he
protective policy with a promise for honest tariff revision in order to
obtain a continuation of the Roosevelt policies.

The popular vote is interesting mainly for what it showed concerning the
changed strength of the small parties, During the period 1904 to 1908
the drift had evidently been away from them. The Socialist vote was
nearly as large in 1908 as in 1904, which was a consolation to
Socialists, for they had held the ground gained by the heavy vote in
1904. The Prohibition vote fell off about ten per cent from that polled
in 1904 and the Independence party polled only 82,000 votes.

In the House of Representatives the Sixty-first Congress had 219
Republicans and 172 Democrats; the Senate 60 Republicans and 32
Democrats.

CHAPTER XV

THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT TAFT

[1909]

On March 4, 1909, the date of the inaugural ceremonies, Washington was
visited by a heavy snow-storm, and Mr. Taft, departing from the custom
of delivering his inaugural address at the east end of the Capitol,
spoke in the Senate chamber. Many trains bearing visitors to Washington,
from various parts of' the country, were blockaded, This condition
served to emphasize the call, many times made, for the transfer of the
date of these services to April 30, the day on which President
Washington took the oath of office.

President Taft's inaugural address was wise and temperate and
satisfactory to the country at large. He asserted that the most
important feature of his administration would be the maintenance and
enforcement of the reforms inaugurated by President Roosevelt. He
justified appropriations, as his predecessor had done, for maintaining a
suitable army and navy; advocated the conservation of our natural
resources, the establishment of postal savings banks, and direct lines
of steamers between North and South America.

[Illustration]
Copyright by Clinedinst, Washington.
President William H. Taft and Governor Hughes
on the reviewing stand at the inauguration, March 4,1909.

The cabinet was made up of men largely gathered from private life, a
majority of them being comparatively unknown to the public. Philander C.
Knox was United States senator from Pennsylvania when he was appointed
Secretary of State. He had served as Attorney-General in President
McKinley's cabinet. Franklin MacVeagh, of Illinois, who was made
Secretary of the Treasury, had been prominent as a merchant in Chicago
and active in public affairs.