Volume Vi Part 21 (1/2)

Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Pittsburgh, Pa.

CARNEGIE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

May 6, 1905, the announcement was made of a gift of $10,000,000 for the purpose of providing retiring pensions for the teachers of colleges, universities, and technical schools in the United States, Canada, and Newfoundland. In making the gift Mr. Carnegie wrote: ”I hope this fund may do much for the cause of higher education and to remove a source of deep and constant anxiety to the poorest paid and yet one of the highest of all professions.” The fund was to be applied without regard to age, s.e.x, creed, or color. Sectarian inst.i.tutions, so-called, or those which require a majority of their trustees, officers, faculty, or students to belong to a specified sect, or which impose any theological test whatever, were excluded by the terms of the gift. Universities supported by State taxation were at first excluded, but a supplementary gift by Mr. Carnegie of $5,000,000, in 1908, extended the privileges of the foundation to these universities.

In February, 1907, John D. Rockefeller increased the money at the disposal of the General Education Board by a gift of $32,000,000. This fund, which had been originally established by him, amounting to $11,000,000, had been used chiefly for the improvement of education in the South. Common schools were aided, high-schools established, and instruction in agriculture fostered. The additional sum was to be devoted to lending a.s.sistance to certain selected colleges, with the stipulation that the college was to raise three times the amount of money granted it by the Board.

CHAPTER XIV

THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1908

[1908]

In spite of the oft-repeated statement made by President Roosevelt that he would not be a candidate for nomination on the Republican national ticket in 1908, the party leaders seemed to fear a stampede in the Chicago convention. Plans had been laid carefully by the party leaders to prevent this possibility, and when William H. Taft, of Ohio, received the nomination on the first ballot, delegates and spectators gave vent to their feelings by prolonged applause. Out of a total of 980 ballots cast Mr. Taft received 702. As Secretary of War in President Roosevelt's cabinet he had been chosen by the President to succeed him, for it was believed that through training and sympathy he was best fitted to carry out the policies of the administration.

Other candidates for nomination had appeared during the summer and each had a following of more or less strength. Senator La Follette, of Wisconsin; Governor Hughes, of New York, and Speaker Cannon, of Illinois, each received some support in the convention. Throughout the land no surprise was occasioned, however, by the nomination of Mr. Taft.

Apparently the nomination of James S. Sherman, of New York, for the office of Vice-President was the result of political expediency; he was a good organization man; he had enjoyed considerable experience in public affairs and had been a member of Congress for twenty years.

Moreover, the fact that he came from New York made it a wise move, politically, to give him a place on the ticket.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portrait.]

Copyright by Clinedinst, Was.h.i.+ngton.

Joseph G. Cannon.

To outside observers the convention was a harmonious one, ready and anxious to adopt and indorse the Roosevelt policies and to accord a most hearty support to the candidate who best represented these policies. The platform which was drawn up was a strong political doc.u.ment which not only stated the Republican policies clearly but was also a piece of campaign literature of some note from the stand-point of literary worth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portrait.]

Photograph by C. M. Ball, Was.h.i.+ngton.

James S. Sherman, nominated for Vice-President.

Throughout the months preceding the a.s.sembling of the Democratic convention, in Denver, there was some uncertainty as to who would control it. Governor Folk, of Missouri, had been much in the public eye through his war on graft and on account of his successful administration of the gubernatorial office. Judge Gray, of Delaware, who had served his State in the United States Senate and had acquired an enviable reputation as a justice of the United States Circuit Court, was also a strong candidate. Judson Harmon, of Ohio, Attorney-General under President Cleveland, and Governor Johnson, of Minnesota, had numerous supporters.

When the voting began in the convention the result was not long in doubt. William Jennings Bryan was for the third time accorded the honor of leading the Democratic party. On the first ballot Mr. Bryan received 892-1/2 votes; Judge Gray, his chief opponent, received 59-1/2. The cheers which followed the announcement of the vote showed that two defeats had not dampened the loyalty of the Western Democrats. Mr. Kern, of Indiana, was nominated by acclamation for the Vice-Presidency. The committee on the formation of the platform seemed to have some difficulty in determining the final form of some of the planks.

Both parties in their platforms favored tariff revision. The Republican party declared for the protective system and reciprocity and promised a special session of Congress to treat the whole tariff question. The Democratic party adhered to the old principle of ”tariff for revenue”

and pledged itself to return to that basis as soon as practicable.

Furthermore, it pledged itself to bring about immediately such reductions as would put trust-controlled products upon the free list and to lower the duties on the necessaries of life, particularly upon those which were sold more cheaply abroad than at home. Lumber was to go on the free list. Any deficiency in the revenues which might arise from this policy was to be made up through the medium of an income tax.

Both platforms declared for reform in the currency laws, but neither one advanced any plan for revision. The Democratic platform condemned as criminal the large expenditures of the recent administration, but showed some inconsistency by favoring such policies as a large navy, generous pensions, large expenditures for the improvement of rivers and harbors which would necessitate the expenditure of great sums.

The regulation of railways and corporations was demanded by both parties. The difference between the demands lay in the means to be employed. The Democratic platform declared for State control of this question as well as that relating to the conservation of our natural resources. The Republicans took the stand that both questions should be solved by the Federal Government.