The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-04-25
(Ry FREDERIC j. HASkIN.)

(Ry FREDERIC J.. HASkIN.)
Washington, D. c., April IL
In the new. Democratic House Of
Representatives the position of chalr-
man Of the Ways and Means Commit
tee has been invested With all the
power that it even botn
with respect to tariff legislation and
to parliamentary procedure, and then
q great deal more.
Oscar Wilder Underwood, of Ala
bama. chairman of the Ways II
Means Comm ittee. is the captain of
the Democratic majority in the House.
Speaker Clark yet is the leader Of his
party. and he Will continue to exer-
Use a considerable degree OF power,
but nothing comparable to that
welded by Speakers Cannon, Hender-
SON.. Crisp and Reed.
IN response to what they conceived
to be the public demand, the Demo
Gratis in caucus took away from the
Speaker the power to appoint the
committees of the House. The caucus
then selected the Democratic mem
bers Of The Ways and Means Commit
tee and them to nominate
men to serve on all the other COM
mittees Of the House. to determ ne
upon a tentative legislative program,
and to draw up such tariff bills as it
might deem necessary to carry out
the Democratic promises 20 revise the
tariff downward.
BY common consent Mr.. Underwood
was made chairman Of this now all
important committee. Mr.. Under
wood was born n Louisville, Ky, in
1852, and is therefore f~orty-nine years
old, two years older than was McKin-
ley when he introduced his famous
tariff bill. and two yea1s. OUNCE than
Wilson when he became the author
OF the last Democratic tariff measure.
Grandfather Colse to Clay.
Mr.. Underwood is the grandson Of
Joseph r. Underwood. who was a
member of the House from 1885 to
1843. and of the Senate from 1S47
to 1853, representing Kentucky. Sen
ator Underwood was a Whig, and the
close political friend and associate
Of the great Henry Clay. AS a Clay
Wing he was, naturally, an adherent
Of the protective principle, although
as he came into public life Just after
the passage of the compromise tariff
Of 1888, and as he retired before the
recurrence Of the protective agitation,
he never was actively identified with
prOtectiOnistic legislation.
But Oscar Underwood makes il
clear that he does not inheri his
grandfather's Whiggery. He was ed
ucated at the University Of Virginia,
n as he himself says: The Uni
fersity gave me something better than
the classics. Founded by Thomas JET
f~erson, the institution has chung to
the spirit he infused into it. teaching
his principles even unto this day.
Democracy was n on this teach
ing. l acquired my Democracy from
it and / never have departed from
the faith Of the creed Of Jefferson
taught me there"
His Sentry Into Congress.
After his graduation in 1884 AR.
Underwood went to Birmingham. Ala.
attracted by the glowing accounts of
the new iron city furnished BY his
elder brother, then established there
In the iron business. Oscar Under.
wood began the practice. of law in his
dOpte home and was successful
from the beginning. In 1894 he was
elected to Congress, winning a terrific
fight on the issue Of the tariff. Biz
mingham then was sharing in tho
general industrial depression of the
country. its boom had long ago coll
lapSed, and its business was ~stagnat
ed. Beng an iron and steel center
II was urged that it was suicidal ia
remain attached to the D~eH1aeratic
party merely because Alabama was q
southern state, and that Birmingham
ought to send to Congress a Drotee-
tfon st and a Republican.
Mr.. Underwood took the Democrat
&c nomination. on a tariff for revenue
only plank. he placed himself square
on n Cleveland tariff Platform,
and fought the campaign to q s,c-
cessful issue. Since that time he has
had practically no oppositiar ana bss