he lists, only to meet another defeat. Though he polled almost
a million and a half more votes than did Judge Parker in 1904, the palm
went to Mr. Taft.

=The Tariff Revision and Party Dissensions.=--At the very beginning of
his term, President Taft had to face the tariff issue. He had met it in
the campaign. Moved by the Democratic demand for a drastic reduction, he
had expressed opinions which were thought to imply a "downward
revision." The Democrats made much of the implication and the
Republicans from the Middle West rejoiced in it. Pressure was coming
from all sides. More than ten years had elapsed since the enactment of
the Dingley bill and the position of many industries had been altered
with the course of time. Evidently the day for revision--at best a
thankless task--had arrived. Taft accepted the inevitable and called
Congress in a special session. Until the midsummer of 1909, Republican
Senators and Representatives wrangled over tariff schedules, the
President making little effort to influence their decisions. When on
August 5 the Payne-Aldrich bill became a law, a breach had been made in
Republican ranks. Powerful Senators from the Middle West had spoken
angrily against many of the high rates imposed by the bill. They had
even broken with their party colleagues to vote against the entire
scheme of tariff revision.

=The Income Tax Amendment.=--The rift in party harmony was widened by
another serious difference of opinion. During the debate on the tariff
bill, there was a concerted movement to include in it an income tax
provision--this in spite of the decision of the Supreme Court in 1895
declaring it unconstitutional. Conservative men were alarmed by the
evident willingness of some members to flout a solemn decree of that
eminent tribunal. At the same time they saw a powerful combination of
Republicans and Democrats determined upon shifting some of the burden of
taxation to large incomes. In the press of circumstances, a compromise
was reached. The income tax bill was dropped for the present; but
Congress passed the sixteenth amendment to the Constitution, authorizing
taxes upon incomes from whatever source they might be derived, without
reference to any apportionment among the states on the basis of
population. The states ratified the amendment and early in 1913 it was
proclaimed.

=President Taft's Policies.=--After the enactment of the tariff bill,
Taft continued to push forward with his legislative