The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1912-09-14

2
| income tax amendment to the Aldrich
tariff bill. The attempt promised to
| succeed. There was hurried getting
together of Senator Aldrich and Presi-
dent Taft, with the result that the
| Aldrich machine brought forward a
corporation tax as a substitute !or
frankly admitted, II shall vote Cor
| corporation tax as means to de-
| feat the income tax" This corpora
ton tax was meant to be innocuous
and has proven to be futile. Nelson
voted for the Aldrich motion to sub
stitute the corporation tax for an in
| come tax.
Nelson's Service to Morganheims.
! Circumstances so shaped themselves
that Nelson and his ideas of conserva-
! ton were brought conspicuously into
the limelight. That was when he was
| selected by the Old Guard to serve as
chairman of the committee charged
with the duty of. investigating the
Balllnger scandal In this capacity he
served the interests WE'LL His acts as
chairman of that committee were
such as to give aid and scomfort to
the land grabbers, the coal and timber
barons, the Morgan-Guggenhei syn
dictate. They were such as to shield
the Taft administration from the ex-
! posure Of the glazing truth and to
cloak with secrecy the secret and
! subtle services Of Ballinger to the
Morganheims
Repeatedly Nelson put obstacles in
the way Of the brilliant ATTORNEY
| Brandeis, who succeeded, despite the
! protests and obstructive tactics of Nell
| son and his reactionary colleagues,
I in dragging into the light of day the
! chain of perfidy through which the
| Morganheims had almost succeeded in
Stacking for their private evploita-
| ton the fabulous natural wealth of
| Alaska.
Indeed Nelson did not even stop
Tense Of Ballinger. He voted with
Flint, Sutherland and Root to deny
Mr.. Brandeis' request that the original
draft Of the Wickersham report to
Taft, and all documents used in pre-
pairing it, be produced-which report,
as was later disclosed, was ante-dated
to deceive congress and the public.
And when Ballinger's attorney de-
family demanded, what Of it; if it
were ante-dated; what has that to do
with Ballinger?" Nelson came to the
rescue by suggesting, wouldn't that
be violating condolences between the
president and the attorney general?"
On another occasion, when Aattor-
ney Brandeis was drawing out Of a
witness testimony concerning the
sending Of certain letter, Nelson
turned to Brandeis and sternly said,
There is evidence that it (the 4et-
teri never was sent. You knew that.
Now, why did you not tell the COM
mittee?" To which Mr.. Brandeis re-
piled with spirit, II did not know it.
l do not know it now" But Nelson
persisted in his attack. He said, THAT
is Mr.. CLAWS testimony. Why did
you conceal that fact when you offered
that?" Whereupon Mr.. Brandeis, his
face blazing with indignation, said,
mr.. Chairman, I object strenuously
to any such suggestion as that, that
I concealed anything from this COM
mittee; think that statement Is
absolutely improper and ought to be
withdrawn" ..,, 49,.
Representative Graham said: II
think it ought to be withdrawn" and
he moved that the committee request
the chairman to withdraw it. Repre-
sentative James seconded the motion.
But the motion was tabled"
So marked were Nelson's symptoms
of peevishness at the persistency with
which Brandeis attempted to wiring
out the whole truth concerning The
activities Of Ballinger that on May
II, 1910, great organization of Nell
sons constftuents-the Minnesota
Shippers and Receivers association
adopted ringing resolutions criticising
the conduct of the investigation by
the chairman and the majority of the
committee and vigorously requesting
of the committee that hereafter no
attempt be made to conceal any testi-
money, but that full and fair ex.
position of all the facts be made so
that full justice can be DONE"
Nelson's whole record on the con-
servation of national resources is in
hearty accord with that of his dis
tinguished constituent, James J. Hill.
Serving the Money Trust.
By 1908 the money trust had come
into being. One thing was needdd
to make it secure and unassaila 5le
1t was to secure from congress a
monetary system to place Wall street
in supreme command of the credit
and currency Of the nation. The great
speculative bankers were bent upon
taking over, with the aid of their
henchmen in congress, this cital func-
ton of government. Aldrich in the
senate, and Cannon in the house, set
about to do the bidding of Wall
street. This scheme is known to he
country as the Aldrich Vreeland en-
Urgency currency act. This measure
was carefully designed to pave the
way to the Aldrich monetary COM
mission and to the subsequent. Aldrich
currency scheme, upon which congress
will soon be called to act. Senator
La Toilette, in his Autobiography,
said of this bill. I'm some ways no
bill ever introduced in congress was