President Taft negotiated with England and France general treaties providing for the arbitration of disputes which were "justiciable"in character even though they might involve questions of "vital interest and national honor."They were coldly received in the Senate and so amended that Taft abandoned them altogether.A tariff reciprocity agreement with Canada,however,he forced through Congress in the face of strong opposition from his own party.After ****** a serious breach in Republican ranks,he was chagrined to see the whole scheme come to naught by the overthrow of the Liberals in the Canadian elections of 1911.
Prosecution of the Trusts.The party schism was even enlarged by what appeared to be the successful prosecution of several great combinations.In twoimportant cases,the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company and the American Tobacco Company on the ground that they violated the Sherman AntiTrust law.In taking this step Chief Justice White was at some pains to state that the law did not apply to combinations which did not "unduly"restrain trade.His remark,construed to mean that the Court would not interfere with corporations as such,became the subject of a popular outcry against the President and the judges.
Progressive Insurgency and the Election of 1912Growing Dissensions.All in all,Taft's administration from the first day had been disturbed by party discord.High words had passed over the tariff bill and disgruntled members of Congress could not forget them.To differences over issues were added quarrels between youth and old age.In the House of Representatives there developed a group of young "insurgent"Republicans who resented the dominance of the Speaker,Joseph G.Cannon,and other members of the "old guard,"as they named the men of long service and conservative minds.In 1910,the insurgents went so far as to join with the Democrats in a movement to break the Speaker's sway by ousting him from the rules committee and depriving him of the power to appoint its members.The storm was brewing.In the autumn of that year the Democrats won a clear majority in the House of Representatives and began an open battle with President Taft by demanding an immediate downward revision of the tariff.
The Rise of the Progressive Republicans.Preparatory to the campaign of 1912,the dissenters within the Republican party added the prefix "Progressive"to their old title and began to organize a movement to prevent the renomination of Mr.Taft.As early as January 21,1911,they formed a Progressive Republican League at the home of Senator La Follette of Wisconsin and launched an attack on the Taft measures and policies.In October they indorsed Mr.La Follette as "the logical Republican candidate"and appealed to the party for support.The controversy over the tariff had grown into a formidable revolt against the occupant of the White House.
Roosevelt in the Field.After looking on for a while,exPresident Roosevelt took a hand in the fray.Soon after his return in 1910from a hunting trip in Africa and a tour in Europe,he made a series of addresses in which he formulated a progressive program.In a speech in Kansas,he favored regulation of the trusts,a graduated income tax bearing heavily on great fortunes,tariff revision schedule by schedule,conservation of natural resources,labor legislation,the direct primary,and the recall of elective officials.In an address before the Ohio state constitutional convention in February,1912,he indorsed the initiative andreferendum and announced a doctrine known as the "recall of judicial decisions."This was a new and radical note in American politics.An exPresident of the United States proposed that the people at the polls should have the right to reverse the decision of a judge who set aside any act of a state legislature passed in the interests of social welfare.The Progressive Republicans,impressed by these addresses,turned from La Follette to Roosevelt and on February 24,induced him to come out openly as a candidate against Taft for the Republican nomination.
The Split in the Republican Party.The country then witnessed the strange spectacle of two men who had once been close companions engaged in a bitter rivalry to secure a majority of the delegates to the Republican convention to be held at Chicago.When the convention assembled,about onefourth of the seats were contested,the delegates for both candidates loudly proclaiming the regularity of their election.In deciding between the contestants the national committee,after the usual hearings,settled the disputes in such a way that Taft received a safe majority.After a week of negotiation,Roosevelt and his followers left the Republican party.Most of his supporters withdrew from the convention and the few who remained behind refused to answer the roll call.Undisturbed by this formidable bolt,the regular Republicans went on with their work.They renominated Mr.Taft and put forth a platform roundly condemning such Progressive doctrines as the recall of judges.