Legislative Leader

Some of the major bills that came through when Taft was President are below.


Taft Signed:

• Payne- Aldrich Tariff Act 
• This Established the Tariff Board and also reduced the tariff.
• Postal Savings Bank Act
• Allowed one bank per state to give 2% interest on accounts with less than 500 dollars in them.
• Canadian Tariff Reciprocity Agreement
• Children's Bureau in the Department of Commerce
• This is to monitor child welfare.
• The Organic Act of the Department of Labor
• Creating the United States Department of Labor (Taft, William Howard)

Taft Vetoed:

• Tariff reductions on wool and woolen goods
• Vetoed because the investigation the Tariff Board was doing was not complete.
• Bill wanting literacy tests for all immigrants

(American President: A Reference Resource)

Taft did his job as Legislative Leader because he passed and vetoed the bills in the way he thought was best for the people, thought the people didn't always agree (Korzi, Michael J).  The bill that had the largest seperation in sides was the Payne-Aldrich Tariff.  Roosevelt chose not to tackle this one because he worried it would split his party, so Taft did it.  Taft wasn't worried about the risks because he thought it was what was best.  Taft called it, "the best bill to come from the Republican Party" (Taft, William Howard).  Although being Legislative Leader was not Taft's strong suit, in the words of Taft, "We are all imperfect.  We can not expect perfect government" (William Howard Taft: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article).