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The Commoner.
SEPTEMBER 3, 1909
3
for serious crimes or for grave neglect of official
duty and that in every case the accused senator
was either found guilty or at least failed to
clear himself thoroughly of the charges, there
certainly Is sufficient Indication of the low stand
ard in the senate to warrant the inquiry whether
the process by which tho senate is constituted
is such as is calculated to select men of great
ability and high moral character.
"The American senator of today," says Pro
fessor Maxey, "does not feel his responsibility
to the people of the state to the extent he would
if elected by the people. If a senator is un
scrupulous it is a matter of indifference to him
what the people think of him so" long as he can
retain his hold upon their legislature. It is a
fundamental principle of representative govern
ment that power should be coupled with respon
sibility. While this in theory holds with refer
ence to our United States senators as a matter
of fact responsibility becomes considerably at
tenuated when the body to whom one is respon
sible is not a permanent body and this is tho
case with our state legislatures few members
continue in office for more than six years, so
that a senator may disregard the wishes of his
state legislature with comparative impunity. Not
so when tho responsibility is to the people; they
are a relatively permanent body and the same
constituency which elected him once will have
an opportunity to elect or defeat him again."
The personnel of the state legislature, as stat
ed by the learned author, 's continually chang
ing and few members are called upon to vote
for tho same man at succeeding senatorial. elec
tions. The percentage Ts so small in some cases
that I deem It Important to submit as evidence.
In 1895 the legislature of Massachusetts which
elected George Prlsble Hoar to the United States
senate contained 280 men, out of which number
only seven survived to re-elect him in 1901,
while the 148 members of the legislature of In
diana in 1897 contained 142 new members in
1903.
The proposed system would take away one
incentive for the legislative gerrymandering of
Btates and the evils of the present method, which
tend to the introduction of national affairs into'
etate politics and lead to the election of members
of the state legislatures on national instead of
local issues, would be diminished.
Popular election of senators means minimiz
ing the power of state and federal. bosses. 'At
the present time the state boss In control of the
legislature, can easily dictate the election of the
senator. Under the proposed law, it will be
much more difficult for him to handle all the
people than it would be to control a few mem
bers of the legislature in whose election he has
been perniciously instrumental. Money can be
used to better advantage in lobbying a legisla
ture than in buying an election where money
must needs be distributed over a' larger surface
and the safeguards against corruption are more
numerous.
(Continued on Page 10)
"rov
EVERYTHING AIjL RIGHT"
'- Washington, August 10. Twenty ' minutes
after the tariff bill had passed the senate a
telegram signed "Nelson W. Aldrich," and ad
'dressed "J. Pierpont Morgan, on board yacht
Corsair," left the capital. It read:
"Bill passed this afternoon. Everything all
right. Following republicans voted against bill:
Beveridge, Clapp, Cummins, Bristow, Dolliver,
LaFollette, Nelson."
The telegram and the fact that such a tele
gram was sent tell their own story.
While this telegram was going over the wires
Senator LaFollette was saying to the senate:
"Between now and fall I shall Bpeak many
times on this tariff bill to the people."
Aldrich reports to his constituent on board
the private -yacht Corsair. Gilson Gardner's
dispatch, to Grand Rapids, Mich., Evening Press.
CAN NOT UNLOAD
The Washington correspondent for the Phila
delphia North American says that Mr. Taft must
break with Mr. Aldrich if he would carry out
republican party policies, but this correspondent
forgets that Mr. Aldrich makes republican party
policies, in fact Mr. Aldrich is the real party
leader as shown in the procedings of the extra
session of congress. Evidently Mr. Taft recog
nizes this, and it is an open secret that Mr. Aid
rich is to have his way in the revision of mone
tary laws just as he had his way in tariff, revision.
EDUCATIONAL SERIES
"CANNONISM" AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
The following open letter was addressed to
Speaker Cannon by Representative Charles N.
Fowler .of New Jersey, former chairman of tho
house committee on banking and currency:
Elizabeth, N. J., August 23, 1909. Hon.
Joseph G. Cannon, Danvillo, 111. My DeaT Sir:
During tho last two or three months I have ob
served from time to tlmo in tho press of tho
country certain nowB items disparaging my abil
ity in certain directions which I havo ovcry rea
son to believe havo emanated from you.
I desired the chairmanship of tho banking
and currency committee and have used all self
respecting and honorable means to retain it,
simply because It would enable mo to advance
right thought and possibly prevent tho passage
of bad legislation. However, chairmanships do
not make men, but men make chairmanships. It
was therefore wholly immaterial to mo person
ally whether you appointed me to tho chairman-
ship or another.
Tho fact, then, has T)een fairly established
that you knew that I would get agreements, but
what you wore afraid of was that those agree
ments would not servo your purpose.
Now, what has been your record for tho last
thirty-six years upon tho financial and currency
question that you should assume to dictato
the legislation of the United States upon this
all important question?
Upon tho 14th of April, 1874, you voted for
a bill which is described by John Sherman in
these words: "It provided for an expansion of
the irredeemable currency." When this bill
passed both houses, President Grant vetoed it.
It was tho so-called "greenback bill."
January 17, 1875, the act for tho resumption
of specie payments passed by tho republican
house by a vote of 13 G to 98, but you did not
vote for It.
On October 29, 1877, you Introduced a bill,
"To repeal the time clause of tho resumption
act."
On November 16, 1877, you made a speech
declaring that it was as much repudiation to
pay in gold alone as In irredeemable paper. You
had much to say about "gold repudiatlonists."
On November 23,1877, you voted for a bill
to repeal all that part of the resumption act
which authorized the secretary of tho treasury
to dispose of United States bonds and cancel
greenbacks.'
On November 5, you voted for a bill for tho
remonetization of silver (Bland bill) and on
February 28 voted to pass it over the veto of
President Hayes.
On August 28, 1893, you voted against tho
repeal of tho silver purchase act, and voted
against it, as amended in the senate, on Novem
ber 1, 1893.
Now, I desire to recur to the bill to which I
havo already alluded as having been prepared
by the fifteen bankers, who were appointed by
my urgent request, and by myself, In the fall
of 1906. After that bill had been reported by
the banking and currency committee to the
house, I went to you, as was necessary, disgrace
ful as the necessity may seem, under the cir
cumstances, to ask consideration, telling you
we were then facing a financial crisis, and that
something should be done to meet it, and that
this bill had been drawn for that specific
purpose.
You literally hooted the idea of a panic, and
Inquired: "What in h dobs this howling in
Wall Street amount to? The country don't care
what happens to those d speculators. Every
thing is all right out west and around Danville.
The country don't need any legislation. Then,
I don't take any stock in your d d asst cur
rency." As usual, your igrorance and prejudice
were all sufficient then.
But the panic came, as every man who had
any Intelligence upon this subject knew it would.
Now, sir, mark this the bill prepared by
these representative bankers, which met only
with your sneers and contempt, and known as
the "bankers' bill," provided for about $250,
000,000 of credit currency, called in that bill
"national bank guaranteed credit notes."
If that bill had been upon the statute books
when the pressure came, there would have been
no general suspension of lanks throughout the
country, no general breaking down of the ex
changes, as all tho banks could havo moro thaa
mot tho demand for curroncy.
Again, sir, when I became chairman of the
banking and curroncy committee of tho sixtloth
congress I advertised broadly that tho banking
and currency commlttoo would hear nnyone
who wanted to bo heard; and, upon closing these
general hearings, I caused to bo sent out special
Invitations to many of tho leading banking
economists, bankers and promlnont merchants
of tho country to come boforo uo and give their
views. Having closed these special hoarlngs,
our committeo proceeded td prepare legislation
upon all the best Information wo could get and
reported to the house what Is now commonly
known as tho "Fowler bill."
I appealod to you, as was necessary, for the
privilege of bringing tho bill up before tho house
for discussion, only to rccoivo your contemptu
ous refusal, with tho added information: "You
will got tho Aldrich bill or nothing."
This is your record upon our financial and
currency legislation. I challenge you to find
a single living man with so rotten a ono. " It Is
a record of ignorance or political cowardico, or
a disgraceful hybrid of tho two. And yet, sir,
you assume to dictate tho financial and curroncy
legislation of a civilized country.
It vas in contemplating tho unmeasured losses
and terrific consequences to my country, result
ing from tho crisis of 1907, because of your
Ignorance, prejudice and absolutely unchal
lenged powor aB speaker of tho house of repre
sentatives that I resolved, that so far as In mo'
lay, never again should such a financial tragedy
fall upon tho American people becauso tho
speaker of the house of representatives abso
lutely controlled legislation.
Therefore I announced myself as a candidate
for speaker at tho beginning of the sixty-first
congress, but with only ono thought, and that
was to accentuate the platform upon which I
stood, that all political powor shall be tnkoa
away from tho spenkor and that ho bo only a
presiding officer, Just ns tho speaker of tho house
of commons is.
Do you suppose, sir, that I did not appreciate
fully tho probablo consequence of my act when
I undertook to play my part in securing thin
reform? Do you suppose that I was not aware
of your ignorance, prejudice, Inordinate conceit,
favoritism, putrid preferences, and that like
all such characters possessing absolute power,
malice is tho mainspring of your every action
under such circumstances? Do not forget that
I choso my course in plain sight of your politi
cal guillotine and the political carcasses of thoso
you had decapitated; but that it had no terrors
for me.
To the membership of the house and to tho
whole country It Is well known, notwithstanding
your false pretenses to the contrary, that you
were not acting from a sense of duty, nor be
cause I could not secure committee agreements,
but because you revel in a glut of brutal power
like Nero to terrorize your subjects.
Now, It eeems from all that can be learned
with reference to the conference upon the Payne
bill, that you, with ev.ery member's political
head in your basket of favors, shuttle-cocked
through the "halls" of congress, trying to se
cure the passage, generally speaking, of the Aid
rich bill; and disfiguring so far as you could
the Payne bill, with the exception of a few
schedules.
It is reported that ono of the senate con
ferees said that you would not appoint a single
conferee unless Mr. Aldrich O. K.'d and ap
proved him.
In other words, did you not enter" Into a con
spiracy with Mr. Aldrich to pack the conferees
on the part of tho house for the express pur
pose of adopting the senate bill so far as pos
sible instead of tho house bill with a few ex
ceptions, when you were honor bound to do
everything in your power to secure the adoption
of tho house bill?
I have gone Into these details to lay bare
your miserable, contemptible, false pretense
and to expose your'duplicity, treachery and per
fidy to that legislative body over which you pre
side, whose bill you were bound to defend and
not destroy.
Taking all the facts as they appear In tho
case, from start to finish, a lawyer, an intelligent
