William H. Taft 1909 Typed Letter Signed as President - Just 2 Weeks in Office, Taft Comments on Tariffs
"I have not thought it wise to go into any particular schedules in the tariff, so therefore I could not refer to the question of free art"
27th President. Typed letter signed “Wm. H. Taft” AS PRESIDENT, 7x8.75, White House letterhead, March 16, 1909. Letter to writer and journalist Robert Underwood Johnson, in full:
I have your letter of March 12th and thank you for your approval of my inaugural address. I have not thought it wise to go into any particular schedules in the tariff, so therefore I could not refer to the question of free art. Whatever I can do I shall be glad to do in that direction, however.
Accompanied by the original White House mailing envelope.
In very good to fine condition, with light edge creasing, and slight blurring to the type and signature.
The same day as this this letter was written, Taft sent a letter to the House and Senate regarding tariff legislation, concluding: “I venture to suggest that the vital business interests of the country require that the attention of the Congress in this session be chiefly devoted to the consideration of the new tariff bill, and that the less time given to other subjects of legislation in this session, the better for the country.”
On March 19, 1909, the New York Times reported on the 'new Tariff bill admitting duty free all works of art twenty years old or more,' speculating that the measure would lead to the repatriation of some of the world's finest art collections, including those of J. Pierpont Morgan, then kept in London, and Isabella Stewart Gardner, whose collection of early Italian paintings was in France.
Taft campaigned on a platform of lowering tariffs, a staple of the progressive agenda. When the Payne Bill, which lowered rates on imported manufactured goods, was passed, the Senate proposed an alternative bill. The Aldrich Bill made fewer cuts and increased many rates. Amid cries of betrayal from the progressive wing of Taft's party, Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, a compromise that only moderated the high rates of the Aldrich Bill. This angered the progressives who believed Taft abandoned progressivism. Taft made things worse when he tried to attempt to defend the tariff.
An early Taft letter, just days into his term.
"I have not thought it wise to go into any particular schedules in the tariff, so therefore I could not refer to the question of free art"
27th President. Typed letter signed “Wm. H. Taft” AS PRESIDENT, 7x8.75, White House letterhead, March 16, 1909. Letter to writer and journalist Robert Underwood Johnson, in full:
I have your letter of March 12th and thank you for your approval of my inaugural address. I have not thought it wise to go into any particular schedules in the tariff, so therefore I could not refer to the question of free art. Whatever I can do I shall be glad to do in that direction, however.
Accompanied by the original White House mailing envelope.
In very good to fine condition, with light edge creasing, and slight blurring to the type and signature.
The same day as this this letter was written, Taft sent a letter to the House and Senate regarding tariff legislation, concluding: “I venture to suggest that the vital business interests of the country require that the attention of the Congress in this session be chiefly devoted to the consideration of the new tariff bill, and that the less time given to other subjects of legislation in this session, the better for the country.”
On March 19, 1909, the New York Times reported on the 'new Tariff bill admitting duty free all works of art twenty years old or more,' speculating that the measure would lead to the repatriation of some of the world's finest art collections, including those of J. Pierpont Morgan, then kept in London, and Isabella Stewart Gardner, whose collection of early Italian paintings was in France.
Taft campaigned on a platform of lowering tariffs, a staple of the progressive agenda. When the Payne Bill, which lowered rates on imported manufactured goods, was passed, the Senate proposed an alternative bill. The Aldrich Bill made fewer cuts and increased many rates. Amid cries of betrayal from the progressive wing of Taft's party, Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, a compromise that only moderated the high rates of the Aldrich Bill. This angered the progressives who believed Taft abandoned progressivism. Taft made things worse when he tried to attempt to defend the tariff.
An early Taft letter, just days into his term.
"I have not thought it wise to go into any particular schedules in the tariff, so therefore I could not refer to the question of free art"
27th President. Typed letter signed “Wm. H. Taft” AS PRESIDENT, 7x8.75, White House letterhead, March 16, 1909. Letter to writer and journalist Robert Underwood Johnson, in full:
I have your letter of March 12th and thank you for your approval of my inaugural address. I have not thought it wise to go into any particular schedules in the tariff, so therefore I could not refer to the question of free art. Whatever I can do I shall be glad to do in that direction, however.
Accompanied by the original White House mailing envelope.
In very good to fine condition, with light edge creasing, and slight blurring to the type and signature.
The same day as this this letter was written, Taft sent a letter to the House and Senate regarding tariff legislation, concluding: “I venture to suggest that the vital business interests of the country require that the attention of the Congress in this session be chiefly devoted to the consideration of the new tariff bill, and that the less time given to other subjects of legislation in this session, the better for the country.”
On March 19, 1909, the New York Times reported on the 'new Tariff bill admitting duty free all works of art twenty years old or more,' speculating that the measure would lead to the repatriation of some of the world's finest art collections, including those of J. Pierpont Morgan, then kept in London, and Isabella Stewart Gardner, whose collection of early Italian paintings was in France.
Taft campaigned on a platform of lowering tariffs, a staple of the progressive agenda. When the Payne Bill, which lowered rates on imported manufactured goods, was passed, the Senate proposed an alternative bill. The Aldrich Bill made fewer cuts and increased many rates. Amid cries of betrayal from the progressive wing of Taft's party, Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, a compromise that only moderated the high rates of the Aldrich Bill. This angered the progressives who believed Taft abandoned progressivism. Taft made things worse when he tried to attempt to defend the tariff.
An early Taft letter, just days into his term.