department
of
of Commerce and Finance,
Commerce and Labor, shows that for
August, September, and October under the new
substantial increase in
The
in 1908.
for the
in 1908
months increased over those
more than
amounted
for last year
same period
for the
months
of
to $73,000,000 over those
and $21,000,000 over the same period
the greatest year under the Dingley law.
we may expect from
the
law there was a
imports over the imports of the same months
all
increase in imports
same period
tariff
by the
issued
Our exports
in 1907,
for the
same
by $41,000,000 and $25,000,000
in 1907.
This
the settlement of the
is
an indication
tariff
question.
that had halted has gone ahead with confidence, knowing just
of
what
Business
what are
the regulations which the Government imposes upon importation.
RAILROADS INDICATE PROSPERITY.
There are other and even better signs in our purely do mestic
The
railroads, the
affairs.
manufacturing estabUshments, merchants and pro-
ducers of every kind are going forward with confidence in settled conditions.
capital
It is predicted in railroad circles that there will
employed
in
double tracks, increased terminal
the next five years as there
is
Now, gentlemen,
had from 1897
there
is
much
already invested in these roads.
DANGER
move forward
be as
facilities, etc., in
IN AGITATION.
only one thing that can halt this confident
to give the country another era of prosperity such as
to 1907,
agitation, without
and that
is
we
agitation for the mere purpose of
any well-conceived healthy purpose
in view.
INSURGENTS REFUSE TO ACCEPT COMPROMISE.
The Senators and Representatives who
and who voted against the enactment
call
of the
themselves "insurgents"
Payne
bill,
voted to
in-
crease or maintain the duties on the industries and products of their
own
ple,
States and sections.
They were
protectionists for their
own
peo-
but they were opposed to protection for other people in other sec-
tions.
Senator La Follette did not vote to increase the duties on lead and
zinc,
but he defended the Finance Committee's schedules on those
products in speeches, saying they were not high enough, explaining,
however, that he could not vote on the question because he said he had
a personal pecuniar}'- interest
in
the outcome.
8
Senators La Follette and Bristow and the other so-called insurgents
voted to increase the duty on barley and barley malt for the reason that
their constituents
In other words, these gentlemen
produce barley.
who
themselves "insurgents" voted with the Republicans on schedules
call
that protected the products of their constituents and with the Democrats
on schedules that protected the products
That was
of other sections of the country.
but when they voted with the Democrats against
their right,
the final enactment of the
they voted to maintain the old schedules
bill
Dingley law and were not supporting the pledge of the Republican
of the
made by President Taft.
There was not one member of the Republican majority who
platform or the pledges
he had contended
in the bill as enacted. all that
Senator Aldrich, and myself
free lumber,
and
my
all
accepted more compromises than the
were asked
so-called "insurgents"
secured
President Taft,
for.
In Illinois
to accept.
we wanted
constituents wanted a duty on petroleum, because
they have the greatest independent oil-producing district in the world.
We
were beaten, but we did not make our own interests the only inter-
pretation of the Republican pledge to revise the
tariff.
CUMMINS ALONE CAN READ HIMSELF OUT OF PARTY.
Senator
Cummins complains
lican party.
man
or group of
men
it
too
out nor have
say the same for the President.
Republican party since
man
have read him out of the Repub-
The Senator does me
the authority to read any
may
I
Other sensitive gentlemen made the same complaint against
President Taft.
I
that
I
much
honor.
have been
was organized and
I
I the disposition.
I
a"
have not
I
member
think
of the
have never known of any
being read out of any party except by themselves.
There was a minority
in
the party opposed to President Lincoln's
conduct of the war, some because he did not move
others because he went too fast.
Some
fast
enough and
of these people took themselves
out of the ]Kirty and supported General McClellan against Lincoln in
There were RepubUcans who were
1864.
dissatisfied
with President
Grant's administration, and, not being able to control the party, they
went out and sup])()rted Greeley
In
1
884 there was a minority that opposed the nomination of James G.
Blaine,
and
after participating in the convention
Mr. Cleveland at the
another niinorit\ that
of the
in 1872.
])<)lls.
aiding in his election.
oi)])osi(l
Republican platform.
went out and supported
In
1
S96 there was
the a(lo])tion of the gold standard as a part
They went
out, organized the silver party.
and then joined the Democrats
In the same
Bryan.
in support of Mr.
year there was a minority in the Democratic party opposed to Mr.
Bryan's free-silver platform, and they supported McKinley, contributing
to his election.
Those men who found themselves in the minority
too much committed
in their
own party and
to their ideas to accept the will of the majority, read
That
themselves out of the parties to which they had formerly belonged.
was
and
their right,
Cummins's
political
right
man
the right of every
is
and Senator La
Follette's right
to-day.
;
It is
but manly
Senator
men
of all
views have in the past exercised that right openly and have not
gone about in garments of martyrdom because they were not allowed to
control the majority.
They
zens.
Those men
in the past did not lose caste as citi-
exercised an inalienable right to tmite their efforts with
It is the
party that best represented their views.
any
kind of independence
that wins respect and that counts in our political contests.
The
senator,
Tooley street
of
England."
I
think, aptly recalled the story of the three tailors of
who met and prepared
That
is
the preamble,
"We,
the people
a good illustration of the ego that often dominates
the minority everywhere, in town meetings, state legislatures, Federal
Congresses, in churches, and in every place where
The
tailors of
"We
Tooley street are ever with
us,
men must
cooperate.
and when they can not be
the people" in action as well as in the preamble, they take
in resolving
it
out
and declaiming.
There was one gigantic struggle
Republican party which
in the
memorable as the greatest convention
of strong
is
and manly men that
known in this country. That was the national Republican
convention of 1880, when the followers of the "silent soldier" of Appohas ever been
mattox and the admirers
of the
pitted against each other.
After
many days
and other candidates opposed
of Blaine
Garfield,
"plumed knight" from Maine were
who
for President.
colors flying, but not to
don sackcloth or sulk
in their tents.
Those men
governed the party that the
— to which many of them had belonged—had
and they marched out
it
The famous 306 went down with
fidelity to the principles that
old guard of Grant
and carry
Grant united on General
to
then received the majority vote of the convention and
became the candidate
had the same
of balloting the followers
of that
to victory.
in war,
convention to take up the Garfield banner
Let
political battle to the Senator.
me commend
the history of that one
:
lO
PRESIDENT TAFT
Senator
Cummins
Payne law
declares that the
President Taft,
Chicago platform.
SENATOR CUMMINS.
V.
when he
a repudiation of the
is
signed the
bill,
made
a pub-
statement in which he said:
lic
There have been a great number of
revision
to justify a statement that
amount
sufficient
and a reduction
The Payne
convention in 191 2
is
and they constitute a
a substantial
downward
the President declared
the best tariff
tariff bill is
bill
the Republican party has ever passed.
declares that the issue from
Cummins
Senator
this bill
of excessive rates.
Winona speech
In his
real decreases in rates
Shall the
is,
men now
now
until the national
in control of party destinies
be
permitted further to disregard plain party platforms?
President Taft
is
the recognized leader of the Republican party and
The President and
the great majority of Republicans are his followers.
the Republican majority in Congress cooperated in the legislation that
With whom did Senator Cummins
has been written on the statute books.
Let the record of the votes on this legislation from begin-
cooperate?
ning to end decide.
Mr. Bryan wants the war against the Republicans
go on; Senator Cummins also wants
legislation to
it
who enacted
to go on.
this
When
Lincoln found an army marching on the national capital from the South
and a body of sympathizers in the North encouraging that army, he said
it
was
difficult
which was the most threatening to the
to determine
welfare of the nation.
History repeats
and when Senators Cum-
itself,
mins, LaFollette, Brsitow, and their so-called "progressive" following
join
hands with Mr. Bryan
of Congress
it,
who
passed the
know
in that contest 1
them
fight
just as
we
fight
in
making war upon the Republican Members
tarilT bill
and upon
of but one
way
has
(IcMie
remark made by
in
President
lo treat them,
who
and
signed
tliat
is
to
KIU.ES.
Tlir;
fellow-citizen of Missouri, the
Hon.
Champ
Clark,
the honor on several occasions lately to take issue with a
me
House was a
hi'
Mr, Pryan and his following.
CHAMP CUARK AND
Your distinguished
I
me
to the efTect that the fight against the rules of the
The Associated Press
fight to i)revent aiiv tarilT legislation.
a (Hspatc-li
from Sioux Citv, Iowa, nndir
datr of Octnlx'r 22,
quoted
Mr. Clark as saying:
This
rules,
is
untrue and
is
proved uiiliue
which authorized the vSpeaker
l)y
llie
resolution
lo iiumcdialely
1
<iffercd
touching upon the
appoint the Committee on
Ways
II
and Means, and that coniniittee
is
the cn\e that luid cliari;c ol the tariff
and Accounts.
These are
anything to do with the
Mr. Clark
If
have a copy
what
it
is
the committees which by any construction could have
all
tariff bill.
correctly quoted
of his resohttion with
by the Associated
him or a very
That resolution proposed
contained.
sion the rules of the last Congress,
by the Members
of the
clear recollection as to
to adopt for the special ses-
consist of 15
House, said committee to
Mr. Clark
is
employ
shall
be elected
own chairman,"
elect its
and they are hereby, elected and appointed members
"balderdash."
of the
of the
House
be,
Committee
in his resolution.
quoted as describing the statement attributed to
That seems
and
then provided that the
It
members "who
and then "Resolved, That the following named Members
on Rules," naming 15 members
to appoint
Printing, Accounts, Mileage,
Enrolled Bills for the special session only.
Committee on Rules should
Press, he did not
and authorize the Speaker
Ways and Means,
the Committees on
The
l)ill.
Committees on Rules, Mileage,
resohttion also authorized the Speaker to appoint the
to be as inoffensive
in reference to the interview or
an expression as
statement of
^Ir.
me
I
as
can
Clark, though a
former President would have used a shorter and uglier word.
ALLIANCE AGAINST TARIFF BILL.
I
do not believe that
all
who voted with
the gentlemen
Mr. Clark on
the rules realized that they were his allies against the Republican party,
but
would
it
more
reflect
seriously than
I
care to in this presence on
Mr. Clark's knowledge of parliamentary practice
House
to believe that he did not fully
rules
clearly understand the whole
but he knew, or ought to have known, that by
he proposed in the
first
rules of the
Mr. Clark assumed an attitttde of noninterference with the
situation.
tariff bill,
and
and the
adopt for the
first line to
first
his resolution
session of the Sixty-
Congress the rules of the Sixtieth Congress, and that ttnder these
it
would be possible
to bring the tariff bill to a vote only
by con-
sidering every one of the Xoo paragraphs, with thousands of items, in
Committee
in the
of the
Whole, with each paragraph subject
second degree
mittee of the
—a method by which the
Whole
indefinitely
fixing a definite time for a vote,
the action of a maioritv of
on Rules.
tlic
—or
bill
to
could be
by the adoption
amendment
lield in Com-
of a special rule
which wotild have only been possible
l)y
Motise u])on a report from the Conimillee
12
There
where Mr. Clark seemed to exercise the most acute
is
intelU-
gence in naming the members of the Committee on Rules, to which any
would have
special rule
of
He named on
to be referred.
Republicans who participated
15, five
in
this
committee
RepubUcan caucus and
the
were in harmony with the administration plan of an early settlement of
the
Democrats who had participated
tariff, six
and who were loyal
so-called "insurgent Republicans'"
Two
refused to enter any caucus.
Nebraska, and
of
Clark in every
Democratic caucus,
to Mr. Clark's every wdsh to prevent tariff legislation,
and then he selected four
Norris
in the
move
who had
of these "insurgent Republicans,"
Nelson of Wisconsin, cooperated
against the consideration of the tariff
with him freely, and when they spoke or voted
was
it
bill,
\vith
Mr.
consulted
to support his
contention as loyally as did any Democrat in the House.
These two gentlemen and the six Democrats would have made a clear
majority of
Committee on Rules, even had Mr. Gardner,
Clark's
}klr.
of
Massachusetts, and Mr. Hayes, of Cahfornia, voted with the live other
Republicans, as
I
believe they would, in favor of a special rule to fix a
date for the vote on the
committee
With
tariff bill.
his
men out
on that
of fifteen
does anyone suppose Mr. Clark
to consider a special rule,
would have neglected
eight
opportunity to keep that
bill
from coming
to
a vote or any opportunity to embarrass the administration?
Had
would
Mr. Clark's resolution been adopted the House of Representatives
be in session considering the innumerable
still
Democrats would have offered
tariff bill,
and the United
hundreds
to the
vStates vSenale
would
of
still
amendments
paragraphs
in
be waiting for the
the
the
bill
to be sent over for its consideration.
woi.N'Us ()KFi;k pkotixtiox.
Tin-;
knows
Mr. Clark
of his
i)()lilical
.ftsop's fables
by
liearl
philosophy on lliem.
In
and he has foruuikiled
one of
wanted the sheep to discharge the dogs and employ the wolves
them.
TIk-
tariff
suj)porl of the tariff
ter its will,
\()te
l)y
IIk'
that
bill,
tlu'
wolves would have given to the
of ihr IIousi', with a ek'ar niajorit)- in
would ha\e been helpless
in
any
effort to regis-
because any resolution for a special rule to bring the
wouUl have
Champ
bill
Rtpuhlicau niaiority
to defend
have given the same
Mr. Clark's Connnittee on Rules would
protection to the
sheep.
liad to
bill
to a
be referred to the Connnittee on Rules dominated
Clark, leader of the niinorit
i-nactment of the
nuicli
fables the woU'es
lliesi'
bill.
\
and kadiT
ol"
tlie
efforts to
prevent
:
:
13
To put
in
it
another way. the nominal Repui)hcan majority
would have been destroyed,
House
the minority had cooperated with the
if all
so-called "insurgent Republicans,'lican national
in the
and the very
pledge of the Repub-
first
convention and the RepubHcan President, Mr. Taft, would
completely as though a Democratic House of Representa-
have
failed as
tives
had been elected instead
House with a nominal Republican
of a
majority of 46.
RULE FOR WILSON
KILL.
own
Mr. Clark has always been regular in his
and that of Mr. Bryan
it v
I cite
his benefit
the rule adopted by the Democratic major-
13, 1894, for consideration of the
August
For
party.
Wilson
tariff bill, for
which
both Mr. Clark and Mr. Bryan voted, and which accepted en bloc over
This rule was reported by Representative
600 Senate amendments.
Wilson, of West Virginia, from the Committee on Rules, but he stated
that
it
was
in
accordance with the action and
Democratic
will of the
caucus
Resolved,
House
That
move
to
after the adoption of this resolution
made
that the order heretofore
be in order
shall
it
in the
requesting a conference with the
Senate on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on H. R. 4864 be rescinded; that
House be discharged from
the conferees heretofore ajipointed on the part of the
further duty
in that behalf,
Senate amendments to said
and that the House recede from
bill
in
and agree
gross
hours' debate on said motion (which
shall
disagreement to the
its
to the same;
that after two
be indivisible) the vote shall be taken
without delay or other motion.
CRISP AND BRY.^N DEFEND THE RULE.
Speaker Crisp
Among
I
the chair and took the floor in support of the rule.
left
other things, he said
want the gentleman (Mr. Cockran)
ferees
and others who have been making
this bill be accepted,
"We
will
this great struggle
do not approve
all
now
voted for everything in that
I
am
inefficiency of
who when
we did not go
who
bill
in the midst
hold back and
me
is
the best
bills.
I
we could
want
do,
and
to suggest to
far eni>ugh that they stand
sent to the penitentiary complained of the
the prosecuting attorney and said:
ought to have had
and who now advise that
said:
to-day because that
find fault because
in the attitude of the criminal
tentiarv."
bill
bill,
going to do better by voting for these separate
who
to
lot or part in this struggle further."
have no
those gentlemen
want the country
the provisions of this
Mr. Bryan, in defending his vote on that
I
I
reform are not these con-
tarifY
but the deserters are rather those gentlemen
of the fight because they
say,
and
to understand,
understand, that the deserters from the cause of
hung, but instead oi that
I
"He
has not done his duty; he
get olT with a term in the peni-
:
14
THE RULES OF THE HOUSE.
Now
a word about the rules of the House of Representatives, which
have been so much discussed by people who know so
or those
who have simply found them
little
about them
a convenient subject for mis-
representation.
We
have had these
rules since the beginning of the
substantially without change
for the past
months ago two changes were made
Government, and
twenty years,
few
until a
at the suggestion of the so-called
"insurgents," who then voted against the adoption of the modifications.
In the Fifty-first Congress, presided over by Speaker Reed, changes
were made to prevent filibustering and enable the majority to conduct
the business for which it was responsible. The Democratic minority
denounced these changes as despotic and revolutionary and succeeded
in
Reed
inflaming the country against Mr.
will of the people's representatives.
tion that the
Democrats controlled the House
to get along without
bill
some
of the features of the
made a
went further and enlarged the power
it
an^• time
authority to
and
and
sit
Reed rules which they
when they had a tariff
clean sweep of their old prejudices and took
these rules to their breasts as though they
giving
throttled the
of that agita-
in the Fifty-second
denounced, but in the Fifty-third Congress,
to enact, thev
who
In the Fifty-second Congress they had to try
Fiftv-third Congresses.
had
as a tyrant
Such was the success
They
had originated them.
of the
Committee on Rules by
during the sessions of the House and
re]«)rl at
witliout previous notice.
HRV.W FOR COMMITTEE OX RULES.
Anyone who
desires to
know what
tlie
rules should turn to the Congressional
Fifty-third Congress.
them
with voice
RuU'S ha\ing
tlie
There he
Dt'nioorats vva\\\ think of
Record
will find
for
thi.'
William
J.
first
tlu'Se
session of the
Bryan defending
and vote and especially defending the Conunittee on
right to bring in a
ruU' to sto]) lilihustrring.
lli'
de-
clari'd
W'l'
are simiilv inutiiii; ]w\\vr in
1(1 stiij)
tlic-
liaiids ut tlu' Iluiisi' to
condiuM
its
business and
flrlaw
Did yon LVir hear Mr. Hrxan ridicule
came from
a Kr])ul)lican
.•'
this idi'iuieal stalcinent
whni U
—
:
15
In that Congress Speaker Crisp
the chair to defend the rules, some-
left
thing no other Speaker ever did, and he, like Mr. Bryan, declared that
The power lodged
House a proposition
He very
in that
committee (on
for its action.
truthfully said that the
from the Committee on Rules
Bryan were
simply the power to report to the
rules) is
/
if
House could always vote down a report
a majority opposed
Both Crisp and
it.
and they simply stated an exact truth which
sincere then
had been stated many times before and has been stated many times
My
friend,
Champ
adoption of these
Clark,
rules.
was
also in that Congress
He was
and
men who have
right then, as
since.
voted for the
responsi-
placed upon them are more often manly and honest than when they
bility
have no responsibility and are tempted to play the demagogue.
the Democrats should again secure control of the House and Mr.
If
Clark should realize his ambition and be elected Speaker, he
tain
as he maintains manhood worthy such
position he occupied then
will,
as cer-
responsibility, return to the
and again become an ardent defender
of the
rules.
Edmund Burke
1
find
them
it
said
years ago
impossible to conceive that any one believes in his
any weight who
of
many
refuses to
adopt the means
of
own
policies or thinks
having them reduced into
practice.
THE FIRST INSURGENT.
The
as
rules will reinain substantially as they
we have a Congress, and
have been and are so long
the majority party, whether Republican or
Democratic, responsible to the people for legislation, will be their defenders.
The opponents
of the rules
have always been the men who did not
feel
responsibility for the transaction of the business laid before Congress.
Those who denounced them
in the past
have lived to defend them as the
wheel turned and they came into reponsibility.
Ever since history began the man
in the
minority has been seeking
some device by which he could overcome the
we have a
popular,
if
character antedating history whose
to serve in heaven.''
will of the majority,
and
not absolutely reliable, record of one celebrated
fiat
There was our
was, "Better to reign in hell than
first
pitched over the battlements of heaven.
great insurgent, and he
Since the creation of
man
was
there
have been those at work on earth to encourage insurrection against order,
which
is
heaven's
first
law.
i6
PAYNE TARIFF LAW WILL JUSTIFY
A
word
for the
in conclusion:
enactment
uncertainty,
it
ITSELF.
The country waited from March
of a tariff
bill.
August
until
During that period, on account of the
has been conservatively estimated that the loss due to
amounted
the halting of business and production
Since the enactment of the
new law production
to $10,000,000 a day.
in our
own country and
imports from foreign countries have greatly increased, and day by day
The farmers, who comprise one-third
conditions are improving.
population, are stepping high
an^ some of them are
In mine and factory as well as in transportation and
ties
for
employment are
Government are constantly
perfect
—
The Payne
increasing.
perfection resides in Deity alone
Representative Payne, of
New
commerce opportuni-
The revenues
daily growing better.
—but
I
of our
riding in automobiles.
law
tariff
of
the
is
not
agree most heartily with
York, and with the President of the
United States in his Winona speech, that the new
law
tariff
is
the best
one ever passed under Republican leadership.
Neither Bryan, Cummins, La Follette, Bristow, or their followers claim
that
in
it
can be changed during the coming four years, but they
one thing, namely, that they
additional tariff legislation,
will agitate
and as the car
of prosperity,
90,000,000 people, moves on they are seeking to hinder
criticism
and denunciation, and
too,
this,
all
agree
— and they are agitating—for
its
drawn by
progress by
within three months of
its
enactment.
The demagogue we have always with
of the people, the only
of the
pudding
is
910, after the
new
us,
to dispose of
the eating of
verdict of a prosperous
1
way
it,
and
I
am
and happy people
tariff
law has been
O
and, as ours
him
is
to
move
is
a government
on.
The proof
perfectly willing to trust the
in the elections in
in operation for
November,
over a year.
-^..-/^^^i.
v^y''^;^-'"r''gCAi
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS
lllilliillllllilllillillllilililiilllllll
013 982 429 5
LIBRARY OF
CONGRESS
013 982 429 5