International Problems and Public Service: Addresses by the Honourable James A. Tawney and Mr. C. A. Magrath, Members of the International Joint ... Ottawa, October 6th, 1915 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from International Problems and Public Service: A...)
Excerpt from International Problems and Public Service: Addresses by the Honourable James A. Tawney and Mr. C. A. Magrath, Members of the International Joint Commission, Before the Canadian Club of Ottawa, October 6th, 1915
I care not how important the work of any national organization may be. It cannot be compared to that of an international tribunal occupying a position between two nations. Dealing in a reasonable, common-sense way with their differences, and with no thought of national advantage. And. Gentlemen. Of this I feel confident, the Inter national Joint Commission is the forerunner of tribunals somewhat simi lar. That will yet be rendering tremendous services to humanity. If there would be anything to tempt me one hundred years hence to revisit Mother Earth. It would be to see the extent to which this method, this civilized method. Of settling international questions has developed.
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The Islands of Hawaii, Are They to Be a Buttress or a Menace to Our Western Coast?: Speech of Hon. James A. Tawney, of Minnesota in the House of ... Tuesday, March 15, 1898 (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from The Islands of Hawaii, Are They to Be a Butt...)
Excerpt from The Islands of Hawaii, Are They to Be a Buttress or a Menace to Our Western Coast?: Speech of Hon. James A. Tawney, of Minnesota in the House of Representatives, Tuesday, March 15, 1898
As far back as December 31, 1842, President Tyler, in a special message to the Senate relating to these islands, said.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
James Albertus Tawney was an American blacksmith, machinist and U. S. politician.
Background
Tawney was born in Mount Pleasant Township, near Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, in 1855. He was the son of John E. and Sarah (Boblitz) Tawney. He is said to have been a descendant of John Tawney, who emigrated from England and landed at Baltimore about 1650.
Education
Leaving school at fourteen, he was trained by his father, a farmer and black-smith, to follow in his footsteps; later he also learned the machinist's trade.
He studied law by himself and in the office of Bentley and Vance. He finished his legal training with a term in the law school of the University of Wisconsin (1882 - 83).
Career
After working in a machine shop in western Pennsylvania he went west and in 1877 established himself in Winona, Minn. , where he worked at his trade, and was admitted to the bar (1882). As in the case of many young lawyers, his legal work was a stepping-stone to politics.
In 1890 he was elected to the state Senate; in 1892 he was chosen to represent the first district of Minnesota in Congress and continued to be reelected until his defeat in 1910. From the beginning he was an old-line Republican. Unquestioned ability, regularity, and length of service secured for him a position on the committee on ways and means from 1895 to 1905, on the committee on insular affairs from December 1899, and, in 1905, the chairmanship of the committee on appropriations. He was one of the quintet, along with Joseph Gurney Cannon, S. E. Payne, John Dalzell, and J. S. Sherman, which dominated the House until the smash of 1910.
In his first session Tawney demonstrated his Republicanism by making an attack on the proposal to repeal the Federal Election Law, by advocating increased duties on barley (which gained for him the sobriquet of "Barley Jim"), and by bringing forward pension bills on every possible occasion. In 1897 he took a leading part in framing the Dingley Tariff, having especial care for the lumber interests of his state (Tawney Papers, post). He was, indeed, always considered especially tender toward lumber interests. A consistent protectionist, he was opposed to special favors for Cuban sugar, but he believed in free trade between the United States and Puerto Rico as a "permanent policy", although he supported the Foraker Bill as a temporary expedient. He had a voice in dissuading Roosevelt from pressing revision of the tariff when the latter was inclined to urge a special session for the purpose.
Tawney was more or less a national figure from his position in the House, and his notoriety, if not fame, was enhanced by a clash with Roosevelt over appropriations for the secret service division of the Treasury Department in 1908. Following Roosevelt's caustic reference to the matter in his annual message of 1908, the House, wounded in its amour propre, tabled that portion of the message as well as a special message explanatory of the passage, thus upholding Tawney, who had been mentioned by name and who defended himself and the committee from what were considered personal aspersions. This episode brought almost immediate repercussions. A defender of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, Tawney further weakened his position with his constituents, already shaken by the brush with the President. William Howard Taft's defense of Tawney, along with the tariff act, in the famous Winona speech and Roosevelt's speech attacking him contributed to his defeat in the election of 1910. An appointment to the international joint commission on the United States-Canadian boundary provided him with a lame duck's refuge and the only political position he held until his death at Excelsior Springs, Mo. , in 1919.
Tawney was a member of the International Joint Commission (created to prevent disputes regarding the use of Boundary Waters between the United States and Canada) from 1911 until his death.
Connections
At Winona he was married on December 19, 1883, to Emma B. Newell. They had six children.