OSCAB W. UNDERWOOD 471 eminent armor-plate factory to break up the existing monop- oly ; he advocated and secured the appropriation of large sums of money for fighting yellow fever; he has always been an earnest advocate of rural free delivery of the mails and the direct election of United States Senators ; he has fought for a tax on inheritances, and the present income tax law is em- bodied in the tariff bill which bears his name ; he has worked hard for the irrigation of arid lands, which have furnished free homes to thousands of settlers and have converted barren deserts into fertile fields; he has always earnestly advocated large appropriations for the work of the Department of Agri- culture; he believes in giving large power to the Interstate Conmierce Conunission and has always thrown his vote and in- fluence in that direction; he has cordially supported all em- ployee safety bills and legislation for an eight-hour day for laboring men employed on government contracts. For years he has been the balance wheel of the House. Among his most recent labors were those in connection with the new currency law, to secure the passage of which the President sought Mr. Underwood's assistance. His greatest single achievement in the realm of legislation, however, is the great tariff bill which bears his name — the Underwood Bill. The opponents of the measure acknowledge that it represents a clean redemption of the pledge contained in the party's platform to revise and lower the tariff so as to make it a tariff for revenue only. The best evidence of its popularity may be found in the fact that it entered the statute books with less adverse comment than any other tariff bill in history. Efforts have been made by Mr. Underwood's political an- tagonists to place him in the class of the reactionaries. Nat- urally this effort could not meet with success. Others have called him a conservative, a term that jars the very ear-drums of the progressive element. But Mr. Underwood is nothing if not progressive. Witness his own tariff bill. Witness the great national currency law. Witness his income tax. Wit- ness his advocacy of the direct election of United States Sen- ators. True he has not taken the initiative, referendum, and
