The Home Market Club's 23d annual reception and dinner, Copley Plaza Hotel, April 17, 1919 ... [microform]

MASTER NEGATIVE # COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DIVISION BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED - EXISTING BIBUOGRAPHIC RECORD 6x Tii^Th Slce^<aTa!4f^88d annual recaption and dln|iiM?#Pkj^lty*l>ta«a^h0t«l^^ 1919... 0 /J Iv ^ m RESTRICTIONS ON USE: Repmductions may not be macto without pennlssion from Columbia UrUversity Libraries. TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: 3Sm/n REDUCTION RATIO: iJ-j IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA @ IB IIB DATE FILMED: <S-l^-^7 INITIALS TRACKING # : MSH 216*^3 FILMED BY PRESERVATION RESOURCES, BETHLEHEM, PA ' op (3^ 7/ The Home Market Club s 23rd Annual Reception and Dinner Copley Plaza Hotel, April J7, 19t9 AODR£SS£S COUNTRy NEEDS ADEQUATE PROTECTION. By Wm. B. H. Dowse, President, Home Market Club. REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP By Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, V. Senator from Masaachmetta. THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. By Hon. Frederick H. GUlett, Speaker House of Representative. AMERICA FIRST. By Hon. George H. Moses, U. 8. Senator from New Hampshire. THE HOME MARKET CLUB'S TWENTY-THIRD DINNER. On Thursday evening, April 17, nearly six hundred members and friends of the Home Market Club joined in the Club's reception and tives. It was the twenty-third dinner of the club and coming so soon after the return of many soldiers from their victory over the Germans on A CAKTOOMSTJS IMFKE8!?ION OF THE fiPKAKEBS. By Sidney Van Wni of the Boston Kveninur HecorU. dinner given at the Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston, in honor of Hon. Frederick H. Gillett, nominee of the Republican majority for Speaker of the National House of Representa- the battlelields of France, it had some- what of a military aspect, though the speeches treated rather of the prob- lems of peace than of war — taxes, the railroads, shipping, telephones, tele- graphs and cables, as well as the equally important protective tari£E — which are pressing for solution. Behind the speakers' table were hung splendid flags of the nations which won the victory over Germany — the Italian, the French, the Brit- ish and the United States. The souvenirs, bearing red, white and blue ribbons, were Yankee Division but- tons. During the dinner, patriotic music was played by the orchestra and songs the soldiers sang were rendered with spirit by the guests moved by their rhythm, their ''go ' and senti- ment. Prior to the dinner a reception which lasted from 6 to 6.30 o'clock was held in the foyer of the ballroom in honor of the. distinguished guests. Those who served on the Reception Committee were : Reception Committee. Hon. Geo. H. Ellis, Boston, Chair- man; CoL S. O. Bigney, Attleboro; Jacob F. Brown, Boston ; Hon. Wil- liam M. Butler, Boston; Louis A. Coolidge, Boston ; Philip Dana, West- brook, Me. ; B. H. B. Draper, Hope- dale; Fred W. Estabrook, Nashua, N. H. ; Col. Edward H. Haskell, Frank- lin W. Hobbs, Frank B. Hopewell, Boston ; L. J, Knowles, Worcester ; A. G. Pollard, Lowell ; Lieut. Com, Richard S. Russell, Boston ; Edwin J. Seward, Worcester; Hon. Channing Smith, Cherry Valley ; E. Ray Speare, Cambridge, and Capt. Sinclair Weeks. At 645 the party marched to the strains of Teel's orchestra, to the great ball room, where the dinner was served. At the speakers' table were seated the following guests: Hon. Willfred W. Lufkin, Essex; CoL Edward H. Haskell, Boston ; Hon. Frederick W. Dallinger, Cam- bridge ; Hon. Charles H. Hutchins, Worcester; Hon. Calvin D. Paige, Southbridge ; James R. MacCoU, Providence, R. L ; Commander L E. Bass, of the Boston Navy Yard; Hon. Bert M. Femald, U. S. Senator from Maine; Major-General Clarence R. Edwards, Commander of the Depart- ment of the Northeast ; Hon. Freder- ick H. Gillett, Speaker of the House of Representatives; William B. H. Dowse, President Home Market Club; Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, U. S. Senator, Massachusetts ; Admiral Spencer S. Wood, Commander of the First Naval District; H<mi. George H. Moses, U. S. Senator from New Hampshire; Brigadier-General John W. Ruckman; Andrew Adie,. Presi- dent United States Worsted Com- pany; Hon. William S. Greene, Fall River; Hon. Lyman B. Goff, Paw- tucket, R. I.; Hon. Robert Luc«, Waltham ; Hon. George H. Ellis, President Republican Club of Massa- chusetts. After the dinner was served a bugler played "Colors" and President Dowse rose and proposed the follow- ing toast : The United States, Sovereign, Free and Independent. We pledge our support and allegiance to the Constitution, to the Flag and to our heroic Army and Navy. The audience rose and stood while the orchestra played *The Star Spangled Banner/' President Dowse then delivered a short address, a fitting introduction to the more extended addresses by Sena- tor Lodge of Massachusetts, Speaker Gillett, and Senator Moses of New Hampshire. In presenting the Senior Senator from Massachusetts Mr. Dowse said: "I have the pleasure to introduce a man whom we all know and honor — our Senator — Henry .Cabot Lodge." That he was known and admired by those present was 'evi- dent from the prolonged ovation given him when he rose to speak. In introducing the Speaker of the Sixty-sixth Congress soon to be called in extra session, Mr. Dowse said: "The popular branch of our national legislature has come to Massachusetts for its presiding officer five times. In 1799, ten years after the first assem- bling of Congress, Theodore Sedg- wick of Massachusetts was elected Speaker. In 1807 Joseph B. Vamum of this State was chosen, and he served during a part of the adminis- trations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Forty years later the eloquent Robert C. Winthrop was elected to the Speakership. In the stirring days preceding the Civil War Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, then a young Representative from this State, was elected after an exciting contest. After a lapse of 65 years the honor once more comes to Massachusetts, and I ask you to rise and greet the Speaker of the House, Hon, Freder- ick H. Gillett." In making the diners acquainted with the senior Senator from New Hampshire, Mr. Dowse said : "There is a strong bond of fellow- ship between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In the days of the Revolution the sons of these two States fought together for our inde- pendence. Together they followed the Flag to Mexico, and that war made a son of New Hampshire — Franklin Pierce — President of the United States. In the Civil War they fought side by side under the leadership of Lincoln, Sherman and Grant. They helped to free Cuba and the Philip- pines. In the Great War, New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts again fought together for liberty and righteousness, and so wc welcome the Senator from New Hampshire, the successor of Gallinger, — Hon. George H. Moses.'* Senator Moses immediately put himself and his audience in sympathy by his keen, crisp, incisive sentences, his wit and his vigorous stand for America. New Hampshire need have no fears for her new Senator who will prove a worthy successor to the la- mented Gallinger who served his state so long and so well in the upper cham- ber of Congress. 4 HON, HKNRY CABOT LODGE, U S. Senator from Massachusetts, HON, FREDERICK H. GILLETT, Speaker, U. S. House of RepresentatlTea. HON. GEORGE H. MOSES IT. 8, Senator from New Hampshire, W ILLIAM B. H. DOWSE. President Home Market Club* INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE The audience rose and stood while the orchestra played "The Star Si)anj^dc(l llaniKT/' President Dowse then delivered a short address, a fitting introduction to iho more extended addresses by Sena- tor Lodge of Alassaehusetts, Sj)eaker Gillett, and Senator Moses of New Hampshire. In presenting the Senior Senator from Massachusetts Mr. Dowse said: '*I have the pleasure to introduce a man whom we all know and lionor — i)ur Senator — Henry Cabot Lodge." That he was known and admired by those present was "evi- dent from the i)rolonged o\ ation given him when he rose to speak. In introducing the Speaker of the Sixty-sixth Congress soon to be called in extra session, Mr. Dowse said: "The popular branch of our national legislature has come to ^Massachusetts for its presiding officer five times. In 1 799 J years after the first assem- bling- of Conj^ress, The( xlore Sedg- wick of Alassaehusetts was elected Speaker. In 1807 Joseph B. Vamum of this State was chosen, and he served during a part of the adminis- trations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Forty years later the el<>(|uent Robert C. Wintlirop was elected to the Speakership. In the stirring days preceding the Civil War Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, then a young Reijresentative from this State, was elected after an exciting contest. After a lapse of 65 years the honor once more comes to Massachusetts, and 1 ask you to ri>e and i:rreet die Speaker of the House, lion. Freder- ick II. Gillett." In making' the diners ar(|nainled with the senior Senator from New Hampshire, Mr. Dowse said: " There is a strong bond of fellow- ship between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In the da\ s of the Uevolutioa tlu* sons of these two States fought together for otir inde- pendence. Together they followed the I'laj^* to Mexico, and that war made a son of Xew Hampshire — 1' ranklin Pierce — President of the United States. In the Civil War they fought side hy side under the leadership of Lincoln, Sherman and Grant. They helped to free Cuba and the Philip- l)ines. In the ( ireal War, New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts again fought together for liberty and righteousness, and so we welcome the Senator from X e w Hampshire, the successor o i Gallinger, — Hon. George H. Moses. ' Senator Moses immediately put himself and his audience in symi)athy by his keen, erisj), incisive sentences, his wit and his vigorous stand for America. New Hampshire need have no fears for her new Senator who w ill prove a worthy successor to the la- mented Gallinger who served his state ^o long and so w ell in the upper cham- ber of Congress. 4 nox, nKxnv cabot lodge, TJ S. Senator from Massaeliusetts. HOX. FREDERICK H, GILLETT, S^peakor, V. S. House of Repres^tatives COUNTRY NEEDS ADEQUATE PROTECTION. By William B. H. Doivse, President of The Home Market Club Address at the Twenty-third Annual Dinner. Guests and Members of the Home Market Club: I have the honor to greet you at our dinner. I desire especially to extend at this time the greetings of this Club to the members who are with us of the Army and Navy. No transient words of mine are adequate to ex- press our feelings toward you. You cati rest assured that as long as history is written and read the glorious record of your achievements in the World War will be known to mankind. You recall how, in ancient Rome, when the victorious legions returned they were given a triumphal progress through the city, displaying their booty and leading their captives in chains. You, thank God, have no booty and need no captives, for you have all the citizens of this great city and old Commonwealth as your cap- tives, chained in admiration of your glorious deeds. I shall not touch on the League of Nations, capital and labor, or on the Bolsheviki. I must say, however, I love law and order and stable institu- tions. I have no sympathy with hasty changes and rash innovations. I have only a word to say: — a plea for this nation. From the point of view of a manu- facturer this nation is drifting, but without a compass or a rudder. Per- sonally, I cannot see how there can be a serious issiie on the tariff question for some years, for I believe that both Republicans and Democrats will join to create a tariff on foreign im- portations as 9 means to raise a sub- stantial sum for the country's needs; a tariff, — be it for revenue only or for protection, — ^seems certain. Certainly adequate protection is needed. Today, what of the manufacturer in this country? Broadly speaking, he does not know where he is; he is asked to buy in a high market and sell in a low one. This means bankruptcy or an approach to it. The Government has commandeered all raw material and controls the price. It has put an embargo on all importations. We can- not cable to foreign countries withotxt intolerable delays ; it takes six weeks to cable to India and from three to four weeks to cable to South America. The wires are full of the Paris con- ference. The Government is left with four hundred million pounds of sixty-cent wool when wool is selUng in the world markets at thirty-one cents a pound. The deficit this year on the railways averages thirty-seven million per month. All these deficits must be met out of taxation. To avoid a loss of about one billion dollars, the consumers of the United States are expected to pay twice the market value for their food and raiment. The country asks for a re- duction in the high cost of living, but prices are held at their present level by government decree. Flour is 6 $15.25 per barrel* and $1.92 per bag. The coming crop promises to be the largest ever known. Under govern- ment control, the greater the crop, the higher the price. Wages of labor will remain where they are until the cost of living goes down ; labor will continue to demand higher wages as long as the cost of living is where it is. While the price of raw material and food is artificially high by reason of Government con- trol, the manufacturer is helpless. The President said in his last New York address : — "I am amazed [not alarmed but amazed], that there should be in some quarters, such a comprehensive ig- norance of the state of the world.'* Is not this amazing language from a man who was ui^ng for years neu- trality on the part of this government, in the midst of international out- rages? Tam amazed and I am alarmed that the President should be so ignorant of conditions in the United States. For years the President iftood in this country and took no note of the out- side world. Now he stands in Paris and takes no note of the United States. He obtained his last election because he kept this country out of war ; now he would have us enter into an a^^reemait to go to war with every nation in the world to enforce peace. In his world-view, the President has entirely f oi^otten that there is a coun- try called the United States and that he is President of it. For almost six months^ we have been drifting and I can see rodcs ahead. I remember St. Paul and his vision in the night: — a Macedonian ap- peared before him and besought him: "G)me over into Macedonia and help us!'' May the President of this great Republic have in Paris a vision at night of one hundred -and ten millions of the citzens of this great country of ours, and may he hear a great cry go up: ''Come over into America and help usr REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP. By Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge. Address at Home Market Club Dinner, April 17, 1919. Mr. Chairman, and (jentlemen of the Home Market (Jub: The government of the United States under the Constitution has been in operation for 130 years. I know that by many people such an age as that is considered to be against it. Personally I am still so much of a reactionary, as some people are fond of terming me, that I think, with all allowance for liuman fallibility and human error, that it is the best government and has been tlie best government evcar- devised by man on this earth. J hope to see it continue. I hope it will go on, following the great lines marked out for it by the 7 founders; that it will continue to be the government which Lincoha de- scribed as "of the people, for the people, by the people." I think it is a better government and a safer government for human rights and human liberty than any autocracy set up by socialism or any tyranny established by bolshevism. During the first half of those 130 years Massachusetts gave to the country four speakers of the na- tional House— Sedgwick, Varnum, Winthrop, and the last, Gen. Banks, in 1856 and 1857. Now, in the clos- ing year of the second half of that period, our representative and friend, Mr. Gillett. comes back to bring to Massachusetts again that great office, and lays it at her feet, and to be added to the long roll of distinguished men Avho have repre- sented her in the government of the United States. • I do not propose to say anything about the Senate. It has certain duties peculiar to it- To the Senate is entrusted such matters as trea- ties and it is well to remember that while the President has the sole power to initiate and negotiate, no treaty can become the supreme law of the land without the approbation of the Senate. And with the power to ratify goes the power to amend. I wish to speak of the House of Representatives, becavise we are honored tonight and we are met here to welcome the next Speaker of the present Congress. It is a good opportunity fo^ a Senator to indicate what he thinks the House ought to do wh^n he has the leiNter of the House at his right hand. The speakership of the national House of Representat-ves is one of the greatest offices under the govern- ment. It has been the fashion to say that of late it has been shorn of much of its power because the Speaker no longer selects the com- mittees. I am not perfectly sure, from such observation as I have been able to make, that that great change was on the whole a benefi- cial one, but the fact remains that the Speaker no longer appoints the committees. Yet in the early days of our government there were only one or two committees — I think the first committee apijointed was the Ways and Means Committee — but the speakership was then consid- ered, as it is today, a post of great power and great importance, be- cause the Speaker of the House, while he occupies the chair, is the officer of the House. He makes his rulings in accordance with parlia- mentary law and in accordance with the rules of^the House, so far as he knows them; and I have never fotmd anybody yet who knew all the rules of the House. But he makes those rulings without regard to party, and solely as the law and the ruies require. lUit out of the chair he is the leader of the respon- sible majority party and is so rec- ognized by the entire Congress of the United States. 1 am sure that the House and the Republican party, and best of all, the country, are going to benefit largely t>y the leadership of Mr. Gillett. The speakership comes to him as the de- 8 served reward of a long and dis- tinguished career. He brings to it not only knowledge and ability and experience, but he brings character, and a courage which has never failed in the expression of his con- victions. He will find himself con- fronted, as the majority which he leads in the House are confronted, by one of the most difficult situa- tions which any House of Repre- sentatives has ever faced. The country has passed through the great war — passed through it, thanks to our soldiers and sailors, victoriously. But any great convul- sion such as the world has just passed through, any great convulsion of war, necessarily involves the doing of a great many things by the Congress which are only justifiable under the war power. We must return in time of peace to the limitations of tiie Con- stitution, and we must return also to the proper division of the functions of government between the three great departments of government, the legislative, the executive and the judi- dal. During the war, for instance, Con- gress has appropriated money with- out question, as it was asked for it by the executive department. The duty of Congress is to scrutinize ap- propriations and care for the expendi- ture of the people's money. Under the pressure of war that care and scrutiny necessarily have been largely set aside in the interests of the peo- ple, the most generous people on the face of the earth, who have given their money and paid their taxes with a liberality and an absence of grumb- ling which are in the highest degree admirable, and which have excited, I think, the marvel of the world. But it is the duty of Congress to observe now the old rule. We have no right to waste the people's money. Every debt must be paid. Every war obliga- tion must be fulhlled, and no one need suiq)ose for a moment that every obligation put upon us by the war of any kind will fail to be ob- served. When Congress is in the hands of the Republican party it will fulfil those obligations as it fulfilled the obligations of the Civil War. But the House originates the appro- priation bills, and the first great burden falls upon them. The Senate has only the minor part of occasion^ ally offering an amendment; and the duty comes on them now — the old duty revived — of scrutinizing the ap- propriations and inqutrii^ into the expenditure of money. In this country — I am not speaking of expenditures abroad — ^there has undoubtedly been and is today great waste and extravagance. All that must come to an end. This is no time, to burden the people needlessly. The^ House also frames the revenue bills. That right is secured to them by the Constitution and after the revalue bills go the bond bills, the bills for borrowing money. We shall have a great deal of money to borrow, and heavy taxes still to pay. There is a loan now before the countrv. It ought to be filled and filled quickly. Every bond ought to be taken with- otti any delay whatever. For that loan is to pay the debts incurred by the war. Yet this loan is but the forerunner of others. It was esti* mated by the Treasury experts, when they came before the committee of the Senate in regard to the loan bond KU, that the expenditures of the gov- ernment for the next fiscal year would reach $18,000,000,000. First it seems strange, with the war over/ that there should be such an enor- mous sum required. But you must remember that we have still a great army under pay. On the first of April there were between thirteen and fourteen hundred thousand men in France, and Aeir pay must be pro- vided. Every debt to them must be paid first- The great debt which the war has already incurred will reach probably an annual interest charge, without regard to sinking fund, of $800,000,000 to $1,000,000,000. That must be provided for. The navy is the great bulwark of the defence of the United States, It is the first line of defence. I hope from the bottom of my heart that we shall be able to bring about a general reduction of armaments. That is a burden which ought to be lifted, so far as is pos- sible, from the shoulders of the people of the world. But whether there is a reduction or not, the navy of tiie United States, in proportion to other armaments, must always be strong raough to protect us, not cmly on the Atlantic, where the need of protec- tion has been greatly diminished, but also cm tiie Pacific. And assuming, if you please, a reduction of arma- ments or, if you please, hone, the navy of the United States must al- ways be maintained. That is aq^Mlier great branch of expenditures, be- cause it involves a certain amount of buildix^, be it large or little, every year, and a program must be fol- lowed. I have indicated only some of the normal expenses of the government. But in addition— and I do not think these figures are included in. the $18,* 000,000,000, although I am not per- fectly sure — we made a promise to maintain wheat at a certain price, I have no faith in price fixii^ of any kind, but it was made and it became law. It is a promise, and it must be maintained, because the United States must keep all her promises. To main- tain the price of wheat will probably cost in fbe neighborhood of $1,000^- 000,000. The United States, during the period of government management of the railroads, has managed to incur a debt which now, I think, reaches into $700,000,000. That must be paid. There are other items, but I am not going to make a financial speech, and I did not mean to say as nmch on finance as I have. But all that money must be raised. Take the $18,000,-- 000,000, The present revenue law presumes to raise $6,000,000,000, though I think it is probable that it may not raise quite so much. But at all events, assuming $6,000,000,000, there are $i,ooo/x}0,ooo further that must be raised, and they can only be raised by loans. We authorized $7,- 000,000,000, and they have issued a loan for $4,500,000,000. But the rest must be raised, because there are debts that must be paid, and it will fall upon tihe Congress of the United States, and on the House in Ae first instance, to make provision for those great expenditures, a legacy of the war. That is a very grave duty to those who are going to frame the bilb under the leadership of Mr. GiUett. Then there are a number of domes- tic questions that ought to be d^dt with. As a matter of fact, the Con- gress of the United States ought to be in session at this momaoit, and ought to have been called in March to deal with the railroad question alone. It is one of the most difficult ques- tions ever presented. The government management has failed, I think de- plorably. It is recognized that we cannot go back to the old system as it was. It is also recognized generally, I think, that there must be in the raihroads ui the future the care and zeal which come from private man- agement. But with that there must be also strong government supervi- sion and r^[ulation. I am not at- tempting by that mere generality to solve the railroad question. It will reqtnre the very best ability that can be brought to it. and it ought to be dealt with now. Government owner- ship does not seem to have been alto- gether satisfactory in regard to rail- roads or telegraphs, or perhaps tele- phones, or even as to cables. There never was tfie slightest reason on earth for taking over the telegraphs, telephones and cables. They had done their work through the war, as was admitted by the people who took them, admirably and well; they can be restored. I am not undertaking here tonight to attribute motives, but the cables were taken, without the slightest reason that any one can see. when ^ war had omie to an end, taken under the war power given for war purposes, and the only tangible effect we get from tiiat is a lai^ sup- pression or a capricious uniformity of all the news that comes from Paris. And even to go back behind the war powers, it would do no harm, I think, to improve the postal service a little. We ought to investigate some of the enterprises into which the govern- ment has been launched, have tfiem fairly and thoroughly investigated and the facts laid before the oiuntry* We ought to know what the situation is. We ought to know why we spent so many hundreds of millions on aero- planes, and thm, at the dose of the war, according to Gen. Pershing's re- port, had 247 all told, I think, and no combat planes. We nught look into the question of the heavy artillery, for I think we used almost exclusively the French 75's. I think we would do well to inquire into the operations of the shipping board. These things involve colossal sums of the people's money that have been spent. I hope to see the House take up all these questions, for the House has more mmbers in proportioa to committees than we have, and they have committees there which could devote ^eir time to some of these in- vestigations. We want to get back to a normal basis on fuel and food, and all these things require investigation and legislation. I have merely touched on the high points, but this is the work that lies before the House and Senate, which I suppose will assemble at some time before the statutory day in December. 11 One always feels a little hesitant in referring to the Constitution, but the Constitution requires tiaat Congress should meet at least once a year. Also the laws require that no money should be paid from the Treasury except on appropriations, and a number of ap- propriation bills failed. Therefore, unless the army and the navy are to go unpaid and a great many public works come to a stop we shall have to have a meeting of Congress in time to pass some bills or some continuing resolutions before the first of July, and when the Congress once comes together it is master of its own fate. It can adjourn when it pleases, take a recess when it pleases, and what is most important of all, can come to- gether when it pleases. That, in bare outline, and only as to a few points, is what lies before the House, where most of this legis- lation on appropriation and revenue bills begins, the Senate, as I said be- fore, having the amending power. And these measures ought to be taken up at once and dealt with. They will require the greatest possible unity of work between the two houses. There must be a general policy on which the majority in both houses are agreed. And I said to my friend, the Speaker, during the dinner, that there was one thing we could say with confidence — that so far as he and I were con- cerned, there was no danger of jeal- ousies or differences, for though his office is considered as one well within the presidential circle, neither he nor 1 can have any competition in that di- rection. We are both immune from the presidential malady, and we nei- ther of us are competitors for that office, for I am far too old, and he is too young. I believe the Republicans in both houses appreciate the enor- mous burden of responsibility which has fallen upon them. I am sure they mean to deal with these difficult prob- lems I have suggested, and deal with them to the very best of their ability. They will shirk nothing. They will carry out everything that is necessary to make the war a success in the peace W'C make, because the peace we make with Germany is a part of the war, and it must be carried out. It is part of the war to finish the war. The peace with Germany must be car- ried through, and we shall probably have to furnish troops for the army of occupation under the provision made for reparation of damages. Every- thing that relates to that war will be carried out by the Republican party with the utmost thoroughness, and in the same spirit in which we stood all through the war, backing the war to the utmost of our power while we were a minority. We will carry it through and finish it, so far as we have the power, while we are a major- ity in Congress. It is a very great task. The Re- publican party is to be congratulated, the state of Massachusetts is to be congratulated, the country is to be congratulated, that the Republicans, now in control of both branches o£ Congress, have made such an admir- able selection as that of Mr. Gillett to lead the House through all these try- ing questions that spread before us. (Prolonged cheering.) 12 THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. By Hon. Frederick //, Gillett, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Address at Home Market Club Dinner, April 17, 1919. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I thank you sincerely for this very cordial greeting* I was of course greatly pleased when I succeeded last February in being nominated to the office which had lon$' been my cher- ished ambiton. But I am not sme that since I came home and have re- ceived the congratulations of my friends, and have, felt the reaction, my pleasure has not been greater. I do not mean, of course, the exagger- ated compliments from my friend, the Setiator, for I make due allowance for the rhetorical fervor of an orator on his feet. But as I have been in my district I could not escape appreciat- ing that my constituents felt I had brought home an honor to them, and it really gives me, I believe, as much pleasure to receive their congratula- tions and good will as I originally had in my election. I met a little while ago in Washing* ton a man who said to me that his great grandfather about 100 years ago had been sent to Congress from his district 13 terms, and that it had always been the chief distinction of his family that he had held longer of- fice from the district than any other man in Massachusetts. "Now," he said, 'iast fall, when your district elected you for the fourteenth time you took away our distinction." So you see, my district has been more faithful, has elected me oftener than has ever occurred before to any other man in Massachusetts, and conse- quently it is peculiarly pleasing for me to go back and meet my constituents and show them at last that my asso- ciates in Congress have endorsed the confidence they placed in me. I have never met Boston audiences much. I do not want to be over-modest, but I never have cared, I think, very mudi for conspicuous service. I have been content to satisfy my own district, and if I had to come down here it was because I was drafted in the past, and not because I sought it. It has been the same way in Congress. My colleagues will confirm it when I say that there I have generally devoted myself to the work of my committee, and it has happened that the commit- tee on appropriations, where I have so long served, has been the most hard-working, involves the most drud- gery and the least recognition of any committee in Congress. And so there I do not think I have been one of the publicity-seeking members, and that, I confess, makes it to me pleasant to find that my colleagues have selected me as their candidate for the speaker- ship. The activities of a Club like this, devoted to the protection and growth of the "home market,*' were never more essential than they are to- day. One of the clearest and most impressive lessons of the war is tliat ^ every country ought to create within its own boundaries ever3i:hing that is necessary for its own business life. We have been compelled by the exi- gencies o£ the war to build up in the United States within the last four years many industries which it had been impossible to have before, im- portant industries which, I have no doubt, representatives of the Home Market Club have embraced, and in relation to which have tried to secure from Congress the necessary protec- tion, industries which at last under the pressure, the emteirgo of war, *have been created. What shall we do with these industries now? Shall we not continue them and recognize that in the future the United States must supply its own needs and do its own work? That, it seems to me, is the obvious lesson of the war. That tiione was not given me to develop. My friend and colleague, Mr. Ford- ney, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, an expert on that subject, was expected to be here, and I am very sorry that a death in his family has prevented him from ad- dressing this Club. But I could not forbear from saying a word about the princiide which your very name im- plies, which your history illustrates, and which never made a stronger ap- peal than now to the business judg- meat and to our national pride. Now the subject which your Sec- retary assiged to me was "The Con- gress of the United States." When Senator Lodge said he was going to talk about the House of Representa- tives I confess I shivered a little- We have certain things about each other — the different houses have — which we do not generally air in public, and I thought I might be compelled to and express a few views I have about the United States Senate. But I am not going to. I only want to say that I have the niost absolute admira- tion and respect for and confidence in the leader of the United State Senate, and it occurs to me, my friends, that if Massachusetts has got any little due bills against the United States, the coming sessbn will be a good time to collect them^ The most striking feature, in my opinion, just now about the Congress of the United States, the most unfor** tunate and the most indefensible, is that the Congress is not now at work. I suppose the famous statement of Garfield is still true— that the govern- ment at Washington still hves. But the government does not seem to still live at Washington. The President is in Paris; the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, are away, the Secretary of Commerce, I believe, is in Boston. There is only one of these department heads that I know of who is in Wash- ington, and that is the one with whom we could most gladly dispense — the Postmaster-General. The President and his confreres in Paris have with them an army of re- tainers, some official and some un- official, some authorized by law and some unauthorized, and some, I am sure, are drawing fine salaries. There is a feeling at Washii^^ nowadays that any Democrat who Ims not had a joy-ride at the government's ex- pense to the most attractive and expensive pleasure resort in the world just now is a mere piker. You know 14 tiie latest beatitude is, ^'Bless^ are the peacemakers, for they shall see Paris/' When war is raging it is inevitable that Congress shall occupy a sec- ondary position. The Executive is th^ the centre of the stage ; the army and navy are arms of the Executive; and therefore not only the most con- spicuous, but the real, the vital set- tlements of war are made by the Executive. And so Congress neces- sarily takes a secondary position. The last Congress was a war Congress; it passed appropriation bills, it passed revenue bills, with sums surpassing all records. It is without a rival in that respect. But I am disposed to think that the most striking character- istic of the last war Congress was its absolute abdication of initiative. It left the initiative abscdutely to the Executive and became simply a reg- ister of the wishes of the Administra- tion. Why, I remember that some years ago, when a Republican administra- tion was in power, one of the leaders of the Democratic party rose and denounced a committee because they dared to bring before Congress a bill which had been prepared by one of the dqia^tm^ts. He said it was tibe duty of the committee, the duty of Congress, to draft its bills, and that Congress ought not to allow the en- croachment of the Executive in even suggesting a bill. How obsolete that sounds today. Why, my friends, in the last Congress there was hardly a bill of any prominence suggested in which the man who introduced it did not take pains to tell Congress that it was drawn and approved by the Administration j Sometiims it was necessary, in order to get the support of the dominant party, to make a statement like that I do not remember that tiiere was more than one occasion on which Congress ventured to dispute and dis- agree with a presidential recommen- dation. That was very early in the session when the administration asked in the army t^U for a lun^ sum, an appropriation of $3,000,000 for the war department to spend as it pleased. Well, now, it is an inher- ited instinct witii Congress never to grant lump sums to departments. I presume we have inherited that down through hundreds of years from our British ancestors. Because the only way is to give some specific definition to limit appropriations for a dq>art^ ment. Consequimtly, when that reouest was made it was erranted by the Military Committee, but the House after a sharp debate, turned it down, indicating that tiie House had tiie right to insist on limitations so that we should have an idea of how much money was going to be spent in de- tail. But that was the last outbreak of independence. After that there was not a bill suggested that was not readily followed by Congress. I think that the inherited instinct the House has that we ought to know how money is going to be spent will get a little increased impetus when we find out how the President has spent the $100,000,000 we put at his discretion to expend during this war. I am sorry to feel that there has been a decided tendency on the part of the departments to use the war exigency as a sort of cloak under whidi they would increase their power, given for war, and use it for whatever pur- poses they pleased- As an illustration of that — because we feared it — there was a motion made in the United States Senate by the leader of the Democratic party in the Senate. A motion was offered and carried without much discussion that a committee on expenditures be appointed, consisting of five members of each iaouse. It was to watch ex- penditures, they had got so enor- mous, and we found it so impossible in our appropriation bills to provide for limiting how much and how the sums should be spent that we thought, in ore r to keep a reasonable check on the departments, that we had bet- ter have a committee to trace the money. That went through the Sen- ate without objection. It came to the Hov&se^ and there was a general un- ^rstanding that it would go through the House until there came a letter from the President expressing great opposition to the measure. The let- ter was sent to the man who had the matter in charge. That, of course, brought the Democrats solidly against the measure and it was defeated, and that was the last opportunity for us to have any sane and careful inspection and safeguarding of the expenses. After that letters of that kind were very frequent. Why, there was an epistolary communication between the committees and heads of departments which covered a large part of our leg- islation. That reminds me of a little inci- dent Secretary Shaw once told me about. He said he had an old colored man who used to come to his office to bring letters to sign every day. He would put a letter down on the desk, and after the Secretary had signed the man would put down another. One day a letter caught the Secretary's eye^ and he said, really communing with himself, ''JdnxieSy it seems to me that I have read that already. What are the circumstances of that letter?" He was really talking to himself **I don't know nuthing/' replied the col- ored man, **about the circumstances, Sir, but you signs dan" The Secre- tary signed "dar," and that was the last attempt he made at independence. And so from the day of that hrst letter against the creation of an ex- penditure committee a letter from the head of a department was sure to make any Democratic committee "sign dar" instantly. There has not been any investigation or scrutiny of these enormous expenditures except what could be made in advance by the appropriation committees. Now, I suppose the old axiom is true that love of power is bred by the possession of power. So, it seems to me, there has suddenly been growing up in the Administration a constant desire for more and more power. It was not simply the Democrats who have acquiesced in the desires of the Administration. We Republicans de- cided early in the session that there was only one thing we could consider. We could not have any partisan divi- sion, and we acquiesced with the Democrats in bestowing on the Execu- tive and the different departments all the powers and all the functions they thought they could possibly use for the successful prosecution of the war. There was no division of party. But, my friends, the President now tells us that the war is over. It therefore seems to me that the time has come for Congress to resume its functions. It is time for us to inspect the appro- priations, to inspect the powers the Administration desires. So, it seems to me, one of the first duties of the incoming Congress is to go back to normal times and see that there shall again be division ot the government into different branches, and that the Executive shall become once more one of the co-ordinate branches of the govern- ment. Some of the stretches of power exerted by the Administration seem to me pretty indefensible. Of course, the most flagrant one you all know, the one alluded to by Senator Lodge, the fact that the Postmaster- General took over the tdegraphs, telephones and cables after peace was assured, although he knew that Con- gress granted that power simply as a war emergency. It seems to me that was such an exercise of power as in the future we shall be able to veto. The Administration from now on, I think, will probably take notice that peace has returned, and that it can no longer receive from Congress without scrutiny, as it has in the past, what- ever powers it desires. The return of peace, of course, brings with it for us new issues, I am hoping, myself "personally, that part of the treaty of peace will be a league of nations. I personally want that there should be a league which will in the future have supervision over the different relations of the dif- ferent nations. And it seans to me that that is so clearly for the interest of Europe that America, in aiterit^ such a league, is so clearly making a sacrilice and not gaining an advan- tage, that any terms we ask that are fairly reasonable Europe will* be only too glad to grant. I notice that it looks as if an accommodation was coming. I noticed the other day that the cables had sent over a report that in eleven minutes the President had made sudi a convincing speech to the three other great powers that they had accepted the Monroe Doctrine. I was delighted that a cable under Mr. Burleson was able to bring forth that very interesting fact, that there was a speech of eleven minutes and that the President was entitled to all the credit of it. It is all the more cc»ii- mendable when we consider that he convinced them in eleven minutes, whereas it had taken deven weeks for the Senate and public opinion to con- vince him that the Monroe Doctrine must be preservjcd. The return of peace is going, of course, to require of us entirely new issues. Lloyd George said recently, "All intern^ events in every country are depaident upon peace. Penduig this, commerce and industry are kept in a kind of stagnation which can only engender disorders.'* That which is true in England is true here. Therefore the one thing we want, it seems to me, with or without a league of nations, is immediate peace. Dis- orders are beginning to show them- selves in this country. Business can- not adapt itself to the future until the uncertainty of war is taken away. That is the first uncertainty that must be removed. Therefore, it seems to me, the first thine^ we desire is an immediate peace. Then it is time for business to to prepare itself for other difficulties. I appreciate that this Congress, which is going to meet, I dcm't know when, but which must meet befwe long, has before it issues that are more difficult than those in the Con- gress which has passed. Until we can meet them — the issue? of the railroad, shipping and tariff problems, and of arrangments to be made for our returning soldiers and sailors— until those are met business does not know how to go to work. Therefore, and tills is what I have been leading up to, it seems to me a shame that Conjrress has not been in session for the last month. I do not wish harshly to blame the President for wanting to go back to that atmosphere of luxury and adula- tion which surrounded him in Paris. It was very natural, and considering the other commissioners he appointed, I am inclined to think it was wise he should go back. Certainly, if it was the President's purpose to convince the American people that his presence in Paris was indispensable, his selec* tion of fellow negotiators was most sagacious. There is Mr. White. I know him well. I admire him and have a most affectionate feeling for him. He is an able man. But he was appointed as a Republican. M r . White is a diplomat. It has been his life, and he feels towards parties as the army and navy feel — that they are servants of the administration in power. Intimately as I know him, I did not know what party he belonged to, but I suspect, after this appoint- ment, that he must have voted for Mr. Wilson in the last Section, be- cause I observed that in all these non- partisan or bi-partisan appointments, where Mr. Wilson has appointed a Republican representative, it is pretty certain that the man voted for Mr. Wilson in the election that went be- fore. Take William Kent, on the Tariff Commission, as an example. I have known him for years. He was in die House as a Republican. He was a most eccentric and erratic Republican, and he professed openly and always that he was a free trader, and in the election before he was appointed to the Tariff Commission he not only voted for Wilson, but oi^nized a Wilson dub* » After Wilson was elected, and when he had to appoint a bi-partisan commission, he put on as a Republican representa- tive William Kent, an avowed free trader, a man who voted for him in the last election. That is rather char- acteristic of the appointments that have been made during this Adminis- tration. There are two reasons, it seems to me, why it is most important that Congress should be in session. The one I have already alluded to, the preparation of the business program so that the work of the country can proceed. But there is another, though I won't go into the details, f or which there is even a more imperative rea- son. The Senator suggested that the Constitution provides that no money can be drawn from the Treasury ex- cept in consequence of appropriations made by law. The fiscal year begins on the first of Jtdy. That means that when the first of July comes, if appropriations have not been made and passed before that date, there is not any money with which to pay the expenses of the government. The wheels of government will stop on July ist unless before that date the appropriation bills have been passed. When the RepubHcans were in power for 1 6 years up to 1910 the appro- priation bills always went fhrou^ cm time, but since 1910 — I think it is one of the specimens of Democratic inefficiency— 4he Democrats have failed to pass some of those indispon* sable appropriation bills. How did they get round it ? Because something must be done; because on the first of July there would be nothing ¥rith which to pay the clerks. So on the last day of June they passed what is called a continuing^ resolution, a res* olution which continues the appropri- ation bills of the preceding year for one month at the same rate, and dur- ing that month they hope to pass, and generally do pass, the delayed appropriation bills. This year there were six big supply bills whidi iliie Democrats were not able to pass be- tween September and March, and they amounted to about $3,