The Horry herald. (Conway, S.C.) 1886-1923, April 04, 1912, Image 11
__ ?? * 1
' " *
I
j
FEDERAL APPROPRIAT!
IMPROVEMENT 0
Right and Duty of Congress U
tion of the 1
(Extracts from speech of Oscar \V.
resentatives, April 1, 1908.)
The House being in Committee of
Union, and having under conaiderai
appropriations for the Department of
June 30, 1909?
Mr. Underwood said:
Mr. Chairman: Objection is made
1 provement of our pubiic-road system
I SPrvfH nnwcrc r\f +V?^.
? rvi.v>d wi mt .ji.ai.cfc. I Wlfcll
this House more jealous in his desir
States than 1 am. 1 believe the sove
their duties to perform and should pei
the part of the Federal Government,
should enter into the legislative fields
believe that the Federal Government,
duty to perform under the powers giv<
give force and effect to the grants of
of these grants of power, to u^e the la
lish post-oftices and post-roads."
There can be no question whatever
to build post-roads in the United St<
build post-oliices, and to establish post
tlemen may scoff at the proposition a:
plate our present development and n
they contemplated building roads to ca
did not dream of a time coming whe
farmer's door. But I want to say, Mr
in the United States was no greater
******
Mr. Douglas. Where does the gent
authorizing the Federal Government t
Mr. Underwood. Why, it is very c
to the Federal Government "to establi
Mr. Douglas. The language of the
and that has been held to be a very c
Mr. Williams. That question was d
decided in favor of the construction c
very men who wrote the Constitution.
Mr. Underwood. The contention th
Republican party that the Government
tional power to aid the States in buile
tained by the leading men of the nati
existence as a Government
******
On March 14, 1818, the House of f
olution:
*
"Rcsolzcd, That Congress has p
propriate money for the eonstructi
roads, and of canals, and for the
p. Thomas Jefferson said, in a letter to
"Give us peace till our revenues
war he neeessarv. it ran he rarrierl
during peace we may checker oui
etc. This is the object to which a!
While Secretary of War in 1819 M:
I of Representatives on roads and canals
*'No object of the kind is more i
State or individual capacity is nio:
by the General Government or not
In addition to this, Congress has a
making this appropriation, under the
*'to establish post-offices and post-roa'
* tional Law, says:
A * v
m . "-F.vptv rnari n jr
1 vision is made for tl^e transportatic
A Southern Presidential
Possibility
In the mention of. Oscar W. Underwood,
of Alabama, for the Democratic
Presidential nomination resides a good
deal more than a suggestion that we
nave got too far away from the Civil
War era to regard a statesman as necessarily
"unavailable" because he comes
from a commonwealth that was a member
of the Southern Confederacy.
Of the men now before the country
as possible or probable Democratic
candidates for the Presidency, Underwood
is certainly one of the strongest.
He has had a fine training in Congress,
and is in himself a man of natural force
and large capacity for work?and workers
are what we want in executive positions.
He has been a member of the
tt _ r r> r?_ c.c
riouse 01 ivcpi cscmdu vcs ivi sumc mteen
years, and has risen by force of
merit, and nothing but merit, to a position
which made it inevitable that he
should be Chairman of the Committee
on Ways and Means when the Democrats
came into control of the popular
branch of the Government. He has the
youth, the environment, the enthusiasm,
the courage, the political sagacity, and
the statesmanly qualities fully to justify
his consideration in connection with the
Presidential nomination.
Mr. Underwood is a conservative man,
who is capable of entertaining progressive
ideals and at the same time of
realizing fully the duty and the necessity
for conserving substantial interests
of the community. The Democratic
party might go farther and do vastly
worse than if it should nominate him
as its standard-bearer of 1912.?Munsey's
Magazine, January, 1912.
UNDERWOOD IN THE WEST
"I am gratified to see this State moving
onward in almost every line and I
note the wonderful growth of Birmingham.
I observe that The Age-Herald
has kept full step with the progressive
spirit and has led in the work.
"The growing strength of Oscar Underwood
in the minds of the people
throughout the United States has given
Alabama a kind of publicity that the
State could obtain in no other way,
particularly on the great question of
the tariff, for it was not thought that
one would come out of Alabama with
its varied interests who would be a
David to defy the trusts. Oscar Underwood
is regarded by many men as
the best equipped, cleanest, fairest man
to-day mentioned for the presidency. If
he is nominated, he will undoubtedly
win. If any strong sentiment of the
South demands his election he will be
nominated. Out in Colorado, with its
thousands of visitors from all parts
of the United States, he is the first man
named bv most of them. The prom
inence given to his candidacy by the
magazines and the public press has
caused a strong tide to rise which I
hope and believe will carry him to the
White House. I took much pleasure
in aiding in organizing the Underwood
Club in Denver, and it is doing good
work unquestionably."?Harry Hawkins,
of New York, in the Birmingham, Ala.,
Age-Hercid, January 8. 1912.
?
IONS FOR THE
F OUR PUBLIC ROADS
???i
nquestioned from the FoundaGovernment
Underwood in the U. S. House of Repthe
Whole House on the state of the
don the bill (H. R. 19158) making
Agriculture for the liscal year ending
to this appropriation looking to the im- J
on the ground that it invades the reto
say there is no man on the lloor of
e to protect the reserved rights of the
reign States composing the Union have
form thein without aid or hindrance on
t do not believe the Central Government
that belong solely to the States, but 1
within its well-defined powers, has its
tn it by the Constitution; that it should
power given it by the States, and one
.nguage of the Constitution, is *'to estabthat
the Constitution carries the power
ites. To establish post-oihces means to
-roacis means to build post-roads. Uennd
say that the fathers did not contemtiodern
methods of transportation; that
rry the mail through the wilderness and
:n the mail could be delivered at every
. Chairman, that the need for post-roads
in the days of the fathers than today.
******
:leman find anything in the Constitution
o build post-roads?
lear. The Constitution gives the power
ish post-offices and post-roads."
Constitution is to ''establish" post-roads,
lifferent thing from building them,
iscussed in the Third Congress and was
>f the Cumberland road by some of the
at is made today by the leaders of the
: of the United States has no constituling
good roads was certainly not mainion
during the first half century of our
******
Representatives passed the following resower
under the Constitution to apon
of post-roads, military and other
improvement of waterways."
Mr. Lieper, in 1S08:
are liberated from debt, and then, if
[ on without a new tax or loan, and
r whole country with canals, roads,
11 our endeavors should be directed."
r. Calhoun made a report to the House
, in which he said:
mportant and there is none to which
re inadequate. It must be perfected
perfected at all."
stronger and more specific warrant for
authority conferred by the Constitution
ds." Cooley, in his book on ConstituicbidHqL.
tunjpike?.
>n of the mails upon or over it."
The Conservative
South
Not many days ago, it was suggested
in an editorial in this paper that the people
of that section of the Union that
tried a half a century ago to break up
the Union of the States, might possibly
turn out to be the home of a conservatism
tha> would stand as a barrier
against a enange in our scheme of government
that would destroy the fabric
of the Constitution adopted by our wise
forefathers, and ratified by the States
that had fought for and achieved independence
and freedom.
As evidence that such a thing may be
among the possibilities a paragraph is
here quoted from a speech made by
Hon. Oscar W. Underwood, of Alabama,
to the Young Men's Democratic
League of St. Louis:
''Some Democrats want to put
the initiative and referendum
plank into the national platform
of the Democratic party. I
think that would be unwise.
The initiative and referendum
as a local issue is sometimes
successful. But when you attempt
to apply it to the United
States you destroy the entire
fabric of the Constitution. We
are not a true democracy. This
is a representative Government."
As the reader knows, Mr. Underwood
is the Chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee of the House of Representatives
at Washington. But for the fact
that he is a native and a life-long resident
of the South he would stand a fine
chance to be made the Democratic candidate
for President next year. Candor
compels the statement that he is as well
qualified for the performance of the duties
of the great office as any one in
his party who has been mentioned in
that connection, and it is not doubted
that if elected he would make a safe
President.?Knoxville Journal and Tribune,
October 24, 1911.
nniunrD ATir i c a ncDCHto
1/juiTiv/vi\/t i iv i^iuni/uxv^nir
The most salient fact connected with
the story of the bill in the present Congress
is the remarkable strength of the
Democratic tactics, and the high quality
shown by Mr. Underwood, the leader
of the party on the floor. The "farmer's
free list" bill was a master stroke, and
Mr. Underwood utilized it in the debate
with an effectiveness that left nothing to
be desired. What gives real strength to
the Democratic position is that the party
is grappling with a big and difficult
question in a spirit that is at once
courageous and practical. If there is to
be an era of such leadership as that represented
by Mr. Underwood, the term
"practical politics" may be rescued from
the ignominy into which it has fallen
and recover the meaning to which it is
legitimately entitled.?Nezv York Evening
Post, reproduced in The El Dorado
Suit (Weekly), El Dorado Springs, Mo.
UNDERWOODCLEAN
O
PA]
His name is Oscar W. Underwood; \
his years are on the sunshine side of
fifty. As chief of the Ways and Means,
and chairman of the Committee on Committees,
he is Speaker Clark's right arm
in the House.
Mr. Underwood's cry is "Tariff for
revenue only!" When Mr. Bryan, eaten
of a rule-or-ruin spirit, came to Washington
at the beginning of the special
session to trouble the waters of party
hope with an attack upon the wool bill
as proposed by the Democrats, Mr. Underwood,
in going after Mr. Bryan,
stated his own tariff position. Said he:
"The Democratic party stands for a
tariff for revenue. The Democratic
party does not stand for free trade,
and I do not believe the people will
be misled by the statement of Mr.
Bryan."
That Mr. Underwood is against protection,
and fights it, evinces his courage.
He comes from the Birmingham
district in Alabama?a breeding-ground
of protection. In Mr. Underwood's district
there are nine railroads, one hundred
and forty-eight miles of street-car
tracks, $150,000,000 of invested industries,
an annual pig-iron output of
2.000,000 tons, and a production of
15.000,000 tons of coal. The city of
Birmingham has an annual pay-roll of
$50,000,000. The Tennessee Coal & Iron
Company, which is a part of the Steel
Trust, controls one-third of all the prod-1
UNDERWOOD'S
CI
In this morning's magazine section
of The Times our readers will find the
very interesting report of an inquiry
by a staff correspondent into the record
and repute, in his own home, of the
Hon. Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama,
who has recently been discussed
as a possible Democratic candidate for
the presidency. It is needless to say
that The Times is not concerned to advance
the interests of any gentleman
in this direction in preference to any
other: It is concerned only in laying
before its readers such information,
carefully gathered and impartially presented,
as will aid in the formation of
sound public opinion and a choice that
will be to the greatest advantage of the
Nation.
We think our readers will agree that
any party may be congratulated among
whose prominent men, to whpm the
eyes of the party are directed on the
eve of a presidential campaign, there
is one with such standing among those
who know him best as Mr. Underwood
has. Plainly he is a man to be trusted,
because he is trusted, for his integrity,
pii#L\> civic courage, and a?<ity, by his
own people. Whether, when the time,
is one^element that will enter into the
pr^lem which may well receive attenA
Voice
From Virginia
"All of the avowed aspirants are
men of distinction and merit, but my
individual opinion is that the party has
an opportunity to make a magnificent
selection by choosing for its standard
bearer in 1912 the wise, well-balanced
and thoroughly equipped Alabamian*
Hon. Oscar Underwood.
"Mr. Underwood's record in states*
manship is a good enough guarantee
of his fitness for the White House.
He measures up to all the requirements
of the exalted position. He is fearless
and broad-minded, and there is nothing
of the demagogue in his composition.
Some will cavil at his Southern origin
and raise the oft-reoeated crv that no
Southerner can be elected to the presidency.
This bugaboo is raised in spite
of the fact that all the leading papers
of the North and South and all writers
of any note have declared time and
again that sectional feeling and prejudice,
based on the war of '61-65, have
died out completely.
"If that be true is there any longer
any valid reason against going to the
South for a candidate? If Mr. Underwood's
personality and public service
render him peculiarly available should
the matter of location bar him from the
nomination? The idea is absurd."?
Hon. A. C. Broxton, of Richmond, Va.,
in The Baltimore Sun, January, 1912.
UNDERWOOD LOOMS UP
Whether the disclaimer of Representative
Oscar W. Underwood of candidacy
for the Democratic nomination for
president is to stand or not, there is no
question that he is looming large and
seriously, no less at the North than at
the South, as a possibility, if not this
time, then in the near future. Mr.
Underwood is making a widespread and
distinctive impression, not only as the
honest, bold, sagacious leader of the
House majority, and not only as a masterful
Southern Democrat, but as an
American publicist and statesman?a
man of affairs and broad concept of
his responsibility to the whole people.?
Richmond, Va., Times-Dispatch, reprinted
in the Birmingham, Ala., AgeHerald,
January 22, 1912.
HEARS MUCH POLITICAL TALK
"In traveling through the country I
hear no end of political talk/' said
James A. Braun, sales manager of the
Wyeth Chemical Company of New
York.
"During the past five or six weeks 'I
have heard Underwood very much discussed
as a presidential proposition. I
found in the Carolinas a great deal of
Underwood sentiment. I have been
keeping up with Underwood's record
in Congress, and I believe that his
commanding position in the Democratic
party will be appreciated by the rank
and file of the Democracy."?AgeHerald,
Birmingham, Ala., Jan. 7, 1912.
-HOUSE LEADE
DURAGE, HIGH
[THFUL IN HIS
ucts of the district. One-third of all the
iron-ore holdings of the Steel Trust are
in and around Birmingham. Surely, at
first glance, a bad outlook for a tariff
reformer! And yet Mr. Underwood
succeeds and re-succeeds himself with
ever climbing majorities.
It is the Underwood honesty that
does it?that, and his clean courage.
The dominant quality in Mr. Underwood
is honesty, and folk have found it out.
Honesty is among the scarcest of earthly
commodities, and when a community
has discovered it in the possession of
an individual, it guards it and works it
like a gold-mine for every final ounce.
Mr. Underwood is honest: His election
was not the work of money. He
was not chosen as either the pet of the
railroads or the first-born of the trusts.
Ilis seat was given him by the people,
and because they believed he would fill
it to the best of public advantage.
1 ins emanation or the popular gives ;
Mr. Underwood the House high ground,!
and he is so far military in his genius ;
that he knows how to fortify and hold
it. From his place as a people's representative,
he can overstare and keep in
check the Paynes and the Dalzells and
the Crumpackers, who are present merely
by the grace of pirate money, and
dwell, therefore, on House levels much
lower than his own.?Alfred Henry
Lewis in the Cosmopolitan, New York,
Tanuary, 1912.
ijc * * * * * *
As the head of the Ways and Means
J INTEGRITY, F
VIC COURAGE
tion even thus early. It is the fact
that'Mr. Underwood is a man of Southern
birth, a Representative from a Southern
State. There is a feeling, rather
than a definite opinion, which finds expression
more often in his own section
than in the North, and perhaps more
often in his own party than in the opposite
party, that this fact would be a
source of weakness if Mr. Underwood
were named by the Democracy.
Of course, this is a matter not easily
to be decided with confidence in advance.
There has been no occasion for
a distinct expression of public sentiment
J v i_ 1 .if ^
regarding it. it is a nan century since
a Southern candidate for the presidency
came before the Nation, and a good
deal longer than that since one was
elected. Great events have intervened
and left their impress on the minds
and hearts of men, the depth and direction
of "which no one can surely estimate.
Our own judgment is that a
candidate from the South?other things
being equal?would not be weaker and
might even be the stronger for that fact.
In a broad way, it may safely be said
that there is in our people now a sense
of tried and proved and established
nationality which might, and probably
would, welcome an opportunity for
IftK-Tr'v/ tad
Union. It has been steadily strengthened
by "The conditions of our Sational
Jackscrew or Axe
That with the Democratic party already
in power in the House, and having
a visible chance of coming into complete
power in the National Government,
it is of interest to learn from
what viewpoint the actual pilot-in-charge
of the Democracy's legislative ship looks
at his task and by what stars he shapes
his course.
Are they fixed and steadfast lights of
the political firmament or are they merely
those will-o'-the wisps that flame up
as "paramount issues" for this year,
only to be forgotten next year? We
get a comforting light on this question
from another remark by Mr. Underwood
:
"I think the big question is the tariff.
It is the question of the development of
the industries and commerce of the
nation."
From a Democrat that is a remark
well-nigh startling. It exhibits such an
unusual viewpoint. It is almost like
hearing Andrew Carnegie confess that
there might be such a thing as a righteous
war. Heretofore, our Democratic
statesmen have so uniformly declared
that there was nothing to the tariff
question but stopping "robbers" from
robbing.
They never seemed to think of a tariff
as having anything to do with the development
of industries and commerce.
Mr. Underwood does. He says we
should reduce our tariff because with
the settlement of the West we have left
behind the days when our home market
absorbed the products of our factories
and left us no surplus for which we
needed to look for a market abroad.
He holds that our industrial development
has outstripped the increase in
domestic demand, and that we are producing,
or at least have the existing capacity
to produce, a great surplus of
manufactures for which we must find
markets in other countries. Therefore,
and since "we cannot trade with other
people unless we permit them to trade
with us," reduce the tariff to a competitive
basis?to the "lowest rates that will
raise the revenues that the exigencies
of the Government require."
One may agree or disagree with that
theory of tariff-making. One may disbelieve
that its effects will be "development
of the industries and commerce of
the nation." But at least it is a theory
consistent with itself and professing
constructive aims and not merely clamoring
for destruction.
And its proponent is no doctrinaire
fresh from academic halls with his noddle
crammed with "solutions" of everything.
Neither is he the freak product
of passing popular delight with the latest
novelty among politcal entertainers."?
Chicago Inter-Ocean, September 26,
1911.
ESTIMATE OF OPPONENTS
Men like Payne and Mann declare
him to be the most resourceful antagonist
they have found on the Demo- ,
cratic side. A skillful parliamentarian,
a good speaker, holding himself always ;
in perfect control, he is a model leader, ,
and his following is daily increasing.?
Washington Correspondence in The
Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia, Pa.,
June, 1911.
1R
HONESTY
FRIENDSHIPS1
Committee, Mr. Underwood has shown
himself to be the right man in the right
place. What advances are made by the
party in 1912 will be due largely to him.
He knows tariff in all its schedule
windings, as a man knows the hallways
of his own house. He has wisdom. He
has temper and spirit, but is neither
unreasonable nor vindictive. I have
faith in the tariff thoroughness of Mr.
Underwood. If I owned the revenues
of the Government, I shouldn't hesitate
to employ him as night-watchman.?
Alfred Henry Lewis, in the Cosmopolitan,
January, 1912.
* * " * * * * *
Mr. Underwood is faithful in his
friendships. To those whom he casuallv
meets, he is affable, albeit non-committal,
keeping his own counsel. He is
never rude nor hard; never violent,
even with blood foes. For the stranger
within his gates his air is gentle and
frank. He is easy to see, and, speaking
generally, has been ever careful to keep
himself within the reach of all. Newspaper
folk, sent to Mr. Underwood by
some stress of duty, never fail to like
him. He has his dignity, but there is
no reserve. He maintains no distances
between himself and them. He answers
a question with a round readiness, or
says plainly that he can't answer it and
tells why. He expedites the business in
hand, and will even anticipate the purpose
of one's coming, and put questions
to himself.?Alfred Henry Lewis, in the
Cosmopolitan, New York, January, 1912.
'URLTY
AND ABILITY
life and especially by the intimate, extensive,
and increasing intercommunication
within our borders. Our people
have for forty years literally lived together,
and always more and more
closely. They have gradually ceased
to think in terms of sections, and the
South is to-day no more distinct and
apart from the East or the Middle
YVest or the West in the minds of those
who dwell elsewhere.
In the next place, no one under sixty
has any personal experience of the
civil conflict, and that means not merely
that the majority but that the great
body of voters are without this experience.
It is more than a quarter of
a century since the "Southern _ Question"
entered even nominally into a
National contest. If it were raised
now by any party, and those who would
be influenced by it had to stand up
and be counted, we believe they would
be ludicrously few. On the other han-d,
we are confident that, were the issue
made, a great many voters?chiefly
among those who were most earnest in
their loyalty in the civil war?would by
a common impulse of generosity and of
self-respect incline toward the Southern
candidate. If forced really to thini?'of
tied ferever.?The New York Times,
November 26, 1911. ^
A Voice
From Florida
"Oscar Underwood, however, has
more friends than any man mentioned
for the Democratic presidential nomination.
He is more popular throughout
the country with all the Democrats than
the others. He is almost the unanimous
second choice. If you ask the Harmon
men who they would be for in case
Harmon could not be nominated they
will say Underwood; when you ask the
Wilson men the same question as to
Wilson, they reply that if Wilson can
not be the nominee, Underwood is their
choice; and the same thing is true of
the Champ Clark men."?T. A. Jennings,
National Committeeman from Florida,
in the Pcnsacola Evening News, Friday
evening.. January 12, 1912.
1YIK. Ul^iULKWUUU
Meanwhile Mr. Underwood has a
work to do in Washington for which he
has revealed a remarkable aptitude. It
is not too much to say that the existing
harmony among the Democratic members
of the House, and the ability they
showed at the last session to work together,
are largely due to his skillful
leadership. He proposes to resume the
task of tariff revision at the point where
it was interrupted by the President's
vetoes.?The Providence (R. I.) Journal,
December 2, 1911.
?_____
UNDERWOOD
AND THE PAPERS
The careful reader of the newspapers
is surprised at one notable feature of
the papers from practically every section
of the country. This feature is the
general notice and attention paid to Congressman
Oscar Underwood as a candidate
for the Democratic presidential
nomination, and the uniform praise
which invariably accompanies the mention
of him and his candidacy. This is
all the more surprising because Mr. Underwood
maintains no press bureau. On
the other hand, prominent candidates
for the Democratic nomination like Governor
Harmon of Ohio, Governor Wilson
of New Jersey and Speaker Ciark
of Missouri, maintain large and active
bureaus, which are continually sending
out campaign literature to the papers
of the country.
i- _ ii-- ^
iNuiwuusiuiiuiiig ims, at me present
time Mr. Underwood is receiving more
attention than any other, we might say
any other two, presidential candidates
combined. The attitude of the voters
towards Mr. Underwood may be doubted
until that attitude is made clear in an
election, but it cannot be doubted that
his record and his strong personality
are admired by the newspapers of the
country. For now he is receiving more
free and favorable advertising than any
other public man of the country.?
Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser,
January 5, 1912.
INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM A
DOCTRINES CONTRAI
MENTAL PRINCIPI
(In address before Young Mens Democr
"Some Democrats want to put the in
National platform of the Democratic p
The initiative and referendum as a loc
when you attempt to apply it to the Uni
of the Constitution. We are not a tru
government."?From Knoxville Journal t
A FIGURE OF N
The emphasis here is placed upon Mr.
Underwood's wisdom, but along with
this is mentioned his honesty.
These two qualities greatly impress
every one who comes into association
with Mr. Underwood, or who closely
follows his course in Congress and in
public life. He is wise: he does not
disturb himself about little things; his
own personality is not obtruded; his
political ambitions play no part in governing
his words and actions. He has
_! i _ _ ^1. r_ . - r
an eye single rc> tne periormance 01
duty and believes that duty well performed
is the most urgent consideration.
If doing his duty should mar his
fortunes?as he certainly believed it
would when he voted against the pension
bill?he will take what comes without
complaining. Not every man can be
president, he thinks, but every man can
try to do the best that is in him for
his country and for the times he lives
in. ?
And this is honesty. He plays no
politics; he stands out against raiding
the treasury?no matter what be the excuse
offered?and he opposes his own
friends and associates quite as firmly
as he opposes his opponents when, in
his judgment, the thing proposed to be
| done is not for the common good.
Southern Leaders
and the Tariff
No sensible man, certainly no one I
friendly to the South, wishes to see the
tariff made a sectional question. The
course of Mr. Clark and Mr. Underwood
tends to prevent this. They stand
not only with their own party throughout
the country, but with the strong
public sentiment in support of tariff reduction
that has divided the Republican
party, and thrown the House into the
hands of the Democrats. When we say
that in this thev are serving their own
section, we have in mind the important
fact that they are bringing* to bear on
national affairs the intelligence and
strength of their section, and giving it
the opportunity to take a leading part
in the affairs of the Nation. They are
undermining the unfortunate sectionalism
that has, perhaps unavoidably,
pervaded Southern politics for a long
time. They are ranging the South on <
the side of progress and in the line
of the most significant movement of
nationai^jpLnioii that has manifested itself
in Ibigg.-^Nathing is more certain
i^pr^s^JF'Wni^Tyst^n^^if^ to be
reform^fcv and its reform is bound to
be the one task of statesmanship in the
next few years. It can be determined,
and under certain conditions it can be
led by the men of the South.?New
York Times, January 31, 1911.
Underwood Among
1912 Possibilities
The threatened breakdown of Majority
Leader Underwood, as a result of
long hours of hard work on the tariff
in the Ways and Means Committee, put
many a Democrat in a nervous state of
mind. There developed suddenly a full
appreciation of the worth of the Alabama
Congressman as a leader. For
Mr. Underwood to become disabled or
to be removed from the scene of his
usefulness at this critical time would be
like pulling a corner post out from
under a platform on which was heaped
most of the political treasures of the
party, Democrats quite generally are
willing to admit.
Credit for the achievements of the
Democratic House bearing the stamp of
constructive statesmanship is given
readily to the majority leader. Due to
his success as a legislative manager?his
ability in most tests to keep the House
Democracy united?and the fact that
Civil War wounds have been allowed to
heal because of the scarcity of public
men of the type of Senator Heyburn,
of Idaho, a Southerner is being seriously
considered North and South as
presidential material. The Underwoodfor-President
movement has been attracting
volunteer workers steadily
since last spring, when the newly-installed
Democratic House assumed its
responsibilities. An Underwood boom
for the Democratic nomination for
President put on long trousers at the
beginning of this, the national campaign
year.?Austin Cunningham, in the San
Antonio Express, January 5, 1912.
A PRACTICAL DEMOCRAT
St. Louis honors Oscar W. Under>
wood for his character, for his achievements
and for his Democracy.
| The Chairman of the Ways and Means
j Committee is a practical Democrat His
i leadership in the House of Representatives
shows that. He possesses the
ability to enlist men of varying ideas,
plans and moods in support of desirable
and feasible objects. Men who agree
jon basic principles mav be involved in
bitter hostility by antagonisms which in
their essence amount to little.
*******
Mr. Underwood's example as a leader
of Democrats in Congress is worthy of
emulation elsewhere. It makes for tolerance.
Tolerance makes for unity. 1
Unity makes for progress. There is no :
other way to render Democracy ef- :
fective.
The young Democrats of St. Louis :
who persuaded Mr. Underwood to become
their guest will find in his policy :
as well as his principles the best hope i
of party achievement and party life.?
The St. Louis Republic, October 17,
1911. 1
H
ND RECALL ^ I
RY TO THE FUNDA- I
LES OF OUR GOVERNMENT I
H
atic League of St Louis, Oct 16, 1911.) I
itiative and referendum plank into the I
arty. I think that would be unwise. I
al issue is sometimes successful. But I
ted States you destroy the entire fabric
e democracy. This is a representative I
md Tribune, Oct 24, 1911. I
ATIONAL SIZE I
In a politician this would be accounted I
recklessness, because party and spoils are I
translated in many minds to mean the |
same tmng; Dut it is tne Highest wisdom
in a statesman. Even should it
have but partial success in controlling
a party following, it must be productive
of immense good in showing that the
South has in Mr. Underwood a man
who can be trusted by the Nation?a
man whose patriotism is not limited by
small things, nor suffering from the
burden of any prejudice.
For our part, we believe that such
wisdom is of more practical value than
would be the keenest political scheming;
and that this very absence of selfseeking,
this contempt for the arts of
the politician, is working for him, while
he himself has his mind centered upon
things he regards as of more moment
The country could do no better than
to put its entire trust in such a man;
and there is good reason to think that it
will do so. As Mr. Lewis says, it
should not "hesitate to employ him as
night watchman." This coming, not
from the South, but from a writer whose
attitude is critical and whose atmosphere
is of the North, is certainly a tribute
not to be despised; its significance is
very great?The Mobile (Alabama)
Register, January 21, 1912.
Underwood
a Real Man
TL. T"\ _ r it TT ?
x iic i^emocrais 01 tne nouse nave
reason to be proud of their floor leader,
Chairman Underwood, of the Ways
and Means Committee. Mr. Underwood
has given ample evidence of the possession
of the qualities of mind essential
to the position. He has also demonstrated
most conclusively that he is
a man who cannot be cajoled or bullied
from the course he considers right
In the debate over the Canadian rec- ;J
iprocity bill former Speaker Cannon
made the bluff that the steel trust fa- :
vors the enactment of the measure.
Mr. Underwood called the bluff very
effectively by producing a telegram
from his home district saying that the
United States Steel Corporation has 1
stopped work on important mills there, . 11
giving as their reason that Underwood J
stood in Congress advocating the tariff
reductions on steel included in this bill. 1
Mr. Underwood added that two years 1
I ago the steel trifet opposed his election I
| because of the tariff views and threat"I
voted for them just the same,* he
stated, "anti thqy failed in their efforts
to turn me out of Congress."
Underwood is every inch a man, and
the people have more respect for one
such as he than for a whole battalion
of corporation-controlled standpatters.?
The Ocala Daily Banner, Florida, April *
29, 1911.
This New Leader
Prom Alabama
But this new leader from Alabama,
with nothing meteoric or iridesrMit
about him; who has forged steadily I
ahead during sixteen years of congres- I
sional service, and who has proved him- I
self equal to every emergency in the acid I
test of debate on the floor of the House; I
cool, imperturbable, resourceful, sure of I
himself at all times; profoundly learned I
on the great tariff issue he stands for;
whose impressive personality is reveal- 9
ing itself in stronger lines every day II
as the searchlight of the press plays jfl
upon it?he is the Man of Destiny for ' jl
the Democratic party in this year 1912. I
And as the campaign for the nomination I
progresses, Mr. Underwood's superior I
availability will come out with increas- I
ing clearness, and the Democratic masses I
of the South will catch the inspiration 9
of the great fact that a Southern man I
from the heart of Dixie is at last in line I
for the presidency after all these weary fl
years of waiting. When that psycho- 9
logical moment arrives?in the national 9
convention or before it?a very nearly M
solid South, fused to white heat under I
the enthusiasm of a genuine Southern I
presidential candidacy, will take Oscar I
Underwood on its shoulders, sweep away . I
all the well laid plans of machine politics
and rush him right to the goal, a winner 1-3
by sheer force of an overwhelming sense . } *
of simple justice to the South. At
least, that's the way we want it.?The j ,
Suwanee (Fla.) Democrat, December, [j
1911. ;131
in
; >
CHAIRMAN UNDERWOOD
Chairman Underwood has once more x 1
given proof of that levelness of head : ]
j _i f ... -
anu clearness oi purpose which have
characterized his leadership from the
beginning. He has flatly refused to
countenance any coquetting with the La
Follette idea on the wool bill. Whether
viewed as a mere announcement of
program or as a bill that it is desired
and expected actually to get enacted into
law, the La Follette proposition does
not meet the needs of the situation?
The New York Post, August 2, 1911.
i >o
THE MANNER OF MAN HE IS
After the Southern manner, Mr. Underwood
is unaffectedly democratic. He
meets men as one who, respecting himself,
also respects them. He does not
wear the manner of one who expects to -~
find his inferior. Still less would he
remind you of one who fears he may
meet his superior. Never does he pose,
nor seek to transact his dignity at the
humbling expense of another.?Alfred
Henry Lewis, in the Cosmopolitan, New
York, January, 1912.
J