Congressman Cushman and the Tariff 'Barter'
A stinging editorial accusation that Tacoma's representative traded his constituents' interests for a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
'Cush' has received his pay. The Tacoma congressman, who sprang from the common people and sold them out for the privilege of licking the boots of the aristocracy, was rewarded for his betrayal of the masses by Joe Cannon yesterday with a place on the ways and means committee of the house. And the deal was such a travesty on justice that the house hissed the announcement of his appointment. Strutting like a peacock in new feathers, Cushman hastened to send a home-made interview to his Tacoma organ lauding 'Uncle Joe,' declaring with brazen braggadocio for a 'high' tariff and reprimanding his constituents for deigning to write and wire him that his duty lay in voting against Cannon and dictatorship. Cushman says these patriotic citizens of Tacoma are 'misguided.' He is probably right; if they had not been misguided, they would never have sent him to Washington. Cushman wants hides protected and has the audacity to intimate that it is in the interest of the people of Washington. The people are not 'misguided' enough to believe that the tariff on hides is to be maintained to protect the lone hunter in the hills of Washington. It is the beef trust that wants the tariff on hides, for it has a practical monopoly and the tariff preserves it. He has sold out the common people in his intoxication over the prospect of sitting in the councils of the bosses who work for the trusts.
“Cushman held the hopes of the people, the interests of the masses—and he sold them for personal prestige with the machine.”
This reflects the fierce turn-of-the-century populist rage against political machines, a sentiment that fueled both the Progressive movement and the rise of the radical labor politics that defined Tacoma's later years.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.