E 761 A17T 1. ---- -- --- -— l- -- --— ~- -.:::::r-::::; —: _-_77~-::- ~::: ~:7~-: _1 —_ —:-~1:1:::-:-._i_::::::';:-::j:~;::::I _:-:.::.:-:::.:: I,, Baron - 172.9,'7z.:-;::: -:I:::::_.:;:: J:;;:: "' ''':::;_:t::::_i:: r::::::,i~~":::-"` ~" P:1..:.:.:I:i,:,:1: t:l `':"""-'' t,.....,.-. ~-~~~-~ iiijiij::1;::;::.:i-i~-~~~~~.l-~-:,.~. II':;ljl —::::::,:lj:,.:; ~,::::,:;;~-~":.~h -:?`~ _ I ::::::: ~!;i~.:::::: II:: SENATE DOCUMENT No. 452 ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFTI>., I^, AT, THE, f4 AT THE BANQUET OF THE SWEDISH-AMERICAN REPUBLICAN LEAGUE AT CONGRESS HALL, CHICAGO, ILL. MARCH 9, 1912 PRESENTED BY MR. CULLOM MARCH 22, 1912.-Ordered to be printed WASHINGTON 1912 I I 4 I ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT. THE BATTLE. My fellow citizens of the Swedish-American Republican League, 50 years ago the heart of the Nation stood still in dreadful anticipation of the dire disaster which seemed to await our northern seacoast from the attack of the iron monster of the sea, the Merrimac. She had destroyed our most formidable naval ships, and nothing seemed proof against the fire of her guns, while every attack upon her was utterly without effect. Just in the nick of time, when ship after ship had succumbed to this new terror, a small iron vessel, with no freeboard, but with a central turret on a turntable, sailed into the Chesapeake Bay and up into those waters that lie between Norfolk and Fortress Monroe. There, when the Merrimac came out the second day to complete her work, this insignificant "cheese box" on a raft steamed across the path of her looming antagonist and offered battle. I need not dwell upon the details of that contest. It was one of the most critical of the war, and when it closed and the Merrimac, disabled and beaten off, steamed slowly back to her moorings of the morning every lover of the Nation breathed freely, and all those in authority, from President Lincoln down, felt that a load had been lifted from their hearts and that victory might still come to our cause. GRATITUDE TO ERICSSON, THE SWEDE. The designer and builder of the Monitor, which vanquished the Merrimac, was a professional naval engineer and inventor. Born in Sweden in 1803, he came to the United States on the invitation of a United States naval officer in 1839, a small iron vessel with engine and screw, designed by him and built at Birkenhead in England, having preceded him. He resided in New York from 1839 until his death in 1889, or 50 years, and in the course of that long American life he invented much. But that which has made the Nation properly grateful to him, that which has created a debt on the part of the American Nation to Swedish ingenuity, is the invention and construction of the Monitor, which saved our Navy, and so saved the country in 1862. I am glad to be here to celebrate with you this event, now half a century old, and gratefully to acknowledge on the part of the American people what is due from them to the race of Gustavus Adolphus and John Ericsson. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. You are a Republican club. You have supported that party in the past and propose to support it in the future. Pursuing the principles for which it has always stood, that party has guided the ship of state, with the exception of two separate terms of four years, for the half 3 4 ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. century since the Monitor was baptized in fire, and there is nothing in the history of the world more inspiring than the story of the achievements of that party since 1862 and the progress secured by them. POINT WITH PRIDE. Nothing excites the criticism and indignation of our dear old enemy, the Democratic Party, so much as a recounting of the deeds of the Republican Party in the last 50 years. Their nervousness at the phrase, ";We point with pride," used so frequently and so justly in Wepublican platforms, awakens their every effort at sarcasm. I defer to this feeling on behalf of our Democratic friends, and do not stop to claim that the Republican Party is entitled to the confidence of the Nation because of the stability and progress which it has given that Nation in the last 50 years. I agree that a party may serve the public well and then cease to be useful, and that it is in its performances in the immediate past and in the probability of its performances in the immediate future that we are to find a reason for its continuance in power. WHAT DOES "PROGRESSIVE" MEAN IN POLITICS? In the history of politics from time to time new phrases are coined to characterize new issues and new movements. One of the terms which has come into constant use to-day is "progressive," and it is supposed to indicate the opposite of "reactionary," or "ultra conservative." Aen differ as to what progressive policies are, but perhaps we can reach a definition that will suit everybody by tracing the history of the progressive movement and its ultimate objects. POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE TERM. During the two decades prior to 1900 this country saw an enormous expanse in the development of its material resources, in the expansion of its business activities, and in the increase of capital and wealth. During that time the value of combinations of capital and of businesses in the legitimate purpose of reducing the cost of production of articles of general use and necessity was manifested, and the ingenuity of business men and of their legal advisers was largely absorbed in effecting profitable plans based on this discovery. But these combinations, while they had a legitimate purpose and a legitimate result in reducing the cost of production, also offered an alluring temptation to the use and abuse of great accumulations of capital to stifle competition, establish monopoly, and control prices. More than that, in the whole 50 years, and especially in the early stage of development of the country, when the pioneers and the early settlers were anxiously looking to the development of the country, they by popular vote and through their legislatures and in all other ways favored the invitation to capital to help develop the virgin territory. And this led' to the granting of chartered privileges and of direct donations of land and money out of the Public Treasury. The money given, of course, was spent, but in many instances there was left a burden of municipal, county, and State debt, all of which survived to plague the successors of those people who had so eagerly assumed the obligations. The ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. 5 vast resources of the country in the West, which then seemed so cheap, were parted with by the public, to turn up in the hands of corporate agents and to have an enormous value and a monopolistic character that completely changed the attitude of the people and startled them into the necessity for a direct change of policy. Then the money which corporations had at their disposal to protect their privileges and property, -and even to extend them, was not infrequently used to corrupt the instrumentalities of government and to obstruct the immediate expression of the will of the people in the change of laws, the closer regulation of every public-utility corporation, and the closest and narrowest scrutiny in the further granting of public franchises. CRUSADE AGAINST ABUSES IN ROOSEVELT'8 TERM. During the administration of my distinguished predecessor, and by his appeals to Congress and to the public, the people, and especially the business communities, were roused to the necessity for action. The great public benefit arising from this movement can not be overestimated. It put the people on guard in every State and in every community. In the sphere of national legislation, the antitrust law and the interstate commerce law were both passed some time before this movement reached its height. The problems to be met were new for this country; the legislation adapted to solve them was a matter of experiment. The issues presented to the courts in the construction of the statutes were full of difficulty and doubt and needed time and a presentation of a number of cases and their consideration before clarity could be affirmed in the construction of the statute. The first step, and the most important, however, was the stirring of the people to the nature of the crisis that they had to meet and the obstacles that they had to overcome. DEFINITION OF PROGRESSIVES. The term "progressive," therefore, includes all of those who have been moved to efforts of reform by the necessity for legislative and governmental action to deprive corporate capital and undue vested privilege of its political power, and to bring about proper popular and governmental control and regulation of the use of capital in legitimate avenues and for legitimate purposes. ANOTHER CLASS OF PROGRESSIVE. In addition to the elimination of the control of the undue influence of corporate wealth and privilege in our political and economic matters, there is another wide field for progressive action that the altruistic tendencies of the age have done much to encourage and develop. Government is framed for the greatest good for the greatest number, and also for the greatest good of the individual, and the problem presented is the balancing of these two objects in such a way as that both may proceed side by side. The futility of every socialistic scheme which destroys the right of property for the uplift of humanity is that it is impossible to find a sufficiently strong motive for labor or for saving. Without this the wealth of the world could not increase 6 ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. to meet the demands for the living and comfort and increased physical happiness of the growing population. But while we would not part with the right of property, and while possibly in certain directions we might be willing to modify the character of its use where it has turned out to be an abuse, as in the case of the antitrust law, what we are all struggling for, what we all recognize as the highest ideal in society, is equality of opportunity for every member born into it. Of course perfect equality of opportunity is impossible. Some men are born strong and some men weak; some men with strong and some men with feeble brains. But legislation can be and ought to be directed to removing all the artificial restraints and obstructions that prevent this equality of opportunity. Under the Jeffersonian idea it was thought that the least government of mankind was the best, and that the more nearly the functions of the Government were confined to the administration of justice, and to the enforcement of law, the better; but under present conditions of population and civilization, there are many functions that the Government can more effectively and more economically perform than private enterprise, and in this way the individuals among the people may derive greater benefit. The statutory provision for the legislative discharge of such functions by the Government is progressive. SOCIALISTS AS PROGRESSIVES. The progressive movement has assumed the character of a crusade, and many radical remedies were suggested, the carrying out of which would onlv be less destructive than the threatened fatal course of the disease. There were many who had long attacked our present institutions as the basis of all injustice and inequality, and their voice became louder and more distinct and was listened to with much greater faavor than ever before in the history of the country. The growth of socialism in this country is a noteworthy incident in showing the extreme to which many would go in the solution of the problem which I am discussing. PROGRESSIVE EXTREMISTS. There were many who were not Socialists, but who saw in the present structure of our Government, and especially in the checks and balances intended by the framers of our Constitution to secure deliberation and calm action on the part of the people, a real obstruction to the reforms that were deemed necessary in order to maintain the proper control of capital and corporate privilege by popular will and to secure equality of opportunity. Progressives of this stripe attained a great popular support, and we were able, for a time at least, to give the impression that others who were equally imbued with the necessity for reform by legislative and governmental action, but who thought it might come without destroying the present structure of our Government and without affecting the guaranties of life, liberty, and property, were reactionary and unsympathetic with the cause of the people. The bitterness of the attacks which they made upon men in responsible position, the lack of restraint that they manifested in impeaching the motives of men as high-minded and as honest as any of them, were only symptoms of a psychological situation that ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. 7 must pass under the calming lapse of time as the public came to view the situation with a knowledge of the facts and with that common sense and spirit of fairness that ultimately always prevail among the American people. POPULAR GOVERNMENT. We all believe in popular government. The history of this country under the Constitution, under which we have fought three foreign wars and withstood the shock of the greatest civil war in history and have still retained the blessings of well-ordered liberty, is enough to show the almost divine foresight of those who framed the Federal compact. It has shown itself adapted to 13 straggling States, with a population of but three millions of people, a century and a quarter ago, and now to a stable Government of ninety millions of people occupying a continent. I am aware of the exposure to criticism to which the suggestion that the American people may make mistakes by hasty action and. lack of deliberation will expose one. I am aware of the ease with which such a suggestion can be tortured into an expression of a distrust in the American people. I am aware that a body of the people does not differ in certain traits from the individuals who make it up, and that people like to be flattered as do individuals. I know that a whole people does not, any more than the individuals, enjoy having their own defects pointed out to them. The truth is, though, that the man who tells the people of the danger that may arise from mistaken and hasty action pays a higher tribute to them than the one who constantly fawns upon them as if they were incapable of error. The most abiding compliment that can be paid to the American people is to point to the fact that in the Constitution which they framed and have maintained they have recognized the danger of hasty action by themselves and have, in its checks and balances, voluntarily maintained a protection against it. The truth is that in this last century we have vindicated popular government in a way that it has never been vindicated before. We have taken from all the countries of the world those who would come to us, seeking either better conditions as to livelihood or better conditions as to government, seeking freedom and prosperity. We have incorporated them in our citizenship and in our electorate; we have made them Americans, and all under the same glorious Constitution that Washington signed, that Hamilton and Madison and Adams and that wonderful galaxy of American statesmen formulated in a day of small things to grow into the ark of the covenant. Distrust of popular government! The pride that I have that this is a popular government and that it has shown itself the strongest in history is as deeply embedded as any feeling that is in me. I would be the last man to exclude from the direction of the ship of state the will of the American people. That is the ultimate source of authority, and it does not in any way minimize my faith and my love of popular government that I insist that the expression of that popular will shall be with the deliberation to make it sound and safe. I fully and freely admit and assert that when the American people have had time to learn all the facts and have had time to consider their bearing their deliberate judgment is a wiser and a better guide to be followed by the State than the judgment of the 8 ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. experienced statesman, the most learned jurist, the most profound student of history. In this proper sense the voice of the people is nearer to the voice of God than any other human decision. PROGRESSIVE IS THAT PROGRESSIVE DOES. Having defined what progressive means, my next proposition is a paraphrase of the old maxim, "Handsome is that handsome does." An administration which has been successfully progressive in deeds is entitled to the approval of the people. The present Republican administration, in what it has accomplished in legislative and executive action, is able to point to many real steps of progress, both in the way of avoiding unnecessary disturbance of business, in the way of regulating the use of corporate capital and privilege and preventing its abuses, and in the preservation for the public of what belongs to it, as well as in ameliorating the legal status of certain classes of the people and in increasing the functions of the Government for the benefit of the whole people. PROSPERITY PROGRESSIVE. In the first place, let us examine the question of the relation of the General Government to business. Of course we can have a general prosperity or apparent prosperity, in which everyone is employed and all the mills are running full tilt, but in which the laws are being violated and the rights of the individual and of the people are not being vindicated as against corporate capital and privilege. In the absence of such abuses, however, prosperity in business is what those responsible for government ought to bend every effort to secure and maintain. They should remove every obstacle in law or Executive order which may interfere with business and its prosperity. Prosperity means good wages. It means happiness in the home of the workingman, the farmer, and the business man, and therefore what we must have is care in urging political reforms that in our enthusiasm we do not enter upon useless agitation that only interferes with business and has no definite public or individual benefit as its result. THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF. One of the places where the Government touches business is in the protective tariff. For 50 years the Republican Party has maintained that in the interest of diversified industries, in the interest of high wages for labor, it is wise to impose a tariff on those products of this country which because of competition with foreign countries could not be produced here unless protected by a tariff. The theory came at one time to be that any tariff, however high, was a good thing. But after a time it began to be seen that throught the instrumentality of monopolistic combinations a tariff which exceeded considerably the difference between the cost of production here and abroad furnished a temptation to a union of the protected interests here to take advantage of the higher tariff and keep prices above what they ought to be. The movement to prevent the undue increase of prices beyond need of legislative protection in the interest of the consumer was and is an important part of the progressive movement. ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. 9 THE PAYNE BILL. In 1908 the Republican Party agreed to revise the tariff. The revision was downward in respect of many articles, and the free list was largely increased. The figures from the importations show these facts. But the cuts in some of the schedules were not what I hoped they would be or what they ought to have been. There was much criticism and much misrepresentation as to the effect of the Payne bill, but it has nevertheless accomplished great good, because in addition to the reductions I have mentioned, it gave free trade to the Philippines, a benefit to which that community was entitled; it provided the means by which we could avoid discriminating duties against us in foreign countries through what is called the maximum and minimum clause; it enabled the Executive to provide a tariff board by which future revisions might be made upon facts ascertained by scientific inquiry; and it resulted in changing a deficit of nearly fifty millions into a substantial surplus. We can not be blind to the fact that our whole business system rests upon the protective-tariff system. It is not that all manufacturers here need protection, but it is that so many of them need it that if it is to be removed, then the destruction of those business interests will affect the entire business interests of the country and necessarily the whole body of wage earners as well. Hence, it is of the utmost importance that we should maintain the tariff system without its abuses, and that we should do it in such a way as least to disturb business. One of the schedules which was not reduced was the woolen schedule, Schedule K. This Tariff Board has made an investigation showing that the wool and woolen schedule is too high and ought to be reduced, and that it is possible to reduce it substantially without destroying either the wool-growing or the wool-manufacturing industry of this country. A similar result will probably be found in a report of the same Tariff Board, nonpartisan, and searching only for the truth, in the cotton schedule. REVISION SCHEDULE BY SCHEDULE ON REPORT OF TARIFF BOARD PROGRESSIVE. Now, what I claim is that the introduction of this method of dealing with the tariff, schedule by schedule, and upon impartially ascertained facts, and of moderating the protection to that which is only enough to allow a living profit to our manufacturers is a progressive step which revolutionizes the previous method of fixing the tariff, and which enables Congress and the whole business community to know in advance what is to be the result of the legislation proposed. In this way we shall prevent exorbitant prices; in this way we shall avoid business disaster; in this way the confidence of merchants and of manufacturers in the future may be retained, and prosperity, which such confidence engenders, will be a certain result. PROGRESS IN RAILROAD LEGISLATION. One of the great abuses in the economic history of this country was the system of discriminations by railroads in the furnishing of transportation to different businesses. By a system of rebates the 10 ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. great shippers were able to drive the smaller shippers out of business, and this could only be reformed by an interstate commerce law which made it criminal to grant rebates, and which gave close regulative and supervisory power over, the conduct of railroads to an Interstate Commerce Commission. It took time to perfect this. It began with the passage of the original act in 1887, which was tinkered with in one way or another until the Elkins bill was passed framing a different means of attack upon rebates. This was followed by the rate bill, which gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the right to fix rates, and finally in 1910, in the present administration, the last amendment to the interstate commerce act was passed, which has greatly increased the regulative power of the commission and greatly bettered the whole system of its supervision. At present it does not seem wise to have further legislation until this has been worked on, and its defects, if any, are disclosed. Generally it may be said that the railroads are obeying the law, that rebates are rare instances instead of universal, as they once were, and that while the defects of the system have not been eradicated, machinery for eliminating it is at hand. (ertainly this legislation which passed by a vote of the Republican Party, and by the signature of a Republican Executive, was progressive in every sense and definition of the word. PROSECUTION OF TRUSTS. Then we had the (question of the trusts and their prosecution. The antitrust act was put on the statute book in 1890. Early in its history there was a decision of the Supreme Court which was misunderstood, or if not misunderstood was improperly expressed, so as to discourage those who were interested in the use of the Federal power to restrain and break up these industrial monopolies. After 20 years' litigation the meaning of the act has been made clear by decisions of the Supreme Court, prosecutions have been brought, and many of the most important and comprehensive trusts have been subjected to dissolution by the decree of the courts. Others are under indictment and are being prosecuted, and so strong and effective has been the prosecution of the trusts that for a time the feeling against the administration for thus interfering with business ran high. I think this feeling has now abated. FEDERAL INCORPORATION. I have recommended for the relief and better guidance and better control of these large interstate commerce industrial organizations, Federal incorporation. That has been brought to the attention of Congress in presidential messages; and should a Republican majority be returned again to Congress, we can safely look to action which I can not but think will be beneficial both to the business interests and to the control by the people of the abuses that grow out of illegal combinations. SAFETY APPLIANCES FOR RAILWAY EMPLOYEES. One of the disgraces of our civilization in the past has been the loss of life and limb among the employees of our railroads. The statistics of such losses 20 years ago as compared with similar sta ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. 11 tistics of foreign countries were so shocking as to bring the blush of shame to every American. Little by little, through legislation in President Harrison's day, renewed and added to in President Roosevelt's time, and in the current administration, the railroads have been compelled to put in many safety appliances that have greatly reduced the losses. EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ACT. More than this, the contract of employment handed down from the common law contained terms which in the modern view was not adapted to our present condition of society and was unjust to the employee. It offered defenses of various kinds to the employer, which, fought out before a jury in courts, frequently resulted in denying relief to those who were most injured and in giving unjust verdicts to those who were least deserving, but most cunning and unprincipled in the preparation of their cases, and which resulted generally, when a verdict was recovered against the employer, in too large a compensation to the lawyers for the injured person. An employers' liability act was therefore passed to change the law, which eliminated certain unfair defenses of the company in such suits. The law was held to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court because it was not confined to strictly Federal jurisdiction. It was amended and as amended has been sustained by the Supreme Court. WORKMAN S COMPENSATION ACT. But more important than this is a bill prepared by a congressional commission created by the last Congress, in which there were two Members of the House, two Members of the Senate, and two members appointed by the President. This has now been transmitted to Congress, and we look with great hope to its passage at the present session. By this bill the employees of the railroad company and their families are insured against possible injury to the employee from any injury sustained by him in the employment of the railroad company that does not arise from his willfulness. The compensation is to be rendered in the form of annual payments for a certain number of years, or for life, and is to be regulated according to the injury sustained and the salary or wages of the man injured or killed. It is to be adjusted by an executive adjuster and is only to go into court in case of nonagreement. I can not exaggerate the benefit or importance of this act which ameliorates greatly the danger of hostility between the railroad employers and railroad employees, which imposes a stronger motive than ever before upon the railroad management to provide all sorts of appliances to insure the safety of employees and of the transportation of goods and passengers and which eliminates from the consideration of the courts that branch of litigation which has grown to be greater than all the rest and to be less satisfactory than any other in its results. CONSERVATION. Another progressive measure adopted in this present administration, and following out the policy of the previous administration, is legislation to conserve as fully as possible all the natural resources that still belong to the Government, and to allow their use in private 12 ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. enterprise and under private investment upon such terms as will secure reasonable profit to private investors, and at the same time reserve control to the Government in such a way as to prevent the abuse of monopoly and to secure proper legislative regulation. This plan of conservation has not been entirely worked out. It presents complicated questions that need deliberation in their solution, but, step by step, I am confident that we are going to adopt measures which are truly progressive to accomplish the purposes stated, and this is certainly true if the next administration be Republican and have a majority in both Houses sufficient to secure joint action. CRITICISM OF COURTS AS NONPROGRESSIVE. In the course of the discussion as to progressive legislation in State and Nation, the suggestion has been made that courts have obstructed such legislation by declaring it unconstitutional, and that in order to secure for the people what is theirs, and in order to give to them the opportunity to make the progress that they ought to make, the power of the court in some way or other to declare laws unconstitutional should be moderated or taken away. So we have had proposals of two kinds, one to recall the judges and the other to recall decisions of courts on constitutional questions. RELEVANT AS A NATIONAL ISSUE. 1 do not know that in the discussion of national issues this would be ordinarily relevant, but it has been made so by the criticism of my action in the veto of the Arizona constitution, submitted to Congress and to me as part of the legislative power for approval as the fundamental law of a new State. I vetoed the bill because it provided for a recall of the judges. It provided that when 25 per cent of the electorate should submit a petition for the removal or recall of a judge the question in 30 days should be submitted to the people in the form of an election, in which other candidates were to be permitted to run, and as a result of which the incumbent judge, if he did not obtain a plurality of votes, was to stand removed. Those who opposed the judge were permitted in 200 words to say why he ought to be removed, and he was permitted in 200 words upon the official ballot to say why he ought not to be removed. It seemed to me then, and I have not changed my mind in the slightest, that no system could be devised better calculated to make a timid, cowardly judiciary than this one. The function of judges is to administer justice according to law between the government and individuals and between the controlling majority of the electorate and the minority. It is easily conceivable that in cases giving rise to such a petition for the recall of the judge the majority of the voters would be roused by some decision of the court against what they regard as their interest. LTnder these conditions the case would be one in which the defeated litigants would be called upon to pass upon the qualifications of the judge whose decision had defeated them. It would be hard to think of nachinery better adapted to destroy the courage of conviction and independence of decision in such cases. ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. 13 INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY. The whole structure of popular government rests upon the independence of the judiciary. The people create the courts in their fundamental law for the very purpose of deciding not only cases between individuals, but cases between the momentary impulse of the people and the restrictions of the constitution, between the acts of a legislature and the fundamental law. A device intended to give to a passing majority of the electorate the means of removing a judge for deciding against it is to destroy all the sanctity of constitutional restriction and all of those checks and balances that were intended to secure the deliberate popular judgment before constitutional amendments should take place. ARIZONA VETO. So fatal to the success and stability of popular government did I think the judicial recall to' be that it seemed to me my duty, called upon as part of the legislative power of the United States, to refuse to approve in the constitution of a State such a vicious provision. It is true that the State may, now that it is organized as a State, adopt such a provision, and then let experience show how utterly wrong it is; but, charged as I was with the responsibilty of approving a constitution, I could not for a minute be put in the attitude of approving a principle in the fundamental law of a proposed State which I believe to be so destructive of every constitutional principle that has made this popular Government so stable and so useful to the people who adopted it and are governed by it. RECALL OF DECISIONS. The other proposition is that of the recall of decisions. It proposes, in effect, as I attempted to show in a speech which I delivered at Toledo last night, to permit the changing majority of the electorate at recurring elections now to suspend, and now to affirm, constitutional restrictions, and to bring about a system of government by special instances in which the constitution shall be applied when the people desire it, and shall be withheld in its application when they find temporary reasons for its being withheld. Such a government would lack in uniformity of law which is essential to justice, and wvould produce that confusion and those exceptions in the application of law which are the beginnings and manifestations of a despotism. ADMITTED DEFECTS IN COURT PROCEDURE. I have not attempted' to say that the administration of law in our courts is perfect. I do not think it is. For years I have been urging remedial measures in the matter of the enforcement of the criminal law,- the administration of which in many States is disgracefully weak. So, too, I have been urging the elimination of delays in civil litigation, or reduction of its expense by expedition and the cutting off of fees and costs, so that the poor litigant may stand on a nearer equality with his richer opponent. Legislatures, Congress, bar associations are all at work now on this reform, and we may hope 14 ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. gradually that it will be brought about. It is not spectacular, and it takes hard work and attention, but most real reforms are accomplished little by little, and step by step. It is generally impossible to overcome defects of long standing by a single blow. We must be content to make a little progress now and a little progress then, and those who are real reformers can not hope to have their efforts fully appreciated by the people at large until long after their efforts have ceased and they live only in memory. PRACTICAL METHOD FOR REMOVING JUDGES. We have had very few currupt judges. It is said that we can not remove them except by the cumbersome method of impeachment. If it is thought wise to improve the methods of removal, or to increase the reasons for removal, this can be done by the creation of a tribunal for the purpose. Make it impartial; give the judges who are to be removed a hearing, and then let proper action follow. But that is a very different thing from leaving to disappointed litigants the power to remove the judge whose decision has been against them. On the whole, the judiciary of this country, appointed and elected, are a highly honorable and learned body of men. It has been the habit to abuse the courts, when as a matter of fact the abuse should be leveled at the procedure and the circumstances which have tied the hands of the judges in giving greater expedition and greater certainty of punishment in the criminal law and less cost of litigation in civil cases. DECISIONS AGAINST PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION. It is true that in a number of instances which have been made known by public comment judges have, in my judgment, mistakenly interfered with progressive legislation or interposed constitutional objection to its enforcement; but these instances are the exceptions, for it can be safely affirmed that in the great majority of such constitutional decisions the views of the courts and the judges respond to the trend of enlightened public opinion. When this is not done, the remedy is perfectly evident. Amend that clause of the Constitution which interferes with the progressive law if it is a law that the people desire. The course of amendment is not so complicated but that amendment can be brought about if the people will act and deliberately conclude that they desire such an amendment. That is the appointed way. Why should it not be taken? That is the orderly way; that is the deliberate way; that is the common-sense way; and it is order, deliberation, and calm that secure in the popular judgment, as I have already said, its likeness to divine judgment. POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS AND PARCEL POST. There are many other things done in this administration that would come properly under the head of "progressive" measures and that justly entitle those who feel responsible for it to claim that it has been a progressive administration, and that if it is returned to power further progressive measures may be expected. Postal savings banks have been established, and the enlargement of the post office for the use of the parcel post is quite at hand and has been promoted in every ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TAFT AT CHICAGO, ILL. 15 way by the present administration. That this will help to reduce the cost of living in the country, and that due to this and the rural delivery, the suburban electric railway, the automobile, and the telephone, the hard life of the farmer will be ameliorated no one can doubt. In other words, if the people give to the Republican Party and the present administration its mark of approval in a national election, the march of progressive legislation will continue, and the progressive additions to our governmental structure, which are to serve the purpose of making broader and wider and more perfect the equality of opportunity, will continue to rest upon the substructure of that Constitution and those restrictions which have secured for nearly a century and a quarter to the American people the infinite blessing of the widest liberty preserved and regulated by law. 0 990 MAR25 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DATE DUE fov;..,...; it ' gs; ^ i.. i '. C.aylord Bros., Inc. Makers Syracuse, N. Y, PAT. JAN 21, 1iQa DO NOT REMOVE OR MUTILATE CARD '1 -42 I, 1* IL V A;At I p1 ii "4 II i $j~ VA V. Air4 44 4(4;; C '4*4 #4 34 .~ A. 'Ar 34 ft '~ '~ t9'< 4s 9~ A" 4 4~ 42 dA< I 1414 itt Al 41