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.



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.



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.



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."



Copyright, 1907. by Underwood & Underwood. The Atlantic fleet starting on its journey round the world, December, 1907.



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 dollars in property. They were fearful of the loss of control and an increase of taxation under such a combination. Finally an act was passed by Congress, in 1906, enabling the people of Oklahoma and Indian Territory to form a constitution and State government and be admitted into the Union. The enabling act provided that all male persons over the age of twenty-one years who were citizens of the United States or who were members of any Indian nation or tribe in said Oklahoma and Indian Territory, and who had resided within the limits of said proposed State for at least six months next preceding the election, should be entitled to vote for delegate or serve as delegates in a constitutional convention. A number of Indians were delegates in this convention. The constitution, which was adopted by the voters, September 17, 1907, was greatly criticised on account of its radicalism. The new State, the forty-seventh, was formally proclaimed by the President in 1908. It has an area of 70,000 square miles. In 1900 the population was 800,000 which was increased to 1,500,000 by the date of admission. The wonderful climate and fertile soil together with the energy of its population have continued to attract thousands of immigrants each year.

The exclusion of Japanese students from the public schools of San Francisco, 1906, seemed for a time to augur grave results. One-half of the ninety Japanese who were in attendance upon these schools were above sixteen years of age and were taught in the classes with little children. The order of the San Francisco school board excluding the Japanese was in harmony with the California law which permitted local school boards to segregate Mongolians in schools apart from those for white children. But this order nullified our treaty with Japan which provided that the subjects of that nation should be granted the same personal rights when in this country that our own citizens enjoy.

President Roosevelt acted with promptness and decision. His attitude was shown in his message to Congress, December, 1907, in which he said: "To shut them out from the public schools is a wicked absurdity . . . . Throughout Japan Americans are well treated and any failure on the part of Americans at home to treat the Japanese with a like courtesy and consideration is by just so much a confession of inferiority in our civilization . . . . I ask fair treatment for the Japanese as I would ask fair treatment for Germans or Englishmen, Frenchmen, Russians, or Italians .... In the matter now before me, affecting the Japanese, everything that is in my power to do will be done, and all of the forces, military and civil, of the United States which I may lawfully employ will be so employed."

But the problem was not settled, for early in the year 1909 anti-Japanese resolutions were brought before the legislatures of California, Nevada, Oregon, and two or three other Pacific States. The bills before the legislature of California provided:

1. For the segregation of Japanese and other Orientals in residential quarters at the option of municipalities.

2. That aliens should not own land in California.

3. That aliens should not become directors in California corporations.

4. For separate schools for Japanese students.

On February 8, President Roosevelt sent a telegram to the Speaker of the California assembly giving the Government's views on the pending bills. "The policy agreed to by both governments," he said, "aims at mutuality of obligation and behavior. In accordance with it the purpose is that the Japanese shall come here exactly as Americans go to Japan, which is in effect that travellers, students, persons engaged in international business, men who sojourn for pleasure or study, and the like, shall have the freest access from one country to the other, and shall be sure of the best treatment, but that there shall be no settlement in mass by the people of either country in the other." While there is nothing in the Constitution or laws to prevent the President from urging a State legislature to vote for or against certain pending bills, such a course is unusual. It had become a national question, however, and the President's energy in handling the problem is worthy of praise.

According to the census of 1900, there were over 700,000 children under sixteen years of age at work in the mills, mines, factories, and sweat-shops of the United States. Nearly all of the States had child-labor laws, but they were ordinarily poorly enforced and no State was wholly free from the blight of this child slavery. While fourteen years was the minimum in most of the States, a few permitted the employment of children of ten years of age. In the majority of cases there was no legal closing hour after which children might not be employed.



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.

The subject was given national prominence through the Beveridge-Parsons Bill introduced into the Senate, December, 1907, marking an epoch in the history of federal legislation. This bill proposed to exclude from interstate commerce all products of mines and factories which employ children under the age of fourteen. The bill was not, however, brought up for discussion. The leading arguments of its opponents were as follows: (1) That the question was local only; (2) there was no reason to believe that federal would be better than State administration; (3) that it was limited in effect since it could not prevent children being employed in the manufacture of goods to be sold within a State. A bill passed both houses and was signed by the President, authorizing the Secretary of Commerce and Labor "to investigate and report on the industrial, social, moral, educational, and physical conditions of woman and child workers of the United States, wherever employed, with special reference to their age, hours of labor, term of employment, health, illiteracy, sanitary and other conditions surrounding their occupation, and the means employed for the protection of their health, persons, and morals." An appropriation of $150,000 was made with which to carry on this investigation. Among the demands of the National Child Labor Committee have been a shorter day's work for children between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, health certificates for factory employment in dangerous trades, and the regulation of children in street trades.



Electric train, Long Island R. R.

The period of Mr. Roosevelt's administrations was notable on account of advances made in various other directions. Electricity was applied to new and larger uses. Power was transmitted to greater distances. Niagara Falls was made to produce an electric current employed leagues away. Electric railways, radiating from cities, converted farms and sand-lots into suburban real estate quickly and easily accessible from the great centres. Telephone service was extended far into country parts, and, with the rural free delivery of mail, brought farmers into quick and inexpensive communication with the outside world, robbing the farm of what was once both its chief attraction and its greatest inconvenience—isolation.



Guglielmo Marconi and his wireless telegraph.

German experiments developed an electric surface car with a speed of two miles a minute. Wireless telegraphy came into use. By means of high masts rigged, with wires diverging to the earth somewhat like the frame of a partly opened umbrella, it was found possible under favorable atmospheric conditions to telegraph hundreds of miles through the air. The most notable use of this invention was to communicate between ships and the shore or between ships at sea, a particularly desirable facility in fog, storm, or darkness, when other signals were useless.



Marconi Transatlantic Station at South Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Mass.

Electricity and the gasolene engine were applied to bicycles, vehicles, and boats, often generating sufficient power to run a small factory. Bicycles somewhat passed from vogue, but automobiles became fashionable, partly for rapid transit, partly for work formerly consigned to heavy teams. Auto-carriages capable of railway speed, varying indefinitely in style and in cost, might be seen upon the smoother roads about cities all the way from Maine to California. They exerted great influence in inducing communities to macadamize roads, for which the passing of the stage-coach and the spread of railroads had diminished the demand.



Courtesy of Scientific American. The "Arrow" getting under way.

Effort with flying machines was incessant but only partially successful. No air-ship had thus far been devised which could undertake a definite voyage of length with any certainty of reaching its destination. The best feat yet was that of the air-ship Arrow, which, October 25, 1904, at St. Louis, made a ten-mile trip. On the other hand, the development of boats able to carry life for hours beneath the surface of the sea added a new form of attack and defence against the well-nigh impenetrable sides and enormously powerful guns of modern naval ships.

About 1890 the use of the Australian ballot system became general, and thus the purchase of votes became more difficult. But this reform did not eliminate the evils of machine politics. State laws were extended to the control of party affairs, with severer punishments for corrupt practices, the control of lobbying, and the requirement of publicity for campaign expenses. In a few States the primary election system was put into operation. Public officers won popular approval in numerous States and cities by their activity in revealing "graft" and by their fearless enforcement of the law.

These reforms were made possible by the increase of independent voting in State and city politics. Politicians must reckon, as never before, with the demand of the average citizen for honesty in public service. The influence of corporations in governmental affairs received a check, and there came to be a growing demand for the more complete control of public utilities, and for the public ownership of them in cities.



Courtesy of Scientific American Baldwin's airship "Arrow" at a height of 600 feet over the Exposition Palaces, St. Louis, October 25, 1904.

The prominence of the moral element in the business and political reforms mentioned above characterizes this as an era of "awakened civic conscience." Both moral and economic considerations may be seen in the protest against the excessive use of alcoholic liquors that has resulted in the prohibition of liquor selling in a number of States and parts of States, especially in the South. Educationally, the period showed increased attention to the industrial and practical aspects of school work. Courses in manual training came to be regarded as necessary for the complete development of mind and body. Physical education received greater attention. The establishment of public libraries, aided by the munificent gifts of Andrew Carnegie, was rapid.

Millions of dollars, also, were contributed to the cause of education and research. Among the most notable of these gifts were those by Mr. Carnegie for the establishment of the Carnegie Institution and the Carnegie Foundation, and the contribution to the General Education Board by John D. Rockefeller. In 1902 the Carnegie Institution at Washington was established by a gift of $10,000,000 by Andrew Carnegie. This sum he afterward increased to $25,000,000. The work of the institution is to carry on scientific study and research. Material is being collected for the economic history of the United States, and students of American history have been aided by the catalogues showing the location of documentary and other source material. While the head-quarters of the Institution is in Washington, important departments are located elsewhere throughout the country. There is a laboratory at Tucson, Arizona, for the study of desert plant life; a biological laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island; a marine biological laboratory at Tortugas, off the Florida coast, and an astronomical observatory at Mount Wilson, California.



Atlanta, Ga.



Washington, D. C.



Pittsburgh, Pa. CARNEGIE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

May 6, 1905, the announcement was made of a gift of $10,000,000 for the purpose of providing retiring pensions for the teachers of colleges, universities, and technical schools in the United States, Canada, and Newfoundland. In making the gift Mr. Carnegie wrote: "I hope this fund may do much for the cause of higher education and to remove a source of deep and constant anxiety to the poorest paid and yet one of the highest of all professions." The fund was to be applied without regard to age, sex, creed, or color. Sectarian institutions, so-called, or those which require a majority of their trustees, officers, faculty, or students to belong to a specified sect, or which impose any theological test whatever, were excluded by the terms of the gift. Universities supported by State taxation were at first excluded, but a supplementary gift by Mr. Carnegie of $5,000,000, in 1908, extended the privileges of the foundation to these universities.

In February, 1907, John D. Rockefeller increased the money at the disposal of the General Education Board by a gift of $32,000,000. This fund, which had been originally established by him, amounting to $11,000,000, had been used chiefly for the improvement of education in the South. Common schools were aided, high-schools established, and instruction in agriculture fostered. The additional sum was to be devoted to lending assistance to certain selected colleges, with the stipulation that the college was to raise three times the amount of money granted it by the Board.



CHAPTER XIV

THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1908

[1908]

In spite of the oft-repeated statement made by President Roosevelt that he would not be a candidate for nomination on the Republican national ticket in 1908, the party leaders seemed to fear a stampede in the Chicago convention. Plans had been laid carefully by the party leaders to prevent this possibility, and when William H. Taft, of Ohio, received the nomination on the first ballot, delegates and spectators gave vent to their feelings by prolonged applause. Out of a total of 980 ballots cast Mr. Taft received 702. As Secretary of War in President Roosevelt's cabinet he had been chosen by the President to succeed him, for it was believed that through training and sympathy he was best fitted to carry out the policies of the administration.

Other candidates for nomination had appeared during the summer and each had a following of more or less strength. Senator La Follette, of Wisconsin; Governor Hughes, of New York, and Speaker Cannon, of Illinois, each received some support in the convention. Throughout the land no surprise was occasioned, however, by the nomination of Mr. Taft. Apparently the nomination of James S. Sherman, of New York, for the office of Vice-President was the result of political expediency; he was a good organization man; he had enjoyed considerable experience in public affairs and had been a member of Congress for twenty years. Moreover, the fact that he came from New York made it a wise move, politically, to give him a place on the ticket.



Copyright by Clinedinst, Washington. Joseph G. Cannon.

To outside observers the convention was a harmonious one, ready and anxious to adopt and indorse the Roosevelt policies and to accord a most hearty support to the candidate who best represented these policies. The platform which was drawn up was a strong political document which not only stated the Republican policies clearly but was also a piece of campaign literature of some note from the stand-point of literary worth.



Photograph by C. M. Ball, Washington. James S. Sherman, nominated for Vice-President.

Throughout the months preceding the assembling of the Democratic convention, in Denver, there was some uncertainty as to who would control it. Governor Folk, of Missouri, had been much in the public eye through his war on graft and on account of his successful administration of the gubernatorial office. Judge Gray, of Delaware, who had served his State in the United States Senate and had acquired an enviable reputation as a justice of the United States Circuit Court, was also a strong candidate. Judson Harmon, of Ohio, Attorney-General under President Cleveland, and Governor Johnson, of Minnesota, had numerous supporters.

When the voting began in the convention the result was not long in doubt. William Jennings Bryan was for the third time accorded the honor of leading the Democratic party. On the first ballot Mr. Bryan received 892-1/2 votes; Judge Gray, his chief opponent, received 59-1/2. The cheers which followed the announcement of the vote showed that two defeats had not dampened the loyalty of the Western Democrats. Mr. Kern, of Indiana, was nominated by acclamation for the Vice-Presidency. The committee on the formation of the platform seemed to have some difficulty in determining the final form of some of the planks.

Both parties in their platforms favored tariff revision. The Republican party declared for the protective system and reciprocity and promised a special session of Congress to treat the whole tariff question. The Democratic party adhered to the old principle of "tariff for revenue" and pledged itself to return to that basis as soon as practicable. Furthermore, it pledged itself to bring about immediately such reductions as would put trust-controlled products upon the free list and to lower the duties on the necessaries of life, particularly upon those which were sold more cheaply abroad than at home. Lumber was to go on the free list. Any deficiency in the revenues which might arise from this policy was to be made up through the medium of an income tax.

Both platforms declared for reform in the currency laws, but neither one advanced any plan for revision. The Democratic platform condemned as criminal the large expenditures of the recent administration, but showed some inconsistency by favoring such policies as a large navy, generous pensions, large expenditures for the improvement of rivers and harbors which would necessitate the expenditure of great sums.

The regulation of railways and corporations was demanded by both parties. The difference between the demands lay in the means to be employed. The Democratic platform declared for State control of this question as well as that relating to the conservation of our natural resources. The Republicans took the stand that both questions should be solved by the Federal Government.

In treating the problem of the alien races the Republican document referred to the negro race by name, demanded equal justice for all men, and condemned the devices used by some States for disfranchising the negro. Nothing was said concerning Chinese and Japanese immigration. The Democratic platform was silent on the negro question and declared against the admission of Orientals into our country.

Arbitration was favored by the Republicans, but was not mentioned in the opposition platform. On the Philippine question there was a division. The Republicans favored a gradual development of home-rule; the Democrats for early independence under an American protectorate.

Three things in the Democratic platform are worthy of note: (I) The demand for a federal law compelling publicity of campaign contributions; (2) the election of senators by direct vote, and (3) the adoption of such parliamentary rules as would make the House of Representatives a deliberative body.

The Socialist convention, which assembled in Chicago, nominated Eugene V. Debs for President and Ben Hanford for Vice-President.

Two tendencies of political thought were displayed in the Socialist platform as framed by the committee. First, a tendency away from individual ownership of productive property and the individual administration of industry, and toward the collective ownership of productive property and the collective administration of industry. This was illustrated by the demands made for the collective ownership of all railways, steamship lines, and other means of transportation, as well as telephones, telegraphs, etc. It was further evidenced by the demand that the public domain be made to include mines, quarries, oil wells, water-power, reclaimed and reforested lands. The second tendency was away from a form of government of checks and balances toward one by the unrestrained majority. This was shown by the demands for the abolition of (I) the Senate, (2) the veto power of the President, (3) the power of the Supreme Court to pass on the constitutionality of legislation.

Industrial demands were made. There should be a more effective inspection of workshops and factories; there should be no employment of children under sixteen years of age; interstate transportation of the products of child labor or convict labor should be forbidden; compulsory insurance against unemployment, illness, accidents, old age, and death should be adopted.

Among the political reforms demanded were inheritance and income taxes, equal suffrage for men and women, the initiative and referendum, proportional representation, and the right of recall. The Federal Constitution was to be amended by majority vote. Judges were to be elected for short terms.

The nominees of the Prohibition party were Eugene W. Chapin, of Illinois, for President, and Aaron S. Watkins, of Ohio, for Vice-President. In the platform framed there were the usual declarations against the liquor traffic, but there were also planks demanding reforms. The election of senators by direct vote; the passage of inheritance and income taxes; the establishment of postal savings banks; the guaranty of bank deposits; the creation of a permanent tariff commission; the conservation of natural resources; an equitable and constitutional employers' liability act, and legislation basing suffrage only upon intelligence and ability to read and write the English language, were the chief planks. Beyond any doubt this platform—the shortest of all—shows that the men who constructed it were not dreamers. It is possible that the delegates may have been looked upon as visionaries, for there were few among them who could be called "practical politicians," but, as one writer of note has said, the delegates were "typical of that class of society on which the nation ever depends in a great crisis, the sort from which all moral movements spring. . . ."

It has often been said that the excitement of presidential campaigns is detrimental to the nation. This could hardly be said of the campaign of 1908. To produce political excitement there must be debatable questions termed, by the politicians as "issues." Just what the issues were in the campaign few people could determine. There were no issues which involved foreign affairs. The Democratic party did not criticise the sending of the fleet around the world, the administration's policy in Cuba, the policy concerning the Panama Canal, nor even the policy pursued in the Philippines. As regards military and naval matters, pensions to veterans, the development of internal waterways, the conservation of resources, etc., there were no issues simply because the people had practically the same views about them. Consequently issues had to be made, and, generally speaking, the Republican leaders appealed to the people along the lines of the personal fitness of the candidates.

It was pointed out that President Roosevelt had indicated his Secretary of War as the best man to carry out the policy inaugurated by the administration of subduing and controlling influential law-breakers. The chief officer of the government has vested in himself powers of wide range—the appointment of the judiciary, the superintendence of the administration of the business affairs of the nation, the guidance of our international affairs. Therefore the President must be a keen judge of men capable of distinguishing the honest, efficient servant of the nation from the self-seeking politician; he must resist political pressure; he must be national in his patriotism and breadth of vision; he must know our foreign relations intimately, that the continuity of policies may not be broken and the efficiency of our foreign service weakened thereby. He must have the capacity to work long hours, with skill, care, and rapidity. In short, the chief executive must be a man who is fit mentally and physically.



William H. Taft on his trip, stumping for the nomination.

Some of these essential qualities the candidates of the two great parties possessed in a high degree. They were honest and sincere; they were familiar with the desires and needs of the various sections of the nation; they were national in the breadth of their policies. But they were different in temperament, equipment, and experience, and upon this difference the Republican leaders made their appeal to the voters.

The Democratic nominee was essentially an orator—he swayed the masses by his denunciation of the perils which threatened the nation through the concentration of wealth which had gone on under the Republican rule. His opponents admitted that a man of his stamp was invaluable to the American people, but they contended that his place was in the editor's chair, in the pulpit, or upon the lecture platform, not as the chief executive of the nation. Furthermore, it was said that this great orator had views on political, social, and economic questions which bordered on the visionary, and that any man who had openly supported free silver, anti-imperialism, or even the guaranty of bank deposits, could not be safely trusted with the guidance of the nation's destinies.

The Republican candidate had none of the qualifications of an orator; he was rather a teacher. He did not cater to the desires of his audience; he struck at the abuses most prevalent in the section where he spoke. It was his business to point out weaknesses; to find remedies for them; to educate, not sway, his audiences. His mind was constructive; his training had been along the lines of constructive political thought; he had proven his ability by his organization of a civil government for the Philippines and by his solution of the vexed question of Cuba. So it was argued that the best test of his ability and guaranty of efficiency was the work he had already done.

The campaign was lacking in life and enthusiasm simply because there were no clearly defined issues. The candidates went through the usual performances of "swinging around the political circuit." Mr. Taft was accorded a warm welcome on his trip, for the people wished to get acquainted with President Roosevelt's choice as much as to hear him discuss the Republican policies. Mr. Bryan, who conducted a great speaking campaign, confined his attention to advocating the bank guaranty plan and to attacking the evils of private monopoly. Political enthusiasm was at a low ebb. Few people took matters seriously and the campaign was aptly characterized as the "Era of No Feeling."

The vote cast for presidential electors was primarily an expression of popular confidence in the Roosevelt administration. For nearly half a century the situation in the nation had been becoming more and more a source of anxiety to the thinking men of the land. Our economic development had taken place so rapidly that the great aggregations of capital and the great corporations had gotten beyond control and had shown dangerous tendencies toward lawlessness and political corruption. The feeling that the great corporations were not only beyond the control of law but even controlled the government in the interests of a few, led to a belief that the government was passing out of the hands of the people, and that the function of our republican government was being arrested. The radical and the agitator were getting the ear of the nation, for the faith of the nation was shaken. Then came President Roosevelt to take up a task of greatest difficulty, and for nearly eight years, amidst the applause of the plain people, he administered the affairs of the nation firmly, honestly, and with efficiency. The Republican convention in Chicago by its nomination of Mr. Taft had put the stamp of its approval upon the Roosevelt administration, and turned to appeal to the voters.



Copyright, 1908, by Young & Carl, Cincinnati, Ohio. 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.

In round numbers Taft received 7,680,000 votes and Bryan 6,410,000. The electoral vote stood 321 for the Republican candidate and 162 for the Democratic candidate. Thirty States elected Republican presidential electors; eighteen elected Democratic electors. With the exception of Nebraska, Nevada, and Colorado, which together contributed sixteen electoral votes, all the States carried by the Democratic nominee were Southern States. The nation had approved the Roosevelt policy, but the great popular vote for Mr. Bryan showed clearly the loyalty of millions of voters. These men believed that their leader stood for the plain people—for the unprivileged. There were many who had feared Mr. Bryan's policies in 1896, who voted for him in 1908 because they believed that twelve years of public life and the study of national problems had changed and bettered his ideals.

Some Republican writers professed to believe that the popular vote indicated that a majority of people adhered to the policy of protection. To others it appeared that the voters were willing to accept the protective policy with a promise for honest tariff revision in order to obtain a continuation of the Roosevelt policies.

The popular vote is interesting mainly for what it showed concerning the changed strength of the small parties, During the period 1904 to 1908 the drift had evidently been away from them. The Socialist vote was nearly as large in 1908 as in 1904, which was a consolation to Socialists, for they had held the ground gained by the heavy vote in 1904. The Prohibition vote fell off about ten per cent from that polled in 1904 and the Independence party polled only 82,000 votes.

In the House of Representatives the Sixty-first Congress had 219 Republicans and 172 Democrats; the Senate 60 Republicans and 32 Democrats.



CHAPTER XV

THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT TAFT

[1909]

On March 4, 1909, the date of the inaugural ceremonies, Washington was visited by a heavy snow-storm, and Mr. Taft, departing from the custom of delivering his inaugural address at the east end of the Capitol, spoke in the Senate chamber. Many trains bearing visitors to Washington, from various parts of' the country, were blockaded, This condition served to emphasize the call, many times made, for the transfer of the date of these services to April 30, the day on which President Washington took the oath of office.

President Taft's inaugural address was wise and temperate and satisfactory to the country at large. He asserted that the most important feature of his administration would be the maintenance and enforcement of the reforms inaugurated by President Roosevelt. He justified appropriations, as his predecessor had done, for maintaining a suitable army and navy; advocated the conservation of our natural resources, the establishment of postal savings banks, and direct lines of steamers between North and South America.



Copyright by Clinedinst, Washington. President William H. Taft and Governor Hughes on the reviewing stand at the inauguration, March 4,1909.

The cabinet was made up of men largely gathered from private life, a majority of them being comparatively unknown to the public. Philander C. Knox was United States senator from Pennsylvania when he was appointed Secretary of State. He had served as Attorney-General in President McKinley's cabinet. Franklin MacVeagh, of Illinois, who was made Secretary of the Treasury, had been prominent as a merchant in Chicago and active in public affairs. Mr. MacVeagh and Jacob M. Dickinson, who became Secretary of War, were both members of the Democratic party. By inviting Democrats to become members of his political family, President Taft desired to give recognition to the fact that he had been elected by Democratic votes and had received substantial support in parts of the South. Mr. Dickinson was also from Chicago. The Secretary of the Navy, George von L. Meyer, of Massachusetts, had served as ambassador to Russia, and later as Postmaster-General during Mr. Roosevelt's administration. Frank H. Hitchcock, of Ohio, who was made Postmaster-General, had served as First Assistant Postmaster-General. George W. Wickersham, an attorney of good standing in New York City, was appointed Attorney-General. Richard A. Ballinger, of Seattle, who had been Commissioner of the General Land Office, 1907-1909, was appointed Secretary of the Interior. James Wilson, of Iowa, who had served as Secretary of Agriculture since 1897, was continued in that office. Charles Nagel, a noted lawyer of St. Louis, was made Secretary of Commerce and Labor.



Copyright, 1909, by Brown Bros., N. Y. Reading from left to right: President Taft, Franklin MacVeagh, Sec'y of the Treasury. George W. Wickersham, Attorney-General. George von L. Meyer, Sec'y of the Navy, Philander C. Knox, Sec'y of State, James Wilson, Sec'y of Agriculture. Charles Nagel, Sec'y of Commerce and Labor( above). Jacob M. Dickinson, Sec'y of War (below). Frank H. Hitchcock, postmaster-General. Richard A. Ballinger, Sec'y of the Interior. President Taft and Cabinet, 1909.

With the beginning of the new administration the President's salary was increased to $75,000 a year; that of the Vice-President to $12,000; and members of the cabinet to $12,000.

From June 1 to October 15 there was held at Seattle the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The rapid growth of Seattle has been due in no small degree to the fostering of trade with Alaska. The exhibits served to demonstrate the wisdom of the purchase of the territory, which at that time was characterized as Seward's "folly." Alaska has for some years been recognized as a country of wealth and opportunity. The gold output each year is more than three times the sum paid Russia for the territory. About one-fifth of the gold produced in the United States comes from Alaskan mines. Products amounting to $33,500,000 were shipped to the States from Alaska during the year 1907, and the return trade for that year amounted to $19,500,000. The value of the fishery products is five-sevenths as great as the output of the gold mines. Alaskan coal-fields are estimated to be even richer than her gold deposits. Other productions of the territory are silver, tin, lead, quicksilver, graphite, marble, lumber, grains, vegetables, and fruits.

The purpose of the exposition was declared to be "to exploit the resources and potentialities of the Alaskan and Yukon territories; to make known and foster the vast importance of the trade of the Pacific Ocean and of the countries bordering thereon, and to demonstrate the marvellous progress of Western America." The energy and determination of the men of the new Northwest was well shown in the preparation made for the exposition. No financial assistance was asked from the federal government. The necessary $10,000,000 were contributed almost entirely in Seattle and the State of Washington. One million dollars were expended by Seattle, as a preparatory step, on her municipal improvements.



The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle. The Palace of Fine Arts.

The site of the exposition was the campus of the State University, between Lakes Washington and Union. From the grounds, notable for their natural beauty, were visible in the distance Mount Rainier, the loftiest peak in the United States, the snow-covered Olympics to the west, and the Cascade range to the east.

Three permanent buildings were erected by the State of Washington with the understanding that they were afterward to be used by the university. Most of the structures followed the French Renaissance design. In the forestry building, which was 320 feet long and 140 feet broad, and built of logs in the rough, there were displayed the timber resources of Alaska and the Northwest. An out-door farm illustrated the agricultural resources of the region. The Japanese exhibit was second only in interest to that of Alaska. The exposition served to demonstrate, as it was intended to do, the possibilities for the investment of capital in the Northwest and the opportunities for those seeking new homes.



The Hudson-Fulton Celebration. The Clermont proceeding up the Hudson River under her own steam.

Beginning with September 25 and continuing throughout the first week of October, there was a notable celebration in New York City, and in other cities on the Hudson, commemorative of the discovery of that river by Henry Hudson three centuries before and the trip up the river by Robert Fulton's steamboat in 1807. The leading feature of the pageant was the assembling in the harbor of the largest fleet of international character ever brought together at one time, and the cruise up the Hudson as far as Newburg of eighty war vessels selected from the navies of the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, and other powers. These huge vessels were in striking contrast to the two small ones which were given the place of honor in the pageant, the replicas of the Half Moon and the Clermont. The land parades were likewise spectacular in their effects.

In October, 1909, Commander Robert E. Peary and Dr. Frederick A. Cook, two American travellers, returned to the United States, both making claims to having discovered the north pole. The accomplishment of this task, which had baffled so many arctic explorers, was hailed as a triumph throughout the civilized world. Ardent supporters of each of these men began to champion the right of their favorite to the great honor. It was shown that Commander Peary had for twenty-three years been engaged in arctic exploration. His first voyage was made to Greenland in 1886, and in his numerous expeditions to the frozen north since that time he had secured much scientific data relating to the glaciology, geology, and ethnology of those regions.



Commander Peary's ship, The Roosevelt.

When Commander Peary left the Roosevelt, the ship which bore him as far north as navigation permitted, on February 22, 1909, his expedition consisted of 8 white men, 59 Eskimos, 140 dogs, and 23 sledges, with the necessary equipment for arctic travel. Upon returning to the United States after overcoming the many dangers incident to such exploration, he submitted his records to the National Geographical Society. A committee of that body, after passing upon these documents, declared unanimously that it was their opinion that Peary had reached the north pole, April 6, 1909. This report further commended him for his organization and management of this expedition and for his contributions to scientific knowledge.

Before his return to America, Dr. Cook had been hailed as the discoverer of the north pole by European scientists, especially those of Denmark, who accepted his story of the accomplishment of this task in April, 1908, one year earlier than the date of Peary's discovery. Many honors were conferred upon him when he reached Copenhagen, September 4, 1909. He was met by the Crown Prince of Denmark and the American minister, and by explorers, professors, and scientists from various European countries. He was greatly honored also upon his return to New York City.



Commander Robert E. Peary, and three of his Eskimo dogs, on The Roosevelt.

Commander Peary declared that the claims made by Dr. Cook were without foundation. His decision was based on the evidence given by two Eskimos who had accompanied Dr. Cook, and who asserted that the party went only a two days' journey north from Cape Hubbard and were never beyond the land ice. Further evidence of deception by Dr. Cook was set forth by Edward M. Barrill, who had accompanied him on his ascent of Mount McKinley in 1906. This guide declared that Dr. Cook had not reached the summit of that mountain as claimed, but that the records had been falsified. Later, a commission was appointed by the University of Copenhagen to examine the notes and memoranda submitted to them by Dr. Cook. After a careful examination of these documents, the commission reported that they found no evidence sufficient to warrant the belief that Dr. Cook actually reached the north pole.



Photograph by Brown Bros., N.Y. Dr. F. A. Cook on his arrival in New York, September 21, 1909.

By vote of Congress, June 20, 1910, the territories of Arizona and New Mexico were granted permission to form State constitutions. The constitutions which were framed in their conventions and passed by majorities of the people contained some unusual provisions. The Arizona constitution included the initiative, referendum, and recall of all elective officers, including judges. The New Mexico constitution contains a referendum clause, but the clause providing for initiative was rejected.



Copyright by Clinedinst, Washington. President Taft signing the proclamation making Arizona the forty-eighth State of the Union, at the White House, February 14, 1912.

The constitution of Arizona was attacked in Congress and opposed by President Taft on account of the provision for the recall of judges. The chief objection to the constitution of New Mexico was the unsatisfactory method provided for its amendment. This constitution, however, was approved by President Taft and by the House of Representatives, but the Senate failed to take any action. In August, 1911, the President vetoed a joint resolution to admit the territories of New Mexico and Arizona as States into the Union. He stated his attitude as follows: "The resolution admits both territories to statehood with their constitutions on condition that at the time of the election of State officers New Mexico shall submit to its electors an amendment to its new constitution altering and modifying its provisions for future amendments, and on the further condition that Arizona shall submit to its electors at the time of the election of its State officers a proposed amendment to its constitution by which judicial officers shall be excepted from the section permitting a recall of all elective officers. If I sign this joint resolution, I do not see how I can escape responsibility for the judicial recall of the Arizona constitution. The joint resolution admits Arizona with the judicial recall, but requires the submission of the question of its wisdom to the voters. In other words, the resolution approves the admission of Arizona with the judicial recall, unless the voters themselves repudiate it. . . . This provision of the Arizona constitution in its application to county and State judges seems to me pernicious in its effect, so destructive of independence in the judiciary, so likely to subject the rights of the individual to the possible tyranny of a popular majority, and therefore to be so injurious to the cause of free government that I must disapprove a constitution containing it."



Photograph, Copyright, by Clinedinst. Washington. President Taft signing the proclamation making New Mexico a State, January 6, 1912.

January 6, 1912, New Mexico, having complied with all conditions, was formally admitted into the Union as the forty-seventh State.

Arizona, having an area of 113,000 square miles, was organized as a territory in 1863 and appeared in the federal census reports for the first time in 1870 with a population of 9,658. From 1870 to 1890 its growth in population was rapid, increasing a little more than four times during the decade 1870-1880 and doubling during the succeeding ten years. The population in 1900 was 122,931 and in 1910 it was 204,354. During the last decade, therefore, the increase in population has been 66.2 per cent, while the percentage of increase in the United States as a whole has been only 21 per cent. According to the thirteenth census, Arizona contained eight cities with an aggregate population of 58,414. The largest cities were Tucson, with a population of 13,193, and Phoenix with 11,134.

Arizona produces more copper than any other State in the Union. Of the total copper ore mined in the United States (1909) 27.7 per cent was from Arizona. There are also good mines of gold and silver. Coal-mining, marble-quarrying, lumbering, raising cattle, sheep, and ostriches are also important industries in Arizona. Through the efforts of the Reclamation service in completing the Roosevelt Dam and a dam at Parker, and by the use of pumps, it is estimated that 1,000,000 acres of fertile land will become available for cultivation. Other large areas are also susceptible of irrigation.

In 1850 the territory of New Mexico was organized and in 1863 it was reduced to its present limits with an area of 122,000 square miles. The population of New Mexico in 1900 was 195,310 and in 1910 was 327,301 an increase of 67.6 per cent. Albuquerque, with a population of 11,020, and Rosewell with 6,172 were the two largest cities. Like Arizona, New Mexico possesses great wealth in mines and forests, but the foundation for her future industrial progress lies in her farms. In 1910 New Mexico possessed 500,000 acres of irrigated land. It was estimated that 3,000,000 acres more were amenable to artificial watering and the government is expending millions of dollars on projects which will fertilize vast areas of this land.

During the year 1911 the world was astounded at the unparalleled exhibitions of the possibilities of the aeroplane. The dream of centuries had been realized, and American genius was responsible for the achievement. In 1896, a model machine which had been constructed under the direction of Professor Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, driven by a one horse-power steam-engine, made three flights of a mile each near Washington. Congress appropriated $50,000 for the construction of a complete machine, but after two unsuccessful attempts to fly, with an operator, the project was abandoned.

Wilbur Wright and his brother Orville, bicycle manufacturers of Dayton, Ohio, did not share in the general ridicule which followed this failure, and after three years of experimentation demonstrated that the principles upon which Professor Langley had constructed his machine were, in the main, sound. The first successful flight of a few seconds by one of their machines weighing 750 pounds was made in 1903. Two years afterward a flight of 24 miles was made at the rate of 38 miles an hour. Other successful experiments followed, and the claim of the Wrights to be considered the inventors of the first successful man-carrying flying machine was established. French inventors at about the same time were carrying on successful experiments with machines similarly constructed. September 16, 1908, Wilbur Wright, at Le Mans, France, demonstrated that his machine could remain in the air for over an hour and at the same time fly across country at a high speed. In that year, also, Orville Wright, in a government test at Fort Myer, Virginia, not only made flights lasting over an hour, but carried a companion with him. During July, 1909, a French aviator, Bleriot, flew across the English Channel, a distance of 32 miles. That year, also, Orville Wright ascended to the height of 1,600 feet; with a passenger, made a record flight of 1 hour, 12 minutes and 36 seconds; and flew across country with a companion for 10 miles at the rate of 42 miles an hour. Thus it was shown that a machine had at last been constructed which would not only fly, but would remain in the air at the will of its pilot and subject to his guidance.



From a photograph by H. H. Morris. Charles K. Hamilton racing an automobile on the beach at Galveston, Texas.



Photograph by Brown Bros., N.Y. Wilbur and Orville Wright, and the late King Edward of England.

[1911]

In the aviation meet at Los Angeles, January 10, 1910, Louis Paulhan, a Frenchman, established the record of 4,000 feet for height and Glenn H. Curtiss with a passenger set a new world's record of 55 miles.

Shortly afterward Curtiss demonstrated for the first time that it was possible for an aeroplane, especially constructed, to rise from the surface of water, make a flight in the air, return to the starting-point, and again alight on the water.

The great possibilities as well as the dangers connected with aviation were brought out in the meet at Chicago during August, 1911, where two aviators lost their lives. C. P. Rodgers, in a Wright machine, remained in the air twenty-six and one-half hours out of the possible thirty-one and one-half hours. Lincoln Beachey set a new world's record by ascending 11,642 feet. This record was again surpassed within a month by Ronald G. Garros, a French aviator, who ascended 13,943 feet.



Wilbur Wright in his aeroplane at Pau, France, with King Alfonso of Spain.

Harry K. Atwood flew from St. Louis to Chicago in one day, a distance of 315 miles. He continued his flight to New York, and in eleven days reached that city. He had travelled 1,265 miles in the actual flying time of 28 hours. C. P. Rodgers eclipsed all records for long-distance aeroplane flying by crossing the continent from Sheepshead Bay, New York, to Pasadena, Cal., a distance of 4,231 miles. He accomplished this feat in the total time of 49 days, September 17 to November 5, 1911. His actual flying time was 82 hours.



Harry K. Atwood with Lieut. Fickle flying over Governor's Island, N. Y., after completing his flight from St. Louis to New York.

These flights served to demonstrate that the permanent triumphs of aeronautics are to be won by steadiness and efficiency and not by recklessness.

Among the significant legislation of the Sixty-second Congress, the passing of the "publicity law," August, 1911, is deserving of especial commendation. The Democratic platform, 1908, demanded publicity of campaign contributions, and Mr. Bryan announced that no funds would be received from corporations. According to a New York statute, all campaign receipts and expenditures must be filed. The Republican campaign committee agreed to apply this law in the presidential contest.

According to the federal Publicity law no candidate for member of the House of Representatives may spend more than $5,000 in his campaign for nomination or election, and no candidate for United States senator may spend, legally, more than $10,000 in his campaign, Candidates are prohibited from making promises of office or other promises in order to obtain votes, and no candidate for senator may aid in the election of members of the legislature that is to fill a senatorial vacancy. At the time, two United States senators were under indictment for the purchase of their seats, and one of them acknowledged that he had expended nearly $100,000 in his primary campaign.

In partial fulfilment of the declaration that his policy was to bring about legislation for the benefit of the whole country, President Taft in his message to Congress, December, 1911, asked that the appointment of local federal officers throughout the country should be placed under the classified service. "I wish," he wrote, "to renew again my recommendation that all the local officers throughout the country, including collectors of internal revenue, collectors of customs, postmasters of all four classes, immigration commissioners, and marshals should be by law carried into the classified service, the necessity for confirmation by the Senate be removed, and the President and the others, whose time is now taken up in distributing this patronage, under the custom that has prevailed since the beginning of the Government in accordance with the recommendation of the senators and congressmen of the majority party, should be relieved from this burden. I am confident that such a change would greatly reduce the cost of administering the government and that it would add greatly to its efficiency. It would take away the power to use the patronage of the government for political purposes."

President Taft took an advance position also in his advocacy of the substitution of the appeal to reason for the appeal to force in the settlement of all international difficulties. The treaties of arbitration which were agreed upon during the summer of 1911 between Secretary Knox and the representatives of Great Britain and France illustrate the general type of treaty which the President hoped would be negotiated with other nations. Heretofore, the treaties to which the United States has been a party have accepted as suitable for arbitration all questions save those which concerned "vital interests and national honor." It was a great step forward, therefore, when the agreement was reached between the powers that all disputes that are justiciable and cannot be settled by diplomacy are to be submitted to arbitration.

In case of a difference on whether the dispute were justiciable or not, it was to be submitted to a commission of inquiry for decision. If the commission found it was justiciable the question in dispute must be submitted to arbitration. Should the commission find it was not justiciable there would still exist the possibility of war. But either nation has the power to delay the findings a year during which time diplomatic action may be resumed. The arguments against the ratification of these facts in the Senate were based on the plea that they provided for compulsory arbitration and thus tended to deprive the Senate of its constitutional prerogative. The wording was so greatly modified in the Senate that the form of treaty which was finally ratified differed but little from the arbitration treaties of 1908.



CHAPTER XVI

THE THIRTEENTH CENSUS, 1910

[1910-1911]

After many years of urging on the part of statisticians and public men, Congress, in 1902, passed a bill which was signed by the President providing for a permanent census bureau connected with the Department of Commerce and Labor. This bureau, as shown in the taking of the thirteenth census, serves to promote both efficiency and economy in the collection of statistics associated with the census work. Heretofore the Director of the Census had enormous patronage at his disposal which he farmed out among congressmen and other political leaders.

E. Dana Durand, a trained statistician of wide experience, was appointed Director of the Census. He announced that so far as possible the 65,000 enumerators would be selected under civil service rules and for supervisors of the census he selected men on the basis of their special fitness for the work. President Taft was in complete agreement with this programme and insisted that local enumerators were to be appointed for the purpose of getting the work properly done and not to assist any would-be dispensers of local patronage.

On April 15 the enumerators began their work of gathering statistics. The usual inquiries were made on population, mortality, agriculture, manufactures, etc. Prior to April 15, an advance schedule was sent to practically every farmer in the country, and he was asked to fill it out before the coming of the enumerator. Similarly, in the cities, the enumerators distributed advance population schedules which the head of the family was requested to fill out before the official visit of the enumerator. In taking the thirteenth census, greater attention was given than ever before to perfecting the schedules and weighing each question with regard to its precise significance and scientific value. To that end a group of trained investigators, familiar with the various topics which the census would cover, spent several months on a preliminary study of the character of these questions. In addition to the nationality of each person as determined by the mother tongue of the foreign-born inhabitants, additional inquiries were made relative to the industry in which each person was employed and whether the person was out of work on April 15.



Copyright by Clinedinst. Washington. E. Dana Durand, Director of the Census.

Population schedules in the cities and large towns were required to be completed within two weeks and in the rural districts within thirty days. The enormous labor of tabulating and classifying these answers was then begun by the 3,500 clerks in the Census Office at Washington. Much of this labor was performed by machines each capable of making 25,000 tabulations a day. Results of the first tabulation of the population in the cities were made known about June 1 and the count of the principal cities was completed by April 15. During September the population of the entire country was made known. Within two years the leading facts in the census were compiled and published as special bulletins. The entire cost of the census was about $13,000,000.

The total population of the United States, including our territorial possessions and dependencies, was found to be about 101,000,000, thus for the first time passing the hundred million mark. The population of the United States proper was 91,972,266; of Alaska, 64,356; Porto Rico, 1,118,012; Hawaii. 191,909; Guam and Samoa, 15,100; the Philippine Islands about 7,700,000. These numbers indicate an increase in the population of continental United States of 21 per cent in the decade, or a slightly larger growth than the 20.7 per cent made during the preceding ten years.

One of the striking facts brought out in the census is the absolute decline in the percentage of population compared with the previous decade in a number of the States of the East, South, and Middle West, and an increase of this percentage in the other States, especially among those of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast. The percentage of total increase of population in Alabama was 16.9 and the increase, according to the twelfth census, was 20.8; in Illinois, 16.9 as against 26 for the preceding census; Indiana, 7.3 against 14.8; Kentucky, 6.6 against 15.5; Massachusetts, 20 against 25.3; Minnesota, 18.5 against 33.7; Texas, 27.8 against 36.4; Montana, 54.5 against 70. Iowa showed an actual loss of three-tenths per cent of her inhabitants, while according to the preceding census there was a gain of 16.7 per cent in that State. In the following States the gains in percentages were as follows: North Dakota, 80.8 against 67.1 for 1900; South Dakota, 45.4 and 15.2; Kansas, 15 and 3; Nebraska, 11.8 and 0.3; Colorado, 48 and 30.6; Oklahoma, 109.7; Utah, 34.9 and 31.3; Nevada, 93.4 and 10.6; Idaho, 101.3 and 82.7; Washington, 120.4 and 45; Oregon, 62.7 and 30.2, and California, 60.1 and 22.4.

In numerical advance, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Texas, and Illinois led. The increase in New York was nearly 2,000,000, in Pennsylvania over 1,000,000, and in the other three States nearly 900,000 each.

Another notable fact brought out by the thirteenth census was that the growth of the cities was greater than during the preceding ten years. The rate of growth of the medium-sized cities was more rapid than that of the large cities. This was not the case during the preceding decade. Of the total population of continental United States, 46.3 per cent were urban. That is, 42,623,383 of the inhabitants resided in cities and towns having a population of 2,500 or more. The same territory in 1900 and 1890, similarly classified as urban, contained 40.5 and 36.1 per cent, respectively, of the total population of the country. In all but two States, Montana and Wyoming, the urban population has increased faster than the rural population. The increase, since 1900, in the population living in urban territory was 11,035,841 or 34.9 per cent, while the increase in population living in rural territory during the same period was 4,941,850 or 11.1 per cent. For the United States as a whole, therefore, the rate of increase for the population of urban areas was three times that for the population living in rural territory. In the States of the east north-central division, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, the urban gain was 31.2 per cent, but there was a decrease in rural population of 0.2 per cent. The urban increase of Illinois was 31.2 per cent, but the rural territory of the State showed a loss of 7.5 per cent. The rural loss in Indiana was 5.5 per cent, and in Ohio 1.3 per cent. Michigan's rural gain was 2 per cent and Wisconsin's 5.7. per cent. There were fourteen States in which more than one-half of the population in 1910 were living in urban territory. Among these States were Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut with nine-tenths of their population urban; Illinois with 62 per cent, and Ohio with 56 per cent.



CENTER OF POPULATION AT EACH CENSUS 1790 TO 1910. MEDIAN POINT 1880 TO 1910. [Transcriber's Note: Location is within a few miles of latitude 39 degrees. The longitude is approximately: 1790, 76.2; 1800, 77.0; 1810, 77.6; 1820, 78.6; 1830, 79.3; 1840, 80.4; 1850, 81.3; 1860, 82.8; 1870 83.7; 1880, 84.7; 1890, 85.5; 1900, 85.8; 1910, 86.5 ]

The rapid growth of our industrial and manufacturing interests during the past quarter of a century is shown by the fact that 22 per cent of the people of the country are massed in cities of 100,000 inhabitants and over. In the three largest cities alone—New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia—there are almost one-tenth the population of the whole country. There were five cities with populations between 500,000 and 1,000,000; eleven between 250,000 and 500,000; 31 between 100,000 and 250,000; 59 between 50,000 and 100,000; 120 between 25,000 and 50,000; 374 between 10,000 and 20,000; 629 between 5,000 and 10,000, and 1,173 between 2,500 and 5,000.