The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-18
ACHIEVEMENTS 0F DEMOCRATS CAUSE REPUBLICAN, SHAME This General Confirmation Is Growing Every
 Day
EXTRA SESSION WAS
 MORE THAN A SCHEME
MT. Underwood's Congress Did Not Adjourn According to Presidents
 Plan, But Went as Far as It Could
ny WALTER HARPER

Washington, September 11.-Special ! About one month has elapsed since the closing of the special session of Congress The newspapers the maga- zines and the people are still discuss ing with unabating energy the work ana results of the session. A summing up Of all. epublican demo- cratic, insurgent and. independent, lead to one general conclusion. That the democrats stand justified and strength ened before the people while the repub- licans are weakened. discredited.
 Every day seems to add to this gen sral confirmation. '''''''
 The support that is being offered President Taft and his obstructive methods is weak and uncertain. The republican. press seems to have lost heart. One of the rankest republi- can papers In the country published here in lWashington in a moment of righteous disgust following the speech of President Taft at Hamilton, Mass. in which tine President lambasted the insurgent republicans, exclaimed that MT. Taft has made another serious mistake" There was no concealment of the fact that leading standpat re- publicans are often mortified in these days of democratic successes and presidential stubbornness.
 But the thing that seems to be sink : ing deeper and deeper into the hearts and minds. of. the American people and the American press is the facts of tar If legislation during the past three years. The facts are not obscured. or distorted. They are easily recogniza ble by the most casual student of public events. They are so plain that the average citizen may not be misled.
 Let us review this history briefly. It is moi without lasting interest, ana win be a subject of much public dis cussion for the. next twelve months.
 William Howard Taft was elected Pres tcenf Of the United States in 1908 oI, the rle.Ise to- give tl,es cnunuy q proper revision of the tariff. The voters nn- dtrstood and it was promised that the revision would be downward. President Taft, immediately after his Inauguration, called special session of Congress for this express purpose. This special ses- sion convened March 15. 1sO9 and con tinued in session to August 5. e
 The result was the Payne Aldrich law. MT. Taft did not put one-tenth the in- terest and energy in the alleged work or revision during that session as he did in the recent extra session In trying to force through his Canadian reciprocity measure, which Is only a small item of tariff revision If he had taken moro in teTest then the country might have been saved from the infsmy of the Payne law
 The President was then in position to carry into effect all the promises he and bis party had made to the people. The republicans were in full control of both the legislative and executive branches of the government. Then was the time for veto messages. tEs
 ,B But. the President indorsed the tariff work of his special tarf session. He declared that the Payne Aldrieh law was the best tariff law ever. devised. He afterwards srepudiated this, however, in the declaration that the wooden schedule of that law was 'indefensible.''
 , It must be remembered in passing hero that the only opposition in the republican party to the deceptive programmeo of these republicans who chose to make sport of their promises 10 the people were those republicans who received the contempt of their party and are called insurgents. They had heard the voice of the people. They waited to be honest and tried to give the people what they had demanded s-real revision downward.
 But the people rendered judgment in the elections .oi the fell of 1910. They had been promised revision by the re- publican party. They had given that par ty full power to give them what they wanted. That party had deceived them. The democrats swept the country. The only clement of the republican party that fared at all well fin those congressional elections of 1910 were those same insur- gents who had tried to heed the demands of the people.
 President Taft and his stand pat fol- lowers made special efforts to secure the defeat of the insurgents. But the people needed not the interference of those Eho had deceived them. A st
 So the new congress that was commits sioned by the people to legislate for. the country after March of this year was larsply democratic in the house. The democrats were able to control the Senate with the atd of those insurgent republ.- cans who we're still desirous of carrying out the will and demands of the people for real tariff revision.
 .. President Taft called special session to, meet April of this year for one spa- eific purpose He had failed to secure the passase of the proposed Canadian re- | ~'Ps SS'~S ~Ss -~-sANsAS VIII HE JTRuuhSNis congress. The new lcongress would be demQcretic and he he'd hopes that his pet measure could be put over with demo- cratic hslp. He had good reason for such hope. The, democrats were not only pledged to every tariff reiief they conld secure but were honest and sincere in this policy. Canadian reciprocity was n long step in the revision of the tariff-it was surprisingly long step for repubii- can president to take, especially for Mir. Taft The democrats were willing 10 ac- eept, this bill from MT. Taft and put ir through as they did. They were not play ink politics They wanted real revision. They, did not care 50 much from when .e the suggestion and the help came So it was that MT. Underwood chairman of the ways and means committee lost no time In havihg the bill reported favorably 10 Che houAe and 1t wes passed under his leadership. It was put through the Sen ate but with some difficulty and went to the President.
 That was all the President wanted. He rot it.. And though it was one of the most radical acts of tArif revision tha. i, hog ever been suggested or attempted, tht 1SSdatfve dld not hesitate to sign jit He, asked no questions about the sta
 scoNTfNUHD oN FACE p