CHAPTER XII

IN accepting the nomination for the presidency Roosevelt showed that he was a true partisan Republican as, in his speech of acceptance, he dilated on the "Record of the Republican party," on the currency and the tariff. "We have placed the finances of the Nation upon a sound gold basis," he said. "We have enacted a tariff law under which during the past few years the country has attained a height of material well-being never before reached." In his letter he elaborated his position on the tariff taking the ground of the educated man who had been led to believe in the virtue of protection. "The question of what tariff is best for our people is primarily one of expediency, to be determined not on abstract academic grounds but in the light of experience. It is a matter of business"; and he repeated the Republican stock argument against the Democratic tariff of 1894.1

The Democrats had nominated Alton B. Parker, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, who, declining to run on a platform squinting in the direction of free silver, had eliminated from the contest the money question. Nor was the tariff an issue to be decided. The issue of the campaign was Roosevelt. "Your personality has been the Administration," wrote Elihu Root. This meant largely what Roosevelt had done in attacking the great financial interests of the coun

1 The speech was July 27; the letter, September 12. Current Lit. Pub. Co., 198, 200, 213. 2 Bishop, i. 323.

try which, after much consideration, had selected Parker as their candidate. They had coquetted with Grover Cleveland. "It is evident," wrote Roosevelt to Senator Lodge on May 4, 1903, "Cleveland has the presidential bee in his bonnet, and it is equally evident that a large number of people are desirous of running him again.”1 Nevertheless his decision not to accept another nomination became "unalterable."

Toward its end Parker brought personalities into the campaign which must be considered. Roosevelt had selected as chairman of the Republican National Committee George B. Cortelyou, after having vainly endeavored to secure Elihu Root, W. Murray Crane and Cornelius N. Bliss. Cortelyou had been Cleveland's executive clerk, private secretary of McKinley and Roosevelt, and was then Secretary of Commerce and Labor, appointed by Roosevelt. A fair inference from Judge Parker's speeches was that President Roosevelt and Cortelyou had used their official positions to induce corporations to contribute funds. Roosevelt, having a high regard for the dignity of his office, had held aloof from a public participation in the campaign but these speeches of Parker gave him along-sought-for opportunity of taking a hand in the contest as a fighter, and on November 4 2 he made this statement: "The assertion that Mr. Cortelyou had any knowledge gained while in an official position, whereby he was enabled to secure and did secure any contributions from any corporation is a falsehood. . . . The assertion that there has been made in my behalf and by my authority, by

1 Bishop, i. 241.

The election was on November 8. Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana was chosen Vice-President.

...

Mr. Cortelyou or by anyone else, any pledge or promise, or that there has been any understanding as to future immunities or benefits, in recognition of any contributions from any source, is a wicked falsehood. . . . .. As Mr. Cortelyou has said to me more than once during the 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." 1

The Nation, which was an enthusiastic supporter of Parker, maintained that the gravamen of Parker's charges was that the beneficiaries of the tariff policy of the Republican party were to be recouped for their contributions in the event of Republican success. But Roosevelt did not so interpret the charges. Indeed The Nation failed to iterate with its accustomed vigor Parker's charges against Roosevelt and Cortelyou, proposing apparently to shield him under the stock Democratic argument against the tariff and the Republican party.2

Of the same nature was the Harriman attack which was made public more than two years later and which was to the effect that Roosevelt had requested Harriman to raise $250,000 for the presidential campaign. Roosevelt denied this emphatically. "I never," he said, "requested Mr. Harriman to raise a dollar for the Presidential campaign of 1904. On the contrary, our communications as regards the campaign related exclusively to the fight being made against Mr. Higgins for Governor of

1 Current Lit. Pub. Co., 222 et seq. * The Nation, 1904, 24, 180, 250, 365.

New York. . . . He was concerned only in getting me to tell Mr. Cortelyou to aid Mr. Higgins so far as he could, which I gladly did." It was well known that at Republican headquarters, New York State was considered in danger, not lest its electoral vote should fail Roosevelt, but whether the Republican candidate for governor should be elected.

3

Roosevelt was triumphantly chosen. He was almost the only one among his supporters who doubted the result that went far ahead of his anticipations. "I am stunned by the overwhelming victory we have won," he wrote to his son. "I have the greatest popular majority and the greatest electoral majority ever given to a candidate for President." He carried the border slave States, of West Virginia and Missouri; while having a popular plurality of 50 in Maryland, he received only one of her electoral votes. As a result of this election when Congress met December 4, 1905, there were in the Senate 57 Republicans to 32 Democrats; in the House, 249 Republicans to 137 Democrats.

On the night of election after it was known that he was triumphantly chosen, he gave out from the White House this statement, "The wise custom which limits the President to two terms regards the substance and not the form, and under no circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept another nomination." "

1 Current Lit. Pub. Co., 427.

See My Brother T. Roosevelt, Mrs. Robinson, 217. But Roosevelt was eager to be elected and anxious in regard to the result.

3 Bishop, i. 335; see also letter to Henry White, 316, 332, and to Kipling, 332.

4 There was one vacancy.

Life of Roosevelt, Lewis, 234. Bishop has "A" instead of "The,"

Roosevelt had now received a mandate from the people with the House and Senate largely Republican. Before proceeding to tell what he accomplished during his second administration it will be well to recount what he had done when as Vice-President he succeeded to the presidency, that in the course of the narrative has not been considered. What exasperated the large financial interests was his so-called attack on them; he was insistent on Federal regulation and did not believe that it could properly be left to the States. "The Sherman Anti-Trust Law [the Act of 1890. For Acts of 1887 and 1890 see my viii. 288, 358] was a dead letter," wrote Cullom, "until Roosevelt instructed the Attorney General to prosecute its violators, both great and small."1 Roosevelt said with truth, "Publicity and not secrecy, will win hereafter." He had a Congress fairly obedient to his wish. He wrote during August, 1906: "By the enactment of the Elkins law and by the creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor including the Bureau of Corporations, Congress enabled us to make great strides in advance along the path of thus bringing the use of wealth in business under the supervision and regulation of the National Government for, in actual practice it has proved a sham and pretence to say that the several States can thus supervise and regulate it." The Elkins law, passed February 19, 1903, forbade rebates. Congress passed on February 14, 1903, an act creating a Department of Commerce and Labor including a Bureau of Corporations. Such action was due to the warm

1 Fifty Years of Public Service, 292. 'Message of December, 1904. 3 Letter to James E. Watson. Current Lit. Pub. Co., 400.