TAFT 



5682 



TAFT 



President Taft in 1912, provided a literacy test 

 for immigrants. 



Foreign Relations. For its achievements in 

 diplomacy the Taft administration ranks among 

 the highest in the history of the United States. 

 It was constantly facing difficult problems, and 

 these were settled to the benefit of the United 

 States. In 1909 the second American occupa- 

 tion of Cuba came to an end, and in the same 

 year a long-standing dispute with Venezuela 

 was submitted to the Hague Tribunal. Secre- 

 tary Knox in 1910 proposed to the various na- 

 tions that the Hague Tribunal be made a per- 

 manent court of arbitration. At the same time 

 he was negotiating arbitration treaties with 

 France and Great Britain; these treaties were 

 ratified by the Senate on March 7, 1912, but in 

 such amended form that the President refused 

 to submit them to the governments concerned. 

 The year 1910 also witnessed the end of the 

 fisheries dispute with Great Britain and the 

 beginning of a dispute with Russia. The latter 



ELECTION MAP OF 1908 



The states shown in black gave their electoral 

 votes to Bryan, Democrat ; in the shaded area, to 

 Taft, Republican. The white areas were at the 

 time nonvoting territories. 



country, by refusing to honor passports issued 

 by the United States to naturalized Russian 

 Jews, drove the President to abrogate the com- 

 mercial treaty of 1832. Congress by resolution 

 approved this course. 



Reciprocity with Canada. One of the things 

 on which President Taft had set his heart was 

 the negotiation of a reciprocity treaty with 

 Canada. An arrangement, popularly called the 

 Taft-Fielding treaty, was made, reducing the 

 tariff duties on a list of commodities exchanged 

 between the two countries. A bill incorporat- 

 ing these changes passed Congress in 1911, but 

 in Canada reciprocity was defeated (see page 

 1128). 



"Dollar Diplomacy." Until the nineteenth 

 century it was customary for a nation to use 



diplomacy to advance its commercial interests. 

 "Dollar diplomacy," as expounded and prac- 

 ticed by Secretary of State Philander C. Knox, 

 was a reversal of this practice it meant the 

 use of trade and commerce to advance a na- 

 tion's diplomatic prestige. A good example of 

 this policy was the "six-power loan" to China. 

 That country desired to enlist foreign capital. 

 Secretary Knox did not wait for American 

 bankers to ask for backing, but at once, in 1912, 

 urged them to join with the European lenders 

 and thus secure for the United States a share 

 in the influences working on the Chinese gov- 

 ernment. 



Another example of "dollar diplomacy" was 

 the treatment of Nicaragua and Honduras. In 

 order to encourage American investment in the 

 loans of these nations, the United States gov- 

 ernment obtained the right to collect taxes. 

 The amounts collected could then be applied 

 on the interest of the loans. "Dollar diplo- 

 macy," in few words, meant that the flag fol- 

 lows trade instead of that trade follows the flag. 



Mexican Affairs. Beginning in 1910 and con- 

 tinuing to the end of his term, President Taft's 

 most serious foreign problems arose out of the 

 disturbed conditions in Mexico. The revolu- 

 tion of 1910, led by Madero, resulted in the 

 fall of Diaz, and the revolt of 1913, led by 

 Huerta, caused the overthrow of the Madero 

 government and the death of its chief. The 

 President was averse to intervention, but in an 

 emergency, in the spring of 1911, he ordered 

 15,000 troops to protect the Mexican border. 

 At the same time he notified the Mexican gov- 

 ernment that intervention was not intended. 

 With the Madero government the United 

 States was on friendly terms, but President 

 Taft, a month before the end of his term, re- 

 fused to recognize the government of General 

 Huerta, and thus left a difficult problem for his 

 successor, Wilson. 



Economic, Social and Political Unrest. Not 

 only in foreign affairs did President Taft's ad- 

 ministration face serious complications. These 

 four years, 1909-1913,. are remarkable for social 

 and political changes, some of which came sud- 

 denly, and some after years of discussion. Up- 

 heaval was apparent in many forms, in concrete 

 changes as well as in talk and thought. A gen- 

 eral discontent with many political and eco- 

 nomic conditions was evident throughout the 

 country. The spread of prohibition and woman 

 suffrage, the introduction of the direct pri- 

 maries and the popular election of United 

 States Senators, the extension of the initiative, 



