Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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I: WHAT TILLMAN SAID ♦ TIE TOLL TUT OF MIS NOV FA- HODS SPEECH GOES FOR MARTIN HARD The Senator Yields His Point for the Sake of Party Harmony, Hut leaves Unmistakable Footprints of His Feelings in His Straight-From- the-Shoulder Ul^ws. On the report of the steering com mittee of the Democratic caucus, Sat urday, March 15, denying him the chairmanship of the committee on appropriations and giving it to Sen ator Martin, of Virginia, Senator Till man, of South Carolina, spoke as fol lows: Mr. Chairman, speaking to the res olution I have Just offered, ^ want to say this: Nothing that this caucus can do will affect my personal or political status, except that it may af fect my health. A Chinese philoso pher once said, “A duck’s legs are short: a stork’s legs are long; you cannot make a duck’s legs long or a stork’s legs short. Why worry?” It is an easy thing to ask a man this question, but we all know that men cannot control their brains, and they will worry in spite of themselves. The reasons assigned for the ac tion of the steering committee that it is solely because they are solicitous *>f my health and do not believe I am physically able to perform the ar duous labors of the committee on ap propriations are sincere I hope, and rest on that moMve alone. If I did not believe that this motive governed them I would have to believe that ambition and not the best interests of the Democratic party caused their verdict. Tillman, as chairman of the com mittee on appropriations, was the keystone of an arch, and it was nec esaary to remove this keystone and get Tillman out of the way In order to let some chairmanships very much desired by some men fall where the steering committee wanted them. This is the natural human view to take of it. and I prefer to believe their own version of the affair. I recognise that they are all honorable gentlemen, and I believe not one of them has any reason other than his own Judgment as to what is right and proper to actuate him in this matter. I know all human beings are naturally selfish and Inevitably so, and when spurred by ambition they sometimes become unscrupulous and cruel Dealing with motives Is very dangerous anyway, and I will not pursue that train of thought further I am not contending here so much for mys#TT as for my State and the principle of seniority Hy all of the rules that have obtained heretofore in the Senate since the foundation of the Covernment appointment v>n com mltti-es has been governed by the rule of seniority It is an unwritten law, almost a constitutional provi sion. that should not b<> lightly brushed aside. It has been observed by the steering committee In mak ing up Ita assignments In the case of every man, except myself Why this discrimination’ South Carolina has seen fit to send me here for eighteen years, and I have Just entered on my fourth term and have six more years yet to serve. I>ast August I was re elected against two strong men by a large majority without spending a dollar and without making a speech The people have thus shown their continued love for and trust In me My long service, and, if I may be per mitted to say, my more or less dis tinguished service entitles me to this •chairmanship. Four years longer than Jacob served for his two wives I have striven here in the inton^st of true democracy. When the Senate had dwindled to thirty Democrats I w'as still valiantly battling at the front for the principles and policies outlined in the Chicago platform of 1M96. I was on the committee which drafted that platform. Bryan w'as not a member of it because he was a contesting delegate and only came into the Convention with a right to speak after the committee on cre dentials had declared Ms delegation.] to the chairman the lawful one. It was late in the proceedings when the delegation was seated, and his speech, as well as one I made at the same time, was in defence of the platform. The gold- bugs in that Convention had packed the galleries on purpose to howl me down, and they did it until I told them with all the emphasis which I -was capable of that there were only Iree things which could h : S8—a goose, a snake -and a man. Tha£ seemed to quiet them and they allow ed me to go oif ykhout Interruption afterwards. I had predated ivy an in advocacy of those principles, for T made my first speech In the Senate, which has been designated the “Pitchfork speech”, in January of that year, while Bryan’e “Cross of Gold” speech was not delivered until in July. I was a member of the committee on resolutions at the Kansas City Convention four years later and read the platform, as some of you may re member, for no one who heard It can oror forget the demonstration which followed my declamation of that platform Four years later at 8t. Ldtila, when Parker’a gold telegram threw the Democratic cohort* Into confusion, and it seemed that the party was about to disband in disorder and be come a mob, I again stepped into the breach and made the speech which pacified the delegates. In 1896, 1900 and 1904 I campaigned for the Pres idential nomlneeo, although I had no faith whatever in Parker’s election and knew he would be defeated, as he ought to have been. I was not at the Denver Conven tion because my health had begun to give way and I was in Europe. But in my lectures, which carried me all over the country and into every state, I preached the true gospel and had as much to do with the success of what is now called “pogreseivonesa”, T iulleve, as Fryan niinself. That term properly Interpreted In its es sence is the Chicago platform and nothing else. . I do not mention this for the pur pose of Influencing your action, but like an old soldier, I point to my work and ihe wounds I received in battle and ask simply] for justice. I lo not ask pity or sympathy. I wont nave them. Give me what I am en titled to and nothing more. Had I not believed that President Wilson wanted me to accept the chairman ship of the committee on appropria tions I would not have asked for it, but having received his letter in an swer to mine I felt it my duty to usk for the place in order that I might help him, as he seemed to think I could. In order that you may fully under stand everything connected with it I will read the letter I wrote him. and then will read his reply: "January 21, 19 r\ "The Hon. Woodrow Wilson. Tren ton, N. J.—<My Dear Mr. Wilson: I despise the words ‘President elect’ and yet I think of you so much as President to be that I can not bring myself to call you ‘dear Go'oenor I have been thinking abcut writing you for some time. You werj kind enough last summer to thank r. e for the letter I wrote giving you some pointers about the personnel of ihe national Democratic committee. "This emboldens me to give you some Inside Information I have gain ed In my eighteen years in the Sen ate, and incidentally to make some suggestions or comments on the fu ture policy of the Democratic party. "I am proud of the speech you made at Chicago. It rings true, every word of It. snd some of the expres sions are very felicitous In fact, my dear sir. without wishing to make you vain I want to say In all serious ness that you have the happy knack or gift of never opening your mouth In public without saying something worth while. You differ from Charles II, as photographed by the Earl of Rochester, in doing wise things as well as saying them. Of course, you recall the famous motto written on the door of Charles' bed chamber: Here lies our sovereign lord the king. Whose word no man relies on; Me never says a foolish thing. Nor ever does a wise one.’ President Taft has taken Charles' place Since I have been in Washington I have seen the appropriation bills grow from a little over four hundred millions of dollars annually to o\er a thousand millions. You will recall the howl about the ' Id! lion-dol lar Congress’. We have witnessed the change to a two-hillion-dollar Con gress without much comment. The newspapers seem to take it as a mat ter of course and are always harping on the growth of the country as a Justiflcation This growth has been marvellous, but the expansion in population and wealth has not kept pace with the growth of the taxes or expenditures. I have heard Senator Alifrich, who surely was an expert on levying taxes for the purposes of protection, proclaim on the floor of the Senate his belief that the Govern ment could he run for $200,000,000 less than is now being appropriatiat- ed. "'Being on the committe^^n ap propriations in the Senate, ^ know just how the appropriation b.iis have grown so rapidly. It Is largely due to personal influence and importuni ty. Some clerk or officer under the Government wants an increase in Ms salary, and his Senator or Congress man goes to some one on the com mittee on appropriations, very often and asks for the item to go in. I have often done it myself to oblige a friend. An in crease in the salary of one man pro duces a desire or demand to increase others, and the result is that s.he fig ures are moved op all along the line. This happens in one bureau and im mediately other bureaus begin to clamor for increases, and so it goes. "Then men have haunted the Con gress, since I have been here, with schemes for new bureaus. I have seen these created, many of them necessary and useful, but some of them worthless and mere vehicles to spend money and create places for friends. “Then commission after commis sion has been appointed for any and every conceivable purpose to make fat places for friends, very often ‘lame ducks’ who have been repud iated by their constituents. I have seen Republican Presidents who hare been glad to take care of Democratic ‘lame ducks’. In Cleveland’s time I saw Democrats who had been repud iated by their home people on ac count of free sifter rewarded with Judgeships and appointments on com missions. "I do not want to tire you. so 1 will stop this enumeration until I can have the pleasure of talking with you in person. This I do know, iMr. Pres ident, that If the Democrats are in earnest about reducing expenditures, it Is an eaay matter to do It, and that, too, without crippling the Govern ment. It will mean the selection of Cabinet officers who will not be at all comptaikant, but Intent only on hav ing the Government machine work smoothly, accurately and effectively for the benefit of the office holders. The estimates are all made up by Cabinet officers, and appropriations are always based on estimates, or supposed to be, unless they come as Independent propositions from the floor of the Senate Chamber itself. I know you understand the impor tance of a loyal Cabinet in sympathy with this idea of economy. What we need in the United States is more at tention to the needs and protection of the taxpayers than to the wishes and desires of the tax eaters. "There are any number of build ings in Washington rented at high prices from local real estate agents for Government use. Some of these are necessary, no doubt; but many of them are not necessary at all. This city Is a veritable Augean stable and the ‘daughters of the horseleech’ are abroad and always crying, ‘give, give’. "Some-of the departments are very much cramped for lack of room. These are clamorous for new build ings. Government buildings have been erected for one purpose, and al most before they are completed the demand grew up for that use to be discontinued and the buildings ap propriated for some other use, or rather new one. > "When I first came here the mem bers of the House had no place to re ceive their visitors or constituents, while the Senators had the ‘marble room’ and overflow Senators who had no committee rooms were quar tered in the Malthy. The House con ceived the idea of building a palace for the use of its members; the Sen ate immediately demanded and en forced that demand to build one for their own use. The marble palaces we now have are the result. Un doubtedly they supply a want, but not a necessity, except on the part of the House. Recently the House has demanded that the Senate turn the Malthy building over to it, and I un derstand this will be done when the new Congress meets In March. There Is much lost space in the Senate of fice building which could well be utilized to good advantage for other purposes if the Senate would agree. "But why go Into all of these de tails’’ You will find It all out when you come to Washington. Speaking with a very Intelligent clerk not long ago he made this significant state ment: ‘Senator, the only way to re duce expenses is to have Senators and Congressmen who will rise In their places and inquire to know why cer tain Items are in the appropriation oills when they are not needed, and say so, and thus call the attention of the country to them.’ 1 know this to be true But the rule is rather to im rease tban to reduce. ’ .My long service lo re and the cus- tnm which has obtained almost from the beginning of the Governno-nt en titles me to select from among the committees of which I am a m < her a chairmanship. 1 am senior M< nio- ( rat on three important committees and can select the chairmanship of either one of them: Appropriations, interstate commerce and naval af fairs. "I want you to tell me frankly on which one of these committees you think I can best serve your adminis tration and the country, for I will servo the country best bf serving Wilson s administration best. "The committee on appropriations, as you know, applies the money, or designates how it shall be spent on many appropriation bills. The com mittee on Indian affairs, the com mittee on naval affairs, the commit tee on military affairs, the committee on rivers and harbors ami the com mittee on pensions make up their own appropriation bills. Thus there is no co-ordination and general un derstanding hy one committee and its head as to the scope and amount of all the appropriations. This was the way it was done when I first came to Congress. I remember what a bit ter fight the change from this system to the general distribution of the ap- propr+ation MHs* brought abernt. There was too much work for any one committee to do, and it gave one many too much power. The phange was salutary in that respect, but it has largely been responsible for the increased expenses, taken as a whole. "The committee on finance in the Senate ought to be divided as it is in the House, one part of it to deal with the tariff and the taxes to raise mon ey, while the other deals with bank ing and currency and the money problem. The committee on interstate com merce, while of minor importance at first, has come to be one of the most important in Congress. It deals with the problem of transportation in all of its ramifications. This problem has come to be one of the greatest of the age. The gamblers In New York, Boston and Chicago who manipulate the stocks and bonds of the banks and railroad securities,-have amassed great fortunes based on water alone. Multi-millionaires have multiplied with great rapidity, and the masses of the people are expected to sustain these fortunes .by paying dividends on stocks snd bonds which never had til he no longer needed them any honest or real foundation. Pter- ,‘ont Morgan and men of that type have been the prime movers and leaders in amassing wealth of this kind. Having ‘scrambled the eggs’ they boldly stand and ask the com mittees of Congress what they are going to do about it. Rockefeller, who has amassed millions by mono polies which could have been pre vented by an honest enforcement of the Sherman law, rolls in wealth and snaps bis fingers at the House com mittee. Carnegie, whose hundreds of millions have been stolen from the people through Roosevelt’s conniv ance gt his organization of the Steel Trust and the absorption of the Ten nessee Coal and Iron Company, tries to buy immortality by giving back to the people a modicum of money in the shape of libraries, etc. "If you and I were to go into a restaurant and there see the cook mixing rotten eggs to scramble for us would we eat the dish when the ♦aiter brought it to us or would we throw It out of the window? The temper of the American people is to throw the eggs out of the window. Your greater problem will be how to "unscramble eggs” and bring back the railroads of the country to an honest basis. This will involve a valuation of the railroad properties to find out their actual value, not cost, of the railroads. The commit tee on interstate commerce will have to do this work, if it be done, and I am therefore incline to take that bur den upon my shoulders, if you so ad vise, an 1 select that chairmanship. "The committee on naval affairs has to deal with the question of an ’adequate navy’. This is the happy phrase of the Democratic platform adopted at Baltimore. Just, what is an ‘adequate and well-proportioned’ navy must be determined. Whether it shall be Hobsonlzed to make a market for structural steel and ar mor plate manufacturers, or give us such a fleet as will be sufficient for the needs of the country, is a ques tion to be settled. "My health has been too poor for me to keep abreast of things as I used to do. But I have tried to keep in touch enough and have kept in touch enough to believe that we have a good enough navy now, and only need to maintain it at its pres ent degree of efficiency The fifteen or twenty millions of dollars requir ed to build a first-class battleship of the best type can do so many more things for the people, and better things, that I do not feel willing to see the money sunk that way, espec ially when the life of such a vessel is only about twenty years Already the Oregon made famous In the S[>ani8h- American war, is obsolete «nd ready for the junk pile. "If I take the committee on ap propriations. I can help Reduce ex penses; if 1 take the committee on interstate commerce, I can assist In ‘unscrambling the eggs'; if 1 take the committee on naval affairs, I can resist as be*t I may may tl^e clamor which has been nursed by the money of the stt-el manufacturers and ar mor-plate people for an ever-increas ing navy My streng’h is limited as you know: my will Is equal to any task. I realize every day more and more that for the purposes of this world a live jackass is better than a dead Senator "Please think this over and give me your advice in the same spirit I have written you. "Very sincerely, yours, ■'U. It. Tillman.” “State of New Jersey, Executive De partment. "Jan 3 0, 1913. "Brief absence from my office and constant absorption with the busi ness connected with the opening of our legislative session here have pre vented my replying sooner to your most interesting and Important let ter of the 21st. I want you to know with what deep and genuine appre ciation I have read it. I thank you for it very warmly, ind^td. "Confidentially, the appropriations committee is the committee on which you would have the hardest work, but your letter convinced me that it is also the committee in which your interest chiefly lies and where you can certainly be of the greatest and most constant service. "Ever since I was a youngster I have been deeply interested in our methods of financial legislation. Ev er since then 1 have insisted upon the absolute necessity of a carefully considered and wisely planned bud get, and one of the objects I shall have most in mind when I get to Washington will be conferences with my legislative colleagues there with a view to bringing some budget sys tem into existence. This business of building up the expenses of the na tion, piece by piece, will certainly lead up to error and perhaps embar rassment. "I was very much pleased by your re-election and shall look forward with the greatest interest to being associated with you in council. "Again thanking you for your splendid letter. "Cordially yours.” “Woodrow Wilson. "The Hon. Benjamin R. Tillman, Washington, D. C.” Contrast my services and work for the party with Senator Martin’s. Last, summer at Baltimore I led the South Carolina delegation. South Caro lina’s 18 votes were cast first, last and all the time for Woodrow Wil son, while Virginia, led by Martin, never did give Wilson spy rotes un- In June, while the Conrention was still balloting snd the question as to who would receive the nomination hung In the balance, Mr. Martin gave out an Interview and here Is what he had to say about the political sit uation. and his feelings and his ad vice to the Virginians as to what candidate they ought to support. It speaks for itself, too, and I have no comments to make: "Virginians support Oscar W. Under wood—They will vote for him as long as he has chance for nomina tion—Martin Is strong for him— Men from Old Dominion will be classed among the Conservatives. "The great majority of the Vir ginia delegation,” said Senator Thos. S. Martin this afternoon, "will, I am sure, vote for Underwood. I believe that after the first ballot the unit rule will be voted by the necessary two-thirds majority. It ought to be. There is every reason why Under wood should be the nominee; none why he should not be. He is a man of pronounced ability, of clean life, of unblemished record. He has been highly successful as the party leader in the House. Doubt as to his avail ability because he is a Southern man is heard only from our own people. I have yet^to hear of such objection from the North. "I hope all the Virginia delegates will vote for Judge Barker for tem porary chairman. He has been al ways a loyal party worker, and it would be an outrage to defeat him merely on the ipse dixit of Mr. Bryan, who chooses to call him a reaction ary. "Of course, I do not mean that Virginia should ket^p on voting for Underwood if it turns out there is no chance for him. She would then go to some one else, perhaps Clark, per haps Harmon—to any one rather than to Woodrow Wilson, who has done nothing to deserve party honors unless to help wreck l-t in his own State." Is there any progress!veness about this? "Another phase of this subject and I am through. I have been on thf* rack, as it were, ever since the cau cus met on Monday, last, and have persistently refused to consider get ting off the committee on appropria tions or of giving up Its chairman ship It seemed that this demand was so insistent that suspicions came into my mind, and in analyzing the si: nation I grew very angry. I de clared to the gentlemen of the com mittee who came to see me about it that if I were turned down in caucus I would carry the fight into the Sen ate itself Yesterday morning, when there had he. n no conclusion of the case. I went to the capitol and began writing a speech to be delivered in caucus and was engaged on It nearly all day It was not enough, I assure you. so hot that it almost burned the paper it was written on. for I was angry from the ground up and my indignation was such that I pulled ihe bridle < ff an ! gave free rein to mv \itro!ic tongue. Some of you who have heard me in da\s past know that Mo re are f- w non who c,.n surpass me in sa>ing tilting and \ nolo t U »* things. I was in this frame of notol la>t night, hut, as is often the ■ a-e with men of my temperaiit. I s;•» nt only two or three hour-, and t hen a ak••.] up an d began to think Ml public men know that -omo of Mo ir best MoutiMits and speeches have come to them in this way I myself know that if 1 could have recollected them next day I have made better speeches In tied than I have ever made on the plat form or rostrum. When 1 analyzed the situation and the conditions here my anger vanished. I thought how- pitiful and contemptible in compari son was my fight for my rights and the rights of my State as compared with the great battle to he fought and now being fought by Democracy for the rights of the people. I had thought and written hitter things but my passion was stilled and entirely disappeared when I remembered President Wilson’s clarion in the last paragraph of his inaugural address: " 'I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men. to my side. God helping me, I will not fail them, if they will but coun sel and sustain me.’ ” "I decided to write another speech this morning and tell my brother Democrats just how I feel, and then leave it all. to them. I still, feel a great injustice has been done me in this report, I also feel that-Senator Martin has not acted the noble part I expected of him as a Virginian, for not once but twice and even three times since I came to Washington in January he has told me he wanted me to have on the committees what ever place I was entitled to and de sired; and he has never notified me that he had changed his feelings or purpose. Senator Martin, after mak ing these voluntary statements and pledges to me, became a member of the steering committee which has given him my chairmanship. Fair ness and decency, it seems to me, required him to notify me of his change of mind and attitude towards me. He, never at any time expressed any uneasiness about my health to me. Had he none so, his conduct would not seem so despicable. When I talked with him about his own race for the chairmanship of the caucus and mentioned to him that I wanted the committee on appropriations he advised me to say nothing about it and keep others guessing, which I did It is this phase of the subject which I do not understand. I would hate to believe there has been any understanding or any promises or ; pledges made As I have no proof I must perforce leave my accusations unsaid. But I can not help.the sua- plcion that there must have been a deal of some kind or Senator Martin would not have jetked without a show down. While I am no longer able to battle on the floor of the Senate and deliv er phillippicB as I one did I am still able to give counsel and advice. I am still able to say "NO ”, and spell it with capitals, too, and that is what is needed on the committee on appro priations. I outlined in my letter to President Wilson my Ideas as to why the appropriations have grown so rapidly and why so much money is being squandered needlessly. My am bition is as chairman of the commit tee on appropriations to bring into the Senate bills which have passed the House without increasing the amounts at all, and, if possible, to bring in the bills reducing them as they passed the House. I believe it is possible to do this. In fact, I know it, and if I am given help on the committee of young and willing men, earnestly striving for the same object, I will do it. Then, Senators, contrast the way the Republicans treat their old men and the way ours are being treated. Senator Allison was kept chairman of the committee on appropriations as long as he uas in the Senate, al though in his last years he was very leebhr Sutiator Perkins, although far more fueble than 1 am. is still chairman of the committee on naval affairs. Senator Cullom, when ho retired from the Senate on the fourth of March, was still chairman of the committee on foreign relations. They do not demote and discredit their old leaders because of age. I have said more than one?, and to more people than one. that if the wrong was not righted in the caucus I would carry it to the Senate itself, which, under Rule 24, must elect its committees. My idea in going to the Senate was to get into the Record, for preservation for the future his torian, my > indication and defence, as it were But when I considered the spectacle which I would present to the country by allowing my griev ances against the party, however jus tified. to militate against that unity and harmony which ought to pn*- vail among us. I decided tint it was a iuomw and 1 hade the devil get behind tile PemotraMc harmony atid concert of action are more necessary at this time than anything I know of Dem ocratic discipline is also needed very, very much, for as compared with the Republicans we are an untrained mob with little knowledge of par liamentary law and very little effec tive knowledge of the rules of the Senate. Yesterday one of the newspaper boys told me he had seen the two Georr i S'-rriturs in am ' able con!* r- enoe in •!,•■ t • r.’ luratit Du me ! .ately the th” iv 1 ’* t'.i-io-1 'ti my mind, if II a( 1111 a:, i '' .re Sttii'h are friendly a!t.r what h.i-' ha(»|eti'd why should Duke Sm.th and Tillman fall nut about if I have already :n the r.im u•*, Odd Hnke S’l.'Ml low I felt atm'lt D o I’tlb' till’ e,.|! r.C M;e pl.O e n' IT' S- 'dent pro tempore, ami it was that m !. c i, at ion wtii. h prompted the in i' trow with th< i ..rre.spondent of The \ M.inta ('"ii^t i' ti t ion I used Mo* word "Progressives' in that interview The reporter chang ed it to "( inspirators", and when 1 hastily revised the intervMw. I did not note the change in the language I do not feel that those Senators who brought about Bacon's defeat were conspirators at all. They merely ex pressed their preference as between the two men as they had a right to do. I know If they saw this inter view they must have become angry, because it was un'ust I recognize that now, and desire to apologize to them for using the word in the inter view I also desire to apologize to Senator Hoke Smith for the way I have treated him. My regret is more keen because I have since learned only last night that he was my friend on the steer ing committee and battled manfully to keep the rest from demoting me or giving Mr. Martin the chairman ship of appropriations. Yesterday, when I was so hot, a reporter for a Georgia paper came into my room and said something about Bacon and Hoke Smith talking -about Xieargia^ patFOftage-aftd-express^ ed surprise that they should be speaking to each other. I told him I hoped Hoke Smith would never speak to me again: but I do not feel that way now. I am always ready and willing—nay- anxious—to make the amends honorable when I am in error, and that is my reason for speaking as I do. The other day I said I loved the two Georgia Senators. I did not tell the exact truth. I do love Senator Bacon, and was beginning to like Hoke Smith very much. I hope I shall continue to like him, and will unless he gives me just reason not to. We have need in the Senate of brains, for we presented a sorry spectacle yesterday for lack of con sultation among the leaders and con cert of action. The party is so new In its role of conducting affairs that the people must make allowances. The new men are nearly all awkward and green, and unless they acquaint themselves thoroughly with the rules and precedents, they will be subject ed to very many mortifications, and the party Itself will become a laugh ing stock.