The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1910-09-30

of Massachusetts is chairman and
Humphrey is the ranking member
Hearings were held in the committee /
and these hearings developed that /
while a majority of the committee were
in favor OF the bill, the chairman and |
Humphrey were opposed to it. The use |
of diplomacy was necessary to pre-
vent the bill being reported to the
House for passage. Accordingly, Chair
man Greene got authority to refer the
bill to a subcommittee ostensibly for
the purpose of further investigation
with the view OF perfecting the bill in
minor details Then he appointed as
majority members of the subcommittee
himself, and Humphrey and Fairchild
of New York.
In May, on the motion of Spight
author of the bill and ranking minority
member on the committee the commit
tee directed the subcommittee to report
the bill back within two weeks. Which
order the subcommittee ignored When
1t became apparent that the subcom
mittee had no intention of reporting
the bill, Spight re introduced his bill,
slightly modified, in the House, hop
ing to get action on it by the full com
mittee, but Greene and Humphrey were
on guard System Interests must be
protected. To prevent action upon this
bill, the House Committee on Merchant
Marine and Fisheries shut up shop and
went out of business for the rest of the
session!
TO the appeal of President Furuseth
of the Seamen's Union of America that
the bill be acted upon in the committee
and reported to the House, either ia
vorably or adversely, that the House
might act upon it according to the will
Of the majority it was Humphrey who
answered: Never as long as | can nelp
it; let there be no misunderstanding
about that
Humphreys service to the shipping
interests in suppressing this measure
in the committee on Merchant Marine
was no less faithful, though less spec
tacular than his service in securing the
report of the Humphrey ship subsidy
bill from the same committee after
only two minutes consideration.
Voted the System Program.
"Ihe System is the mobilization of
the Special Interests. In business it
is the Shipping Interest, the Railroad
Interest, the Standard Oil Interest, the
Iron and Steel Interest, the Textile In
terest, the Sugar Interest, the Smelt-
ing Interest, the Lumber Interest. the
Coal Interest, the Water Power Inter
est, and all the other Inteles that to
gether make up federated Big Business,
bound and riveted together by inter
corporate ownership and community of
interest and control. In politics, it is
the representation of all these Interests.
organized in q common cause and ce-
mented together by the cohesive force
of public plumber. In politics, the Sys-
TEN uses its money to make states
men, and uses its statesmen to make
money. Politics for profit ~ tic slo-
gan of the System and System Inter
ests. DO you wish to invest in a Sena
tory wrote Sibley to Standard Oil.
so when a Congressman is repre-
sentative for an Interest, he becomes.
by exchange of urtesies-through the
log-rolling that obtains in legislation,
through the influence of organization
representative for all the Interests, for
the System. Thus, while Humphrey
is primarily the champion of subsidies
for the Shipping Interest, he is second
arily, but no less faithfully, the cham
pion OF all the interests and adherent
to the Cannon System organization of
the House. The Record shows him
throughout his congressional service,
when not giving himself entirely to his
speciality Of shipping subsidies, voting
generally the System program, His
record shows him an ardent Regular,
of the Cannon machine.
In the beginning we find him vot-
! ing to rebuke Bristow for his dsclos
ures of corruption in the postoffice de
partment, because those disclosures in
cidentally touched System congress
men; voting to abolish the Civil Service
Commission and for the restoration of
the spoils system, because the System
and the System 'statemen' are for
spoils; voting for the Congressional
mileage grab of the 5Sth Congress, on
the System theory that 1t is all right
to dip into the public treasury if you
can do it under forms of law; voting
in the 59th Congress for the incor-
poration of the Lake Erie and Ohio
River Ship Canal Company with an au-
thorized capitalization of 100000 per
mile, because it was desired by a pow
erful System Interest in Pennsylvania;
voting against a small appropriation
for a government gun foundry to afford.
the public some protection against the
eXtortions of the Steel Trust; voting
to increase by millions the free deposits
of peoples money in the great System
banks, to be loaned out by them for
their own profit at Wall Street rates