Roosevelt Faces Joe Cannon and “The Big Four”

Senate

Nelson Aldrich - Rhode Island.  Known as the General Manager of the Nation.  He was a pivotal member of the Senate Finance Committee that dominated tariff and monetary policy.  At that time the government didn’t raise money through taxes.  They raised money through tariffs.  The Aldrich Plan was the key influence in the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 that created the Federal Reserve System.  He sponsored the 16th Amendment that allowed for a direct Federal Income Tax.  He was deeply committed to the efficiency model of the Progressive Era, but reformers called him a representative of the evils of big business. He was the grandfather of Nelson Rockefeller. 

Orville H. Platt - Connecticut.  He was the chairman of the Committee on Patents and was on the Committee of Pensions.  He was criticized as a reactionary due to his opposition of the Sherman Anti-Trust Laws. In 1904 he presided over the impeachment trial of Jude Charles Swayne accused of filing false travel vouchers, improper use of private railroad cars, unlawfully imprisoning two attorneys for contempt and living outside of his district. He served until his death July 5th, 1907.   

William B. Allison - Iowa.  Allison was called “The Sage Old Pilot of the Senate.” No man knew more about how the Senate worked.  From 1881–93 and again from 1895 to 1908, he was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee until his death. For 30 years he sat on the Finance Committee.

John C. Spooner - Wisconsin.  Credited with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 that enabled the government to prosecute Standard Oil.  He was the author of the Spooner Act that authorized the U.S. president to buy the assets of the French company in order to build the Panama Canal.  Spooner and fellow Wisconsin Senator, Robert La Follette were bitter rivals.  Spooner disagreed with La Follette's progressive initiatives.

Congress 

Joe (Uncle Joe) Cannon - Speaker of the House who ran Congress with an Iron Fist.  His nickname was “Not One Cent for Scenery.” He said Roosevelt had as much “respect for the Constitution as a tomcat has for a marriage license “and Roosevelt said, “every time they call role in Congress, he wasn’t sure if they should answer…Here, or Not Guilty” Cannon was the first person on the cover of Time Magazine.