antagonism to a system opposed to every article in his political philosophy. Declaration of war on privilege and vested interests, the emancipation of the consumer oppressed by high tariffs and uncompetitive prices, and of the small employer crushed out of existence by the organized undercutting of the trusts and restriction of access to credit, was the keynote of almost every speech he delivered in the campaign of 1912. It was therefore in full accordance with anticipation that the first domestic legislation announced for the opening session of the new Congress should be directed to the three kindred ends of lowering the tariff wall, curbing the power of the trusts, and stabilizing finance and opening up new paths of access to credit by a broad measure of currency reform.

True to his expressed conviction that the tariff lay at the root of every business question, Mr. Wilson specified tariff revision as the first task of the Congress which met in accordance with his special summons in April. That was no unfamiliar process. The McKinley Tariff of 1890, the Wilson Tariff of 1894, the Dingley Tariff of 1897, and the Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909, all represented the successive efforts of particular interests to shift the burdens of Protection from their own shoulders or secure that its benefits should accrue to their own advantage. Of these the Wilson Bill alone (its author had no connection with the subject of this biography). was an attempt at a downward revision, and even that ended in a compromise that practically

stultified the measure. The session of 1913 was to see, for the first time since the Civil War, a determined and successful endeavour to approximate to the traditional Democratic ideal of tariff for revenue only.

From the outset Mr. Wilson threw into striking relief those Presidential prerogatives which conferred on him the power of initiative. When Congress assembled on April 7th the two Houses met in joint session to hear the customary Presidential message delivered by the President in person. Not for over a century had such a scene been witnessed. Washington had been accustomed to address Congress in person, and his successor, John Adams, followed his example. Jefferson had discontinued the practice, preferring to transmit a written message, and no subsequent President, not even Jackson or Lincoln or Roosevelt, had revived it. Mr. Wilson's reversion to the earliest precedent was an eloquent indication of his views as to the right relationship between President and Congress. The Constitution deliberately debarred the executive from close association with the legislature. Neither the President nor his Ministers can sit in either House, and their communication with the two Chambers is limited to such intercourse as can be squared with the clause enacting that the President "shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.'

Constitution of the United States, Article II, section iii.

Mr. Wilson determined that at least such association as was permitted should be as close as possible. In his undergraduate article on "Cabinet Government in the United States " in the International Review for August 1879, he had dwelt on what he called in another place "leaderless government," and advocated the establishment of Cabinet responsibility to Congress. There is no reason to suppose that the lapse of years had changed his convictions, and it is clear that as President he felt himself fettered by the limitations imposed by the Constitution. The result of those restrictions was to bring the party caucus into prominence as the medium through which, if at all, the President must initiate and control legislation. Since no member of the Cabinet could introduce or explain a measure on the necessity of which it was agreed, the only method was to entrust the Bill to one of the party leaders in the Senate or the House. If the majority in either Chamber was adverse to the Administration, the difficulties of the situation were of necessity much accentuated.

From the first moment of its career to the last Mr. Wilson devoted himself by every means proper to his office to promoting the passage of the Tariff Bill. His initial message to Congress on its assembly in April confined itself to that question alone. The revision, in the President's words, was designed to forestall "a final hard crystallization of monopoly and a complete loss of the influences that quicken enterprise and keep independent energy alive." To secure that end

66

we must abolish everything that bears even the semblance of privilege or of any kind of artificial advantage, and put our business men and producers under the stimulation of a constant necessity to be efficient, economical, and enterprising masters of competitive supremacy, better workers and merchants than any in the world."

The President could rely on a solid party majority, but even that did not mean plain sailing for his Bill. Democratic Congressmen were no more immune than Republican from the influences threatened interests could bring to bear. There were local considerations to weigh as well as financial. It was not an easy matter for the representative of a steel-producing or sheepraising district to bring an entirely unbiassed mind to the discussion of the metal and wool schedules in the new Bill. Conscious of that, the President felt it the more necessary to exercise his personal influence at every point where his action or suggestion would have effect. The Bill was introduced into the House by Mr. Oscar Underwood, a Congressman (and subsequently Senator) from Alabama. The Committee on Ways and Means had begun to get it into shape even before the President had actually taken office, and he himself took an active part in their work.

The details of the measure are less important than its general trend, and it is sufficient to mention the main changes it effected. Broadly speaking, its policy was to tax luxuries and free necessities. Many food commodities, such as

wheat, flour, fish, potatoes, together with wool, coal, and leather, went on to the free list. Duties on clothing and textiles were reduced, and sugar was to be free after three years. At the same time the new Constitutional Amendment,' authorizing the levying of a Federal Income-Tax, was invoked for the first time, and a graduated tax, beginning with I per cent. on incomes over $4,000, was imposed. The yield of the reduced tariff and the income-tax was below expectations, and new taxation had to be levied in 1914.

Thanks largely to the President's assumption of leadership in the tariff revision movement, the Bill had an easier passage than might have been predicted for so contentious a measure. It went through the House in a month, but at once ran foul of the usual obstacles in the Senate. The familiar lobbying was soon in full swing, and amendment after amendment in endless succession was moved. Mr. Wilson let the process go unhindered for a time, and then intervened characteristically and with immediate effect. The Bill was a people's Bill, and the people's backing must be invoked to secure its passage. The President made a public statement on the measure. Declaring that he was ready to accept no compromise, he called the attention of the public to

66

the extraordinary exertions being made by the lobby in Washington to gain recognition for certain alterations of the Tariff Bill." "Washington," he asserted, "has seldom seen so numerous, so industrious, or so insidious a lobby. The newsAmendment XVI, declared in force February 1913.