Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-04-06


Some seventeen years ago a young man
appeared on the stump at Birmingham.
Ala, and let loose this whoop, Tariff for
revenue only" The cry caught the
crowd Of factory hands as well as farm
ers in that vicinity and landed the crior,
Oscar W. Underwood, in congress. In
every. congressional campaign since then
Tariff for revenue only with modifica-
tions and amendments, has been Oscars
staff of political life Now that he heads
the ways and means committee Of the
house of representatives, which will draft
the tariff measures promised by the dem
Ocratic caucus, some facts about the man
and his characteristics possess immediate
interest A writer in Human Life pro-
nounces the new tariff king a mathemst-
ical marvel.
a practicing lawyer. he Is chiefly strong
on figures and numbers lie can write
rings around Euclid make Hypsicles look
like an isoscees triangle with one side
kicked down the back stairs, back Erstos-
themes into the primer class on algebra,
and convey the impression that Archimedes
was the crooked hypothenuse OF right
angle triangle.
Ever since that grand old year 1894 when
Mr.. Underwood Haunted his democratic
! belief IN the face Of the trusts and mon
opolies of Birmingham, there have been
many people who said that he was a high
protectonist because he represented
| manufacturing district He does represent
manufacturing district Anybody who
thinks he does not is horribly mistaken. In
the territory which sends the Hon. oscar
/ to congress every two years with an
| increased majority. there are nine rail-
roads, 14S miles Of street car tracks. Sl5,-
/ co., 600 Of invested industries an annual pig
iron output of 100000 tons, a production
of 100000 tons Of coal The city of Birm-
| ingham has an annual payroll of $4,000, 600
! The Tennessee Coal and Iron company
| which Is PECULIARLY and accurately believed
| to be a part of the steel trust, controls
| One-thrd of all the products of the district;
and one-third Of all the iron ore holdings
OF the steel trust are in and around Birm-
mgham.
When the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill was
! up for vote in the house, Birminghams
! Commercial club, which is crowded con
| TESTED and conglomerated with a lot of
millonaires, easy chairs and thick carpets
! telegraphed TO Underwood to oppose the
reduction OF a duty of 81 a ton on pig iron
brought into this country. To the demo
cratic soul Of Underwood this message
! was like sacrilege Calling in his most
expert stenographer, he dictated, in reply
to the message, a telegram that made is @
/ wires squirm and sizzle, as it pointed out
in striking and stentorian tones that the
| n
lieved It should be reduced Then, Just to
show that he was on the job, he voted for
duty of $3.50 ton The new tariff king
is not a free trader, but he likes a tariff
! measure along the lines of the Walker
bill Of 1916, which he describes as having
been "a distinctive democratic bill" All
his efforts are bent on framing as rapidly
as possible bill which will bring in the
| most revenue possible without unduly or
| unfairly protecting Industries and corpora
| tons. 1t is safe to say that at this time
! he is the busiest man i'm public life for
| with all his knowledge on figures and
mathematics and schedules. he is up
against a tough proposition. The friends
! of the late Senator Dolliver believe that
his death was due to the tremendous
amount of work he put into his study Of
the cotton schedule, and Underwood Is con-
fronted with the volumnous job of finding
out all about not only the cotton but every
schedule touched by the tariff law
| Underwood when he has no overcoat on
! looks like fairly prosperous business man
from Connecticut. but, when he strides
forth into the wintry air Of Washington in
December, exhibiting himself muffIed up
in heavy coat with a large fur collar
he looks like an actor just in from the
! gasoline circuit. On the floor OF the house
he is clear concise and forcefu speaker
| Making no pretentions to being an orator
| he at all times drives home the point of
| his remarks in simple and effective Ian.
guage. Among his democratic colleagues
he is admitted to be their greatest author
! ity on all tariff matters-everybody know
ing that as was pointed out in the begin
| ming Of this article, he has Archimedes
| and Hypsicles faded to the nth power on
figures, as they touch all things brought
! through the custom houses he is a fine
adding machine a mathematical macerator
and multiplied marvel.
| He has two recreations one being his
| love of work, the other an enthusiastic
but not very expert playing Of golf. He
never has time for the game in Washing
ton but in Birmingham he escapes from
| the smoke and uproar Of the factories TO
| the country club and runs nimbly around
! the links. He has devoted so much time
| to his legislative and political work that
he no longer makes a pretense of prac.
ticing law All he does is to pull off each
month his chunk Of the governments pay
/ roll and spend the income from a little
money he saved up before he landed in