LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE J. B. Foraker, When Elected U. S. Senator, 1896...........Frontispiece 14 Facsimile of letter from Admiral W. S. Schley, September 26, 1911.. 86 The Big Gun....... 88 Official Sketch of Mount McKinley and Mount Foraker....... 68 Facsimile Original Draft of Trust Plank, 1900........ 88 Official Card of Admission to McKinley Memorial. .104 J. B. Foraker, Jr. .128 Mrs. Joseph B. Foraker.. Facsimile of letter from John Hay, August 28, 1901.. .132 ...140 .484 NOTES OF A BUSY LIFE I CHAPTER XXX. IN THE SENATE. TOOK my seat in the Senate March 4, 1897,-the same day President McKinley and Vice President Hobart were inaugurated. It was my fortune, therefore, to witness officially both of these ceremonies; first, the inauguration of the Vice President in the Senate; and, next, the inauguration of President McKinley on the east portico of the Capitol, where he took the official oath, administered by Chief Justice Fuller, and delivered his Inaugural address. President Cleveland with his Cabinet, President McKinley and his Cabinet, the Chief Justice, and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, all the foreign Ambassadors, and Diplomatic representatives then in Washington, both Houses of Congress, and all the prominent Government Army and Navy officials, together with a number of Governors of the States, and other distinguished citizens of the country, were in attendance upon both ceremonies. As I took note of those who were going out and those who were coming in I was impressed with the wisdom of the framers of our Constitution in providing for the election of a House of Representatives every two years; a President and Vice President every four years, and the election of Senators for terms of six years. It secured a commingling of new and fresh political life and thought with the tried, experienced and stable. 1 This feature of our government was at that time brought to the attention of the American people generally by a number of important facts then fresh in everybody's recollection. When Mr. Cleveland was elected in 1884 with a Democratic majority in the House, although he personally entertained views with respect to our industrial policies, which, if given effect, would, according to Republican views, have worked disastrous results to the business of the country, yet there was not any appreciable interruption of our prosperity because it was plain to everybody from the first that there could be no legislation enacted hostile to the policies then in force because during his entire term the Republicans would have a majority in the Senate. But when Mr. Cleveland was elected in 1892 the situation was different; he came into power pledged by his platform to a free trade policy and had a Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate to enact the necessary legislation to put such a policy into operation; and as a result, even before the legislation that was enacted could be put on the statute books, merely in anticipation of what was to come, the whole country took fright and "took in sail" in such a way as to cause business stagnation, depression and panic such as had not been known since the administration of James Buchanan. It had been everywhere proclaimed during McKinley's campaign that he was, in the language of the time, “The Advance Agent of Prosperity"; that immediately upon his election the fires would be lighted in the furnaces; the mills and the factories would again be started; and that all who were idle would be called to employment; but at the time of his inauguration, four months after the election, there were yet no signs of business revival. The reason was plain, and impressive; it was due to the fact that the Republicans were then in the minority in the Senate, and, therefore, unable, without help from Democrats or Populists, to enact any legislation, with respect to either the tariff or the gold standard. Whether or not such help could be secured was entirely problematical. There was no safety except in waiting to see, but this required delay and the result might be failure; the only thing that could be done was to mark time; and mark time the country did until the crucial point of danger had been successfully passed. Prior to Mr. Cleveland's second term there had been much talk among agitators, reformers and malcontents about extending the term of the President to six or seven or even eight years, and making him ineligible for re-election. As the country passed through the disastrous experiences of the '90s (when mills, factories, mines, workshops, and other kinds of industry were stopped or suspended and laborers by hundreds of thousands were turned into idleness, and soup-houses had become the order of the day) instead of talk of extending the Presidential term, there was substituted an expression of universal thankfulness that it was no longer than it was. Ex-President Taft is reported in the newspapers (February, 1915) as making speeches and delivering addresses and lectures in different parts of the country in which, among other things, he has been advocating a seven years Presidential term; from this it appears that in spite of all his instructive experience, he has not yet become a good judge of the proper psychological moment for bringing forward new propositions; for at the very moment when he is again bringing this subject to notice the great majority of the American people are impatiently counting the days until there will come another opportunity for making a change of Presidents and policies. Some unforeseen event may change all this; all things are possible; especially to the party in power and able to take advantage of constantly arising opportunities to respond to public sentiment, but the probability is that the score against President Wilson is now too long for him to have enough good luck to overcome it. It is true Presidential elections are bothersome and expensive, but it is also true that now and then the people would gladly pay for the privilege of holding such an election, if they did not have it insured to them by the Constitution, any price, almost, that the wildest imagination might name. It was so under |