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The Commoner.
Inauguration of Democratic President
and Vice-President
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THE NKW CABINET
The now cabinet was announced as
0 follows: '
Secrojnry of state William Jennings
Bryan, Nebraska.
TreasuryWilliam G. McAdoo, New
York.
War Lindlcy M. Garrison, New Jer-
soy.
Attorney general James McReynolds,
0 Tennessee.
Postmaster general Representative
0 Albert Burleson, Texas. 0
Navy Josephus Daniels, North Caro-
0 linn.
0 Interior Franklin M. Lane, Califor-
0 nia. 0
0 Agriculture David R. Hueston, Mis-
0 souri. 0
Commerce Representative W. M. C.
0 Rodlleld, New York. '
Labor Representative William B.
0 Wilson, Pennsylvania.
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Woodrow WilBon becamo president of tho
United States and Thomas R. Marshall becamo
vlco president March 4th. President Taft and
President-elect Wilson left tho White Houso
for tho capitol shortly after 10 o'clock in the
morning. In tho carriage with them was Sena
tor Crane of Massachusetts and Senator Bacon
of Georgia. Vico President-elect Marshall, ac
companied by several niombors of congress held
a seat in tho carriage following. Tho party went
to tho senate chamber where at tho request of
Mr. Wilson prospective members of his cabi
net wore given seats on tho floor. Mrs. Wilson
and Mrs. Marshall occupied seats in the gallery.
Chief Justice Whlto administered tho oath of
ofllco to Mr. Marshall after which tho new vico
president dolivorcd his address which will bo
found on pago 14 of this issue.
Then began the procession from tho senate
wiug of tho capitol building to tho groat amphi
thoatro at the east front of tho capitol. Chief
Justico White, accompanied by other members
of tho supremo court first entered tho stand.
Prosident Taft and President-elect Wilson next
appeared. Tho great crowd cheered and tho
stand rapidly filled with tho members of tho
now cabinet, members of the Wilson and Mar
shall families and distinguished members of
congress. Following is an extract from tho
Associated Press report:
Promptly at 1:35, when Chief Justico Whito
toso to administer tho oath and Woodrow Wil
boii stood with right hand upraised to heaven,
the moat human touch in the picture of the day
assorted itself. Tho first lady of the land could
not see well from her seat. As spryly as a
school girl Mrs. Wilson moved her chair to tho
side of tho rostrum and climbed upon it with
tho assistance of Lieutenant Rogers, the presi
dent's naval aide. Grasping the railing she
stood there gazing at tho president as he kissed
the Biblo and sho remained standing until fiis
address was concluded. Tho Misses Margaret
and Eleanor joined her, but Miss Jessie re
mained sitting throughout the address.
When tho new president swore to uphold and
defond tho constitution ho stooped and kissed
the open Bible, held in tho hands of James B
Maher, deputy clerk of tho supreme court. His
lips touched tho page, turned to at random and
.fell upon tho 119th psalm, 43d and 48th verses
inclusive. Tho verses, beginning with the
forty-first, aro these:
"Let thy mercies come also unto men, O Lord,
even Thy salvation, according to Thy word
"So shall I have herewith to answer him that
reproacheth mo for I trust in Thy word.
"And take not tho word of truth utterly out
of my mouth for I have helped in Thy judg
ments. "So shall I keep Thy law continually forever
and ever.
"And I will walk at liberty, for I seek Thv
prophets.
"I will speak Thy testimonies also before
kings and will not be ashamed.
"And I will delight myself in Thy command
ments which I have loved.
"My hands also will I lift up unto Thy com
mandments, which I have loved; and I will
meditato in Thy statutes."
Throughout his address President Wilson was
cheered frequently by the people immediately
in front of the stand who could hear him. They
wero permitted to crowd in the space cleared
just before he began his speech. The applause
was particularly emphatic when President Wil
son declared:
"Tho scales of heedlessness have fallen from
our eyes. We have made up our minds to square
every process of our national life again with the
standards so proudly set up at the beginning
and have always carried at our hearts. Our
work is a work of restoration."
The seats immediately behind the president,
vice president and their families were occupied
by many people who are to bo conspicuous in the
new administration. William J. Bryan, the
new secretary of state, and Mrs. Bryan were in
the center of the new cabinet group.
While the president's concluding inaugural
words wero tossed in tumultous waves of ap
plause, the retiring prosident clapped his hands
and enlisted as a patriotic servant in the ranks
of private citizenship.
"Mr. President," said Mr. Taft, his face beam
ing with a broadening smile, "I wish you a
successful administration and the carrying out
of your aims. We all will be behind you."
"Thank you," said President Wilson, and he
turned to shake the hand of his secretary of
state, William Jennings Bryan. There they
stood, Taft, standard bearer of a vanquished
party after sixteen years of power; Bryan, per
sistent plodder of progressive democracy, thrice
defeated, accepting a commission from a new
chieftain, and Wilson, tho man of the hour,
victorious, mustering, as he expressed it, "not
tho forces of party but the forces of humanity."
It was a political picture far beyond imagin
ings of a few years gone by, a setting that
stirred the souls of the assembled hosts, whose
cheering at the scene seemed actually to re
verberate from the distant Virginia hills.
After the parade Mr. Wilson was escorted
back from the reviewing stand to the White
House by military and naval aides. It was the
first touch of the military in his new home.
Mr. Wilson rested for an hour and dressed
for the dinner at a nearby hotel given him by
the class of 1879 at Princeton of which he was
a member.
One of the last official acts of President Taft
waB to approve tho bill creating the cabinet
office of Secretary of Labor. A pretty incident
is told in an Associated Press dispatch from
Columbia, S. C, as follows:
"As a tribute to President Woodrow Wilson
tho graves of his father and mother in a ceme
tery hero were covered with flowers today by
the ladies' church society."
A dramatic scene enacted as President-elect
Wilson arrived at the White House to join
Pros dent Taft in the journey to the capitol
building is described by the United Press cor
respondent in this way:
"The Princeton students, marching in, formed
in a big section directly in front of the portico
arriving just as Wilson was stepping out of his
carriage A cheer leader, with an orange and
black baton stepped to the front of the massed
Cr07i ' Jellow students. He raised hte arms
n? n m ere b)r8t forth tue thrilling strains
of "Old Nassau." Wilson had not seen the
preparations for this but as the first strain of
the old Princeton anthem came to his ears he
&VUlly' He doffed his hat' CS his
heels together and with Colonel Crosby and
Lieutenant Commander Timmins, Taft's miH.
tary and naval aides flanked on either side stood
ioUan hi" 830me aS th0Ugh tears almost
welled up in his eyeshis face was transfteuren
thoniotion. When the chorus had died awav
he lifted his silk hat waved it to the boys and
then turned into the White House."
Referring to the proceedings of the earlv
morning the United Press report says: y
William Jennings Bryan called today with
William McCombs, to see Mr. Wilson t
president-elect greeted both with a hearty wel
(Continued on Page 14.)
VOLUME 13, NUMBER
THE CUMMINS REPORT
Speaking through Senator Cummins, tho
inter-state commerce committee of the senate
has nfade the report attacking the "rule of
reason" decision of the United States supreme
court affecting the Sherman anti-trust law. Tho
Cummins report is described by the Nashville
Tennessean in this way:
"This criticism of the court's position in this
matter follows closely the character of criticism
indulged in by Justice Harlan, who, in a
minority opinion, widely differed from the ma
jorityi holding that the "rule of reason" as
applied by his -associates on the bench was
judicial legislation pure and simple.
"The ablest and at the same time the severest
critic the 'rule of reason' decision has yet had
was the great jurist and statesman, Justice Har
lan, who was himself a member of the court
which had rendered the remarkable decree, and
now a committee of senators, in a thoughtful
and matured report, point to the dangers of
uncontrolled and unguided judicial discretion,
making emphatic demands for amendments to
the Sherman law to remove from the courts the
power to determine what are "reasonable"
restraints of trade.
"In commenting upon the decision of the
court in the. Standard Oil case, in which the
'rule of reason was applied, this report says
the committee 'is unwilling to depose in that
court or any other court the vast and undefined
powers which it must exercise in the adminis
tration of the statutes under the rule which it
has promulgated;' that such a rule 'substitutes
the court in the place of congress, for when
ever the rule is invoked the court does not ad
minister the law, but makes-the law,' and that
'if it continues in force the federal courts will,
in so far as restraint of trade is concerned,
make a common law for the United States just
as the English courts have made a common law
for England.'
"The report, says. that it is inconceivable, in
a country that is governed by a written con
stitution and statute law, that the courts can
be permitted to test each restraint of- trade by
the economic standard which .the individual
members of the court may happen to approve.
"Here is a warning, which it would be well
for the greatest court in the land to heed:
" 'If we do not speedily prescribe, in so far
as we can, a legislative rule by which to
measure the form of contract or combination in
restraint of trade with which we are familiar,
or which we can anticipate, we cease to be a
government of law and become a government of
men; and, moreover, of a very few men, and
they appointed by the president.'
"When Justice Harlan broke away from the
majority of the court and delivered his noted
philippic on judicial legislation those who
favored such enlarged powers for the courts
said that he had weakened under the weight of
his accumulated years; but this was not true,
for he wasvigorous in both mirfd and body,
powerful in his knowlewdge of constitutional
law and the principle of representative govern
ment, clear of vision and strong of conviction.
He blazed the way that others will now feel
honored to follow, for it would not be surpris
ing to see the legislative branch of the govern
ment reclaim from the courts' the unimpaired
power to legislate within the limitations of the
constitution without its work being modified or
destroyed by the judicial application of 'the
rule of reason "
The Cummins report will meet with com
mendation at the hands of progressives of all
parties. It is to be hoped that it will speedily
meet with the approval of the American con
gress through the enactment of an amendment
which will make it clear that the law-making
power does not intend to surrender its authority
with respect to legislation to another branch
of the government. Such an amendment will
have the effect of serving notice upon all whom
it may concern that when the American people
undertake to enact laws against specified evils
they will not tolerate the idea that there can
be such a thing as "reasonable" monopoly any
more than that there could be "reasonable"
highway robbery.
"Private monopoly is indefensible and in
tolerable" says the democratic platform; and
upon this clear-cut declaration progressives of
all parties may unite for the common good.
Wo can not go backward in this nation,
btatesmen and all other leading citizens may try
to go backward, but there is a widespread public
opinion and intelligence which acts as a ratchet,
iius ratchet will permit forward movements, but
absolutely blocks backward ones. The Farmer.
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