In April, 1903, the President, with a party of twenty-seven selected and invited by himself, started on the long-postponed and often-discussed trip to the Pacific Coast. The party left on the morning of April 1st and returned after sixty-five days of almost continuous travel on the evening of June 5th. On this trip, the travellers experienced every kind of climate, saw every type of vegetation, and met every class of people in the United States. The itinerary covered 13,955 miles, 23 states, and 136 cities.
On his return to Washington, the President was given a tremendous reception by the people of the Capital. Crowds lined both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue and cheered as he rode from the station to the White House.
President Roosevelt’s first administration accomplished a number of important projects. His term opened with his interest centred in the creation of a Department of Commerce and Labour, also of the establishment of forest reserves and the irrigation of the dry or arid land by the government. The Canal across the Isthmus of Panama long under discussion and partially under construction became a reality after Congress authorized the purchase of the French holdings for $40,000,000, and after a revolution in Colombia resulted in the establishment of the Republic of Panama in November, 1903, which was recognized by the United States Government a few days later and a treaty signed containing more liberal terms than the one rejected by Colombia. Dr. W. C. Gorgas applied the discoveries of the Spanish War to the problem of the yellow fever, and American sanitary science made the completion of the Canal possible without the scourges of diseases of past years.
President Roosevelt was unanimously nominated for President in June, 1904, by the Republican National Convention held at Chicago. No Vice President who ever succeeded to the Presidency on the death of a chosen President had ever stood so strong with the people. He made no speeches during the campaign, remaining most of the time at his summer home at Oyster Bay, holding frequent conferences with party leaders. Judge Alton B. Parker, the Democratic candidate for President, having made charges in speeches delivered shortly before the election, that the Republican campaign committee had received vast contributions of money from trust companies in return for favours done them by Chairman Cortelyou when he was Secretary of Commerce and Labour, the President, three days before the election, issued from the White House a vigorous denial of the charges, challenging Judge Parker to produce the proof. It was in this statement that the President employed the famous “square deal” term, ending his defense of Chairman Cortelyou with these words: “All I ask is a square deal. Give every man a fair chance; don’t let anyone harm him, and don’t let him do harm to anyone.”
In November, he was elected by the largest electoral vote ever given a nominee for the Presidency up to that time.
CHAPTER XIII
SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF THEODORE
ROOSEVELT
March 4, 1905, to March 4, 1909
ROOSEVELT’S inauguration on March 4, 1905, was more the inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt, the man, than the installation of a new President of the United States. No President since Abraham Lincoln had possessed such a unique personality. His national following was amply demonstrated by the unequalled vote of the electoral college and by the popular majority which exceeded 2,500,000, and it is the common belief that curiosity to a phenomenal degree drew the hosts of visitors to the city to witness the ceremonies and to see this man for themselves. The day dawned with the promise of fair weather, and the fluttering mass of flags and banners made the Avenue a brilliant pathway of gorgeous colour.
Rough Riders, Grand Army Veterans, and Spanish War Veterans formed the personal escort to the Capitol, led by Lieutenant General Chaffee, Grand Marshal of the parade, whose colour bearers attracted special interest. They were the sons and grandsons of men distinguished in the annals of American military and naval history. They were selected from West Point and Annapolis, and nearly all of them were descendants of army and navy officers who had won distinguished honours fighting for their country. Those from the West Point Military Academy were: Sherman Miles, son of General Miles; Adna R. Chaffee, son of Lieutenant General Chaffee; Calvin P. Titus, the first American soldier to scale the wall at the siege of Peking, China, appointed cadet-at-large by President McKinley, and Cadet Gatewood. Those representing Annapolis were: Midshipman Stephen Decatur, descendant of Commodore Decatur; Midshipman Beauregard, grandson of the Confederate General; Midshipman Davis, son of Rear Admiral Davis; Midshipman Early, son of the Confederate General, Jubal A. Early.