PROTECTION OF PROFITS,
THE INIQUITOUS POLICY OF THE
REPUBLICANS FOR HALF A CENTURY
The One Question Eternally Present is the Most Effective, the
Most Efficient and the Fairest Way of Equalizing
the Burdens of Taxation
Mr. Underwood Would Have the Question Solved with the
Determination to do the Right, Safe and
Reasonable Thing
Speech Before the New York Southern Society Dec. 16, 191!
The kaleidoscope of political issues must and will continually change with
the changing conditions of our Republic, but there is one question that was
with us in the beginning and will be in the-end, and that is the most effective,
efficient and fairest way of equalizing the burdens of taxation that are levied by
the' National Govenjmfat. Of all the great powers that were yielded to the
Federal Gove the States they adopted the Constitution of our
oogotry, the one indispensable to the administration of public affairs is the
right to collect taxes. Without the exercise of that power we could
not maintainarmy and navy; we could not establish the courts of the land;
would fail to perform its function if the power to tax were
taken away from it. The power to tax, carries wjth it the power to destroy,
and it fc, therefore, a most dangerous governmental power as well as a most
necessary one.
There is a very clear and marked distinction between the position of the
two great political parties of America as to how power to tax should be
exercised in the levying of revenue at the custom houses..
Republicans Have Always Stoed for Protection.
The Republican party has maintained the doctrine that taxes should not
only be levied for the purpose of revenue, but also for the purpose of protect
ing the home manufacturer from foreign competition. Of necessity protection
from competition carries with it a guarantee of profits. In the last Republican
platform this position of the party was distinctly recognized when they de
clared that they were not only in favor of the protection of the difference in
cost at home and abroad but also a reasonable profit to American industries.
Democratic Party for Tariff for Revenue Only.
The Democratic party favors the policy of raising its taxes at the custom
house by a tariff that is levied for revenue only, which clearly excludes the
idea of protecting the manufacturer's profits. In my opinion, the dividing
fine between the positions of the two great parties on this question is very
dear and easily ascertained in theory. Where the tariff rates balance the
difference in cost at home ana abroad, including an allowance for the differ
ence in freight rates, the tariff must be competitive, and from that point
downward to the lowest tariff that can be levied it will continue to be com
r ive to a greater or less extent Where competition is not interfered with
levying the tax above the highest competitive point, the profits of the
manufacturer are not protected. On the other hand, when the duties levied
at the custom house equalizes the difference in cost at home and abroad and
in addition thereto tbey are high enough to allow the American manufacturer
to make a profit before his competitor can enter the field, we have invaded
the domain of the protection of profits. Some men assert that the protection
of reasonable profits to the home manufacturer should be commended instead
of being CMidemned. but in my judgment, the protection of any profit must
of necessity have a tendency to destroy competition and create monopoly,
whether the profit protected is reasonable or unreasonable.
Unfairness of Protection.
You should bear in mind that to establish a business in a foreign country
requires a vast outlay both in time and capital. Should the foreign mjuiu
iacturer attempt to establish himself ia this country he must advertise his
goods, establish selling agencies and points of distribution before he can suc
cessfully conduct his business. After he has done so, if the home producer is
protected by a law that not only equals the difference in cost at home and
abroad, but also protects a reasonable or unreasonable profit, it is only neces
sary for him to drop his prices slightly below the point that the law has
fixed to protect his profits and his competitor must retire from the country
or become a bankrupt because he would then have to sell his goods at a loss
and not a profit if he continued to compete. The foreign competitor having
retired, the home producer could raise his prices to any level that home com
petition would allow him and it is not probable that the foreigner who had
alieady been driven out of the country would again return no matter how
mvTting the field as long as the law remained on the Statute Books that would
enable his competitor to again put him out of business.
Iniquity of the Protection of Profits.
Thirty or forty years ago when we had numbers of small manufacturers,
whim there was honest competition without an attempt being made to restrict
trade and the home market was more than able to consume the production
of our mills and factories, the danger and the injury to the consumer of the
country was not so great or apparent as it is today when the control of
maay great industries has been concentrated in the bands of a few men or a
few corporations, because domestic competition was prohibited. When we
cease to have competraon at home and the law prohibits competition from
abroad by protecting profits, there is no relief for the consumer except to cry
out for government regulation. To my mind, there is no more reason or
justice in the government attempting to protect the profits of the manufac
turers and producers of this country than there would be to protect the profits
of the merchant or the lawyer, the'banker or the farmer, or the wages of the
laboring man. In almost every line of industry in the United States we have
as great natural resources to develop as that of any country in the world. It
is admitted by all that our machinery and methods of doing business are in
advance of the other nations. By reason of the efficient use of American
machinery by American labor, in most of the manufactures of this country,
the labor cost per unit of production is no greater here than abroad.
It is admitted, of course, that the actual wage of the American laborer
is in excess of European countries, but as to most articles we manufacture
the labor cost in this country is not more than double the labor cost abroad.
When we consider that the average ad valorem rate of duty levied at the
custom house on manufactures of cotton goods is 53% of the value of the
article imported and the total labor cost of the production of cotton goods
in this country is only 21% of the factory value of the product, that the dif
ference in labor cost at home and abroad is only about as one is to two and
that ten or eleven per cent of the value of the product levied at the custom
house would equal die difference in the labor wage, it is apparent that our
present tariff laws exceed the point where they equalize the difference in cost
at home and abroad, and we realize how far they have entered into the
domain of protecting profits for the home manufacturer. This is not only
true of the manufacture of cotton goods, but of almost every schedule in
the tariff bill.
To protect profits of necessity means to protect inefficiency. It does not
stimulate industry because a manufacturer standing behind a tariff wall that
is protecting his profits is not driven to develop his business along the lines
of greatest efficiency and greatest economy.
Wool, Iron and Steel Industries.
This is clearly illustrated in a comparison of the wool and the iron and
"steel industries. Wool has had a specific duty that when worked out to an
ad valorem basis amounts to a tax of about 90% of the average value of all
v woolen goods imported into the United States, and the duties imposed have
remained practically unchanged for forty years. During that time the weol
industry has made comparatively little progress in cheapening the cost of its
product and improving its business methods. On the other hand, in the iron
and steel industry the tariff rate has been cut every time a tariff bill has been
written. Forty years ago the tax on steel rails amounted to $17.50 a ton,
today it amounts to $3.92. Forty years ago the tax on pig iron was $13.60 a
ton, today it is $2.50. The same is true of most of the other articles in the
iron and steel schedule, and yet the iron and steel industry has not languished;
it has not been destroyed and it has not gone to the wall. It is the most
compact, virile, fighting force of all the industries of America today. It has
long ago expanded its productive capacity beyond the power of the American
people to consume its output tnd is today facing out towards the markets of
the world, battling for a part of the trade of foreign lands where it must
meet free competition or as is often the case, pay adverse tariff rates to enter
the industrial fields of its competitor.
Duty of Our Government—Genuine Tariff Reduction to a Revenue
Producing Basis Only.
Which course is the wiser for our government to take? The one that
demands the protection of profits, the continued policy of hot-house growth
for our industries? The stagnation of development that follows where com
petition ceases, or on the other hand, the gradual and insistent reduction of
our tariff laws to a basis where the American manufacturer must meet honest
competition, where he must develop his business along the best and most
economic lines,. where when he fights at home to control his market he is
forging the way in the economic development of his business to extend his
trade in the markets of the world. In my judgment, the future growth of
our great industries lies beyond the seas. A just equalization of the burdens
of taxation and honest competition, in my judgment, are economic truths;
they are not permitted today, by the laws of our country, we must face toward
them and not away from them.
What I have said does not mean that I am in favor of going to free trade
conditions or of being so radical in our legislation as to injure legitimate
business, but I do mean that the period of exclusion has passed and the era
of honest competition is here.
Let us approach the solution of the problem involved with the determination
to do what is right, what is safe and what is reasonable.
Birmingham News
Supports Underwood
In many quarters there has arisen a
demand that Oscar W. Underwood be
named the standard bearer of the Demo
cratic party in the campaign that will
be waged for the presidency in 1912.
It is the earnest hope of The Birming
ham News that this may come about.
Should the banner be entrusted to the
keeping of Oscar W. Underwood, The
Birmingham News thoroughly believes
that by him it will be carried to glo
rious victory, and that it will never be
stained by compromise with wrong or
sullied by collusion with privilege.— The
Birmingham News, Thursday, November
23, 1911.
A NATIONAL REPUTATION
WITHOUT SEEKING IT
Underwood is probably the greatest
authority on the tariff in the House of
Representatives, or, for that matter, ia
Congress.
"What do you think of Underwood?"
I asked Senator Bailey.
"Underwood," said Bailey, "is the only
man in either house of Congress who
could be locked in a hermetically sealed
room for a week and emerge from it
with a perfectly good tariff bill."
Underwood is the strongest example
in modern times of a thoroughly modest
man getting a reputation without going
after it. Politics is a noisy game; you
have to have a trumpet and a bugle in
WHY I AM FOR
OSCAR UNDERWOOD
(1) Because he is the strongest all
round man in the field;
(2) Because he is old enough to have
learned a great deal, and young enough
to learn more;
(3) Because he is a constructive,
practical statesman;
(4) Because he fathered the Farm
ers' Free List Bill, which was an im
mense stride toward free trade, and a
measure that would have been magically
beneficial to our over-taxed people;
(5) Because he proposed and put
through Congress a drastic reform of
the infamous woolen tariff; and also a
sweeping reduction in the cotton goods
schedule;
(6) Because he had the manhood to
defy the Birmingham Board of Trade,
when it tried to intimidate him as to
tariff reduction;
(7) Because he has introduced a bill
to cut the steel and iron schedule
from 30 to SO per cent;
(8) Because he had the courage to
oppose the Sherwood pension grab,
which the shirkers and skulkers, and
deserters, and bounty-jumpers demand.
Champ Clark voted for the grab:
Bryan has not had the pluck to say a
word against it, nor has Woodrow
Wilson.
(9) Because he has the sanity and
the spunk to tell the people that all this
talk about the initiative, referendum
and recall, in national politics, is
tommy-rot. Everybody should know
that the Constitution of the United
States would have to be radically
UNDERWOOD AS A CANDIDATE
In Mr. Underwood's candidacy the
South for the first time in 60 years
comes forward with a man with a rea
son—a man with a valid claim on
Democracy for signal recognition. If
unselfish devotion, high performance,
Nation-wide breadth of view, and rare
qualities for leadership entitle a man
to sympathy and support in his aspir
ations, the nomination of Mr. Under
wood would be a testimonial logically
bestowed.
The Southern Democracy never
wants, in or out of Congress, for
powerful champions of party politics,
men who come in for honorable men
tion when the Presidential year rolls
round, but in Mr. Underwood's case
A SOUTHERNER ON THE TICKET
Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama is
unquestionably of presidential size. His
leadership of the Democratic majority
on the floor of the House has never bee*
excelled for skill, force and definite di
rection. It is a respectful hearing from
all over the country which Senator
Bankhead of the same State will have
in naming him for the Democratic nom
ination.
Has the time come when it is expe
dient for the Democracy to nominate a
Southerner living in the South for the
presidency? It has not been thought so
since the civil war. It has not even
been thought expedient to give the South
second place on the ticket. The nearest
approach to this was the naming on the
WIDE APPEAL OF UNDERWOOD'S CANDIDACY
That Representative Oscar W. Un
derwood is rapidly crowding to the wall
all other aspirants for the Democratic
presidential nomination, is the informa
tion that comes from sources close to
the Alabama leader to-day. In fact, it
is now a subject of open gossip about
the House that New York State is veer
ing toward the Alabama member and
that Clark, Wilson and Harmon are los
ing ground in the chief pivotal State of
the Union.
A member of the New York delega
tion in the House, who is not person
ally an advocate of the candidacy of
Mr. Underwood, admitted in confidence
to-|ay that the trend of sentiment in
New York city and New York State
now favors the Alabama leader. From
Representative Henry D. Clayton, of
O'SHAUNESSY BOOMS UNDERWOOD
Mr. O'Shaunessy's declaration fol
lowed the Underwood demonstration in
the House. Mr. O'Shaunessy said:
"I believe Mr. Underwood is the right
man for the presidency. He has won
derful executive ability, as shown by his
management of the H«use at thi» ses-
The South and
the Presidency
This constant reference to an alleged
"dead line" when it comes to the selec
tion of a candidate for the presidency, is
out of place. It is a peculiar fact that
we hear more of it right here in " the
South than anywhere else in the coun
try. We are getting to be painfully
self-conscious about this supposed politi
cal bar sinister. Not only that, but we
act on the assumption that it would be
politically inexpedient for us to support
any man who is Southern born and
bred. IHs folly of the worst kind and
only serves to keep alive the dying em
bers of sectionalism. — Shreveport Times,
December, 1911.
order to make anybody hear your name.
It is a rule to which there is no excep
tion that I know of except Underwood.
He sat back there quietly in Congress
for sixteen years doing splendid work
and never getting his name into the pa
pers. Finallw the, crash came, the Demo
crats carriec&Tthe.' House, and froir. sheer
merit and nothing else the qui;* man
from Alabama was made floor leader
and put in charge of the party's tariff
bilL And he so acquitted himself that
within a month he became a national
figure, and now he its quite likely to be
nominated fqr President.—Charles (Wil
lis Thompson, in The Sunday Herald,
Boston, October 22, 1911.
changed, before the present system of
representative government and legisla
tion could be changed for direct law
making.
When, do you suppose, we could elect
a Congress that would give the people
the opportunity to vote away the pre
rogatives of Cxjngress?
When, do you suppose, there would
be 34 States ready to adopt the new
system?
When, do you suppose, would the
small States be willing to surrender
their equality, in the Federal Govern
ment?
When Wilson and Bryan prate of a
national initiative, referendum and re
call, they make themselves demagogues.
Can either of them tell us how Direct
legislation can be applied, nationally,
in such a manner as to preserve the
sovereign equality of the small States?
If either of them can, I should be
glad to publish their plan.
It will be time enough to talk about
national Direct legislation and the recall
after we shall have tried it, in the
States.
(10) Lastly, I am for Oscar Under
wood because his record, public and
private, is unstained; his character ele
vated and spotless; his leadership su
perb ; his work and purposes patriotic
and practical; his sympathies, for the
oppressed. He doesn't stoop to dema
gogy to win popular applause; and he
doesn't cater to wealth and power, as:
the standpatters of both parties do.—
Tom Watson, in The Jrffersonian
Thomson, Ga., January 25, 1912.
there is added a genius for organiza
tion and command not often observable
in party leaders of his section. For
candor compels a good word in
acknowledgment of what he did in the
way of harmonizing and knitting to
gether the warring elements of his
party in the House. Not in twenty
years has there been in Democratic
councils a leader who proved success
ful in uniting all shades of opinion and
presenting a solid fr®nt on practically
every issue that came to a vote. For
that reason, if for no other, Mr. Un
derwood's availability would seem to
merit careful consideration at the
hands of the Democratic party.—Wash
ington Post, October 3, 1911.
Parker ticket in 1904 of Heary G. Davis
of West Virginia. But that is essen
tially a Northern State. Carlkle of
Kentucky had a few votes for President
in the conventions of 1884 and 1892;
Blackburn of Kentucky and Tillman of
South Carolina in 1896; Williams of
Mississippi in 1904. But they were
merely complimentary.
Yet the war is over. A Southern
Democrat and a former Confederate
soldier is Chief Justice of the United
States Supreme Court by appointment
of a Republican President. The day
may not be so far off when the last
traces of the sectional line will be oblit
erated in American politics.— The New
York Wtrld, October 24, 1911.
Alabama, also, conies confirmation of
the fact that the Underwood boomers
are receiving most encouraging reports
from New York. These reports go so
far as to say that if the South will keep
Representative Underwood's name be
fore the convention, New York State
may be counted on to fall into line after
the second or third ballot.
If the South can get over the ancient
obsession that a Southern man cannot
be nominated for President and if the
South will keep the name of Underwood
before the convention, for a few ballots,
there are many wise political observers
in Washington and New York who are
confident that the New York delegation
will swing into line for Underwood.—
Washington correspondence of the
Nashville Tennesseean, December 31,
1911.
sion, and except for his residence so far
South, I feel that he is in every way
suitable for the place. I believe the
Democrats could not nominate a more
acceptable candidate."—Representative
O'Shaunessy, of Rhode Island, in The
Providence Journal, August, 1911.
UNDERWOOD SOUND ON ALL PUBLIC QUESTIONS
VIEWS ON RECIPROCITY, ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION
MERCHANT MARINE, PUBLIC SERVICE, THE TARIFF
RECIPROCITY
(In the U. S. House of Representatives;
April 21, 1911.)
Our agricultural implements supply
the farmers' wants beyond the seas.
Our boots and shoes are worn by peo
ple who speak many foreign languages
and who tread the highways of the
Occident and the Orient. The looms of
our factories clothe the people of dis
tant lands. The freight of our foreign
rivals is carried to market on American
rails, drawn by American engines, across
chasms spanned by American-built
bridges. [Applause.] The harvests of
our farmers feed the toiling masses of
Europe. We would be the unrivaled
masters of production and industry in
every land where free competition can
be obtained if we would but strike off
the shackles that bind us to the dead
and unnecessary economic system main
tamed by the Republican Party, that
creates false standards and wasteful
conditions at home. [Applause on the
\Democratic side.]
ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION
(In Speech Before Pennsylvania So
ciety of New York, Dec. 9, 1911.)
"Is it not proper for all of us, irre
spective o£ party, to insist that the
time has come for ns to join together
in putting an end to-this profitless agi
tation and proposals for tinkering with
the (Sherman) law? As the necessity
arises, we can from time to time enforce
the act, without fear or favor, but with
out any disposition to get political cap
ital out of what we may be called upon
to do. Let our pilot be experience and
accurate knowledge and high resolve,
and not party expediency or misdi
rected energy, whether proceeding from
good or bad motives, and above all this
let us not proceed upon a crude guess."
AMERICAN MERCHANT
MARINE
(In the U. S. House of Representa
tives, Feb. 26, 1910.)
It is clear that there are no treaties
that stand in our way to prevent us from
enacting a discriminating tariff duty
UNDERWOOD THE MAN
OP THE HOUR
But Mr. Underwood's rise in public
favor has not been spectacular. His
is not the kind of popularity that will j
decline. It dawned suddenly but its
dawning was rather the awakening of
recognition than the discovery of a new
star. Mr. Underwood and his ability
j had been there all the time, but they
had not been called into action. Op
portunity revealed the man and the
leader.
Kis leadership and his qualities are
of the stuff that will last. He may never
be President of the United States. He
may never be given the nomination by
his party, but his usefulness to the party
and to the people will not be destroyed.
He is hanging no hopes on the reward
that may come to him from the party.
• ••*•*••
Mr. Underwood's public record is un
usual for its clean brilliancy. It stands
without a flaw. Critics may search it
through and through and Mr. Under
wood's smile would never waver. His
party record is just as clear. His pri
vate life is without a blemish.
He is peculiarly fitted by nature and
training for the leadership of men and
the administration of executive func
tions. He comes of good stock, if that
means anything in this people's repub
lic. His education was thoroughly
rounded. His character well poised.
His training has been broad and wise.
He is thoroughly practical. His aca
demic education has been broadened by
well directed experience and constant
application to useful research.—Walter
Harper in the Birmingham Age-Herald,
January 7, 1912.
UNDERWOOD OVER AGAIN
The rapid rise of Oscar W. Under
wood in the discussion of Presidential
possibilities is full of significance, and
may well cause consternation in the
Wilson, Clark and Harmon camps. As
a distinctive Southerner, his boom espe
cially is a menace to Wilson, who ap
pealed strongly to the sentiment of that
section, in which he was born and spent
his early years. In the soundness of
his Democracy, the statesmanlike judg
ment and moderation he displays in
dealing with the issues of the hour,
Mr. Underwood has no superior among
his rivals. He avoids indorsing very
questionable issues to which Wilson
committed himself somewhat inconti
nently.— The Troy Press, New York,
November 28, 1911.
THE riAN TO WIN
The Mobile Register declares that
the relief of ninety millions of people
from tax extortion is the issue, and the
issue is personified in Oscar W. Under
wood. What more fitting, therefore,
asks this paper, than that the man who
is the personification of the issue should
stand before the President who vetoed
the bills drawn by Mr. Underwood seek
ing to give relief to the American peo
ple? What more fitting that the can
didate should be Mr. Underwood, stand
ing for tariff reduction as against Mr.
Taft standing m defense of present tariff
laws? What more fitting for the Demo
cratic party to nominate a man who can
win—for this is the time Democracy can
win. Powerful political leaders of
thought and those journalistic exponents
of Democracy throughout the* country
should take note of Mr. Underwood.
They should investigate; and with party
loyalty firm—with sectional prejudice
eliminated, learn to know the man and
the principles for which he stands. The
Southern press, especially, should rally
with unhesitating vigor to support and
use their influence for the man who has
done more than any living Democrat to
reunite Democracy, and who can, as a
Southern Democrat in the White House,
establish forever a reunited country.—
Richmond Journal, reproduced in the
Advertiser, Montgomery, Ala., January
in favor of American ships. It was the
policy of the fathers; it built up our
merchant marine from a point where
it was carrying 17 per cent of our com
merce to a point where it was carrying
90 per cent of American commerce in
a period of seven years. It does not
place additional burdens on the people;
it is not a policy of doubtful constitu
tionality; it is a policy that has been
tried and proven effective. It is a pol
icy by which we can restore the Amer
ican flag to the seas and the American
ships to our commercial trade. It is a
policy that will enable us to build up
the export trade of the American peo
ple. It is a policy that will enable us
to find foreign markets for our surplus
products in agriculture and manufac
ture. It is a policy that will restore the
balance of commerce as well at trade to,
our Nation. It' is a policy that will
ultimately overcome the necessity of our
paying a foreign balance in gold ton
European nations and will bring
perity to all lines of industry.
CONVICTIONS nORE POWER
FUL THAN LOCAL PRESSURE
(In the U. S. House of Representatives,
1911.)
Two years ago, when the proposition
came before the House to cut the tariff
on iron and steel products, in many
cases about half, I favored the proposi
tion because I thought it was just and
fair, but some of the protected interests
in my district met and passed resolu
tions, and resolved that they would re
buke me if I voted to reduce the tax
on icon and steel. I voted to make the
reduction [applause on the Democratic
side], but they did not turn me out of
[applause on the Democratic
'side], and they will not turn you out
cf Congress it yon stand true to the
people you represent. [Applause on the
Democratic side.] The distinguished
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. CANNON],
when he addressed the House several
days ago, stated United States
Stee! Corporation wS I in favor of this
bill and asked if I did not know it,
or if that was not the reason why I
favored it As I then stated to the
gentleman from Illinois, I was not in
formed as to the wishes of the United
UNDERWOOD'S RISE NO
SURPRISE TO THOSE
WHO KNOW Hin
For yeans Oscar Underwood has been
recognized in his district as a man of
marked ability. His broad knowledge
of the tariff displayed time and again
on the floor of Congress and in public
utterances on the stump; his far-reach
ing insight into large public questions
under consideration in the national law
making body; his skill in debate; his
complete mastery of himself in times
of political turbulence on the floor of
Congress; his judgment as well as his
tact, have all convinced his constituents
that he was a man of force and achieve
ment long before he became Chairman
of the Ways and Means Committee with
a tremendous task to perform.—Bir
mingham Ledger, 1912.
ALABAMA AND
f!R. UNDERWOOD
But the present leader of the House
is not impulsive. In truth, that fact
explains his leadership. He is a man
of calculation. Had he not been, he
could never have piloted his party
through the difficulties of the extra ses
sion. His task then called for a calm
vision and a single purpose. Had he
been a spellbinder and a scatterer he
would have wasted his opportunity.
Were Mr. Underwood to set his heart
on the White House and maneuver for
a stay under that famous roof he would
play hobs with al' the reputation he has
just acquired. l T is vision would be
come confused, ana everything would go
by the board. He could not serve two
masters, and his work in the House has
the first and highest claim on his at
tention.
This does not mean that Mr. Under
wood's name will, as the result of his
reply to his House colleagues, disap
pear from the Presidential speculation.
Of course, it will not. It is there to
stay, with the other names now on
many pens and tongues. The matter of
the nominee is in the lap of fate, and
we shall all have to wait for the deci
sion.—The Washington Sunday Star,
December, 1911.
UNDERWOOD
Every public speech that Oscar W.
Underwood. Democratic leader of the
House of Representatives, makes brings
him closer to the people as a presiden
tial possibility. What Congressman
Longworth, a Republican, said of him
at the dinner of the Pennsylvania So
ciety in New York on Saturday night
is coming to be generally felt by the
public.
"Not for many years," said Colonel
Roosevelt's son-in-law, "has so forceful
a personality come to the front of his
party as the present leader of the House.
Not in my time, certainly, and not, as I
believe, in modern times, has the Demo
cratic party developed a man possessing
in so full degree the qualifications for
real leadership as it has this year in the
person of Oscar Underwood." — The Jer
sey Journal, Jersey City, N. T., Decem
ber 11, 1911.
SOUTH ELECTED CLEVELAND
"It was due to the South that Grover
Cleveland was nominated and elected,"
said Judge Parker. "It was due to the
South that William J. Bryan was twice
nominated, and in like manner the South
was responsible for the nomination of
a New Yorker, who speaks to you now.
I still believe that the South is the sec
tion of our country from which a presi
dential nominee could be chosen who
could quell the voices of all the Demo
cratic factions and heal all breaches.
When the Democratic National Conven
tion sees fit to nominate a Southerner,
I believe that the Northern Democrats
will support him with their ballots.—
Judge Alton B. Parker, in The State,
Columbia, S. C, January 25, 1912.
States Steel Corporation. A, a
of fact, I am interested in the
steel business myself. Everv.i^ 1 ' aD(i
have in the world is in tht 8 1
steel business except my home i" itli
with the United States Steel Co not
tK>n. My people are independent '2*
fecturers. We meet the United
Steel Corporation every day of , ts
istence in a competitive battle « **'
industrial fields of America 11 r ltlt
have not asked me to vote for" a JS*
tive tariff on «ron and steel.
PROTECTION'S INIQUITIES
(In the U. S. House of Representatiw
April 21, 1911.)
The protected interests of thk
try know well that this bill will
a break in the dike; that
protective tariff is removed and 5
Northern farmer stands out alone Ji*
out pretense of protection to his 2
ucts that he can no longer be
on to stand in the ranks of the awnSJ
"Stic interests of this country TW
why they are afrakl of It Tt is not 1
much what is in the bift but thev
that the death knell Sf the SS
system will have sounded—that pro,"
tion that means the protection of ? no ,
mous profits and the creation of mv
nopolies in this country—when L
understands and abandons tb-
Republican Party to those alone who
have fattened upon his hard-earned do]
lars. They are using, my friends, every
effort m the districts on that side of tie
House and in your district, my fellow
Democrat and in my district to break
the column. I have protected interests
m my district, but I do not n Prasem
them. I represent the great mas. 0 f tm
constituency who want honest treatment
and fair play.
•SCAR UNDERWOOD
The appearance of Oscar Underwood
here last night, in advocacy of the Dem
ocratic principles he has done so much
to advance, was an event not only highly
gratifying to his party associates in
Louisville, but of exceptional interest to
the community in general
It is not often that a man retting to
the scenes of his youth to speak with
such authority, from so commanding &
position, won on his own merit. It has
not been so long as the years ago—he is
not yet 50—since Oscar Underwood was
a schoolboy here; he comes back now
the recognized and applauded leader of
his party on the floor of the National
House of Representatives, the head of
the great committee which shapes the
fiscal legislation of the country; a new
chieftain of Democracy who has arisen
at a crisis when the old party seemed
all but leaderless.
Bravo, Oscar Underwood! It is i
bright day for Democrats when they arr
fortunate to find and quick to acclaim
such a leader.—Louisville Courier-Joir
nal, reprinted in Age-Herald, Birming
ham, Ala., October 15, 1911.
SOnETHINQ OF ALABAHA S
CANDIDATE FOR THE
PRESIDENCY
Whoever was floor leader of the De
mocracy was good enough for Mr. Un
derwood during all the long years that
party was in the minority, and day after
day, whether that leader was Joseph W.
Bailey, of Texas, John Sharp Williams,
of Mississippi, or Champ Clark, of Mis
souri, the gentleman from Alabama was
always at his leader's elbow, ready and
eager to do anything he could to help
Other statesmen might try to black their
party leader's eye, but Mr. Underwood
was never known to extend anything
but the helping hand.—George E. Miller,
Staff Correspondent, in the Detroit
News, October 24, 1911.
WHO/! SHALL THE
DEHOCRATS NOHINATE
Congressman Underwood, as house
leader of the Democrats and as chair
man of the Ways and Means Commit
tee, has measured up to the standard o?
true statesmanship. He has rendered in
calculable service to the cause of honest
tariff revision, the one great issue »>
the pending campaign, and by his splen
did poise and mastery of affairs he ha>
exalted his party's name in the minds of
thinking Americans.— Atlanta Journal.
January 7, 1912.
UNDERWOOD AS A CANDIDATE
If Oscar Underwood, when he was
made Chairman of the Ways and Mean.'
Committee, had been as well known
throughout the country as Champ Clark
or Judson Harmon or Woodrow Wil#®
he would have gone into the Democratic
convention far in the lead. He was 2;
that time, however, little known anc
this fact may give to the Speaker a part
of the prestige that Mr. Underwood
otherwise would have had.
Mr. Underwood is well known now
however, and will be better known be
fore the convention meets or the States
elect delegates. Taking it for grants
that he will conduct the tariff fight 3s
well during the regular se§sion as dur
ing the extra session, Mr. Undenvow
will be much stronger at the end of tt
regular session than he rs now. h *
judge by results we must conclude tn»
no Democratic leader has ever had W
forces so well in hand as Mr. Under
wood had during the last session.-j
Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville.
October 24, 1911.
AN EniNENT HAN
"The destiny of the American natioft
which I think is the most wondering
the whole history of the world, is r
fectly safe in the hands of such ®
as your Underwood. It is a
we cannot have more of his
Washington. He is one of the ffl
eminent men that the South li.'.s fl
duced, and I look with vast san^ 3 . c Ju
upon the plans of his Alabama
to give him their unanimous • •
ment for that high office —? rnf
dency.—Prof. Willis L. Moore, Chie
U. S. Weather Bureau, in the xJir»®J
ham, Ala., Age-Herald, Octoj:
1914.