History of the United States, Volume 6
by Elisha Benjamin Andrews · English · Gutenberg #24023 · 485,069 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: History of the United States, Volume 6
Author: Elisha Benjamin Andrews
Release date: December 24, 2007 [eBook #24023]
Most recently updated: December 6, 2021
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24023
Credits: Produced by Don Kostuch
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, VOLUME 6 ***
Produced by Don Kostuch
[Transcriber's Notes]
Text has been moved to avoid fragmentation of sentences and paragraphs.
This is the last volume in a set of six. The other five volumes are at:
Volume I -- https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20925
Volume II -- https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22567
Volume III -- https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23748
Volume IV -- https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22676
Volume V -- https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22777
Here are the definitions of some uncommon words.
capitation
Numbering or assessing by the head. Poll tax. Fee or payment of a
uniform amount for each person.
cumberer
Hindrance.
imperatively
Absolutely necessary; unavoidable; commanding.
justiciable
Capable of being settled by law or by the action of a court:
munificent
Very generous.
[End Transcriber's Notes]
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Copyright, 1907, by Clinedinst. Washington, D. C.
Theodore Roosevelt
At his desk in the executive offices of the White House during his term
as president.
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
FROM THE EARLIEST DISCOVERY OF AMERICA
TO THE PRESENT TIME
BY
E. BENJAMIN ANDREWS
CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
FORMERLY PRESIDENT OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
With 650 Illustrations and Maps
VOLUME VI.
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1912
COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. THE RISE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Career of Theodore Roosevelt.
Characteristics.
Temper and Method.
Administration.
Reciprocity.
Trusts.
Industrial Confederations.
Railway, Steel and Steamship Combinations.
Ship Subsidy Bill.
Beef Trust.
Steel Strike of 1901.
Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902.
President Roosevelt Calls Conference for Its Settlement.
CHAPTER II. ROOSEVELT'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION
His Fine Equipment for the Office of President.
A Remarkable Cabinet.
Mr. Root's Work for Cuba and the Philippines.
For the Army.
The Diplomacy of John Hay.
Department of Commerce and Labor Created.
The Panama Canal Achievement.
Recognition of Panama.
The Galveston Flood.
Plan of City Government.
Cuba an Independent Republic.
The Philippines under United States Rule.
The Baltimore Fire.
The St. Louis Exposition.
CHAPTER III. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1904
President Roosevelt Renominated.
Nominations of the Democratic Convention.
Of the Conventions of the Populist, Socialist and Prohibitionist Parties.
Character of the Campaign.
Charges Made against the Republicans.
President Roosevelt's Reply to Judge Parker's Statements.
Results of the Election.
CHAPTER IV. AMERICA AND THE CHINESE OPEN DOOR
Aggressive Policy of President Roosevelt.
Secretary Hay Continued in Office.
William H. Taft Made Secretary of War.
Trade of America and European Nations with China.
Secretary Hay's Request for Equal Trade Rights in China for All Nations.
The Boxer Rebellion.
Portion of China's Indemnity Cancelled by Congress.
Chinese Students in America.
Russia's Influence in China.
New Commercial Treaty between United States and China.
Opening of Manchurian Ports to All Nations.
Secretary Hay and Chinese Neutrality during the Russo-Japanese War.
Effects of too Strict Interpretation of Chinese Exclusion Act.
President Roosevelt's Instructions to Immigration Officials.
CHAPTER V. INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION.
Progress Made in Settlement of International Difficulties by Arbitration.
First Meeting of the Hague Peace Conference.
Work of the Conference.
Chief Features of a Permanent International Court of Arbitration.
Advantages of Such Court.
Convened for the First Time in 1901.
The Pious Fund Case.
The Venezuela Case.
Mr. Carnegie's Gift for a "Palace of Peace."
The Building.
Peace Congresses Held in the United States in 1904.
Resolutions Adopted.
The Nations Invited by President Roosevelt to a Second Hague Conference.
Work of Second Conference.
Number of Treaties Concluded between the Nations.
CHAPTER VI. THE UNITED STATES AND LATIN-AMERICA
Interest in South American Republics.
Meeting of Pan-American Congress in Washington.
In City of Mexico.
Comparison of Foreign Commerce of South American States with European
Countries and with the United States.
Progress of South American States.
The Third Pan-American Congress, at Rio Janeiro Bureau of Pan-American
Republics Founded.
New Interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine.
The Santo Domingo Situation.
Its Adjustment by President Roosevelt.
CHAPTER VII. CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Waste of Nation's Resources.
Establishment of a Division of Forestry.
Mariposa Forest Reservation.
Preservation of Niagara Falls.
Inland Waterways Commission Appointed by President Roosevelt.
Conference on Conservation Held at the White House.
Resolutions Adopted.
First National Conservation Commission.
The National Conservation Association Formed.
First North American Conservation Congress, called by President
Roosevelt.
Irrigation and the Reclamation Act.
The Roosevelt Dam.
The Shoshone Dam.
The Truckee-Carson Canal.
Proceeds from Sales of Public Lands.
Reclamation of the Swamp Lands.
The Mississippi Basin.
The Lakes to the Gulf Deep Waterways Association.
Projects Submitted by the Inland Waterways Commission.
Appropriation for Enlargement of Erie Canal.
CHAPTER VIII. DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW SOUTH
Splendid Natural Gifts of the South.
Its Water Power Facilities.
Wealth of Minerals and Forests, Coal and Iron.
Waste of Forest Lands.
Wonderful Economic Advancement.
Mr. Rockefeller's Gift.
Cotton Production.
Improved Methods of Agriculture.
Roads.
Methods of Financing the Plantation System.
Cultivation of Hay and Corn.
Stock-Raising.
The New Social Life.
Bright Prospect for the Future.
CHAPTER IX. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION
Exposition at Portland, Oregon, Commemorating Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Interstate Commerce Commission.
Provisions of Interstate Commerce Laws.
Pure Food and Drugs Law.
Investigation of Meat-Packing Methods.
The Earthquake in San Francisco.
Relief Fund.
Rebuilding of the City.
CHAPTER X. THE FINANCIAL PANIC OF 1907
Popular Explanations of Its Cause.
The Real Causes.
Insolvency of Knickerbocker Trust Company.
Lack of Confidence in Financial Institutions.
Aid from the United States Treasury's Surplus Fund.
Enormous Amounts Paid Out to Depositors.
Radical Steps Taken by Bankers.
"Emergency Currency" Issued.
Strengthening of the New York Stock Exchange.
Gold from Foreign Countries.
Sale of Panama Bonds and Notes.
Confidence Restored.
Discussions Concerning Financial System.
The Aldrich-Vreeland Act.
CHAPTER XI. IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION
Great Increase in Immigration.
Change in Its Character.
Gain in Percentage from Southern Europe over that from Northern Europe.
Reasons Why These Foreigners Emigrate to America.
The Immigration Act of 1907.
And Its Effect.
The Emigration of Italians.
Slavs in the United States.
The Jews.
The Question of Oriental Immigration.
Dangers of Increasing Immigration.
Foreign Colonies in Chicago and Other Cities.
Increase in Criminality.
The Chief Problem.
Emigration of United States Farmers to Canada.
CHAPTER XII. NOTABLE SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
The Northern Securities Company Case.
The Alonzo Bailey Case.
Case of Loewe vs. Lawler, or the Danbury Hatters Case.
The Standard Oil Case.
The Case of the American Tobacco Company.
CHAPTER XIII. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION, CONTINUED
President Roosevelt's Advocacy of a Larger and More Efficient Navy.
Rear-Admiral Evans's Effective Work.
Cruise of the Atlantic Fleet.
Unusual Honors Tendered by Brazil and Other Countries Visited by the
Fleet.
Purchase and Settlement of Oklahoma Territory.
Indian System of Government.
Oklahoma and Indian Territory Admitted to the Union.
Exclusion of Japanese Students in San Francisco and President
Roosevelt's Prompt Action.
Child-Labor in the United States.
The Beveridge-Parsons Bill.
New Uses of Electricity.
Wireless Telegraphy, Air-Ships and Submarine Boats.
Business and Political Reforms.
Advances in Educational Work.
Notable Gifts of Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Rockefeller.
CHAPTER XIV. THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1908
The Republican Convention.
William H. Taft Nominated for President.
Other Candidates for Nomination.
James S. Sherman Nominated for Vice-President.
The Democratic Convention.
And Its Nominations.
Platforms of Both Parties.
The Socialist Convention and Platform.
Convention of the Prohibition Party and Its Platform.
Lack of Campaign "Issues."
Personal Fitness of the Candidates.
Fear of the Power of Great Corporations.
Efficiency of President Roosevelt's Administration.
Results of the Election.
CHAPTER XV. THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT TAFT
Inauguration of President Taft.
His Cabinet.
Increase of Salaries of Principal Executive Officers.
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.
Alaskan Products.
Hudson-Fulton Celebration.
Arctic Exploration.
Commander Peary's Expedition.
Dr. Cook's Claims.
State Constitutions of Arizona and New Mexico Formed.
President Taft's Disapproval of Them.
New Mexico Admitted to the Union.
Population and Products of Arizona.
Of New Mexico.
The Aeroplane.
Tests and Records Made by Aviators.
The Federal Publicity Law.
President Taft's Recommendation Concerning Classified Service.
His Advance Position on International Arbitration.
CHAPTER XVI. THE THIRTEENTH CENSUS, 1910
Permanent Census Bureau Established.
Work of the Enumerators.
Special Attention Given to Character of Questions.
Enormous Labor of Tabulation and Classification.
Cost of Census.
Population of United States and Territorial Possessions.
Comparisons of Population with That of Previous Decade.
Rapid Growth of Cities.
Westward Advance of Centre of Population.
Emigration to Canada.
Congressional Reapportionment.
Farms of the United States.
Value of Foreign Commerce.
Of Exports.
CHAPTER XVII. THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT
Government by the People.
Attitude Toward Senator La Follette, the First Progressive.
Number of Progressives in Senate.
Laws Annulled by Courts.
National Progressive Republican League Formed.
Its Platform.
The "Initiative."
The "Referendum."
The "Recall."
Tariff Revision.
The Payne-Aldrich Bill Passed.
Criticism of the Cotton Schedule.
Of the Wool Schedule.
The "Maximum and Minimum" Clause.
Democratic Revision of the Tariff.
Farmers' Free List Bill.
Reciprocity with Canada.
President Taft and the Progressive Movement.
APPENDIX:
I. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
II. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
III. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
IV. PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
V. STATES ADMITTED INTO THE UNION
VI. AREA OF THE UNITED STATES
VII. POPULATION OF CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES BY DECADES, 1790--1910
VIII. APPROXIMATE POPULATION UNDER THE AMERICAN FLAG, 1910.
IX. POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 1910, 1900, 1890
X. NUMBER OF MEMBERS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AFTER EACH APPORTIONMENT
XI. POPULATION LIVING IN URBAN AND RURAL TERRITORY 1890-1900.
XII. TWENTY-FIVE LARGEST CITIES FROM 1880 to 1910.
INDEX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THEODORE ROOSEVELT AT HIS DESK IN THE EXECUTIVE
OFFICES OF THE WHITE HOUSE DURING HIS TERM AS
PRESIDENT. (Copyright, 1907, Clinedinst, Washington).
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
(From a copyrighted photograph by Pach Bros., New York).
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, AS LIEUT.-COLONEL OF THE "ROUGH RIDERS."
COLLIS P. HUNTINGTON.
JAMES J. HILL. (Copyright, 1902, by Pach Bros., N. Y.).
E. H. HARRIMAN.
JOHN W. GATES.
ANDREW CARNEGIE. (Copyright, 1902, by Rockwood, N. Y.).
J. PIERPONT MORGAN. (Copyright, 1901, by Pach Bros., N. Y.).
COL. CLEMENTS. GEN. GOBIN COMMANDING TROOPS SENT TO SHENANDOAH IN THE
COAL STRIKE OF 1902.
COAL STRIKE AT SHENANDOAH, PA., 1902. A STRIKERS' PICKET.
THE COAL STRIKE ARBITRATORS CHOSEN BY THE PRESIDENT. (Copyright, 1902,
by George Grantham Bain).
JOHN HAY, SECRETARY OF STATE. (Copyright, 1904, by Pach Bros., N. Y.).
ELIHU ROOT, SECRETARY OF WAR. (Copyright, 1903, by Clinedinst,
Washington).
GEORGE B. CORTELYOU, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.
(Photograph by Rice).
THE ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION, TAKEN MARCH 22,1904.
THE AMERICAN ISTHMUS, SHOWING ROUTES INVESTIGATED FOR A SHIP-CANAL.
M. BUNAU-VARILLA, MINISTER FROM PANAMA. (Photograph by Clinedinst).
GREAT HEAPS OF WRECKAGE PILED HIGH BY THE GALVESTON DISASTER.
(Copyright, 1900, by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.).
THE BOULEVARD AND SEA-WALL, GALVESTON. BUILT AFTER THE FLOOD.
(Photograph by H. H. Morris).
TOMASO ESTRADA Y PALMA, FIRST PRESIDENT OF CUBA, IN THE PALACE, HAVANA.
(Copyright, 1902, by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.).
LOWERING THE STARS AND STRIPES ON THE PALACE, MAY 20, 1902, FOR THE FLAG
OF THE CUBAN REPUBLIC. (Copyright, 1901, by Underwood & Underwood).
GOV. WILLIAM H. TAFT.
THE BALTIMORE FIRE. (Lombard and Calvert Streets, showing Continental
and Equitable Buildings).
THE BALTIMORE FIRE. (Hopkins Place and German Street, looking east).
OPENING DAY AT THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION. PRESIDENT D. K.
FRANCIS DELIVERING THE OPENING ADDRESS. (Copyright, 1904, by William H.
Rau, Philadelphia).
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION. THE VARIED INDUSTRIES BUILDING.
CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION AT CHICAGO, 1904.
WILLIAM R. HEARST.
THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION AT ST. LOUIS, 1904.
ALTON B. PARKER.
INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, MARCH 4, 1905. (Photograph by
Clinedinst, Washington, D. C.).
COUNT VON WALDERSEE, ESCORTED BY OFFICERS OF THE ALLIED ARMIES BETWEEN
LINES OF U. S. TROOPS TOWARD THE SACRED GATE, PEKING. (Copyright by
Underwood & Underwood, N, Y.).
AMERICAN FLAG RAISED OVER BATTERED REMNANTS OF SOUTH GATE IMMEDIATELY
AFTER CITY'S CAPTURE. BATTLE OF TIEN-TSIN CHINA. (Copyright, 1901, by
Underwood & Underwood).
ARRIVAL OF CHINAMEN AT MALONE, N. Y., FROM CANADA, ACCOMPANIED BY
OFFICIALS.
THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND, WHERE THE FIRST PEACE
CONFERENCE WAS HELD.
PRESIDENT CASTRO OF VENEZUELA.
THE NEW PEACE PALACE, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND.
RUSSIAN AND JAPANESE PEACE ENVOYS IN SESSION AT PORTSMOUTH, N. H.
BUILDING WHERE THE SECOND PEACE CONFERENCE WAS HELD, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND.
FIRST SESSION OF THE SECOND PEACE CONFERENCE, THE HAGUE, HOLLAND.
FEDERAL PALACE, WHERE THE SECOND PAN-AMERICAN CONGRESS WAS HELD IN THE
CITY OF MEXICO. (Courtesy of the Pan-American Union).
MONROE PALACE, WHERE THE THIRD PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCE WAS HELD IN RIO
DE JANEIRO. (Courtesy of the Pan-American Union).
ARRIVAL OF SECRETARY ROOT AT RIO DE JANEIRO. (Courtesy of the
Pan-American Union).
THE BUREAU OF THE PAN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS. (Photograph by Clinedinst).
GRIZZLY GIANT, MARIPOSA GROVE, CALIFORNIA, WITH A SQUAD OF CAVALRY AT
ITS BASE.
BIG TREE "WAWONA," SHOWING THE RELATIVE SIZE OF OTHER CONIFERS COMPARED
WITH BIG TREES. MARIPOSA GROVE.
THE PRESIDENT, GOVERNORS, AND OTHER LEADING MEN AT THE NATIONAL
RESOURCES CONFERENCE, AT THE WHITE HOUSE, MAY 13 TO 15, 1908. (Copyright
by Underwood & Underwood).
GIFFORD PINCHOT, PRESIDENT OF THE CONSERVATION COMMISSION.
ROOSEVELT DAM FROM THE ROAD.
SHOSHONE DAM, WYOMING. HIGHEST DAM IN THE WORLD. HEIGHT, 328.4 FEET.
SHOSHONE PROJECT. WYOMING PARK WAGON ROAD, SHOWING WONDERFUL TUNNELLING
WORK ON THE NEW WAGON ROAD FROM CODY, WYO., TO THE NATIONAL PARK VIA THE
SHOSHONE DAM. (Photograph by Clinedinst).
TRUCKEE-CARSON RECLAMATION PROJECT. DIVERSION DAM AND GATES AT HEADING
OF MAIN CANAL.
INLAND WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
THE PORT OF NEW ORLEANS. (Copyright, 1900, by Detroit Photographic Co.).
JAMES WILSON, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE.
A FIELD OF COTTON.
BALES OF COTTON READY FOR SHIPMENT. COTTON-PRESS YARD, NEW ORLEANS.
LOADING COTTON ON THE LEVEE, NEW ORLEANS.
THE PRICE-CAMPBELL COTTON-PICKING MACHINE, WHICH DOES THE WORK OF FIFTY
PERSONS.
THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPOSITION, PORTLAND, ORE. GENERAL VIEW ACROSS THE
LAGOON.
THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPOSITION, PORTLAND, ORE. THE GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS
ACROSS THE LAGOON.
DR. HARVEY W. WILEY, MANY YEARS CHIEF OF THE U. S. BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY.
(Copyright by Clinedinst, Washington).
U. S. GOVERNMENT INSPECTION OF A PACKING-HOUSE.
EARTHQUAKE AT SAN FRANCISCO, APRIL 18, 1906. UPHEAVAL OF SIDEWALK AT
EIGHTEENTH AND CAPP STREETS.
BURNING OF SAN FRANCISCO FOLLOWING THE EARTHQUAKE.
SHOWING DESTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE IN SAN
FRANCISCO.
REFUGEES IN GOLDEN GATE PARK, SAN FRANCISCO.
THE JAMESTOWN EXPOSITION--MANUFACTURES AND LIBERAL ARTS BUILDING--FROM
THE AUDITORIUM. (Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.).
THE PANIC OF 1907. RUN ON THE KNICKERBOCKER TRUST COMPANY, 34TH STREET
AND FIFTH AVENUE.
THE PANIC OF 1907. UPTOWN BRANCH OF THE KNICKERBOCKER TRUST COMPANY,
125TH STREET.
THE PANIC OF 1907. RUN ON THE COLONIAL TRUST COMPANY. LINE OF DEPOSITORS
IN ANN STREET WAITING THEIR TURN.
THE PANIC OF 1907. RUN ON THE LINCOLN TRUST COMPANY, FIFTH AVENUE
ENTRANCE.
THE PANIC OF 1907. WALL STREET, IN FRONT OF THE SUB-TREASURY BUILDING,
WHEN THE RUN ON THE TRUST COMPANY OF AMERICA WAS AT ITS HEIGHT.
THE PANIC OF 1907. RUN ON THE STATE BANK, GRAND STREET, NEW YORK.
EMIGRANTS BOUND FOR AMERICA.
ENTRANCE TO EMIGRANT STATION OR "MODEL TOWN" IN HAMBURG. BUILT FOR
EMIGRANTS WAITING TO SAIL.
ONE OF SEVERAL CHURCHES BUILT FOR EMIGRANTS OF VARIOUS FAITHS IN THE
STATION OR "MODEL TOWN" OF THE HAMBURG-AMERICAN COMPANY, FOR USE WHILE
WAITING TO SAIL.
U. S. IMMIGRANT STATION, ELLIS ISLAND, N. Y.
GROUPS OF IMMIGRANTS UPON THEIR ARRIVAL AT ELLIS ISLAND.
GROUP OF COSSACK IMMIGRANTS CONSIDERED DESIRABLE AND QUALIFIED TO ENTER.
SWEDISH IMMIGRANT FAMILY CONSIDERED DESIRABLE AND QUALIFIED TO ENTER.
JUSTICES OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT WHO ACTED UPON THE CASES OF
THE STANDARD OIL AND AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANIES. (Copyright by
Clinedinst, Washington).
CHIEF JUSTICE MELVILLE W. FULLER. (Photograph copyright by Clinedinst,
Washington).
REAR-ADMIRAL ROBLEY D. EVANS. (Copyright, 1908, by Harris & Ewing).
THE ATLANTIC FLEET STARTING ON ITS JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD, DECEMBER,
1907. (Copyright, 1907, by Underwood & Underwood).
REAR-ADMIRAL CHARLES S. SPERRY.
COTTON-MILL OPERATIVES SO SMALL THAT IN ORDER TO REACH THEIR WORK THEY
HAVE TO STAND UPON THE MACHINERY.
THE SPINNING-ROOM OVERSEER AND HIS FLOCK IN A MISSISSIPPI COTTON-MILL.
ELECTRIC TRAIN, LONG ISLAND R. R.
GUGLIELMO MARCONI AND HIS WIRELESS TELEGRAPH.
MARCONI TRANSATLANTIC STATION AT SOUTH WELLFLEET, CAPE COD, MASS.
THE "ARROW" GETTING UNDER WAY. (Courtesy of Scientific American).
BALDWIN'S AIRSHIP "ARROW" AT A HEIGHT OF 600 FEET OVER THE EXPOSITION
PALACES, ST. LOUIS, OCTOBER 25, 1904.
CARNEGIE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
JOSEPH G. CANNON. (Copyright by Clinedinst, Washington).
JAMES S. SHERMAN, NOMINATED FOR VICE-PRESIDENT. (Photograph by C. M.
Bell, Washington).
WILLIAM H. TAFT ON HIS TRIP, STUMPING FOR THE NOMINATION.
MR. TAFT FORMALLY ACCEPTING THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION FOR THE
PRESIDENCY, ON THE VERANDA OF THE RESIDENCE OF HIS BROTHER, MR. CHARLES
P. TAFT, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. (Copyright, 1908, by Young & Carl,
Cincinnati, Ohio).
PRESIDENT WILLIAM H. TAFT AND GOVERNOR HUGHES ON THE REVIEWING STAND AT
THE INAUGURATION, MARCH 4,1909. (Copyright by Clinedinst, Washington).
PRESIDENT TAFT AND CABINET, 1909. (Copyright, 1909, by Brown Bros., N.
Y.).
THE ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION, SEATTLE. THE PALACE OF FINE ARTS.
THE HUDSON-FULTON CELEBRATION. THE CLERMONT PROCEEDING UP THE HUDSON
RIVER UNDER HER OWN STEAM.
COMMANDER PEARY'S SHIP, THE ROOSEVELT.
COMMANDER ROBERT E. PEARY, AND THREE OF HIS ESKIMO DOGS, ON THE
ROOSEVELT.
DR. F. A. COOK ON HIS ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 21, 1909.
(Photograph by Brown Bros., N. Y.).
PRESIDENT TAFT SIGNING THE PROCLAMATION MAKING ARIZONA THE FORTY-EIGHTH
STATE OF THE UNION, AT THE WHITE HOUSE, FEBRUARY 14, 1912. (Copyright by
Clinedinst, Washington).
PRESIDENT TAFT SIGNING THE PROCLAMATION MAKING NEW MEXICO A STATE,
JANUARY 6, 1912. (Photograph, copyright, by Clinedinst, Washington).
CHARLES K. HAMILTON RACING AN AUTOMOBILE ON THE BEACH AT GALVESTON,
TEXAS. (From a photograph by H. H. Morris).
WILBUR AND ORVILLE WRIGHT, AND THE LATE KING EDWARD OF ENGLAND.
(Photograph by Brown Bros., N. Y.).
WILBUR WRIGHT IN HIS AEROPLANE AT PAU, FRANCE, WITH KING ALFONSO OF
SPAIN.
HARRY K. ATWOOD WITH LIEUT. FICKLE FLYING OVER GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, N. Y.,
AFTER COMPLETING HIS LIGHT FROM ST. LOUIS TO NEW YORK.
E. DANA DURAND, DIRECTOR OF THE CENSUS. (Copyright by Clinedinst,
Washington).
CENTRE OF POPULATION AT EACH CENSUS.
ROBERT M. LA FOLLETTE. (Copyright by Harris & Ewing, Washington).
ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE, SENATOR FROM INDIANA. (Copyright by Clinedinst,
Washington).
SENATOR NELSON W. ALDRICH. (Photograph by Clinedinst, Washington).
PERIOD VII
PROBLEMS OF THE NEW CENTURY
1902-1912
CHAPTER I
THE RISE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT
[1900]
Theodore Roosevelt was born in New York City, October 27, 1858. He was
graduated from Harvard in 1880. At the age of twenty-three he entered
the New York State Assembly, where he served six years with great
credit. Two years he was a "cowboy" in Dakota. He was United States
Civil Service Commissioner and President of the New York City Police
Board. In 1897 he became Assistant Secretary of the Navy, holding this
position long enough to indite the despatch which took Dewey to Manila.
He then raised the first United States Volunteer Cavalry, commonly
spoken of as "Rough Riders," and went to Cuba as their
lieutenant-colonel. Gallantry at Las Guasimas made him their colonel,
the first colonel, Leonard Wood, having received a brigadier-general's
commission. Returning from the war, Colonel Roosevelt found himself, as
by a magic metamorphosis, Governor of his State, fighting civic battles
against growing corporate abuses. He urged compulsory publicity for the
affairs of monopolistic combinations, and was prominently instrumental
in the enactment of the New York Franchise Tax Law.
The party managers in the 1900 convention hoped by making him
Vice-President to remove him from competition for the presidency in
1904. But the most unexpected of the many swift transitions in his
career foiled their calculations and brought him in a moment to the
summit of a citizen's ambition.
The new chief magistrate was no less honest, fearless, or
public-spirited than the recent one; it only remained to be seen whether
he were not less astute and cautious. Coming to the office as he did, he
was absolutely unfettered, which, in one of so frank a temperament,
might prove a danger. He was more popular with the people than with
politicians. Though highly educated and used to the best associations,
he was more approachable than any of his predecessors. At a public
dinner which he attended, one round of cheers was given him as "the
President of the United States" another as "Roosevelt," and a third as
"Teddy." Had McKinley been in his place a corresponding variation would
have been unthinkable.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
From a copyrighted photograph by Pach Bros., N. Y.
Theodore Roosevelt.
President Roosevelt's temper and method were in pointed contrast to
McKinley's. Whereas McKinley seemed simply to hold the tiller, availing
himself of currents that to the eye deviously, yet easily and
inevitably, bore him to his objective, Roosevelt strenuously plied the
oar, recking little of cross currents or head winds, if, indeed, he did
not delight in them. Chauncey Depew aptly styled McKinley "a Western man
with Eastern ideas." Roosevelt, "an Eastern man with Western ideas."
This aspect of the new President's character gave him hold on both West
and East. Roosevelt was the first President since William Henry Harrison
to bring to his office the vigor and freshness of the frontier, as he
was, anomalously, the first city-born or wealthy-born incumbent.
[Illustration: Roosevelt on horseback.]
Theodore Roosevelt, as Lieut.-Colonel of the "Rough Riders."
[1901]
The members of President McKinley's cabinet were invited to retain their
portfolios, which they agreed to do. At the time, Roosevelt was reputed
to be the foremost civil service reformer in the country. Politicians
were soon made aware that the President regarded fitness for office as
the first test. Unfortunately during the presidency of McKinley, some
8000 offices had been taken out of the competitive lists. During
Roosevelt's first term, however, the list of offices placed under the
merit system was greatly extended. Within the twenty-one years from the
enactment of the first national civil service reform law wonders had
been accomplished in that more than one-half of the 300,000 offices in
the executive civil service were placed in the classified competitive
service.
President Roosevelt stood for liberal reciprocity with Cuba, urging
this, at first, with results disastrous to party harmony. He was
vindicated by public opinion, but learned wisdom. Though believed to be
favorable to a decided easing of custom-house levies, his administration
soon frankly avowed itself unable to proceed further than high-
protectionists would follow. The evidence of his tariff convictions won
him strong support in the West, which was prepared to go greater lengths
than he. In the congressional campaign of 1902, ex-Speaker Henderson, of
Iowa, a stanch protectionist, withdrew from public life, as was
supposed, rather than misrepresent himself by acceding to tariff reform
or his constituents by opposing it.
Mr. Roosevelt signalized his accession by an effort to make the federal
anti-trust law something more than a cumberer of the statute-book. His
inaugural message and innumerable addresses of his boldly handled the
whole trust evil and called for the regulation of capitalistic
combinations in the interest of the public.
Appreciation of the President's attitude on these matters may be
assisted by some notice of the then threatening vigor and universality
of the movement toward industrial combination. Mr. Beck, Assistant
Attorney-General of the United States, declared in 1892:
"Excessive capitalization of corporations, dishonest management by their
executive officers, the destruction of the rights of the minority, the
theft of public utilities, the subordination of public interests to
private gain, the debauchery of our local legislatures and executive
officers, and the corruption of the elective franchise, have resulted
from the facility afforded by the law to corporations to concentrate the
control of colossal wealth in the hands of a few men . . . . The
question presses ever more importunately for decision whether these
marvellous aggregations of capital can be subordinated to the very laws
which created them."
Legislation in many States, the enactment of the Sherman anti-trust law
by Congress, and the decision of the Supreme Court in the Trans-Missouri
case rendered insecure trust agreements of the old type, in which
constituent corporations surrendered the control of their affairs to
trustees. But the current merely shifted to a different channel, the
trust proper giving way to the giant corporation having the same aims,
methods, and efficiency, while, as more legal, it was less vulnerable.
In the railway world, "community of interest" assumed the place of
pooling agreements. The Union Pacific acquired large holdings from
Collis P. Huntington's estate and controlled the Southern Pacific. The
power behind the Southern Railway got control of nearly all the other
Southern railways, including the Atlantic Coast Line, the Plant System,
and at last even the Louisville and Nashville. The New York Central
dominated the other Vanderbilt roads. The Pennsylvania secured decisive
amounts of Baltimore and Ohio stock, as well as weighty interests in the
Chesapeake and Ohio and the Norfolk and Western, and so on.
[1902]
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Collis P. Huntington.
Great banking establishments, foremost among them the house of J. P.
Morgan & Co., took to financing these schemes. Morgan re-organized the
Northern Pacific, and it would forthwith have pooled issues with the
Great Northern but for opposition by the State of Minnesota. James J.
Hill was master of the Great Northern, and confidence existed between
him and Morgan.
They wished a secure outlet for the products of the Northwest, also
access to Chicago over a line of their own. After a survey of the field
the promoters selected as the most available for the latter office the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. Purchase of shares in this corporation
was quietly begun. Soon the Burlington road was apparently in hand.
Prices rose.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Copyright. 1902. by Pach Bros., N. Y.
James J. Hill.
The Union Pacific control perceived in the aggression of the two
northern lines a menace to its northwestern and Pacific coast
connections. The Union Pacific leader, E. H. Harriman, resorted to an
unexpected coup. He attempted to purchase the Northern Pacific,
Burlington and all. A mysterious demand, set Northern Pacific shares
soaring. The stock reached $1,000 a share and none was obtainable. Panic
arose; bankers and brokers faced ruin.
The two sides now declared a truce. The Northern Securities Company was
created, with a capital approaching a billion dollars, to take over the
Burlington, Northern Pacific, and Great Northern stocks.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
E. H. Harriman.
The States of Minnesota and Washington, unable in their own courts to
thwart this plan, sought the intervention of the United States Supreme
Court. Their suit was vain till the Administration came to the rescue.
At the instance of the Attorney-General, an injunction issued from the
high court named forbidding the Securities Company to receive the
control of the roads, and the holders of the railroad stocks involved to
give it over. It was observed, however, that at the very time of the
above proceedings the Southern Railways' power obtained control of the
Louisville and Nashville without jar or judicial obstruction.
While general, the process of confederation was specially conspicuous in
the iron and steel trade. In rapid succession the National Steel
Company, the American Sheet Steel Company, and the American Tin Plate
Company were each made up of numerous smaller plants. Each of these
corporations, with a capital from $12,000,000 to $40,000,000, owned the
mines, the ships, and the railways for hauling its products, the mills
for manufacturing, and the agencies for sale. Through the efforts of
John W. Gates numerous wire and nail works were combined into the
American Steel and Wire Company. The Federal Steel Company, the American
Bridge Company, the Republic Iron and Steel Company, huge and complete,
were dictators each in its field.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
John W. Gates.
The Carnegie Steel Company long remained independent. Determined not to
enter a "combine," Andrew Carnegie sought to fortify his position. He
obtained a fleet of ships upon the lakes, purchased mines, undertook to
construct tube works at Conneaut, Ohio, and planned for railroads. A
battle of the giants, with loss and possible ruin for one side or the
other, impended. Carnegie was finally willing to sell. Hence, the United
States Steel Corporation capitalized for a billion dollars. Carnegie and
his partners were said to receive about $300,000,000 in bonds of the new
corporation, while the other trusts and the promoters absorbed the stock
for their properties and services. The underwriting syndicate probably
realized $25,000,000.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Copyright. 1902, by Rockwood. N. Y.
Andrew Carnegie.
The trust creators extended their operations abroad. In 1901 J. Pierpont
Morgan and associates acquired the Leyland line of Atlantic
steamships. British nerves had not recovered tone when a steamship
combination, embracing not only American and British but also German
lines and ship-building firms at Belfast and on the Clyde was announced.
Of the great Atlantic companies, only the Cunard line remained
independent. Parliamentary and ministerial assurances of governmental
attention only emphasized the strength of the association.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Copyright, 1901. by Pach Bros., N. Y:
J. Pierpont Morgan.
One effect of this organization at home was to place the Ship Subsidy
Bill, which passed the Senate in 1901, for the time, at least, on the
table. The sentiment of the country, especially of the Middle West,
would not permit the payment of public money to a concern commercially
able to defy Britannia on the sea.
The Yankee Peril confronted Londoners when they saw American capital
securing control of their proposed underground transit system. At their
tables they beheld the output of food trusts. One of these, the
so-called Beef Trust, called down upon itself in 1902 domestic as well
as foreign anathema.
The failure of the corn crop in 1900, together with a scarcity of
cattle, tended to raise the price of beef. In 1902 outcry became
emphatic. Advance in meat values drew forcibly to view the control held
by six slaughtering concerns acting in unison.
The President ordered an investigation, and, as a result, proceedings
under the Sherman Act to restrain the great packers from continuing
their alleged combination. A temporary injunction was granted. The slow
machinery of chancery bade fair to work out a decree, but long before it
was on record, alert spirits among the packing firms evolved a new plan
not obnoxious to decrees, but effective for union.
If the public suffered from these phalanxed industries while they ran
smoothly, it endured peculiar evils from the periodical conflicts
between the capital and the labor engaged in them.
The Steel Strike of 1901 was a conflict over the unionizing of certain
hitherto non-union plants of the United States Steel Corporation. It
resulted in defeat for the strikers and in the disunionizing of plants.
[Illustration: Two officers standing in front of a rail car.]
Col. Clements. Gen. Gobin, commanding troops sent to Shenandoah in the
coal strike of 1902.
This strike had no such consequences for the consuming public as
attended the anthracite coal strike of 1902, which was more bitterly
fought in that it was a conflict over wages. The standard of living had
been lowered in one of the coal-fields by the introduction of cheap
foreign labor. Now the same process threatened the other coal-field.
A strike ordered by the United Mine Workers began May 12, 1902, when one
hundred and forty-seven thousand miners went out. Though the record was
marred at places, they behaved well and retained to a large degree
public sympathy. When the price of anthracite rose from about $5 a ton
to $28 and $30, the parts of the country using hard coal were threatened
with a fuel famine and had begun to realize it. For the five months
ending October 12th, the strike was estimated to have cost over
$126,000,000. The operators stubbornly refused to arbitrate or to
recognize the union, and the miners, with equal constancy, held their
ranks intact.
[Illustration: Three men is suits sitting on a large log.]
Coal strike at Shenandoah, Pa., 1902. A strikers' picket.
[Illustration: Seven men around a large desk.]
Copyright, 1902, by George Grantham Bain.
The coal strike arbitrators chosen by the President. Carroll D. Wright,
Recorder; T. H. Watkins, General J. M. Wilson, Judge Gray, Presiding
Officer; E, W. Parker, E. E. Clark. and Bishop Spalding.
The problem of protecting the public pressed for solution as never
before. The only suggestion at first discussed was arbitration. Enforced
arbitration could not be effected in the absence of contract without
infringing the workingman's right to labor or to decline to do so; in
other words, without reducing him, in case of adverse decision by
arbitration, to a condition of involuntary servitude. It looked as
though no solution would be reached unless State or nation should
condemn and acquire ample portions of the mining lands to be worked
under its own auspices and in a just manner. This course was suggested,
but nearly all deemed it dangerously radical; nor was it as yet likely
to be adopted by Congress or by the Pennsylvania legislature, should
these powers be called to deal with the problem.
On October 3 President Roosevelt called the coal operators and President
Mitchell of the United Mine Workers to a conference at the White House,
urging them to agree. His effort, at first seeming unsuccessful, was
much criticised, but very few failed to praise it when, a few days
later, it was found to have succeeded completely. An able and impartial
commission, satisfactory to both sides, was appointed by the President
to act as arbitrator, both miners and operators agreeing to abide its
decrees. The miners, the four hundred thousand women and children
dependent on them, the poor beginning to suffer from cold, indeed the
whole nation, including, no doubt, the operators, felt relief.
"How much better," said the young President, once, addressing a
fashionable assembly, "boldly to attempt remedying a bad situation than
to sit quietly in one's retreat, sigh, and think how good it would be if
the situation could be remedied!"
CHAPTER II
ROOSEVELT'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION, 1901-1905
[1902]
The sentiment noted at the end of the last chapter seemed to be the
motive of Mr. Roosevelt's public life. Not only was he better informed
on the whole than almost any President who had sat in the chair before,
but he was a good lawyer, familiar with national and general history and
awake to all contemporary doings, questions, and interests south, west,
east, and abroad. He was also more a man of action and affairs than any
of his predecessors. He had, in a very high degree, alertness, energy,
courage, initiative, dispatch. Physically as well as mentally vigorous,
he read much, heard all who could usefully inform him, apprehended
easily, decided quickly, and toiled like Hercules. He was just and
catholic in spirit, appreciating whatever was good in any section of the
country or class of people. He respected precedent but was not its
slave. Rather than walk always in ruts with never a jolt, he preferred
some risks of tumbling over hummocks. Few public men of any age or
country have more fully met Aristotle's test of a statesman: "ability to
see facts as they exist and to do the things needing to be done."
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Copyright. l904. by Pach Bros., N. Y.
John Hay, Secretary of State. [Died July 1, 1905.]
He had able aids; pre-eminent among these were John Hay, Secretary of
State, and Elihu Root, Secretary of War. Each was, to say the least,
the peer of his greatest predecessors in his office. It was mainly to
Mr. Root that we were indebted for starting the Cubans prosperously as
an independent nation. His service for the Philippines so far as it went
was not less distinguished; and he effected vitally important
reorganization and reform in the war office.
A well co-ordinated plan was developed whereby army officers were given
advanced training in the various branches of military science as in the
European countries. Neither the President nor Secretary Root advocated a
large standing army, but they both strove to bring the army "to the very
highest point of efficiency of any army in the civilized world." The
ability of Secretary Root to inaugurate reforms in a department which
when he became its head was overridden by tradition, was well expressed
by President Roosevelt as follows: "Elihu Root is the ablest man I have
known in our governmental service. I will go further. He is the greatest
man that has appeared in the public life of any country, in any
position, on either side of the ocean in my time."
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Copyright. 1903. by Clinedinst, Washington.
Elihu Root, Secretary of War.
[Secretary of State, July 1905.]
Under Secretary Hay our State Department attained unprecedented
prestige, due in part to the higher position among the nations now
accorded us. This result itself Mr. Hay had done much to achieve; and he
passed hardly a month in his office without making some further addition
to the renown and influence of his country. If the United States
has--which may be doubted--raised up diplomatists with Mr. Hay's mastery
of international law and practice and his art and skill in conducting
delicate negotiations, we have probably never had his equal in
diplomatic initiative, or in the thorough preparation and presentation
of cases. He did not meet occasions merely but made them, not
arbitrarily but for the world's good. Settling the Alaskan boundary
favorably to the United States at every point save one, crumbling with
the single stroke of his Pauncefote treaty that Clayton-Bulwer rock on
which Evarts, Blaine, and Frelinghuysen in turn had tried dynamite in
vain, were deeds seldom matched in statecraft.
By an act of Congress, in 1903, a new member was added to the
President's cabinet in the person of the Secretary of the Department of
Commerce and Labor. George B. Cortelyou was the first man appointed to
that office. Two bureaus, those of corporations and of manufactures,
were created for the department. The other bureaus, such as the Bureau
of Statistics, Bureau of Standards of Weights and Measures and Coast and
Geodetic Survey, were transferred from the other departments. The place
of this new department was defined by the President in the following:
"to aid in strengthening our domestic and foreign markets, in perfecting
our transportation facilities, in building up our merchant marine, in
preventing the entrance of undesirable immigrants, in improving
commercial and industrial conditions, and in bringing together on common
ground those necessary partners in industrial progress--capital and
labor."
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Photograph by Rice.
George B. Cortelyou,
Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor.
Among the problems engaging President Roosevelt none was of wider
interest than the construction of an Atlantic-Pacific canal. A
commission of nine, Rear-Admiral Walker its head, had been set by
President McKinley to find the best route. It began investigation in
the summer of 1899, visiting Paris to examine the claims of the French
Panama Company, and also Nicaragua and Panama. It surveyed, platted,
took borings, and made a minute and valuable report upon the work which
each of the proposed canals would require.
[Illustration: Seven men in overcoats.]
The Isthmian Canal Commission, taken March 22, 1904.
1. Col. Frank J. Hecker. 2. William Barclay Parsons. 3. Wm. H. Burr.
4. C. E. Grunsky. 5. Ad. J. G. Walker. 6. B. M. Harrod. 7. Gen. Geo. W. Davis.
The most practicable routes were Nicaragua and Panama. The Nicaragua way
was between three and four times the longer--183 miles to 49; 38 hours
from ocean to ocean as against 12. The Panama way was straighter, had
less elevation at its summit, and required fewer locks. Congress finally
decided to construct a high level lock-canal. The cost of keeping up and
operating a Panama canal was estimated at six-tenths that of one across
Nicaragua. Harbor expenses and facilities would be nearly the same for
both lines. The time required for construction, probably nine or ten
years, would be a trifle the less at Nicaragua. Control works, to keep
always the proper depth of water in the canal, could be more easily
maintained at Panama.
Panama political and commercial complications were serious. The isthmus
was Colombia territory, and, since October, 1899, a civil war had been
raging in that republic. Its financial condition was desperate. Two
hundred million inconvertible paper pesos had depreciated to the value
of two cents each in gold, yet were legal tender for all obligations. In
such a country, especially as war was in progress, the only government
able to maintain itself was despotic. Civil troubles were intensified by
dissension between Catholics and Protestants. Revolution accompanied any
change in administration.
Under Ferdinand de Lesseps, creator of the Suez Canal, the French
company had performed extensive excavations at Panama. The New Panama
Canal Company of France held certain concessions from the Colombian
government. The value of its assets was $109,000,000 at most. If we dug
at Nicaragua these would be worth little. Besides, a Nicaragua canal
completed, some $6,000,000 of stock owned by the French company in the
Panama railroad would dwindle in value.
The validity of the French company's rights was questioned. Its
agreement to work some each year had not been kept. Its charter was to
expire in October, 1904, but, for 5,000,000 francs, the Colombia
President granted a six-year extension. Even with this the French
franchise would revert to Colombia in 1910. Colombia wished delay. The
United States transcontinental railroads did not want a canal, as it
would divert from them heavy, bulky, and imperishable freight. They
therefore joined Colombia in seeking delay, playing off the Nicaragua
plan against the Panama, hoping to defeat both.
Late in 1901, newspapers in the United States began urging the purchase
from Colombia of a land belt across the isthmus to be United States
territory. Our Senate, December 16, 1901, by a vote of 72 to 6, ratified
the Hay-Pauncefote treaty with Great Britain, in which it was agreed
that we should build a canal, allowing all other nations to use it.
Meantime, spite of the fact that the Walker commission had recommended
Nicaragua route, public sentiment began to favor Panama. Even the Walker
commission changed to this view.
The Spooner act of Congress, approved June 28, 1902, authorized the
President to build an isthmian canal. The Panama properties and
franchises were to be bought if he could get good title and also obtain
the fee of a right of way from Colombia; otherwise he must pierce
Nicaragua. The act provided for all necessary funds. The French
company's claims were investigated, pronounced valid, and in due time
acquired by the United States.
[Illustration: Map of Central America from Nicaragua to Columbia.]
The American Isthmus, showing routes investigated for a ship-canal.
Solid Lines--Routes investigated by the Isthmian Canal Commission.
Dashed Lines--Routes investigated by others.
Effort to secure from Colombia the required territorial rights was made
in the proposed Hay-Herran treaty, ratified by our Senate, 73 against 5,
March 17, 1903, under which we were to pay Colombia, besides an annual
rental $10,000,000 for the lease of a belt six miles wide from sea to
sea. August 17, 1903, the Colombian Senate rejected this treaty, and,
October 18, the government of that country proposed another, involving
the payment by us of $25,000,000 instead of $10,000,000. If we offered
this, would not the price rise to $30,000,000 or more?
Papers in the United States argued for a revolution in Panama. The
isthmus, it was urged, was in time nearer to Washington than to Bogota.
All Panama interests centred in the canal. Should Nicaragua get the
canal, Colon and Panama would be deserted. Both places owed their peace
to the presence of our navy. On the principle that treaties concerning
territory run with the territory, ignoring changes of sovereignty, our
time-honored obligation to keep peace on the isthmus, bound us, if
Panama set up for herself, to protect her even against Colombia. England
would concur. English ships would use the canal more than ours. Great
Britain, risking and spending nothing, would gain incalculably. France,
too, would acquiesce. The Frenchmen got some $40,000,000 if the canal
crossed Panama but lost everything if it passed to Nicaragua. Other
European nations wished the canal built and felt that now was the
accepted time. Latin-American States alone showed sympathy with
Colombia.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Photograph by Clinedinst.
M. Bunau-Varilla, Minister from Panama.
Revolution took place. On the afternoon of November 3, 1903, the Panama
city council declared that city independent of Colombia. Colon followed.
A provisional Panama government was organized. November 6 we recognized
Panama as an independent State. November 7 she appointed M.
Bunau-Varilla her diplomatic agent at Washington. November 13 he was, as
such, formally received by President Roosevelt. November 18 Secretary
Hay and M. Bunau-Varilla signed a treaty whose first article read: "The
United States guarantees and will maintain the independence of the
Republic of Panama." Articles II and III gave us, in effect, sovereignty
over a ten-mile wide canal zone between the oceans. This treaty was
ratified by Panama December 2, and by our Senate February 23, 1904.
November 16, 1903, Colombia protested to Great Britain against our
action, and, November 28, offered us a canal concession free if we would
permit her to subjugate Panama.
Both at home and abroad the administration was charged with sharp
practice for its Panama coup, and the case made out by critics was prima
facie strong--less, indeed, on its legal than on its ethical and
prudential side. We had allowed ourselves to profit by Colombia's
distress, encouraged secession in federal republics like our own, and
rendered ourselves and our Monroe doctrine objects of dread throughout
Central and South America. Still, Colombia had been so stiff and greedy
and the settlement was in the main so happy, that censure soon subsided.
All the powerful nations speedily followed our example and recognized
Panama's independence.
[Illustration: Three small buildings surrounded by debris.]
Copyright, 1900. by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y:
Great heaps of wreckage piled high by the Galveston disaster.
In September, 1900, the city of Galveston was visited by one of the
greatest disasters known in American history. A fierce storm swept the
waters of the gulf over the island on which Galveston is situated,
destroying property aggregating many millions of dollars and causing the
loss of 6,000 lives out of the total population of 37,000. For a time it
seemed that the site of the city would have to be abandoned, for the
highest land on which buildings stood was but a few feet above the
highest waves. It was determined, however, to build a stone wall three
miles in length which should be massive enough to protect the city from
any similar attack. Its top, which is five feet thick, is three feet
above the highest point reached by the water. The bottom of the wall is
sixteen feet thick. This wall, which is built concave toward the gulf,
is protected by earth and stone filled in for two hundred feet, thus
providing a driveway thirty feet wide with walks on either side,
beautified with trees and shrubs.
[Illustration: Large sea wall.]
Photograph by H. H. Morris.
The boulevard and sea-wall, Galveston. Built after the flood.
The management of public affairs during the rebuilding of the city was
entrusted to a committee of experts. So efficiently and economically was
the administration of the government, that the Galveston Plan, commonly
spoken of as the Commission Plan, soon became a model for municipal
organization. A modification of this plan was soon put into operation at
Des Moines, Iowa. This plan consists of government by five salaried
persons, one of them acting as mayor. This body performs both
legislative and executive duties, each member being in charge of a
department of the city government. The arguments in favor of this type
of government are: (1) Responsibility is easily located; (2) a few men
receive such salaries that they may be expected to give their whole time
to the duties of their offices; (3) more civic interest will be aroused.
All officers are subject to removal at any time by vote of a certain
proportion of the people.
The Cuban government was organized in the spring of 1902. On May 20 of
that year, Governor-General Wood for the United States turned over the
government house at Havana to President Tomaso Estrada y Palma.
The ceremonies attending the transfer were impressive. A letter from
President Roosevelt addressed to the President and the Congress of the
Republic of Cuba was handed to President Palma. This declared the
occupation of Cuba by the United States to be at an end and tendered the
sincere friendship and good wishes of this country. At noon General Wood
hauled down the American flag, which had floated above the Governor's
palace at Havana, and assisted General Gomez in raising to the breeze
the red triangle with central silver star and three blue and two white
stripes constituting the flag of the new republic. All of the foreign
ships in the harbor likewise ran up the Cuban flag in honor of the
occasion. Forty-five shots, one for each State in the Union, were fired
as the stars and stripes were lowered from Morro Castle and the other
fortresses. The American troops saluted the new emblem, fired twenty-one
guns in honor of the new nation, and then embarked for the United
States. Thus was kept to the letter--a noble example of public
faith--the promise we made when invading Cuba, that we would not acquire
territory.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Copyright, 1902, by Underwood &Underwood, N.Y.
Tomaso Estrada y Palma,
First President of Cuba, in the palace, Havana.
[Illustration: Large American flag.]
Copyright. 1902, by Underwood & Underwood.
Lowering the Stars and Stripes on the palace,
May 20, 1902, for the flag of the Cuban Republic.
Those who prophesied a short life for the new republic and a reign of
fraud and corruption were mistaken. During the first year economy became
the rule in the administration of all branches of the public service,
the government was self supporting, and a balance accumulated in the
treasury. Moreover, the reforms inaugurated by Americans continued. Some
3,400 teachers were employed in the island and 120,000 pupils were in
constant attendance upon the schools. In all parts of the island the
effects of American rule were visible. Ten million dollars had been
expended in sanitation reforms and the cleansing of Havana and the other
cities. Industrial schools for orphan boys and girls were begun and
hospitals and asylums for the sick, helpless, and insane were
reestablished. By 1901 a railroad, with branch lines, was constructed
between Santiago and Havana, thus giving the whole island excellent
transportation facilities.
Cuba could not gain prosperity at a bound. Whereas the island should,
under natural conditions, have had $30,000,000 to $40,000,000 due her
from foreign countries in 1902, she was $50,000,000 in debt. Her
manufactures were insignificant. It was estimated that, in the year
named, $80,000,000 of American money was invested in Cuba. The main
enterprises were railroads, sugar and tobacco plantations, mines, and
fruit farms.
Free commercial intercourse with Spain no longer existing, Cuban sugar
and tobacco producers sought markets in the United States, leading to
the "reciprocity" conflict touched upon in Chapter XIII, Vol. V. During
1902 a reciprocity treaty was negotiated and promptly ratified in Cuba.
Our Senate amended it and returned it to Cuba for reconsideration.
Brought hither again, it was passed by our Senate in December, 1903.
President Roosevelt signed it December 17, declaring its provisions
effective in ten days.
The Philippine Commission (Chapter XV, Vol. V), four Americans and three
islanders, at first enacted laws by the authority of the President as
Commander-in-Chief. After the Congressional Act of July 1, 1902, the
formula ran: "By authority of the United States be it enacted by the
Philippine Commission." The government was pronouncedly civil both in
nature and in spirit, the natives being gradually placated, and only an
occasional outbreak demanding the presence of troops. Schools were
established, the English language and American ideas of government and
business introduced. No promise of Philippine independence was given,
yet the tenor of our whole policy toward the Filipinos, of official
utterances and of public sentiment relating to them, was to the effect
that we should never look upon any of the islands as a crown colony.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Gov. William H. Taft
[Secretary of War, 1905.]
The same interests that forbade Cuban reciprocity opposed tariff
concessions to the Philippines. A 25 per cent reduction from the Dingley
rates was the best that Congress would grant, though the commission
besought one of at least 75 per cent. For a time our behavior in this
too much resembled English and Spanish dealings with colonies centuries
ago. The United States acquired from the Philippine religious orders
422,337 acres of land, three-fifths of it highly cultivated and thickly
inhabited, for $7,239,000. In all, the government owned about 61,000,000
out of the perhaps 70,000,000 acres of land in the islands. Of the
government lands, 40,000,000 acres were forest.
The law of July 1, 1902, to supplement the commission, provided for a
native assembly of not more than 100 members or less than 50, with
annual sessions of 90 days. Municipal autonomy was allowed and became
common. An efficient constabulary was established, also a Philippine
mint and coinage system on a gold basis. Careful exploitation of the
agricultural, mineral, and other resources of the islands was provided
for, as well as an increasing number of public improvements in the
interest of order, health, and cleanliness. To promote investment in the
Philippine public works, 4 per cent bonds were issued, guaranteed by the
United States.
[Illustration: An entire block of burned buildings.]
The Baltimore fire.
Lombard and Calvert Streets, Showing Continental and Equitable Buildings.
[1904]
Preparatory to forming the Philippine Assembly the commission took a
census of the islands. In 1905 the population returned from 342 islands
was 7,635,426. Of this number only about 9 per cent were wild tribes,
though more than half the entire population could neither read nor write
in any language. Of the 370,000 pupils in the newly established schools,
or double the number in attendance two years previously, one in nine on
the average had some understanding of English. Twelve thousand adults
were in the night schools, chiefly engaged in acquiring the English
language.
[Illustration: Several blocks of burned buildings.]
The Baltimore fire.
Hopkins Place and German Street, looking east.
In February, 1904, a fire broke out in the heart of the city of
Baltimore. Some 1,337 structures were either entirely destroyed or
rendered unfit for occupancy. The loss in buildings and other property
destroyed was about $75,000,000. With a few exceptions, the financial
district of the city was burned. For a time it was feared that the
losses would be so great that restoration could not be made, but new
plans were projected which included broader streets and better
buildings. Instead of a decrease in the number of business concerns,
there was an increase through the entrance of firms from the outside.
[Illustration: Crowd surrounding a large stone monument.]
Copyright,1904. William H. Rau, Philadelphia.
Opening Day at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
President D. K. Francis delivering the opening address.
[Illustration: Large building with closely spaced columns.]
The Varied Industries Building.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION.
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis was opened April 30,
1904, and continued for seven months. It commemorated the acquisition of
the Louisiana territory which was consummated April 30, 1803, marking
one of the greatest events in American history. Out of this area had
been carved thirteen States and two territories wherein over 17,000,000
people were making their homes.
The design for the exposition represented the work of ten of the most
distinguished architects of the country. The buildings, grouped in
perfect taste, mostly of noble style, had 128 acres of floor space, far
beyond that at the disposal of any preceding fair. The grounds also were
unprecedentedly ample and beautifully diversified, containing about
1,200 acres. The total attendance, 18,741,073, fell short of that at
Chicago in 1893 by over 8,000,000.
The general plan of the exposition was intended to symbolize the history
of the Louisiana territory representing the successive occupants of the
soil--the wild animals; the Indians; the discoverers; the explorers;
the hunters; the trappers, and the pioneers. The aim was to make it one
vast educational object lesson. To that end there were extensive
exhibits from thirty States and from the chief cities of work done in
the primary and secondary schools and in the universities and colleges
of the country. This feature culminated in the International Congress of
Arts and Sciences. Over 100 of the leading scholars from England,
France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, the United States, and a number
of other countries made addresses and took part in the various
discussions. All the fields of human knowledge were represented by these
specialists.
One feature of this exposition was unique: it represented to an
unprecedented extent processes in lieu of products or in addition to
them. Every day at almost every point something was literally doing,
going on. Machinery whizzed, mines were operated, artists were at work,
experts showed their craft; Indians, Filipinos, the blind, deaf, and
dumb were taught.
CHAPTER III
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1904
[1904]
The Republican convention met at Chicago, June 21, and on June 23
nominated Theodore Roosevelt for President. President Roosevelt's
nomination was a certainty from the beginning. This action was demanded
by the rank and file of Republicans, for his achievements were popular.
Among the problems which he had helped to solve were those growing out
of the war with Spain; settlement of the anthracite coal strike;
creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor; and the investigation
and prosecution of dishonesty in the post-office department.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Charles W. Fairbanks,
Vice-President of the United States.
Plans for the convention had all been matured in advance with the
exception of the selection of a candidate for Vice-President. By the
time the convention assembled the opinion was general that for
geographical reasons some one from Indiana should be named for this
office. Charles Warren Fairbanks, a leading lawyer in Indianapolis, who
was serving his second term in the United States Senate, was nominated
without any real opposition. He had served as a member of the Joint High
Commission to adjust international questions of moment between the
United States and Great Britain. Grover Cleveland and William Jennings
Bryan had declared they would not be candidates for the presidency and
the Democratic party was in a dilemma. Both the conservative and the
radical elements of the party declared they would write the platform and
name the candidates. Alton Brooks Parker, Chief Judge of the Court of
Appeals of New York, who was supported by Grover Cleveland, came
gradually into prominence as the candidate of the conservatives and
William Randolph Hearst of the radicals.
[Illustration: Several thousand people in a large auditorium.]
The Republican convention at Chicago, 1904.
The chief contest came in the Democratic convention of New York. There
Judge Parker was supported by David B. Hill, ex-United States senator,
and August Belmont, a New York banker. In consequence it was declared by
the opposition that Judge Parker was the candidate of the trusts, Wall
Street magnates, and a class of politicians of which Hill was the type.
This view was taken by Bryan. In spite of the opposition of Tammany
leaders and the Hearst faction, twice as many Parker as Hearst delegates
were chosen.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
William R. Hearst.
In the convention, which met at St. Louis, July 9, Judge Parker received
658 votes for President on the first ballot, Hearst received 200, and
there were a few scattering votes. The requisite two-thirds came to
Parker before the result of the ballot was announced. Henry G. Davis, of
West Virginia, was named for the office of Vice-President.
He had served two terms in the United States Senate, had declined the
office of Post-Master General under President Cleveland, was very
wealthy, and noted for his philanthropy.
Bryan demanded that the platform should be silent on the question of the
money standard, but Parker declined the nomination unless it should be
understood that he would maintain the gold standard, and his declaration
was endorsed by the convention.
There were no distinguishing issues between the two leading parties. The
money question had disappeared and both parties were outspoken in their
declarations against trusts and combinations of capital.
The Populist party, in a convention made up of delegates from one-half
the States, nominated Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, and Thomas H.
Tubbles, of Nebraska, for President and Vice-President, respectively.
There were two Socialist conventions: one, that of the Social Democratic
party, nominated Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana, for President, and the
Socialist Labor party named Charles H. Corregan, of New York, for the
same office. The nominees of the Prohibitionist party were Silas C.
Swallow, of Pennsylvania, for President, and George W. Carroll, of
Texas, for Vice-President.
[Illustration: Several thousand people in a large auditorium.]
The Democratic convention at St. Louis, 1904.
The campaign was noteworthy on account of the apathy which was very
general. Heated discussions so characteristic of previous political
contests were seldom heard, and arguments were addressed to the
intelligence of voters rather than to passion and prejudice.
It has been called a reading rather than a speaking campaign. The
leading Republican document was a pamphlet containing two notable
addresses. One of these was delivered by John Hay at Jackson, Mich., on
the occasion of the celebration of the semi-centennial of the founding
of the Republican party. He attributed to that party the success in the
conduct of public affairs since 1860, and praised President Roosevelt as
a man and great administrator. The other speech was similar in content,
and was delivered by Elihu Root as temporary chairman of the Republican
convention.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Alton B. Parker.
Toward the close of the campaign, the charge was made that the
Republicans were endeavoring to win through a wholesale purchase of
votes. It was asserted that George B. Cortelyou, manager of the
campaign, having obtained secrets of the conduct of some of the great
corporations, was using that knowledge to force them to contribute to
the Republican fund. A second charge proclaimed that the administration
had changed its attitude toward certain corporations and that the
magnates of Wall Street, having decided to elect Roosevelt, were
contributing generously to the Republican campaign fund. Shortly before
the day for the election, Judge Parker in a series of speeches announced
his belief in these reports. President Roosevelt declared that no proof
for the statements could be produced, and ended as follows: "The
statements made by Mr. Parker are unqualifiedly and atrociously false.
As Mr. Cortelyou has said to me more than once during this campaign, if
elected I shall go into the presidency unhampered by any pledge,
promise, or understanding of any kind, sort or description, save my
promise, made openly to the American people, that so far as in my power
lies I shall see to it that every man has a square deal, no less and no
more." In his reply, Judge Parker reiterated the charge, but gave no
concrete instances of money having been obtained from corporations.
[Illustration: Large crowd outside, Washington, D.C.]
Photograph by Clinedinst, Washington, D. C.
Inauguration of President Roosevelt, March 4. 1905.
Out of a total vote of 13,544,705, Roosevelt received 7,630,893 votes,
or 2,524,244 more than his leading competitor. His majority was
1,717,081. Debs received 397,308 votes; Swallow, 258,039; Watson,
114,306; Corregan, 32,516. Thirty-three States gave Roosevelt majorities
and twelve Southern States returned majorities for Parker. In the
electoral college Roosevelt received 336 votes and Parker 140. A
surprising feature of the election was the large number of independent
votes cast, as shown by the fact that Minnesota, Massachusetts,
Missouri, and Montana, while giving majorities for the Republican
candidates, elected Democratic governors, and in several other States a
similar tendency was manifest in the divergence between the vote for the
national candidates and local candidates.
CHAPTER IV
AMERICA AND THE CHINESE OPEN DOOR
[1905]
The aggressive policy of President Roosevelt continued throughout the
four years succeeding March 4, 1905, when he again took the oath of
office as President. In his suggested reforms he continued to be a real
leader of the people. John Hay, who for seven years had so efficiently
performed his duties as Secretary of State, was continued in that
office. William H. Taft, after his return from the Philippine Islands,
where he had held the office of first civil governor, succeeded Elihu
Root as Secretary of War.
The United States, having become a world power after the war with Spain,
assumed leadership in the adjustment of Chinese problems. At the close
of the century American manufacturers had built up in China a market for
their cotton goods which they desired to extend. At the same time strife
arose among some of the European nations for trade advantages in that
empire. Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Italy were demanding
for their citizens concessions, leases, franchises, and special trade
privileges in various parts of that country. Gradually, spheres of
influence covering certain regions were acquired and it seemed probable
that China would be partitioned among the European Powers as Africa had
been in the previous decade. This would be a blow to American export
trade. Now the acquisition of the Philippine Islands gave us a vantage
point from which we could consistently exert influence in Oriental
affairs. In September, 1899, John Hay addressed a note to the European
Powers interested, asking recognition of the policy of the "open door,"
which means that no power should exclude the citizens of other nations
from equal trade rights, within its sphere of influence, in China.
Without winning complete acceptance from all the nations, the justice of
this policy was, in the main, approved.
[Illustration]
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y.
Count Von Waldersee escorted by officers of the allied armies
between lines of U. S. troops toward the Sacred Gate, Peking.
During the following year came the Boxer Rebellion in which there were
massacres of Europeans and Americans. When the foreign legations were
besieged in Peking, United States troops took part in the expedition
which marched to their relief. Seizure of Chinese territory, as
indemnity, might have followed, but Secretary Hay brought the influence
of this country to bear in securing guarantees of the territorial
integrity of China and equal trade rights in its ports.
Friendly relations between the Chinese Empire and the United States were
still further strengthened by the liberal attitude of our government
relative to the indemnity growing out of the Boxer uprising. The total
amount which China had obligated itself to pay the governments,
societies, and private individuals was $333,000,000. Of this sum,
$24,400,778 was allotted to the United States. As a mark of friendship
for China, Congress upon the recommendation of President Roosevelt,
1907, cancelled the obligation of China to pay that part of the
stipulated indemnity in excess of $11,655,492, or an amount adequate to
cover the actual amount of the claims. This generous conduct prompted
the Chinese government to devote the funds thus remitted to the sending
of Chinese students to this country for their education. About one
hundred of these students have entered our schools and colleges each
year since 1907. American institutions will, as a consequence, have a
great influence on the progressive development of China.
For some time Russia had been extending her influence over the Chinese
tributary province of Manchuria. In 1903 negotiations for a new
commercial treaty were begun between China and the United States. There
were numerous delays on account of an agreement relative to opening the
Manchurian ports. For a time it seemed probable that the American demand
that her trading rights should be restored in Manchuria would bring on
serious complications with Russia. Upon the completion of the treaty,
however, the request was renewed and China acquiesced by opening the
ports of Mukden and Ta Tung Kao to the ships of all nations. At the same
time Russia agreed that she would in no way oppose this action.
[Illustration]
Copyright 1901, by Underwood & Underwood.
American flag raised over battered remnants of South Gate
immediately after city's capture. Battle of Tien-Tsin, China.
At the outbreak of the war between Japan and Russia, in 1904, Secretary
Hay took another step toward maintaining the administrative entity of
the Chinese Empire. At the suggestion of Germany he addressed a note to
the powers which had taken part in the treaty of Peking, asking them to
pledge themselves to limit the area of the war; keep China from becoming
involved, and use their best endeavors to prevent the violation of
Chinese interests by either belligerent, provided China should maintain
absolute neutrality. These proposals were agreed to by the signatory
nations, and both Russia and Japan promised to respect Chinese
neutrality.
Meantime a new national spirit had been developing rapidly in China and
a greater sensitiveness was manifest toward the treatment of Chinese
outside the empire. The strict interpretation of the Chinese Exclusion
act had caused many Chinese entering the ports of the United States
unwarranted hardships. A crisis was reached in 1905.
[Illustration]
Arrival of Chinamen at Malone, N. Y.,
from Canada, accompanied by officials.
According to the rules adopted by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor,
neither the immigration acts nor the Chinese exclusion acts apply to a
Chinese person born in the United States. Under the laws, all Chinese
laborers, both skilled and unskilled, are prohibited from entering the
United States, but this prohibition does not extend to merchants,
teachers, students, and travellers who are to be granted all the rights,
privileges, and exemptions accorded the citizens of any other nation. In
spite of these rulings, Ju Toy, who claimed to have been born in the
United States, was deported. Three Chinamen, with their sister, who had
been studying in the English schools came to Boston. Notwithstanding
they had a letter from Mr. Choate, former United States ambassador to
Great Britain, they were not allowed to land with other passengers, and
were otherwise humiliated by the formalities to which they were
subjected. Men of influence throughout the Chinese Empire were aroused
and a circular was issued, in May, 1905, which was widely disseminated
in the chief cities, calling for agreement not to buy any more American
goods. Newspapers urged students to leave schools where American
teachers were employed or American text-books or supplies were used. At
this juncture President Roosevelt was appealed to by the American
members of the Chinese Educational Association. Acting with his
accustomed vigor, he issued instructions to the Secretary of Commerce
and Labor to send a letter to all immigration officials, instructing
them that "any discourtesy shown to Chinese persons by any officials of
the Government will be the cause for immediate dismissal from the
service." In his message to Congress he declared that it was Chinese
laborers alone who are undesirable, and that other Chinamen--students,
professional men, merchants--should be encouraged to come to the United
States. "We have no right," he wrote, "to claim the open door in China
unless we do equity to the Chinese."
CHAPTER V
INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION
[1903-1905]
Great progress was made during the nineteenth century toward the
settlement of differences between nations through arbitration. The
United States was a party to 50 out of the total number of 120
arbitration treaties. Questions settled in this manner, such as
boundary, damages inflicted by war or civil disturbances and injuries to
commerce, would formerly have led to war. Twenty of these cases have
been between the United States and Great Britain, and a settlement was
effected when, at times, it seemed as if war could not be averted.
The work of the Hague Peace Conference, which met May 18, 1899,
constituted a fitting close to the efforts which were put forth during
the century to bring about conciliation through arbitration. The
conference assembled in response to an invitation issued by the Czar of
Russia "on behalf of disarmament and the permanent peace of the world."
One hundred and ten delegates were present, representing twenty-six
different powers of which the United States was one. The delegates were
divided into three commissions, each having separate subjects for
consideration.
[Illustration]
The House in the Woods, The Hague, Holland,
where the first Peace Conference was held.
The first commission adopted unanimously the resolution that "the
limitation of the military charges which so oppress the world is
greatly to be desired," but agreed that this could not now be
accomplished through an international compact.
In the second commission a revision of the Declaration of Brussels
concerning the rules of war was made. It was agreed by the entire
conference that a new convention for this purpose should be called, and
that the protection offered by the Red Cross, as agreed upon in the
Geneva convention, should also be extended to naval warfare.
The proposition expressing the desire that international conflicts might
in the future be settled through arbitration was considered by the third
commission. Said ex-President Harrison: "The greatest achievement of the
Hague conference was the establishment of an absolutely impartial
judicial tribunal." Some of the chief features of this permanent court
of arbitration were as follows:
(1) Each nation which agreed to the plan was to appoint, within three
months, four persons of recognized competency in international law, who
were to serve for six years as members of the International Court;
(2) an International Bureau was established at The Hague for the purpose
of carrying on all intercourse between the signatory powers relative to
the meetings of the court and to serve also as the recording office, for
the court;
(3) nations in dispute may select from the list of names appointed as
above, and submitted to them by the bureau, those persons whom they
desire to act as arbitrators;
(4) the meetings of the court are to be held at The Hague unless some
other place is stipulated by the nations in the controversy.
The permanent International Court of Arbitration was declared to be
organized and ready for operation by April, 1901. At that time there
were seventy-two judges appointed by twenty-two of the signatory powers,
It is readily seen that the advantages of such a court are that
unprejudiced arbitrators are selected, rules of procedure are defined,
and decisions rendered are more liable to be accepted in future cases
and thus a code of law will be formed. So many cases have been submitted
to this tribunal that it has been said that a government which will not
now try arbitration before resorting to arms is no longer considered
respectable. This court was convened for the first time May 18, 1901.
The first case coming before the tribunal--the Pious Fund Case--was
presented by the United States and Mexico, September 15, 1902. Up to
1846 the Mexican government had paid annual interest on some property
administered by it but belonging to the Catholic church. Part of it was
situated in what is now California. After 1848, when this California
estate came under United States jurisdiction, Mexico refused to pay that
part of the church outside of Mexico its share. This difference between
our Government and Mexico the Hague Tribunal took up.
Agreeably to chapter 3, title 4, of the agreement, each party named two
arbitrators, and the latter, acting together, an umpire. In case of an
equality of votes a third power, designated by agreement of the parties,
was to select the umpire. The arbitrators chosen were M. de Martens, of
the Orthodox Greek church; Sir Edward Fry, an English Protestant; M.
Asser, a Jew, and M. Savornin-Loman, a Dutch Protestant. Decision was
reached within the prescribed thirty days and announced October 14,
1902. It favored the United States contention, giving its proportion of
the Mexican payments to the Catholic church in California.
[Illustration]
President Castro of Venezuela.
A second case, involving issues of war and peace, arose from the action
of Great Britain and Germany against Venezuela in the winter of
1902-1903. Subjects of these as well as of other powers had claims
against Venezuela. That country was in financial straits and its
creditors pressed. December 9, 1902, British and German war-ships sunk
or seized some Venezuelan vessels; next day they landed marines at La
Guayra, who took possession of the custom house; the 14th they bombarded
and demolished a fort at Puerto Cabello. Through the good offices of the
United States the matter of debts was referred to the Hague Tribunal.
The German claims were decided by two representatives of Germany and two
of Venezuela, or, if they disagreed, by an umpire whom the United States
selected. So with the other claims. The tribunal fixed the order in
which Venezuela should pay the different countries, and the United
States was charged with overseeing the payments, a percentage of
Venezuelan customs receipts being reserved for that purpose.
In 1903 Andrew Carnegie donated $1,500,000 for the purpose of erecting a
"palace of peace," the permanent head-quarters of this court. The deed
of trust states: "The establishment of a permanent Court of Arbitration
by the treaty of the 29th of July, 1899, is the most important step
forward, of a world-wide humanitarian character, that has ever been
taken by the joint powers, as it must ultimately banish war, and
further, being of opinion that the cause of peace will greatly benefit
by the erection of a court house and library for the permanent Court of
Arbitration," etc.
[Illustration]
The new Peace Palace, The Hague, Holland.
The site of this building, which will be ready for occupancy in 1912, is
near The Hague. Its exterior will resemble some of the old city walls to
be seen in Holland. The various governments which were parties to the
treaty have contributed materials for the completion of the interior and
objects of art for decoration. The United States presented a large
marble group of statuary called "Peace Through Justice."
Two notable congresses were held in the United States during the year
1904, for the purpose of promoting the peace of the world. The
Inter-Parliamentary Union held a meeting, the twelfth in its history, in
connection with the World's Fair at St. Louis. This organization was
founded at Paris in 1888 by thirty members of the French Chamber of
Deputies and ten members of the British Parliament, for the purpose of
promoting the cause of peace and arbitration. Scoffed at from the
beginning, the Union continued to grow until it included parliamentary
delegates from every European country having a constitutional form of
government.
The meeting of the Union at St. Louis was the first to be held in the
United States, for this country took no part in the organization until
1903. Russia and Turkey, having no parliaments, are not represented in
the meetings of the Union. It is a noteworthy fact however that the Czar
sent an official representative to the meeting in 1896 and that it was
due to his report of that meeting, more than to any other cause, that
the Czar invited the nations to send representatives to The Hague in
1898.
[Illustration: Ten men seated around a conference table.]
Russian and Japanese Peace Envoys in session at Portsmouth, N. H.
In the congress at St. Louis, representatives from the deliberative
bodies of fifteen nations were present. Among these delegates were some
of the well-known public men from Great Britain, France, Germany,
Austria, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, the United States, and various
other countries. They were practical men and not dreamers.
Two important resolutions resulted from the gathering. One of these
called upon the powers to intervene and put an end to the war between
Russia and Japan. The other invited the President of the United States
to call a second peace congress, similar to the Hague conference. The
resolution, addressed to President Roosevelt, stated that there were a
number of questions left unsettled from the first Hague conference and
that new problems had arisen since that time which demanded
readjustment, such as the use of wireless telegraphy in the time of war.
On October 3 of the same year an international peace congress was held
in Boston. Numerous congresses of this nature have been held from time
to time since the meeting of the first one in London in 1843. Since the
year 1888, when a congress was held in Paris, an international peace
congress has met each year with the exception of 1895, the year of the
Boer war, and in 1898 and 1899, on account of the Spanish-American war.
The first of these congresses in America was held in conjunction with
the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, 1893. There were in attendance at
Boston distinguished statesmen, clergymen, scholars, and professional
men, and a number of noted women, representing the many peace and
arbitration societies in Great Britain, Germany, Austria, and numerous
other countries.
On the Sunday before the opening of the congress, special services were
held in many of the Boston churches and the peace movement was discussed
by distinguished preachers from Europe and America. In the deliberative
sessions, which were held in Faneuil Hall, the Old South Meeting House,
and other places, the first session being opened by an address by
Secretary of State John Hay, the following topics, among others, were
discussed: the work and influence of the Hague Tribunal; the reduction
of the armaments of the nations; education and the peace sentiment. But
here, as in every previous congress, the two topics to receive primary
consideration have been arbitration and disarmament. At all times there
has been the urgent appeal to the nations to abandon the brutality and
injustice of war and to adopt the humane and just methods of peace.
In response to the resolution adopted at St. Louis, President Roosevelt,
on October 20, 1904, invited the nations which had taken part in the
first Hague conference to another conference at the same place. But in
his message to Congress of that year he defined very clearly his own
position, condemning in no uncertain terms the thought of peace at any
price. "There are kinds of peace," he said, "which are highly
undesirable, which are in the long run as destructive as any war. The
peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of craven weakness, the peace of
injustice--all these should be shunned as we shun unrighteous war."
[Illustration: Building appears to be a church.]
Building where the second Peace Conference
was held, The Hague, Holland.
Favorable replies to the invitation sent by President Roosevelt were
received from all the nations. Russia, then in the midst of war with
Japan, while approving, stipulated that the conference should not be
called until the end of that war. When peace was restored, in the summer
of 1905, Emperor Nicholas II issued an invitation to fifty-three nations
to send representatives to such a conference. For the first time, nearly
every independent nation on the globe was represented among the
delegates in an international gathering of this nature. It met at The
Hague during the summer of 1907.
[Illustration: About one hundred delegates.]
First session of the second Peace Conference, The Hague, Holland.
Delegates from the United States were instructed to favor obligatory
arbitration; the establishment of a permanent court of arbitration; the
prohibition of force in the collection of contract debts; immunity from
seizure of private property at sea; a clearer definition of the rights
of neutrals, and the limitation of armaments.
While belief was reasserted by the conference that there should be the
obligatory arbitration of all questions relating to treaties and
international problems of a legal nature, the principle was not adopted,
although thirty-two nations of the forty-five represented favored it.
The resolution adopted, which provided for the collection of contract
debts, is as follows: "In order to avoid between nations armed conflicts
of a purely pecuniary origin arising from contractual debts claimed of
the government of one country by the government of another country to be
due to its nationals, the signatory powers agree not to have recourse to
armed force for the collection of such contractual debts. However, this
stipulation shall not be applicable when the debtor State refuses or
leaves unanswered an offer to arbitrate; or, in case of acceptance,
makes it impossible to formulate the terms of submission; or, after
arbitration, fails to comply with the award rendered."
Provision was made for an international prize court, to which appeal
might be made from the prize courts of the belligerent powers. The
declaration was adopted prohibiting the throwing of projectiles and
explosives from balloons.
Before the end of the year 1908, one hundred and thirty-five arbitration
treaties had been concluded. The United States was a party to twelve of
these. Most of the treaties bind the signatory powers to submit to the
Hague Tribunal all differences in so far as they do not affect "the
independence, the honor, the vital interests, or the exercise of
sovereignty of the contracting countries, and provided it has been
impossible to obtain an amicable solution by means of direct diplomatic
negotiations or by any other method of conciliation."
CHAPTER VI
THE UNITED STATES AND LATIN AMERICA
[1905-1906]
Looking toward the completion of the Panama Canal, there has been a
revival of interest on the part of the United States in the republics of
South America. From the time of the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine,
there has been a distant friendship on our part for these nations. The
plan inaugurated by James G. Blaine when Secretary of State is much
better understood to-day than in his time. In 1881, with the desire of
emphasizing the leadership of the United States in the western
hemisphere, he proposed a congress of all the American nations. Nothing
came of the proposal at the time, but in 1888 Congress passed a
resolution providing for such an international conference. The meeting
was in Washington the following year, and Secretary Blaine, as chairman,
exercised great influence. While the direct results of the meeting were
not great--principally a declaration in favor of the arbitration of all
disputes among these nations--the indirect benefits were considerable.
In 1901 a second Pan-American congress was held in the city of Mexico.
[Illustration]
Courtesy of the Pan-American Union.
Federal Palace, where the second Pan-American
Congress was held in the City of Mexico.
In the meantime the trade with these countries has been largely
monopolized by England, France, and Germany. During the year 1905, the
total exports and imports of the Latin-American countries amounted to
$2,000,000,000. Of this foreign trade the United States bought 35 per
cent of the exports and sold to these countries only 27 per cent of
their imports, producing an unfavorable balance of trade amounting to
$200,000,000. Of the goods imported from this country, over one-fourth
went to Mexico and Cuba. In that year Brazil bought from the United
States only 11 per cent of its imports. Argentina, with a larger foreign
trade than either Japan or China, bought only 14 per cent of its imports
from the United States. With the exception of Mexico, the foreign
commerce of the Latin-American states with European countries has
increased more rapidly than with the United States. Various reasons have
been given for this situation. The sensitive South American resents the
air of superiority assumed toward them by the people of the United
States. In our newspapers there is a seeming disregard for the real
evidences of their national development. Revolutions and boundary
disputes have been exaggerated. In general, citizens of the United
States have no comprehension of the advancement of these countries
within recent times and appreciate but slightly that their economic
future is as fully assured as our own. Argentina constitutes an
excellent example of this progress. This country has an area of
1,135,840 square miles. Splendid rivers water the immense plains. The
chief of these, the Parana, which flows 2,000 miles through the country,
carries a volume of water to the sea one and one-half times that of the
Mississippi, and is capable of floating ships having a draught of 18
feet for 600 miles into the interior. Buenos Ayres, with a population of
1,000,000, in 1906 had a volume of foreign trade amounting to
$562,000,000, constituting it the twelfth port in the world. In 1905
over 10,000,000 acres of land were cultivated in Argentina, an increase
of fourfold within fifteen years. The cereals, cotton, fruits, and meats
produced amounted to $350,000,000.
That the volume of trade between this country and the South American
states has been so small has been due also to the fact that so few
vessels flying the stars and stripes are engaged in this trade.
According to the report of Secretary Root, in 1906, there were in the
harbor of Rio Janeiro the previous year, 1,785 ships flying the flag of
Great Britain; 657 the flag of Germany; 349 the French; 142 the
Norwegian, and 7 sailing vessels (two of them in distress) the flag of
the United States. The bulk of goods from this country to South America
goes by the way of European ports and on foreign ships.
[Illustration]
Courtesy of the Pan-American Union.
Monroe Palace, where the third Pan-American
Conference was held in Rio de Janeiro.
July 4, 1906, the third Pan-American conference was opened at Rio
Janeiro. Among the leading questions discussed were: (1) the right of
creditor nations to enforce by war on the debtor nations contractual
obligations, or the right to use gun-boats as collection agents; and (2)
those relating to commercial intercourse. Besides the regular delegates
from the United States, Elihu Root, Secretary of State, was present at
the opening session. His address at this meeting, together with his
visit to the leading cities, served to inaugurate a new understanding
between these countries and the United States. The true American policy
was set forth by Secretary Root in the following toast: "May the
independence, the freedom, and the rights of the least and weakest be
ever respected equally with the rights of the strongest, and may we all
do our share toward the building up of a sound and enlightened public
opinion of the Americas which shall everywhere, upon both continents,
mightily promote the reign of peace, of order, and of justice in every
American republic." He went as Ambassador Extraordinary representing the
President of the United States. In order to emphasize his official
position, he travelled on an American war-ship. His addresses made in
the various cities were intended to be an official declaration from the
government of the United States, and that position was outlined in his
formal address before the congress. "We wish for no victories," he said,
"but those of peace; for no territory except our own; for no sovereignty
except the sovereignty over ourselves. We deem the independence and
equal rights of the smallest and weakest member of the family of nations
entitled to as much respect as those of the greatest empire, and we deem
the observance of that respect the chief guaranty of the weak against
the oppression of the strong. We neither claim nor desire any rights or
privileges or powers that we do not freely concede to every American
republic. We wish to increase our prosperity, to expand our trade, to
grow in wealth, in wisdom, and in spirit, but our conception of the true
way to accomplish this is not to pull down others and profit by their
ruin, but to help all friends to a common prosperity and a common
growth, that we may all become greater and stronger together."
[Illustration: Large crowd in a downtown street.]
Courtesy of the Pan-American Union.
Arrival of Secretary Root at Rio de Janeiro.
The International Bureau of American Republics was founded as a result
of the first Pan-American conference. The original plans of the
founders were not carried out owing to a lack of interest on the part of
the Department of State as well as in the foreign offices of the South
American countries. Secretary Root determined to make this bureau an
efficient agency for bringing about better relations between the two
continents. He defined the main purpose to be not only to build up trade
and commerce among all American nations, but to promote more friendly
relations, a better understanding of each other, and the general
prosperity and well-being of all the countries of the American
continents. Through gifts from Andrew Carnegie and contributions from
the different South American states a splendid modern building, costing
$1,000,000, was erected in Washington, 1908, as the home of the Bureau
of the Pan-American Republics. Besides other enterprises, the Bureau
publishes a monthly periodical which contains information on the
commerce, new enterprises, and general development of each republic.
[Illustration: Large, two-story marble building.]
Photograph by Clinedinst.
The Bureau of the Pan-American Republics.
With these new relationships came a new interpretation of the Monroe
Doctrine. At various times European nations have engaged in
controversies with South American states over the payment of debts due
the citizens of the former. The question has then arisen, to what extent
shall the United States permit the use of force against the debtor
nations? The wider application of the Monroe Doctrine under President
Cleveland looking toward the maintenance of the rights of the weaker
American nations, has been followed by recognition of our obligation to
secure the performance of duties by those nations. Said President
Roosevelt (1905): "We cannot permanently adhere to the Monroe Doctrine
unless we succeed in making it evident, in the first place, that we do
not intend to treat it in any shape or way as an excuse for
aggrandizement on our part at the expense of the republics to the south
of us; second, that we do not intend to permit it to be used by any of
these republics as a shield to protect that republic from the
consequences of its own misdeeds against foreign nations; third, that
inasmuch as by this doctrine we prevent other nations from interfering
on this side of the water, we shall ourselves in good faith try to help
those of our sister republics, which need such help, upward toward peace
and order."
The immediate cause for this statement by President Roosevelt was the
problem confronting our government on account of the bankrupt condition
of the Republic of Santo Domingo. Debts had accumulated for over thirty
years until by the beginning of 1905 they amounted to more than
$32,000,000. Each successive ruler became a more reckless borrower and
new loans were secured upon harsher terms.
Finally affairs were brought to a crisis on account of the pressure on
the part of the French and Italian governments for the payment of the
claims of their citizens. The republic was on the verge of dissolution
when President Roosevelt intervened. European governments were
satisfied, for it signified the payment of their claims. An agreement
was signed by representatives of the government of Santo Domingo and of
the United States whereby the United States was to undertake the task of
collecting and apportioning the revenues of Santo Domingo. The
stipulation was made that no plan of annexation, purchase, or permanent
control on the part of the United States should ensue. Agents were to be
appointed by the United States who should take charge of the
customhouses. Forty-five per cent of the total receipts were to be used
in carrying on the affairs of the republic and the balance was to go to
pay the indebtedness. In his message, February, 1905, President
Roosevelt, pressing upon the Senate the urgent need for the ratification
of this agreement, said: "The state of things in Santo Domingo has
become hopeless unless the United States or some other strong government
shall interpose to bring order out of chaos. . . . If the United States
declines to take action and other foreign governments resort to action
to secure payment of their claims, the latter would be entitled,
according to the decision of the Hague Tribunal in the Venezuela cases,
to the preferential payment of their claims; and this would absorb all
the Dominican revenues and would be a virtual sacrifice of American
claims and interests in the island. If, moreover, any such action should
be taken by them, the only method to enable the payment of their claims
would be to take possession of the custom-houses, and, considering the
state of the Dominican finances, this would mean a definite and very
possibly permanent occupation of Dominican territory, for no period
could be set to the time which would be necessarily required for the
payment of their obligations and unliquidated claims." The Senate, in
special session, shirked responsibility and refused either to ratify or
reject the treaty.
With the revolutionists on the island growing stronger and the European
Powers becoming more insistent, President Roosevelt, disregarding the
attitude of the Senate, appointed an American as receiver of customs.
The move proved immediately successful. The insurrection died out, trade
revived, smuggling ceased, and the people were infused with a new
spirit. There was also a remarkable increase in the customs receipts,
those of 1906 showing an increase of 44 per cent over the receipts of
1905 and 72 per cent over those of 1904. Although only 45 per cent of
the revenues collected were turned over to the Dominican government,
this sum was almost double the amount which they had received when they
had control of the collection themselves.
After two years of discussion, the treaty was ratified by the Senate,
February 25, 1907, and by the Dominican Congress, May 3. The terms were
practically those which had been carried out by order of President
Roosevelt. The United States, in a sense, became the trustee of Santo
Domingo, and thus established a new relation between this country and
the smaller republics of the western hemisphere.
CHAPTER VII
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES
[1906]
Toward the close of the nineteenth century, attention was called to the
fact by scientific men that the methods employed in the use of our soil,
mines, forests, and water supply were extremely wasteful. During the
previous decades the resources of the country were regarded as
inexhaustible. As stated by President Roosevelt in 1907: "Hitherto as a
nation we have tended to live with an eye single to the present, and
have permitted the reckless waste and destruction of much of our
national wealth." At the same time the call came for the conservation of
our natural resources.
The destruction of the forests first attracted attention. The first
national reservation of forests was made in 1891, and in 1898 a marked
advance was made by the establishment of a division of Forestry in the
Department of Agriculture. Gifford Pinchot, as chief of the division,
called attention of the people to the interdependence of the forests and
the waterways.
[Illustration: Large tree, several hundred feet tall and about twenty
feet in diameter.]
Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Grove, California, with a squad of cavalry at
its base.
[Illustration: Large tree, with a one lane road cut through the center.]
Big tree "Wanona," showing the relative size of other conifers compared
with big trees. Mariposa Grove.
In 1906, after long effort, the famous Mariposa Grove of large trees in
California was made a national reservation. During the same year a bill
was passed by Congress providing for the preservation of Niagara Falls.
Public opinion had been aroused by the campaign of the American Civic
Association. Power companies had multiplied so rapidly that it seemed
the whole volume of water was about to be used for commercial purposes
and that the most famous object of natural scenery in the United States
would be destroyed.
In response to appeals from the people of the interior, President
Roosevelt, March 14, 1907, appointed the Inland Waterways Commission. In
his letter which created the commission he said: "The time has come for
merging local projects and uses of the inland waters in a comprehensive
plan designed for the benefit of the entire country. . . . I ask that
the Inland Waterways Commission shall consider the relations of the
streams to the use of all the great permanent natural resources and
their conservation for the making and maintenance of prosperous homes."
This commission while carrying on its investigations discussed the
general policy of conservation and suggested to the President the
calling of a convention for the purpose of discussing the conservation
of the nation's resources. Thus originated the celebrated White House
conference of May 13-15, 1908. The opening session presented an
impressive scene, for there were assembled in the east room of the White
House, upon the invitation of the President, the Vice-President, seven
members of the cabinet, all of the justices of the Supreme Court, most
of the representatives and senators, thirty-four governors of States
together with their advisers, and representatives of the governors of
the remaining States, governors of the Territories, representatives of
sixty-eight national societies, and numerous special guests.
The opening address of President Roosevelt was a notable effort. "This
conference," he said, "on the conservation of natural resources is in
effect a meeting of the representatives of all the people of the United
States called to consider the weightiest problem now before the nation.
. . . We have become great in a material sense because of the lavish use
of our resources, and we have just reason to be proud of our growth. But
the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests
are gone; when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted;
when the soils shall have been still further impoverished and washed
into the streams, polluting the rivers, denuding the fields, and
obstructing navigation. These questions do not relate only to the next
century or the next generation. One distinguishing characteristic of
really civilized men is foresight; we have to, as a nation, exercise
foresight for this nation in the future, and if we do not exercise that
foresight, dark will be the future!"
During the meeting numerous addresses were made on the conservation of
the minerals, of the soils, of the forests, and of the waters of the
country. In his address on the conservation of ores and related
minerals, Andrew Carnegie declared that during the three-fourths of a
century from 1820 to 1895 nearly 4,000,000,000 tons of coal were mined
by methods so wasteful that 6,000,000,000 tons were either destroyed or
allowed to remain in the ground forever inaccessible. From 1896 to 1906
as much coal was produced as during the preceding seventy-five years.
During this decade 3,000,000,000 tons were destroyed or left in the
ground beyond reach for future use. Basing his statements on the
investigations of scientists, he showed that at the present rate of
increase in production the available coal of the country would be
exhausted in two hundred years and the workable iron ore within a
century.
[Illustration]
Copyright by Underwood and Underwood.
The President, Governors, and other leading
men at the National Resources Conference,
at the White House, May 13 to 15, 1908.
Similarly, James J. Hill demonstrated that the forests of this country
are fast disappearing and that from three to four times as much timber
was consumed each year as forest growth restored. His statements
regarding the tremendous soil waste in our farming methods were likewise
astounding. Resolutions were adopted covering the entire subject of
conservation as shown in one of them as follows: "We agree that the land
should be so used that erosion and soil-wash shall cease; that there
should be reclamation of arid and semi-arid regions by means of
irrigation, and of swamps and overflowed regions by means of drainage;
that the waters should be so conserved and used as to promote
navigation, to enable the arid regions to be reclaimed by irrigation,
and to develop power in the interests of the people; that the forests
which regulate our rivers, support our industries, and promote the
fertility and productiveness of the soil should be preserved and
perpetuated; that the minerals found so abundantly beneath the surface
should be so used as to prolong their utility; that the beauty,
healthfulness, and habitability of our country should be preserved and
increased; that the sources of national wealth exist for the benefit of
the people, and that monopoly thereof should not be tolerated." It was
recommended that the States should establish conservation commissions to
co-operate with one another and with a similar national commission.
On June 8, 1908, the first national conservation commission was created
by President Roosevelt. Its forty-nine members were men well known in
politics, in the industries, and scientific work. Gifford Pinchot was
chairman of this commission which submitted its first report at a
conference in Washington, December 8-10, 1908. The delegates consisted
of governors and other representatives from the States and from national
organizations. This report was received with favor and it was
recommended that the work of the commission should be continued.
Congress declined to make the necessary appropriation of $25,000 for
this purpose, although it was strongly endorsed by the President.
In 1901 the National Conservation Association was formed, a voluntary
organization of public and scientific men. The purpose of this
association is to carry on the movement for conservation in every State.
Within seven months after the White House conference, forty-one State
conservation commissions were created and fifty-one conservation
commissions representing national organizations were formed.
President Roosevelt carried the movement still farther in calling the
first North American conservation congress. Representatives to this
conference met in Washington, February 18, 1909. They came from Canada,
Newfoundland, and Mexico as well as the United States. Broad general
principles of conservation applicable to the North American continent
were adopted.
[Illustration: Portrait]
Gifford Pinchot, President
of the Conservation Commission.
The movement was materially strengthened also through the withdrawal of
large areas of the public domain from private entry. Thus 148,000,000
acres of forests and 80,000,000 acres of coal land were withdrawn during
President Roosevelt's administrations.
Directly connected with the problems of conservation are those of
irrigation. The so-called arid regions constitute two-fifths of the
area of the United States, or some 1,200,000 square miles. Of this vast
region, it has been estimated that about one-tenth can be irrigated to
advantage. By the end of the year 1908, some 13,000,000 acres had been
reclaimed, or nearly one-third of the total amount suitable for
irrigation purposes. This has brought about the rapid growth of cities
and a substantial industrial advance in the former arid regions of the
far West. The most notable impulse to this movement was made in 1902
when Congress passed a law, the Reclamation act, providing that the
proceeds from the sales of public lands in thirteen States and three
Territories should be expended by the National Government in the
construction of irrigation works.
The total receipts from the sales of these lands amounted to $28,000,000
by the end of the year 1905, and twenty-three projects, dams,
reservoirs, or canals were in different stages of construction. The most
important of these undertakings were the Roosevelt Dam, the Shoshone
Dam, and the Truckee-Carson Canal.
[Illustration]
Built by the U. S. Reclamation Service.
Roosevelt Dam from the road.
The Roosevelt Dam is the chief work of construction in what is called
the Salt River project. By the completion of this work at least 200,000
acres in the vicinity of Phoenix, Arizona, were reclaimed. This dam is
284 feet high, 1,080 feet long on the crest, and 165 feet thick at the
base. The resulting reservoir with a storage area of 16,320 acres will
be the largest artificially formed lake in the world. It forms a body
of water 25 miles long, almost 2 miles broad, and with a maximum depth
of 220 feet. The main canals are 119 miles in length and the lateral
canals 208 miles. Not only will this structure insure a supply of water
in the Salt River valley where, in recent years, orchards and other
products have perished, but it will prevent the floods which have
devastated that region from time to time. Water-power amounting to
25,000 horse-power has been developed by the construction. This power
is used in part for pumping, and another area, estimated at 40,000
acres, outside the territory covered by the canals has been reclaimed.
The power is also used for lighting, for manufacturing, and for mining.
It was seen that the Shoshone River, in northwestern Wyoming, during the
season of melting snows, carried away more waste water than would be
adequate to reclaim many thousands of acres in the arid regions of the
lower altitudes. Two million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars were
allotted for the construction of the Shoshone Dam which will form a
reservoir of water sufficient to irrigate 75,000 acres of land 50 miles
farther down the river.
[Illustration]
Shoshone Dam, Wyoming.
Highest dam in the world. Height 328.4 feet.
The Truckee-Carson project provides for the irrigation of 150,000 acres
in western Nevada. The water of the Truckee River, which flows out of
Lake Tahoe, is distributed by canals having an aggregate length of 670
miles. The main canal was opened in 1905.
By the close of the year 1906, over $39,000,000 had been allotted for
works under actual construction, and this amount had increased to
$119,500,000 within four years. It has been estimated that the land thus
reclaimed will alone be worth $240,000,000. The additional cost of a
project is assessed against the land. When the land is sold, the money
received is used for the development of new irrigation areas.
Another significant plan outlined by the irrigation congress in its
meeting, 1911, provided for bringing about the complete reclamation of
all swamp and overflowed land. The swampland area of the United States
exceeds 74,500,000 acres, or an amount greater than the area of the
Philippine Islands by 1,000,000 acres.
The Mississippi basin has been called the heart and soul of the
prosperity of the United States. Two-fifths of the area of the country,
comprising one-half the population, is tributary to the Mississippi
system, which has over 20,000 miles of navigable waters. This valley
produces three-fourths of our foreign exports. The network of railroads
covering this territory has for a number of years furnished altogether
inadequate transportation facilities, and conditions have grown steadily
worse. Traffic experts throughout the United States have been advising
river improvement as a means of relieving the congestion of freight.
This situation has led to a revival of interest in the deep waterway
from the Lakes to the Gulf which has been talked and written about for
nearly three-quarters of a century.
[Illustration]
Photograph by Clinedinst.
Shoshone Project. Wyoming Park wagon road,
showing wonderful tunnelling work on the new
wagon road from Cody, Wyo., to the
National Park via the Shoshone Dam.
[1907]
[Illustration]
Truckee-Carson reclamation project.
Diversion dam and gates at heading of main canal.
Concerted action was not taken until 1907, when the Lakes to the Gulf
Deep Waterways Association was formed at St. Louis, having for its
object the deepening of the water-way between Lake Michigan and the
Gulf. The proposal to construct a canal by the way of the Illinois River
to the Mississippi, large enough to carry ships, was declared feasible
by government engineers and a route was surveyed. President Roosevelt
endorsed the scheme. In his message to Congress, December 3, 1907, he
said: "From the Great Lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi there should
be a deep water-way, with deep water-ways leading from it to the East
and the West. Such a water-way would practically mean the extension of
our coast line into the very heart of our country. It would be of
incalculable benefit to our people. If begun at once it can be carried
through in time appreciably to relieve the congestion of our great
freight-carrying lines of railroad. The work should be systematically
and continuously carried forward in accordance with some well-conceived
plan . . . . Moreover, the development of our water-ways involves many
other important water problems, all of which should be considered as
part of the same general scheme."
He appointed an Inland Waterways Commission which was to outline a
comprehensive scheme of development along the various lines indicated.
Their leading recommendation had to do with the proposal for a deep
water-way from Chicago to New Orleans. The completion of the drainage
canal by the city of Chicago, at a cost of $55,000,000, really created a
deep waterway for forty miles along the intended route. It was reported
to Congress by a special board of surveyors that the continuation of
such a water-way to St. Louis would cost $31,000,000.
[Illustration: Nine men seated at a conference table.]
Inland Waterways Commission.
The legislature of Illinois, following the recommendation of Governor
Charles S. Deneen, submitted to the people an amendment of the
constitution which would enable the State to assume a bonded
indebtedness of $20,000,000 for the purpose of constructing a deep
waterway from Chicago to St. Louis. The measure was approved by popular
vote November 3, 1907. Thereupon, the State Senate passed a bill
providing for the construction of the canal. This failed in the House.
It was again introduced into the legislature, 1910, but failed to pass.
Among the other important projects submitted by the Inland Waterways
Commission are the following: To connect the Great Lakes with the ocean
by a twenty-foot channel by the way of the Erie Canal and the Hudson
River, an inner channel extending from New England to Florida; to
connect the Columbia River with Puget Sound and deepen the Sacramento
and the San Joaquin Rivers, so as to bring commerce by water to
Sacramento and other interior California cities.
With the hope that New York City might again come into a mastery of the
trade with the West, as at the time when the Erie Canal was first
completed and because of the inability of the railroads to meet the
demands of traffic, the legislature of New York, in 1903, appropriated
$100,000,000 for the enlargement of that waterway and the two branch
canals, the Oswego and Champlain. The proposed uniform depth is twelve
feet and it is otherwise to be large enough for boats of a thousand ton
cargo or four times the capacity of boats now on the canal.
CHAPTER VIII
DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW SOUTH
[1904]
The term New South signifies the transition which has taken place
through energy applied to the opportunities which that section of the
United States offers. The South has natural gifts which in themselves
will make it a marvel of wealth. The coast line measures 3,000 miles and
already the ports of New Orleans and Galveston are among the most
important on our seaboard. In 1898 the imports along the Gulf amounted
to $13,000,000, and in 1908 they amounted to $59,350,000. In 1898 the
exports were valued at $202,000,000; in 1908 they were valued at nearly
$400,000,000. The completion of the Panama Canal will certainly increase
the importance of the Southern seaboard cities.
[Illustration]
Copyright, 1900, by Detroit Photographic Co,
The port of New Orleans.
There are in the United States navigable streams amounting to 26,410
miles and of these the South has 18,215 miles. Mr. Wilson, Secretary of
Agriculture, has estimated that the waterpower facilities of the South
equal 5,000,000 horse-power for the six high-water months--five times
the amount New England has. By a system of reservoirs this supply could
be doubled. Roughly speaking, the country can be divided into three
water-power districts: (1) the wholly undeveloped district which lies
about Birmingham, Alabama, the centre of the great iron and coal
district of the South; (2) a well-exploited district along the
Chattahoochee, extending from Atlanta to Columbus, Georgia; (3) a
district which lies in the favored agricultural region of northern South
Carolina and southern North Carolina. Here about one-third of the easily
available power has been developed. To-day New England, poor in raw
materials and having an area of only 66,000 square miles, manufactures
as much as does the whole South which is rich in raw materials and has
an area of 1,000,000 square miles. It is hardly necessary to make
forecasts--possibly it is wiser to ask what can possibly hinder the
development of this favored section.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture.
In minerals and forests the South is equally rich. The coal supply,
according to the report of the National Conservation Commission, amounts
to 611,748,000,000 tons and the riches in iron in the southern
Appalachian district are equally enormous. Forty-one per cent of the
remaining forest area is in the same country. Unless a system of
conservation is put into operation, however, these vast timber resources
will pass away, for the forests are being used at a rate of more than
three and one-half times the annual growth. Private interests own
125,000,000 acres in the South and practically none of the timber is
being handled with the idea of conservation. There are no "State
forests"; neither are there adequate laws for the prevention of forest
fires.
The economic advancement of the South during the past thirty years has
been wonderful. The tide of migration within our country no longer moves
Westward as much as Southward and in its wake has followed a flood of
capital. The increase of population and capital is necessary to the
industrial growth of the South, and in spite of the recent influx the
scarcity of laborers remains a serious problem, the solution of which is
absolutely necessary for the development of the manufacturing industries
as well as agriculture. Immigrants of good standing are constantly
sought by the States, and to cope with the problem some individuals have
been guilty of operating a system of peonage. Lack of efficiency in the
laborers makes the problem still more perplexing. Scientific
investigations conducted with the aim of discovering the causes for this
general inefficiency have led to the conclusion that the eradication of
the mosquito and hook-worm will add greatly to the ability of the
wage-earners. A systematic campaign in this direction has been made
possible through the recent gift of Mr. Rockefeller.
[Illustration]
A field of cotton.
The South has always been largely an agricultural section, with the
production of cotton as the leading interest. In 1909 the yield was
about 13,500,000 bales from about 32,000,000 acres. In value the crop
equals about twice the annual output of all the gold mines in the world.
The 8,000,000 bales which are exported annually represent an income to
the United States of about $400,000,000. The problem which has called
for the most attention is that the average output per acre has been
decreasing for years. During the past few years the white farmers have
taken active steps to remedy this weakness. Agricultural experiment
stations have conducted investigations and the agricultural press has
interpreted these results to the actual farmers and has conducted a
systematic agitation for an agricultural revolution. Associations have
been formed for the purpose of studying conditions and introducing
improved methods in preparing the soil and rotating crops. More of the
food supply of the South is to be raised at home; better homes and farm
buildings are being erected, and better machinery is being used. The
invention of a mechanical cotton picker, which has been accomplished,
should reduce materially the cost of handling the crop.
[Illustration]
Bales of cotton ready for shipment.
Cotton-press yard, New Orleans.
Closely connected with this is the problem of roads. Where railroads are
scarce good wagon roads are all the more necessary. In the South
(excluding Kentucky, Arkansas, and Oklahoma) there are 500,000 miles of
public roads serving a population of over 20,000,000 people. In 1908
there were only 17,700 miles of improved road. To help along this work
good roads associations have been formed in the various States.
The old methods of financing the plantation system are passing. The
planters are breaking away from the credit system which has kept them as
borrowers and debtors and, as a result, they have money for investments
elsewhere. The great problems connected with cotton culture are the
labor supply and proper conservation of the soil. These solved, the
friends of the South confidently believe that thirty times as much
cotton could be produced as is produced at present. When one learns that
only 145,200,000 acres out of 612,000,000 are now under cultivation, the
claim does not seem extravagant.
[Illustration]
Loading cotton on the levee, New Orleans.
Southern farmers have learned that other products besides cotton pay
well. Less than twenty years ago practically no hay was raised for sale
in the Gulf States. The red clover and timothy which the planter thought
could only be raised in the North are now cultivated in the South. Iowa,
the greatest hay-growing State in the Union, has for the past ten years
averaged 1.58 tons per acre at an average value of $5.45 per ton.
Mississippi during the same time has averaged 1.62 tons to the acre
valued at over $10 a ton. Alfalfa has been found to be excellent feed
for stock and the yield, which averages from four to eight tons per
acre, sells for from $10 to $18 a ton. Corn is being cultivated now and
it is not uncommon to find yields of 100 bushels to the acre and under
the most favorable circumstances even twice that much has been raised on
a single acre. The prevailing high prices make the corn crop
particularly valuable.
Stock-raising, which has never been indulged in to any extent, now gives
excellent returns. The mules which are used so extensively in the South
are being raised at home instead of being brought from the North. Beef
animals and hogs are increasing in numbers and are being bred more
carefully. The great variety of food crops which ripen in rotation make
the cost of hog-raising very little--possibly two cents a pound will
cover the cost of raising, butchering, and packing. Sheep flourish in
the pine regions where they are remarkably free from diseases. They
range all the year, needing little attention.
[Illustration]
The Price-Campbell cotton-picking machine,
which does the work of fifty persons.
This shift in agricultural pursuits has been due in a measure to the
appearance of the boll-weevil which wrought havoc with the cotton crop
for some years. It is possible that the change has been decidedly
beneficial when one notes that the value of products in 1899 was
$705,000,000 and in 1909 about $1,430,000,000.
Agriculture is not the only interest of the New South. Northern capital
has worked wonders along industrial lines. Some communities have changed
entirely from agriculture to manufacturing. South Carolina is now second
among the States in the manufacture of cotton; North Carolina is third,
and Georgia is not far behind. In Alabama Southern tobacco is
manufactured. The steel and iron industries, the furniture industry, the
cottonseed-oil industry, and others are constantly becoming more
important. The effects of this industrial revolution are far reaching.
Social lines are shifting; a new society based upon business success and
wealth seems to be supplanting or at least breaking in upon the
aristocracy of the ante-bellum South, based upon family and public
service. The ideal of success is changing and the ambitious young man
now goes into business, manufacturing, or engineering as often as into
the profession of law and politics. The laboring class has changed also.
Years ago this class lived on farms and raised raw materials: now it
lives in the cities and fashions raw materials. The same social results
are found here as elsewhere, but on account of the conservatism and
personal independence of the Southern laborer, who is only a generation
removed from the soil, these results are not in evidence so soon. In the
manufacturing districts there is the political unrest characteristic of
the North. Labor unions develop here and Socialism has some adherents.
This tends to break the political solidarity of the section and it is
possible that in the not distant future the "Solid South" may pass away.
The South is enthusiastic; it is alert to its opportunities and it is
planning with hope for the future. Through practical education wonders
may be worked, and upon this practical education for the rising
generation the South bases its hopes. The new generation will make
greater strides in the utilization of the great natural gifts than the
old one has. The race problem will be solved in time, and the solution
must come through the efforts of the Southern people, for the best
classes now believe that the South can prosper best when all the people,
colored as well as white, are brought to the highest standard of their
efficiency.
CHAPTER IX
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S SECOND TERM
[1905-1907]
On June 1, 1905, an exposition was opened at Portland, Oregon, in
commemoration of the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1805). Four
hundred acres of ground adjoining the principal residence district,
overlooking the Willamette River, were set aside for this purpose. There
were extensive exhibits by the United States, Great Britain, Canada,
Holland, Italy, China, and other European and Asiatic countries. The
fair was, in general, the expression of the life and history of the
Pacific Northwest and the direct relationship between that region and
the Orient. Many national congresses were held in conjunction with it,
such as the American Medical Association, National Good Roads
Association, and the National Conference of Charities and Correction.
The different interstate commerce acts, beginning with that of 1887 and
including the railroad rate bill of 1906, constitute a system of control
established by the Federal Government over persons and corporations
engaged in interstate or foreign commerce; this includes the carrying of
persons and property by either rail or water. Pipe lines, telephone,
telegraph, express, and sleeping-car companies are also brought under
the same provisions. The administration of these laws was vested in the
Interstate Commerce Commission consisting of seven members.
[Illustration]
The Lewis and Clark Exposition, Portland, Ore.
General view across the Lagoon.
[Illustration]
The Lewis and Clark Exposition, Portland, Ore.
The Government Buildings across the Lagoon.
The important provisions of these laws may be summarized as follows:
1. All charges must be just and reasonable. The commission was given
power to fix maximum rates after investigation of a complaint by either
party to a dispute over rates.
2. Pooling agreements were prohibited.
3. It was made unlawful to make discriminations by giving to any
particular person, corporation, or locality an unreasonable advantage
over others. Granting of passes was prohibited to other than railroad
employees, and granting of rebates was forbidden.
4. By the "long or short haul" clause it was made unlawful for a common
carrier to charge more for the transportation of passengers, or the same
kind of freight, over a shorter than a longer distance; provided the
transportation was under substantially similar circumstances and
conditions over the same line and in the same direction.
5. All rates were required to be published and posted where they might
be consulted by any person.
6. Railroad companies were forbidden to engage in other lines of business.
7. Companies engaged in interstate commerce must have a uniform system of
accounting.
8. They are required to make reports to the Interstate Commerce
Commission regularly.
This commission was also empowered to receive complaints, hear
testimony, make orders correcting abuses, or investigate conditions
without previous complaint. It was given the power to suspend the
proposed increase of rates until their justice had been determined. Any
person objecting to an order of the commission was empowered to appeal
to the "Commerce Court," which was created, being made up of five
circuit court Justices.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Copyright by Clinedinst, Washington.
Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, many years
Chief of the U. S. Bureau of Chemistry.
Nearly all of the States have passed laws relating to the purity of
goods sold to the public. Investigation showed, however, that twenty per
cent of the articles of food in common use were adulterated. This led to
the passing of a far-reaching measure by Congress, 1906, known as the
Pure Food and Drugs law. It provides against the manufacture and sale of
adulterated or misbranded foods, drugs, medicines, or liquors in the
District of Columbia, the Territories, and the insular possessions of
the United States, and prohibits the shipment of such goods from one
State to another or to a foreign country. To the Department of
Agriculture was given the power to enforce the law. Thus the public is
protected against adulterated foods and medicines and dishonest and
misleading labels, and honest manufacturers are protected against
fraudulent competition.
For a number of years some of the European countries condemned American
packing-house products. Abuses in the processes of preparing preserved
meats were brought vividly before Americans by Upton Sinclair in his
novel "The Jungle." The Department of Agriculture took up the problem
and a special investigation was ordered by President Roosevelt. The
report showed the need for more rigid inspection, and the agitation
throughout the country forced the House of Representatives, 1906,
somewhat reluctantly, to adopt the President's recommendation for a
thorough inspection, by government agents, of all processes and methods
used in the meat packing-houses.
[Illustration]
U. S. Government inspection of a packing-house.
Inspector's assistant attaching a "Retained" tag to carcass marked by
inspector on the heading bench. Carcasses so marked are left intact
until they reach the retaining-room.
[Illustration]
Earthquake at San Francisco, April 18, 1906.
Upheaval of sidewalk at Eighteenth and Capp Streets.
Early in the morning of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was visited by one
of the most dreadful disasters of modern times. An earthquake shock
destroyed many of the important buildings in the business part of the
city. Other cities and towns along the coast and in the Santa Clara
Valley suffered greatly and a number of the buildings of Leland Stanford
University, thirty miles south of San Francisco, were demolished. Ninety
per cent of the loss in San Francisco was due to the conflagration which
raged for two days. Fires broke out owing to the crossing of electric
wires. The water-mains were old and poorly laid and the force of the
earthquake had burst them. Firemen and soldiers fought the advance of
the flames by destroying buildings with dynamite. Not until an area
three miles in length and two miles in breadth, including all the
business and the thickly settled residential sections, had been burned
over was the advance of the flames stopped. The estimated loss of life
was 1,000, and property valued at $300,000,000 was destroyed. Among the
irreparable losses were several libraries, the collections of the
California Academy of Sciences, and many works of art. The noted
Bancroft Library with its collection of manuscripts was saved.
[Illustration: Several city blocks afire.]
Burning of San Francisco following the earthquake.
[Illustration: Burned out hulks of several building.]
Showing destruction of buildings after the earthquake and fire in San
Francisco.
A quarter of a million people were rendered homeless and were without
food and the means of earning a livelihood. The sympathy of the world
was aroused and offers of relief came from all quarters. Two million
five hundred thousand dollars was voted by Congress, and the total
relief fund amounted to $20,000,000. There was little suffering for lack
of food and water, owing to the co-operation of representatives of the
Red Cross Association, a citizens' committee, and the United States army
in distributing supplies.
[Illustration: Tent city.]
Refugees in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
One hundred thousand persons were sheltered in tents in Golden Gate
Park. The courage and hopefulness of the people did not desert them, and
the rebuilding of the city was immediately begun. At the end of a year
one-half of the burned area had been rebuilt. The old frame and low
brick structures were replaced by modern buildings of steel and
re-enforced concrete, for this type had survived the earthquake shock.
After two years, a new San Francisco, more beautiful and more
substantial, had risen on the site of the old.
[Illustration]
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y.
The Jamestown Exposition--Manufactures and
Liberal Arts Building from the Auditorium.
On April 26, 1907, the Jamestown Exposition was opened. It was in
commemoration of the first English settlement in America. The southern
shore of Hampton Roads, forty miles southeast of old Jamestown, was
selected as the site for the buildings. The historic idea was uppermost
in the exposition. The colonial type of construction was dominant and
good taste and moderation were notable in the arrangement of the grounds
and exhibits. Industrial and commercial progress were emphasized. The
United States had a special exhibit to illustrate the work of the
different departments. In the harbor, one of the finest in the world,
was the greatest international naval display ever witnessed. Every
variety of war-vessel in existence was on exhibition besides commercial
and passenger boats from the great ports of the world.
CHAPTER X
THE FINANCIAL PANIC OF 1907
[1907]
Popular opinion ascribed three reasons for the panic of 1907. The first
of these was the attitude of the President toward certain great
corporations. It is true that his attacks bared some of the most deeply
rooted evils which have always been at the bottom of our
panics--dishonesty in the administration of great aggregations of
capital. Great were the lamentations and doleful the predictions of what
would happen should the President not change his policy of enforcing the
laws. The railway opponents of the President were sure the panic came
from the Hepburn Bill, which was passed early in 1906. If this had been
dangerous to the welfare of the railroads it is reasonable to assume
that foreign capital would have been withdrawn from American railways
and that American capitalists interested in railroads would have
attempted to avert financial ruin by disposing of their holdings.
Neither situation developed, for the European investors increased their
holdings and American capitalists continued to plan still greater
investments in railways.
The second general explanation was found in the unsound and reckless
banking in New York City. The dangers arising from trust companies had
been known for several years. It came to be believed that the deposits
in these trust companies were being misused by the bank officers for the
promotion of various speculating schemes. The disclosures which came
with the investigation of the insurance companies fixed these beliefs
more firmly in the minds of the people, and the first break in
confidence precipitated runs on the New York banks.
The third explanation was that the panic was due to the defects in our
American currency system.
These were the popular explanations, but there were deep-seated causes
which had worked to bring about the existing conditions. The crisis was
world-wide and was felt most in the countries where there was a gold
standard. In 1890 the world's supply of gold available for monetary use
was hardly $4,000,000,000; in 1907 it was more than $7,000,000,000.
Along with this went a rapid rise in the average price of commodities in
gold-standard countries. Bank deposits in the United States in 1907 were
three times as great as they were in 1897. Amidst all this prosperity
there were forces which were bound to bring a reaction and among the
most important of these was the demand for capital for conversion into
fixed forms. Ready capital was also lessened relatively by the great
losses experienced as a result of the Spanish-American War, the Boer
War, the Japanese-Russian War, the San Francisco earthquake, and the
Baltimore fire. These losses, which amounted to $3,000,000,000, came at
a time when the world was just entering upon a period of great
industrial activity and needed all its capital. Much capital was
absorbed in the construction of railroads, industrial plants,
development of foreign industries, etc. These conditions brought about a
tightening of money rates in Europe and American financial centres;
consequently rates of interest went up. Commercial paper which brought
three to three and one-half per cent in New York in 1897 brought seven
per cent in 1907.
[Illustration: Line of people waiting in front of the bank.]
The panic of 1907. Run on the Knickerbocker Trust Company,
34th Street and Fifth Avenue.
Closely allied to this movement was the increase in the number of
securities issued by industrial concerns. A few resourceful men, in
order to do away with the evils of unrestricted competition, devised a
remedy in the form of mergers. Others of less capacity but greater
daring saw opportunities for money-making, and a craze for mergers and
for the incorporation of private enterprises swept over the country. By
1907 there were at least $38,500,000,000 worth of securities in
existence. The natural result was speculation. When investors began to
fear the soundness of the securities a collapse of credit was due.
The rapid development of trust companies had its effect. The cash
reserves held by these companies were small; their investments were not
always conservative and the depositors were often suspicious. This free
expansion of business with little or no reference to cash reserve or
capital gave rise to another cause for the panic, which was not a matter
of money. It was a matter of what was in men's minds. There was a period
of "muckraking" in which leaders financial and political were severely
critcised. Whether or not this criticism was justified by the exposition
of the frauds of the insurance companies and the questionable dealings
of some other corporations need not be discussed. The criticism created
an attitude of mind throughout the nation, and the first weakening of a
bank brought on the deluge.
[Illustration]
The panic of 1907. Uptown branch of the
Knickerbocker Trust Company, 125th Street.
To the ordinary observer the panic of 1907 will date from October 22,
when the Knickerbocker Trust Company of New York closed its doors.
Earlier in the month the Mercantile National Bank had gotten into
difficulties and had appealed to the clearing-house committee for aid,
which was given. Soon it was noted that the Knickerbocker Trust Company
was in a precarious condition, and the directors, following the example
of the other bank, appealed to the same committee. The investigation of
the committee showed the company insolvent and aid was refused. When the
facts became known, a run on the bank began and it was compelled to
close its doors. The lack of confidence in other financial institutions
was soon shown by similar runs.
No bank could stand the strain unaided. Now the Federal Government
stepped in and Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou came in person to New
York and deposited $40,000,000 of the surplus from the United States
Treasury to be used for the aid of beleaguered institutions. For more
than a week the crowds of depositors sought their money. The lines were
not broken at night until the police hit upon the plan of giving to each
individual a ticket denoting his place in the line. The Trust Company of
America alone paid $34,000,000 across its counters and still crowds
thronged the streets. At length the enormous reserve of the Treasury was
exhausted and it became necessary to delay and deliberately to make slow
payments. Through loans made by other banks the Trust Company of America
and the Lincoln Trust Company, which had endured the hardest sieges,
were saved and now the panic entered its second stage.
[Illustration: Hundreds of people waiting in line.]
The panic of 1907. Run on the Colonial Trust Company.
Line of depositors in Ann Street waiting their turn.
The country was thoroughly aroused, and to avoid a nation-wide raid upon
banking houses the bankers took radical steps. The first measure
resorted to was the enforcement of the rule requiring savings-bank
depositors, at the option of the institution, to give sixty days' notice
before withdrawing deposits. The second expedient was one which had been
resorted to during former years of financial unsteadiness. "Emergency
currency" was issued. This currency took various forms. (1) The
clearing-house loan certificates issued in denominations ranging from
$500 to $20,000, used for settling inter-bank balances; (2)
clearing-house certificates in currency dimensions to be used by banks
in paying their customers; (3) clearing-house checks which took the form
of checks drawn upon particular banks and signed by the manager of the
clearing-house; (4) cashier's checks (in opposition to the National Bank
act) secured by approved collateral; (5) New York drafts which were
cashier's checks drawn against actual balances in New York banks; (6)
negotiable certificates of deposit, and (7) pay checks payable to bearer
drawn by bank customers upon their banks in currency denominations.
These were guaranteed by the firm which issued them.
Other devices were used to aid the banks and to block the spread of the
panic by limiting cash payments by the banks. The governors of Nevada,
Oregon, and California declared legal holidays continuously for several
weeks, thereby allowing the banks to remain closed. In some places the
size of withdrawals was limited to $10 or $25 daily.
The panic was felt to a great degree on the New York Stock Exchange
because the banks refused to make loans, but this stringency was
relieved by a bankers' pool, headed by J. P. Morgan, which loaned
$25,000,000 at the prevailing rate of interest. With the strengthening
of the Stock Exchange another stage of the panic passed.
[Illustration: Hundreds of people waiting in line.]
The panic of 1907. Run on the Lincoln
Trust Company, Fifth Avenue entrance.
In spite of the use of the surplus of the Treasury the banks showed a
loss of $50,000,000 in actual cash during the five weeks of the panic.
Now demands were made on foreign countries for gold. The Bank of England
made no move to block the great withdrawals of gold except to raise the
official discount to seven per cent. The flow of gold did much to stay
the ebb of confidence.
Some contended for an issue of paper money and after a long discussion
by the officials of the Treasury, it was decided to sell $50,000,000
worth of Panama two per cent bonds and $100,000,000 worth of three per
cent notes in the hope of calling from its hiding-place the money which
was being hoarded. The result of the venture was not satisfactory and
the loan operations soon ceased.
Gradually financial affairs righted themselves. The emergency currency
was redeemed, the runs on banks ceased, confidence slowly returned, and
business picked up, although by the middle of 1908 the volume was
scarcely half of what it had been a year before. The number of bank
failures had been comparatively small. Only twenty-one banks were
obliged to suspend payment, while in 1893 the number was 160.
[Illustration: Hundreds of people in the street.]
The panic of 1907. Wall Street, in front of the Sub-Treasury Building,
when the run on the Trust Company of America was at its height.
Naturally there was much discussion concerning the defects of our
financial system, of the needs of elastic currency, of a central bank,
etc., when the Sixtieth Congress met in December, 1907. Several bills
were offered for the establishment of a central bank; some for the issue
of a special currency by the government; others for the legalization of
certificates and currency created by clearing-house associations. The
aversion of the people to the centralization of the banking business in
the hands of a few of the great money powers made the establishment of a
central bank out of the question.
The bills which were discussed at any length were the Fowler Bill, the
Vreeland Bill, and the Aldrich Bill. The first was discarded, although
it had merits, and the two branches of Congress were unable to agree
upon either of the others. The result was a compromise measure which
became the Aldrich-Vreeland Act.
The important provisions of this act are as follows: (1) Ten or more
national banking associations, each with an unimpaired capital and
surplus of not less than twenty per cent and an aggregate capital and
surplus of not less than $5,000,000, may form national currency
associations. These associations are to have power to render available,
for the basis of additional circulation, "any securities, including
commercial paper, held by a national banking association."
(2) To obtain this additional circulation, any bank belonging to a
national currency association having circulating notes outstanding
secured by United States bonds to an amount not less than forty per cent
of its capital stock, and having the required unimpaired capital and
surplus, may deposit approved securities with the currency association
and be empowered by the Secretary of the Treasury to issue additional
circulating notes to an amount not to exceed seventy-five per cent of
the cash value of the securities. If the securities are State or
municipal bonds the issue must not exceed ninety per cent of the market
value of the bonds.
(3) The banks and assets of all banks belonging to the currency
association are liable to the United States for the redemption of this
additional currency, and the association may at any time require that
additional securities be deposited. All banks are held liable to make
good the securities of any bank in the association.
[Illustration: Hundreds of people in the street.]
The panic of 1907, Run on the State Bank,
Grand Street, New York.
(4) The total amount of circulating notes outstanding for any bank shall
not at any time exceed the amount of its unimpaired capital and surplus,
neither shall the amount of such notes in the United States exceed
$500,000,000 at any time. The amount issued in each State shall bear the
same relation to the total amount issued in the United States as the
unimpaired capital and surplus of the banks of that State bear to the
unimpaired capital and surplus of the banks of the United States.
(5) The tax on circulating notes secured by United States bonds bearing
two per cent or less shall be one-half of one per cent; if secured by
United States bonds bearing more than two per cent, the tax shall be one
per cent. If the securities are other than United States bonds, the tax
shall be at a rate of five per cent per annum for the first month and
afterward an additional tax of one per cent per annum for each month
until a tax of ten per cent per annum is reached.
(6) The redemption of the notes may take place by the banks depositing
with the Treasurer of the United States lawful money to replace the
securities deposited.
(7) The formation of a national monetary commission to inquire into and
report to Congress necessary or desirable changes in the banking and
currency laws was provided for.
CHAPTER XI
IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION
[1907]
Since the organization of our government nearly 29,000,000 foreigners
have come to the United States. The flow of immigration first assumed
large proportions during the decade 1831-1840 and since that time one
wave after another has reached our shores. The last one, and the one
which has caused the greatest alarm, gathered force about 1897 and
reached its full tide in the first decade of the twentieth century, when
over 8,000,000 aliens landed at our ports.
During this period (1820-1910) the character of immigration has changed.
Prior to 1880 the greater part of it came from northern Europe, but
since that time the number has constantly fallen off, and the flow from
southern Europe has greatly increased. During the decade 1871-1880
Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Russia sent only 181,000 of 2,262,000 aliens
who landed in the United States--about eight per cent. During the decade
1901-1910, 8,130,000 immigrants came to our shores, and of these
5,800,000, or over 70 per cent, were from these three countries. In 1901
Austria-Hungary sent, 113,400; in 1907 about 338,500, but owing to the
passage of the immigration law in 1907 the number fell abruptly, but by
1910 had again increased to 260,000. The same is true of Italy. In 1901
about 136,000 came; in 1907 nearly 286,000, and in 1910 about 215,500.
Russia sent 85,000 in 1901, some 260,000 in 1907, and 187,000 in 1910.
The numbers from northern Europe do not approach these. The immigration
from the British Isles does not reach the 100,000 mark; from Germany
only 30,000 come yearly.
Causes for this influx are varied. Many come desirous of owning homes, a
pleasure out of reach in their home country on account of high prices.
Free institutions attract others. A land which offers free schools to
all regardless of race or creed, religious freedom, and the opportunity
to play some part in the political life of the state is naturally
attractive. Some come to escape military service, others with the idea
of making money and returning to their native land. Density of
population and the accompanying excessive competition in the struggle
for existence also play a part.
Hundreds of letters telling of the general prosperity in America and
contrasting this with the condition at home, do their work with the
disheartened peasants. It is said that half of our immigrants come on
tickets paid for by friends in America. The large employers of labor,
and even the States themselves, are constantly calling for laborers.
Ours is a huge, half-developed country, and the development of our
resources, particularly the coal and iron industries, the cotton; rice,
cane, and tobacco industries, and the railways demands thousands of
helpers.
[Illustration: Several hundred people on a ship.]
Emigrants bound for America.
The steamship companies which have found an extremely profitable
business in the transportation of immigrants have used various means to
increase the numbers. Agents are said to be in all European countries
soliciting trade. Associations for the assistance of poor emigrants have
been formed in various European cities--this is especially true among
the Jews who, by means of societies such as the "Hebrew Shelter" of
London, have aided thousands of Roumanian and Russian Jews on their way
to America.
[Illustration]
Entrance to Emigrant Station or "model town" in Hamburg.
Built for emigrants waiting to sail.
Although most of the European countries have placed restrictions upon
emigration, these restrictions unfortunately do not retard the
emigration of the undesirable classes. As a result America was called
upon early to legislate on this problem. The first act was in 1819 and
was aimed to regulate the transportation of immigrants. The laws of
1875, 1882, 1891, 1893, and 1903 dealt with the class of immigrants to
be admitted. The acts did not accomplish the end for which they were
framed, and the question was taken up again by Congress which, after a
lengthy discussion, passed the act of 1907. No great change in policy
was effected by this law which, for the most part, only revised the
wording of the old laws and modified the methods of regulation. The head
tax of two dollars, hitherto levied on each alien, was doubled but was
made inapplicable to immigrants from our insular possessions or to
aliens who had resided for a year either in the British possessions in
North America, or in Cuba or Mexico. All aliens suffering from
tuberculosis or loathsome diseases or those who were "mentally or
physically defective, such mental or physical defect being of a nature
which may affect the ability . . . to earn a living," were excluded.
Children under sixteen unaccompanied by a parent were excluded.
Steamship companies were placed under additional restrictions to insure
against their violation of the act. Should an immigrant within a period
of three years be found to have entered the country contrary to the
terms of the act, he was to be deported and the transportation company
responsible for his coming would be held liable for the expense of his
deportation.
The effect of the new law can be seen in the immigration statistics--the
number of immigrants for the year 1908 is but little more than half as
great as the number for 1907. The chief decrease was in the stream from
southern Europe. This decrease cannot be attributed entirely to the act
of 1907, but must be accounted for in part by the panic of 1907.
Observations extending over a long period of years have disclosed the
fact that the ebb and flow of the tide of immigration is closely
attached to the periods of economic prosperity and depression.
When the races of northern Europe contributed the greater part of our
immigrants there was a general feeling that this was a decided advantage
to us. The people were readily assimilated into our population and were
in general intelligent, industrious citizens who soon acquired a
patriotic love for America and its institutions. The serious problems
came with the increased number of southern Europeans.
[Illustration]
One of several churches built for emigrants of various
faiths in the station or "model town" of the
Hamburg-American Company, for use while waiting to sail.
For years Italians emigrated to South America, particularly to Brazil
and the Argentine Republic, where the climate, race customs, and
language were more to their liking than in the north. A diminution of
prosperity there has turned part of the tide northward. About eighty per
cent of our Italians come from southern Italy, a fact explained by the
difference between the industrial conditions in the northern and
southern parts of the peninsula. In the south agriculture is the only
industry, and it frequently suffers from climatic conditions, the
resulting losses bearing heavily upon the population. Conditions are
aggravated by an unequal division of taxes between the north and the
south. Often the only alternative to starvation is emigration. During
the past decade 2,000,000 Italians have come to us and, according to
estimates, about two-thirds of them have settled in the cities of the
Northern States, a condition detrimental to the foreign and our social
organization alike. These Italians, peasants and experts in fruit
culture by training, become day laborers, thus losing their greatest
productive power. The Italian who keeps away from the city finds his lot
more agreeable. Wherever they have settled as farmers they have been
uniformly successful. The person who knows only the Italian of the
tenements has little sympathy for him, in spite of the fact that many of
this race have proved themselves to be quiet, sober, and useful
citizens.
[Illustration]
Exterior view of main building.
[Illustration]
Restaurant. Immigrants dining-room and detention quarters.
Detained immigrants are fed here at the expense of the steamship companies.
[Illustration]
Here all immigrants must present themselves upon arrival for their
first inspection under the law--sometimes as many as 5,000 a day.
U. S. IMMIGRANT STATION, ELLIS ISLAND, N. Y.
The Slavic immigration since 1880 has been mainly from the more
primitive districts out of touch with the civilization of western
Europe. These people have come, not as settlers, but as laborers in the
mines, factories, and foundries, planning to remain here for a time,
earn as much as possible, and return to their native land.
In 1899 statistics began to be compiled by means of which the race and
nationality of aliens might be determined. From 1899 to 1907 about
seventy-two per cent of the Slavic immigration came from
Austria-Hungary. Since 1900 at least 100,000 aliens from this country
have come to the United States each year; in 1905, 1906, and 1910 the
number exceeded 250,000 each year, and in 1907 it was 340,000. In this
crowd came Bohemians, Poles, Slovaks, Ruthenians, Slovenians, Croatians,
Bulgarians, Servians, Montenegrins, and other allied peoples. They are
distributed over various parts of the land. Pennsylvania, on account of
its mines, gathers by far the greatest number--in 1906 there were about
500,000 Slavs in the State; New York had nearly 200,000, and Illinois
about 134,000. The Bohemians and Poles seem inclined to farm, but in the
main the Slav laborers have busied themselves in the coal, coke, iron,
and steel industries. Very seldom do the Slavs take to petty street
traffic, as do the Jews and Italians, but prefer the harder and better
paid work in the mines and foundries.
The Russians make the smallest Slavic group in America. Although many
Russians are reported among the immigrants, only about five per cent are
native born Russians, the rest being Jews, Poles, Finns, and
Lithuanians.
About one-eighth of our European immigrants are Jews. By the law of 1769
the Jews in Russia are compelled to live within certain territorial
limits known as the Jewish Pale, and about ninety-four per cent comply
with the regulation. The law of 1882 has further restricted the places
of residence, for Jews are now prohibited from buying or renting lands
outside the limits of the cities or incorporated towns. Their
educational advantages are limited by law; few are admitted to the bar
and few to the other learned professions. To these disabilities the
Russian government has added the terror of persecution, which will
explain why 150,000 Jews come to America each year. In all there are
1,250,000 here.
"ALIEN PASSENGERS" AND IMMIGRANTS ENTERING THE UNITED STATES FROM
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, 1820-1910
LAST 1820 1831 1841 1851 1861
PERMANENT TO TO TO TO TO
RESIDENCE 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870
----------- ------ ------ ------ ------ -------
Austria-Hungary 7,800
Belgium 27 22 5,074 4,738 6,734
Denmark 169 1,063 539 3,749 17,094
France 8,497 45,575 77,262 76,358 35,984
Germany 6,761 152,454 434,626 951,667 787,468
Greece
Italy 408 2,253 1,870 9,231 11,728
Netherlands 1,078 1,412 8,251 10,789 9,102
Norway, Sweden 91 1,201 13,903 20,931 109,298
Russia 91 646 656 1,621 4,536
Spain, Portugal 2,622 2,954 2,759 10,353 8,493
Switzerland 3,226 4,821 4,644 25,011 23,286
England 22,167 73,143 263,332 385,643 568,128
Scotland 2,912 2,667 3,712 38,331 38,768
Ireland 50,724 207,381 780,719 914,119 435,778
Europe; unspecified 43 96 155 116 210
----------------- ------ ------ ------ ------- ------
Total 98,816 495,688 1,597,502 2,452,657 2,064,407
1871 1881 1891 1901
TO TO TO TO TOTAL
1880 1890 1900 1910
----------------- ------ ------ ------ ------- ------
Austria-Hungary 72,969 353,717 597,047 2,145,266 3,176,801
Belgium 7,221 20,177 20,062 41,635 105,690
Denmark 31,771 88,132 52,670 65,285 260,472
France 72,206 50,464 36,006 73,379 475,731
Germany 718,182 1,452,970 543,922 341,498 5,389,548
Greece 15,996 167,519 183,515
Italy 55,759 307,309 655,694 2,045,877 3,090,129
Netherlands 16,541 53,701 31,816 48,262 180,952
Norway 211,245 568,362 95,264 190,505 1,691,013
Sweden 230,679 249,534
Russia 52,254 265,088 593,703 1,597,306 2,515,901
Spain 9,893 6,535 6,723 27,935 170,426
Portugal 23,010 69,149
Roumania 14,559 53,008 67,567
Switzerland 28,293 81,988 33,149 34,922 239,340
Turkey in Europe 2,562 118,202 120,764
England 460,479 657,488 271,094 388,017 3,089,491
Scotland 87,564 149,869 60,053 120,469 504,345
Ireland 436,871 655,482 403,496 339,065 4,223,635
Wales 11,186 17,464 28,650
Europe unspecified 656 10,318 4,370 1,719
----------------- ------ ------ ------ ------- ------
Total 2,261,904 4,721,602 3,703,061 8,136,016 25,531,653
Immigrants from British North America and other countries 2,535,810
Estimated number of immigrants prior to October 1, 1819 250,000
[Transcriber's note: Norway/Sweden and Spain/Portugal are combined totals in
columns where only one value is given.]
TOTAL NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS, 1891 TO 1910
Year Total Sex Age
Ended Number Male Female Under 14 14 to 45 45 and over
June 30
1891 560,319 354,059 296,200 95,879 405,843 58,597
1892 623,084 385,781 237,303 89,167 491,839 42,078
1893 502,917 315,845 187,072 57,392 419,701 25,824
1894 314,467 186,247 128,220 41,755 258,162 14,550
1895 279,948 159,924 120,024 33,289 233,543 13,116
1896 343,267 212,466 130,801 52,741 254,519 36,007
1897 230,832 135,107 95,725 38,627 165,181 27,024
1898 229,299 135,775 93,524 38,267 164,905 26,127
1899 311,715 195,277 116,438 43,983 248,187 19,545
1900 448,572 304,148 144,424 54,624 370,382 23,566
1901 487,918 331,055 156,863 62,562 396,516 28,840
1902 648,743 466,369 182,374 74,063 539,254 35,426
1903 857,046 613,146 243,900 102,431 714,053 40,562
1904 812,870 549,100 263,770 109,150 657,155 46,565
1905 1,026,499 724,914 301,585 114,668 855,419 56,412
1906 1,100,735 764,463 336,272 136,273 913,955 50,507
1907 1,285,349 927,976 355,373 138,344 1,100,771 46,234
1908 782,870 506,912 275,958 112,148 630,671 40,051
1909 751,786 519,969 231,817 88,393 624,876 38,517
1910 1,041.570 736,038 305,532 120,509 868,310 52,751
Debarred Returned Returned Able to Read Unable to
from Within Within but not Write Read or Write
Landing One Year Three Years [See note 1] [See note 1]
1892 2,164 637
1893 1,053 577 59,582 61,038
1894 2,389 417 16,784 41,614
1895 2,394 189 2,612 42,302
1896 2,799 238 5,066 78,130
1897 1,617 263 1,572 43,008
1898 3,030 199 1,416 43,057
1899 3,798 263 1,022 60,446
1900 4,246 356 2,097 93,576
1901 3,516 363 3,058 117,587
1902 4,974 465 2,917 162,188
1903 8,769 547 3,341 185,667
1904 7,994 300 473 3,953 168,903
1905 11,879 98 747 8,209 230,882
1906 12,371 61 615 4,755 265,068
1907 13,064 70 925 5,829 337,573
1908 10,902 114 1,955 2,310 172,293
1909 10,411 58 2,066 2,431 191,049
1910 24,270 23 2,672 4,571 253,569
Note 1: Prior to 1895 the figures are for persons over 16 years; from
1895 to 1910 for persons 14 years of age and over.
The question of Oriental immigration has caused much comment in our
Pacific Coast States for several years. Before 1900 the total number of
Japanese coming to America seldom reached 1,500 a year. Since that time
about 12,000 have come each year, except in 1903 when 20,000 came and
1907 when the number reached 30,000. Seventy per cent of this number,
however, went to Hawaii. Over-population and economic depression in
their native land have caused this exodus. Most of these immigrants are
laborers--skilful, energetic and efficient--who apparently desire to
become citizens. Among the better classes are many who have attained
eminence in various lines of work in our country. In scientific
investigation the names of Takamine, Noguchi, Yatsu, Takami, Asakawa,
and Iyenaga are well known. The names of those who have been more than
ordinarily successful in business would make a long list. The most
serious objections to the Japanese arise in the coast States where these
immigrants have raised a serious labor problem. The people of these
commonwealths also fear a race problem which in gravity will rival the
one in the Southern States. It is claimed that even now, when the number
of Orientals is small, the enforcement of law is exceedingly difficult
in the Chinese quarters, while the control of the Japanese is next to
impossible since they do not congregate in certain sections of the
cities as do the Chinese. It is claimed that the 2,000,000 whites who
live on the Pacific Coast will be swamped and lose control of the
government if this Oriental immigration is not entirely prohibited. The
Chinese do not cause so much anxiety. Since the passage of the exclusion
act thirty years ago, few have come to the United States--scarcely more
than 2,000 a year. As laborers they are efficient, patient, and honest
in keeping labor contracts.
[Illustration]
Gypsies excluded and deported as undesirable.
[Illustration]
Ruthenian shepherds from Austria, bound out West for farmers.
Considered desirable and qualified to enter.
[Illustration]
A German family of ten considered desirable and qualified to enter.
GROUPS OF IMMIGRANTS UPON THEIR ARRIVAL AT ELLIS ISLAND
These swarms of foreigners who come to us each year are causing
uneasiness in the minds of the thinking people. Can our foreign
population be growing more rapidly than our power to assimilate it? Is
this element as dangerous to our civilization as we think? Has
criminality increased as a result of increased immigration? Has this
element increased labor agitations during the past decade? Some contend
that we are rapidly approaching the limit of our power of assimilation
and that we are in constant danger of losing the traits which we call
American. The immigrants from southern Europe are in too many cases
deficient in education. This lack of education may or may not prove a
danger. So far it seems to have been the rule that in the second
generation these foreigners have shown themselves extremely anxious to
take advantage of the opportunities offered by our free schools.
One of the most serious charges made against the Americanized foreigner
has been that through him there has developed in our political system a
strain of corruption which endangers our institutions. Political
corruption did not come with the immigrants: it was known in all its
forms years ago. This much can be said, however: the worst class of
foreign-born citizens has ever proved to be a support of corrupt
political bosses. Our city governments have been notoriously corrupt and
the cities harbor the great masses of foreigners. The high cost of
living in the cities and the relatively low wages force the aliens into
poor and crowded quarters which tend to weaken them physically and
degrade them morally and socially. Among the Italians of the cities
there appears to be a vicious element composed of social parasites who
found gambling dens, organize schemes of black-mail, and are the agents
of the dreaded Black Hand. It is the class which furnishes aids for the
lowest political bosses and furnishes the bad reputation for the
Italians.
[Illustration]
Group of Cossack immigrants considered desirable and qualified to enter.
An investigation of the nationalities in the city of Chicago has been
made by Professor Ripley, of Harvard. The results illustrate the
wonderful dimensions of the problem which the cities confront in the
assimilation of the foreign element. In the case of Chicago, were the
foreigners (those not American beyond the third generation) to be
eliminated, the population would dwindle from 2,000,000 to about 100,00.
In this city fourteen languages are spoken by groups of not less than
10,000 persons each. Newspapers are regularly published in ten different
languages and church services conducted in twenty different tongues.
Measured by the size of its foreign colonies, Chicago is the second
Bohemian city in the world, the third Swedish, the fourth Polish, and
the fifth German. There is one large factory employing over 4,000 people
representing twenty-four nationalities. Here the rules of the
establishment are printed in eight languages. So it is with the other
cities. New York, for example, has a larger Italian population than
Rome, and is the greatest Jewish city, for there are in the city some
800,000 Jews. In all eighty per cent of the population of New York are
foreigners or the children of foreigners. In Boston the per cent reaches
seventy and in Milwaukee about eighty-six.
The charge that criminality has increased rapidly with the increased
immigration from southern Europe seems to be substantiated by
statistics. From 1904 to 1908 the number of aliens charged with
committing grave crimes nearly doubled. While this fact will not prove
the point, it suggests thought on the question.
It has been truthfully said that the fundamental problem in this
question of immigration is most frequently overlooked. Back of the
statistics of illiteracy, pauperism, criminality, and the economic value
of immigrants lies another one of great proportions. What has been the
effect upon our native stock? What has been the expense, to our native
stock, of this increase of population and wealth through immigration?
The decreasing birth rate of our native population some contend is due
to the industrial competition caused by the foreign element. If this be
true, the foreigners have supplanted not supplemented the American, and
the question arises, how long can the assimilation go on before we lose
our American characteristics?
[Illustration]
Swedish immigrant family considered desirable and qualified to enter.
The number of Europeans who return to their native lands after living a
time in the United States is comparatively small and the loss is not
great. The emigration of our farmers to Canada is a more serious thing.
Since 1897 the Dominion Government has fostered high-class immigration.
Canadian agencies have been established in many of our Western cities
with the avowed object of attracting farmers to the Provinces. The
Canadian Pacific Railway Company has taken up the pioneering business.
It sells the land, builds the home and the necessary buildings, breaks
the fields, plants the first crop, and hands over to the prospective
settler a farm under cultivation. In return the railway demands
high-class immigrants and, to insure this, no settler can take
possession of a railway farm unless he can show $2,000 in his own right.
Between 1897 and the close of 1910 Canada gained by immigration nearly
2,000,000 inhabitants. Of these, 630,000 were from the United States,
and it is estimated that those who went from the United States during
the past five years took with them $267,000,000 in cash and settlers'
effects. The end of the movement has not come, for the railway companies
have now gone into the reclamation of arid lands. Since 1908 over
1,000,000 acres of arid land in Alberta have been placed under
irrigation, and the work of reclaiming another equally large section has
begun. The American farmers who are taking advantage of this opportunity
form a class which we cannot afford to lose.
CHAPTER XII
NOTABLE SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
[1907]
The Northern Securities Company is a corporation, formed under the laws
of New Jersey, for the purpose of obtaining control of a majority of the
stock of the Northern Pacific Railroad and part of the stock of the
Great Northern Railroad. These roads, which parallel each other from
Lake Superior to the Pacific, have been held by the courts, in the case
of Pearsall vs. the Great Northern Railway, to be competing lines.
The organizers of the Northern Securities Company contended that their
ultimate purpose in organizing the company was to control the two
railway systems not for the purpose of suppressing competition, but to
create and develop a volume of trade among the States of the Northwest
and between the Orient and the United States by establishing and
maintaining a permanent schedule of cheap transportation rates.
When the company had completed its organization and the full
significance of the organization was known, the State of Minnesota
instituted proceedings against the company in the State courts. Later
the case was transferred to the federal Circuit Court and eventually
carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, where the contentions
of the State were overruled.
In March, 1902, a suit was instituted by the United States in the
Circuit Court of the eighth federal district. The judges who sat upon
the case decided unanimously that the acquisition of the stock of the
Northern Pacific and the Great Northern Railways by the Securities
Company was a combination for the restraint of trade among the States,
and therefore a violation of the Sherman act. A decree was issued by the
court prohibiting the company from acquiring any more of the stock of
these roads and from exercising any control over either of the roads in
question.
[Illustration: Group portrait.]
Copyright by Clinedinst. Washington.
W. Van Devanter. H. H. Lurton. C. E. Hughes. J. R. Lamar.
O. W. Holmes. J. M. Harlan. E. D. White. J. E. McKenna. W. R. Day.
Justices of the United States Supreme Court who acted upon the cases of
the Standard Oil and American Tobacco Companies.
The case was carried to the Supreme Court which by a vote of five to
four, affirmed the decree of the lower court. In the majority opinion
the court took the position that the mere acquisition by the Securities
Company of the stock of the two roads was in itself a combination for
the restraint of trade. The power to do things made unlawful by the
Sherman act had been acquired and this in effect violated that act.
Another point was made clear by the court. The defendants had vigorously
denied that the power of Congress over interstate commerce was extended
to the regulation of railway corporations organized under State laws, by
reason of these corporations engaging in interstate commerce. The court
declared that while this was not the intention of the Government, the
Government was acting within its rights when it took steps, not
prohibited under the Constitution, for protecting the freedom of
interstate commerce. Furthermore, it was held that no State corporation
could stand in the way of the enforcement of the national will by
extending its authority into other States. In substance the court denied
the right of any State to endow a corporation of its creation with power
to restrain interstate commerce.
The contention of the defendants, that the Sherman law was intended to
prohibit only those restraints which are unreasonable at common law, was
dismissed on the ground that this question had been passed upon by the
lower court in other cases.
The dissenting opinions were two in number and were written by Justice
White and Justice Holmes.
Several conclusions of importance may be drawn from the court's
decision.
1. That Congress may forbid transactions of purchase and sale when such
transactions confer on an individual or group of individuals the power
to destroy competition.
2. No State can create corporations and confer upon them power to
interfere with interstate commerce.
3. The Sherman law is not to be interpreted as forbidding the reasonable
restraints of trade which are not objectionable at common law.
The Bailey case is one of importance by reason of the fact that the
decision handed down by the Supreme Court was an effective blow against
the "peonage system," which is an evasion of the constitutional
prohibition of slavery. The Alabama law provides, in effect, that the
mere act of quitting work on the part of a contract laborer is
conclusive evidence that he is guilty of the crime of defrauding his
employer.
Alonzo Bailey was engaged by a corporation to do farm work and signed a
contract for a year, the wages being $12 a month. The company, to bind
the contract, paid Bailey $15 down and it was agreed that thereafter he
should be paid at the rate of $10.75 a month. After working a month and
a few days he left. Instead of suing him for a breach of contract and
recovery of damages, the company caused the arrest of Bailey on the
charge of an attempt to defraud. No direct evidence could be produced
that this was his intention, but the law expressly authorized the jury
to find him guilty of fraud, on the ground that he quitted work. The
accused was not allowed to testify as to his unexpressed intention. His
opportunity to escape prison was to pay back the $15 or to work out the
sum. In case neither was done, he was to be fined double the amount paid
at the time of making the contract or go to work at hard labor.
The attorneys for Bailey, wishing to test the constitutionality of the
Alabama law, carried the case to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The constitutionality of the law was called into question on the
following grounds: (1) That it violated the prohibition against
involuntary service; (2) it denied the plaintiff in error the right of
due process of law; (3) that by laying a burden on the employee and no
equivalent burden on the employer, the law denied to the plaintiff the
constitutional right of equal protection of the laws.
The decision of the court was not unanimous. Justices Holmes and Lurton
upheld the Alabama law, but the majority, in an opinion written by
Justice Hughes, declared the law in conflict with the Thirteenth
Amendment, which prohibits slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime.
The significance of the decision is this--slavery has been outlawed by
our highest court, and one more legal barrier to the progress of the
black man has been removed.
The case of Loewe vs. Lawler, probably better known to the public as the
Danbury Hatters case, was decided by the Supreme Court in February,
1908, Chief Justice Fuller rendering the decision. The action was
brought originally in the United States Circuit Court for the District
of Connecticut and, after passing through the Circuit Court of Appeals,
reached the Supreme Court late in 1907.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Photograph copyright by Clinedinst, Washington.
Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller.
The plaintiffs, who were manufacturers of hats, complained that the
defendants--members of the United Hatters of North America, an
organization which was a part of the American Federation of Labor--were
"engaged in a combined scheme and effort to force all manufacturers of
fur hats in the United States, including the plaintiffs, against their
will and their previous policy of carrying on their business, to
organize their workmen . . . into an organization of the said
combination known as The United Hatters of North America, or, as the
defendants and their confederates term it, to unionize their shops, with
the intent thereby to control the employment of labor in, and the
operation of, said factories . . . and to carry out such scheme, effort
and purpose by restraining and destroying the interstate trade and
commerce of such manufacturers by means of intimidation of, and threats
made to such manufacturers and their customers in the several States, of
boycotting them, their product and their customers . . . until . . . the
said manufacturers should yield to the demand to unionize their
factories."
These methods had been successfully employed before, as is evidenced by
the fact that seventy of the eighty-two manufacturers of fur hats had
been compelled to accept the conditions set forth by the American
Federation of Labor. The boycott against the Danbury, manufacturers
began in July, 1902, and was widened to include the wholesalers who
handled the goods of the Danbury concern, the dealers who bought from
the wholesalers, and customers who bought from these dealers. Notices to
this effect were printed in the official organs of the American
Federation of Labor and the United Hatters of North America. To make the
feeling against the manufacturers more intense, statements were
published to the effect that they were practising an unfair, un-American
policy in discriminating against competent union men in favor of the
cheap unskilled foreign labor.
The counsel for the defence argued that no case could be set up under
the Sherman act, since the defendants were not engaged in interstate
commerce, implying that a combination of laborers was not a violation of
the act. The court held that an action could be maintained in this case
and that the combination as it existed was "in restraint of trade" in
the sense designated by the act of 1890. The significance of the
decision lies in the fact that the Supreme Court made no distinctions
between classes. Records of Congress show that efforts were made to
exempt, by legislation, organizations of farmers and laborers from the
operation of the act and that their efforts failed. Therefore the court
held that every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of
trade was illegal and cited a former decision (The United States vs.
Workingmen's Amalgamated Council) to show that the law interdicted
combinations of workingmen as well as capital.
The Sherman act was passed by Congress in 1890. It was entitled "An Act
to Protect Trade and Commerce against Unlawful Restraints and
Monopolies." Since its passage various cases falling under it have been
decided, but until the decisions in the Standard Oil Company and the
American Tobacco Company cases the extent and intent of this act have
not been understood.
In the Standard Oil case the question involved was this: Was the Sherman
act violated by the existence and conduct of this corporation, which
owned or controlled some eighty corporations originally in competition?
The control had been acquired for the purpose of monopolizing the sale
and distribution of petroleum products in the United States, and had
been acquired by various means of combination with the intent either by
fair or unfair methods "to drive others from the field and to exclude
them from their right to trade." The proof was that, to destroy
competitors, prices had been temporarily reduced in various localities,
spies had been used on competitors' business, bogus independent
companies operated, and rebates given and taken.
In the case of the American Tobacco Company, there were more than one
hundred formerly competing companies united under the control of a
single organization and the market in nearly all tobacco products was
monopolized. This domination was secured "by methods devised in order to
monopolize the trade by driving competitors out of business."
In each case the court found the defendants guilty on the grounds that
the agreements and the conduct of the defendants indicated a purpose to
destroy competitors and monopolize trade in certain articles. The
desired result was accomplished by wrongful means which injured the
public as well as the competitors.
The facts in neither case required the consideration of the question as
to whether the Sherman act prohibited every unification of formerly
competing properties and every restraint of trade, reasonable or
unreasonable but, owing to the uncertainty of the public concerning the
meaning of the law, the court stated definitely the meaning and scope of
the act. From appearances the Supreme Court has practically amended the
Sherman act by limiting its application to "unreasonable" restraints of
trade. The significance of the decisions lies here rather than in the
fact that both companies were compelled to dissolve. The best legal
authorities believe that the new interpretation of "reasonableness" and
"unreasonableness" of restraint of trade has increased rather than
decreased the effectiveness of the law, inasmuch as the meaning has
always been obscure. The new policy is a notification to combinations of
capital that to exist without prosecution they must not resort to any
unfair, oppressive, or illegal methods to control competition or crush
competitors.
CHAPTER XIII
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S SECOND TERM--CONTINUED
[1907]
While President Roosevelt advocated peace, he believed that the best
means to preserve peace was suitable preparation for war. In his message
to Congress, 1904, he said; "There is no more patriotic duty before us
as a people than to keep the navy adequate to the needs of this
country's position. Our voice is now potent for peace, and is so potent
because we are not afraid of war. But our protestations would neither
receive nor deserve the slightest attention if we were impotent to make
them good." At all times he urged a larger and more efficient navy. For
years, before he became Assistant Secretary of the Navy, he had been a
student of naval affairs. He found that there was no programme for
building ships as in the European countries, and that there was general
unpreparedness for war.
Before the war with Spain, the American navy was so inferior that it was
excluded from any table of the principal navies of the world. Had the
United States possessed a few more battleships at that time, it is
probable that war would not have occurred. Spanish authorities had been
told by naval experts that their navy was superior to ours.
Profiting by that experience, plans for a larger navy were projected. By
the close of the year 1907 there were about 300 vessels in the navy
manned by 35,377 men. In comparative strength it ranked second only to
that of Great Britain. Not only was there an increase in the number of
vessels but there was great improvement in marksmanship and in the
handling of ships. In the battle of Santiago it has been estimated that
about five per cent of the shells struck the enemy. During the year 1902
Rear-Admiral Robley D. Evans introduced regular and frequent target
practice. So effective was this work that in 1908, at ranges twice as
great as at Santiago, gunners throughout the fleet averaged sixty per
cent and one vessel scored eighty per cent. Rapidity of fire also was
increased nearly fourfold.
It was the custom to send the fleet each winter to the Caribbean Sea for
manoeuvres, which lasted about four months. In December, 1907, the
Atlantic fleet, comprising sixteen battle-ships and a flotilla of
torpedo-boats, began a cruise around the world. President Roosevelt
steadily adhered to the plan in the face of the most extravagant
denunciation on the part of those who declared that it could be
considered only as a menace toward Japan. Naval experts claimed,
however, that the experience to be gained by this cruise, such as
practice in handling ships in all kinds of weather, the renewal of
stores and coal, and the meeting of other problems incident to actual
warfare, justified the experiment.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Copyright. 1908. by Harris & Ewing.
Rear-Admiral Robley D. Evans.
Under command of Rear-Admiral Evans the fleet reached Rio Janeiro on
January 12. Unusual honors were tendered the men by the Brazilian
government and people. The day of their arrival was made a national
festival. In reply to the friendly greeting from the Brazilian
government President Roosevelt wrote: "The war-ships on this cruise
exist for no other purpose than to protect peace against possible
aggression. As between the United States and Brazil these ships are not
men-of-war, but messengers of friendship and good-will." There were
similar manifestations on the part of Argentina, Chile, and Peru. The
visit of the fleet to these countries was regarded as a compliment. They
were permitted to see something of the strength of the republic at the
north and learned that the Monroe Doctrine might be enforced, if need
be, by a navy of the first rank. Notable ceremonies attended the arrival
of the fleet at Honolulu, Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, and Manila. A
despatch to a London paper said: "It is beyond question that the United
States is no longer a Western but a cosmic power. America is now a force
in the world, speaking with authoritative accent, and wielding a
dominant influence such as ought to belong to her vast wealth,
prosperity, and importance."
[Illustration]
Copyright, 1907. by Underwood & Underwood.
The Atlantic fleet starting on its journey round the world, December, 1907.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Rear-Admiral Charles S. Sperry.
At Auckland Rear-Admiral Evans, who had spent forty-eight years in the
navy, having reached the age limit of sixty-two years, was succeeded in
command by Rear-Admiral Sperry. Unusual honors were accorded the fleet
by Japan. Each American warship was escorted into the harbor of Yokohama
by a Japanese vessel of the same class and many other evidences of
friendship were manifest during their visit. The fleet then proceeded to
China, through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar, and at the
end of one year and sixty-eight days, after covering 45,000 miles,
dropped anchor in Hampton Roads. The accomplishment of this feat,
without precedent in naval annals, still farther contributed to the
establishment of the prestige of the United States as a great world
power.
In 1889 the government of the United States purchased from the Indians a
large irregular tract of land not then occupied by them and erected it
into a separate territory under the name of Oklahoma. When it was opened
for settlement, April 22, 1889, a horde of settlers who had been waiting
on the borders rushed in to take possession of the lands. Cities and
towns sprang up as if by magic. The loose system of government exercised
by the five civilized tribes became steadily more ineffective when the
Indian Territory was thus brought into contact with white settlers. By
1893 affairs had become so confused that Congress decided to take steps
toward the ultimate admission of the territory into the Union as a
State. A committee of the Senate reported that the system of government
exercised by the Indians cannot be continued, that it is not only
non-American but it is radically wrong, and a change is imperatively
demanded in the interest of the Indians and the whites alike, and such
change cannot be much longer delayed, and that there can be no
modification of the system. It cannot be reformed; it must be abandoned
and a better one substituted.
Gradually the five tribes--Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and
Seminole--were shorn of their governmental powers. Lands were allotted
in severalty, certain coal, oil, and asphalt lands being reserved. A
public school system was established and maintained by general taxation.
In his message to Congress, 1905, President Roosevelt recommended the
immediate admission of Oklahoma and Indian Territory as one State and
Arizona and New Mexico as another. A statehood bill embodying this
recommendation was passed by the House, but was amended in the Senate so
as to strike out the provision relative to the admission of New Mexico
and Arizona. Opposition to the admission of the last two territories as
one State came principally from the great mining companies of Arizona
supported by the railroad corporations. They were in practical control
of the territory with hundreds of millions of
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