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from the construction of the canal. Shortly after the ratification of the treaty the government of Colombia, as a shareholder, instituted suit in a French court to restrain the Panama Company from transferring its franchises and other property to the United States; but an adverse decision was rendered and the government having by investigation satisfied itself that a good title could be conveyed, the offer of the Panama Company to sell was accepted, and on April 23 the formal transfer of its title took place in Paris. A little later a warrant for $40,000,000 was delivered to the company's agent in New York, and the transaction was complete.

In April, 1904, Congress passed an act for the government of the canal zone. It was modeled upon the Act of 1803 for the government of the Louisiana Territory, and vested the full power of government in the President until the expiration of the Fiftyeighth Congress. In pursuance of this act the President, through the War Department, issued regulations for the administration of the government of the zone. In the meantime the work of preliminary construction has begun, and it is estimated that the canal will be completed and open to navigation within fourteen years. It will shorten the distance by sea from New York to San Francisco from 14,000 miles to about 5,000, while the distance saved between British ports and the Pacific coast will not be less than 6,000 miles. It should be a source of gratification and pride to every American citizen that the United States will have the honor of completing an enterprise of such vast significance and incalculable value to the future history of the world

III

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1904

In the meantime the regular quadrennial contest for the Presidency was in progress, and the interest of the country turned toward the selection of the candidates. The Republican party was the first to act. Its national convention was held in Chicago June 21, 22 and 23, and was organized by the election of Elihu Root, of New York, as temporary chairman and Joseph Cannon, of Illinois, as permanent chairman. Upon taking the chair, Mr. Root delivered an elaborate speech in which he reviewed the record of the Republican party during the last eight years and eulogized

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the character and ability of President Roosevelt. The address created great enthusiasm among the delegates, and its reference to the work of the government in behalf of the people of Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines led to a demonstration rarely equaled in a national convention. The chief feature of the following day's proceedings was the speech of Mr. Cannon and the adoption of the platform. The platform was agreed upon without bickering or dissention and was adopted by the convention with promptness and unanimity. In addition to the usual self-glorification, the platform contained declarations in favor of the settlement of international differences by arbitration, a "liberal administration" of the pension laws, the reduction of the representation in Congress of those States which have "by special discrimination" limited the elective franchise, the maintenance of a navy powerful enough to defend the United States against attack and to uphold the Monroe Doctrine, an honest enforcement of the civil service laws and legislation for the encouragement and up-building of the American merchant marine. On the "trust " question the platform contained a declaration taunting the Democrats with failure to enforce the anti-trust laws during the Democratic ascendency, asserted that the combinations of capital and labor are "the results of the economic movement of the age" and declared that neither should be permitted to infringe upon the rights and interests of the people. On the currency question the platform pronounced emphatically in favor of the maintenance of the gold standard. On the tariff it pronounced in favor of the principles of protection and advised “ readjustment" of the existing laws only when "conditions have so changed that the public interest demands their alteration," and then only by the Republican party. Other declarations eulogized the administration for its success in the management of our foreign relations, for its conduct in the government of the insular dependencies and for its attitude on the Panama Canal question.

The platform having been adopted, the convention proceeded to nominate candidates for President and Vice President. As has so often been the case in Republican conventions, the work of selecting a presidential candidate had already been determined beforehand by the overwhelming sentiment of the party. Early in the year there was a likelihood that Senator Marcus A. Hanna, of Ohio, would be a prominent candidate for the nomination, but his death in February left Mr. Roosevelt without opposition. No

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other name was proposed or suggested in the convention, and he was accordingly nominated by acclamation, the first instance in the history of the country of the nomination for the Presidency of one who had as Vice President succeeded to the Presidency through the death of the chief magistrate. Since the early days of the Republic it had been the custom to nominate available men for the Vice Presidency with no thought of promoting them to the Presidency. The position of Vice President had, in fact, come to be looked upon as a graveyard for politicians rather than a steppingstone to the first place a fact which had led Mr. Roosevelt to protest strongly against his nomination as Vice President in 1900. McKinley having died, however, early in his term, Mr. Roosevelt had had three years and a half in which to show his fitness for the duties of the chief magistracy. During this period he had given evidences of strong leadership as well as remarkable administrative ability. By the time of the meeting of the convention there was no longer any doubt that he would make a very strong candidate, and so the Republicans did the unprecedented thing of nominating their Vice President for the Presidency. As Mr. Roosevelt's associate on the ticket the convention nominated Senator Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana.

The Democratic national convention met at St. Louis, July 6, and organized by the election of John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi, as temporary chairman, and Champ Clark, of Missouri, as permanent chairman. Mr. Williams delivered a long address devoted largely to satire on Mr. Root's Chicago speech and to criticism of the Roosevelt administration. From the first there was a lack of that harmony and unanimity of purpose which had characterized the proceedings of the Republican convention. It required the most prolonged and laborious effort to secure the adoption of a platform acceptable both to the radical and conservative elements of the party. As finally agreed upon, however, the platform contained declarations demanding greater economy in the administration of the government, for procuring which, it declared, one of the best means would be to have all public officers, from the occupant of the White House down to the lowest, return to Jeffersonian simplicity of living. It asked a thorough legislative investigation of "those executive departments already known to teem with corruption, as well as other departments suspected of harboring corruption"; a "wise, conservative and business-like revision

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and a gradual reduction of the tariff by the friends of the masses"; an enlargement of the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission; generous pensions for soldiers and sailors, "not by arbitrary executive order, but by legislative act "; and the upbuilding of the merchant marine "without new or additional burdens upon the people and without bounties from the public treasury."

With regard to the issue of "imperialism," which the Democratic candidate later exalted to the foremost place, the platform declared that the Filipinos should be given the same independence which had been accorded the people of Cuba. With regard to the trust" question, the platform demanded the "vigorous and impartial enforcement of the anti-trust statutes, and condemned the Republican system of legislation, which was alleged to be responsible for the existence of trust monopolies. On the currency question the draft platform, as prepared by a sub-committee of the committee on resolutions, virtually recognized the gold standard as a fixity and declared that in view of the recent enormous production of gold the "maintenance of a money standard of value was no longer open to question," and hence the money question was removed from the field of political contention. Mr. Bryan and other silver leaders, however, were displeased with this direct reference to the gold standard and succeeded in inducing the full committee, after a continuous session of eighteen hours, to strike out all allusion to the gold standard, and in this form the platform was adopted by the convention. There was no reaffirmation of the Kansas City or Chicago platforms and no reference to the currency question or those other questions which had occupied such prominent places in the platforms of 1896 and 1900. It was, or seemed to be, a virtual admission that the attitude of the party on the money question had in the past been wrong and was in effect a repudiation of the free silver" heresy." The adoption of the platform was the great task of the convention.

At five o'clock in the morning of July 9 the convention wearied almost to exhaustion, nominated Alton B. Parker, chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, as the candidate for President. His chief competitor was William Randolph Hearst, millionaire editor of several daily newspapers in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. On the first ballot Hearst received 200 votes. Scattering votes were cast for Richard Olney, George B. McClellan, E. C. Wall and others. Mr. Bryan, the leader of the Democratic party in

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the last two campaigns, was not a candidate and received no votes, although he exercised a dominant influence in the convention and succeeded in having the currency, tariff and "trust" planks of the draft platform changed to suit his own views. As the candidate for Vice President the convention nominated Henry G. Davis, exSenator from West Virginia, an octogenarian of rugged qualities and a successful business man of large wealth.

As the convention was on the eve of adjourning great excitement was caused by the reading of a telegram from Judge Parker, addressed to one of his close political friends, saying that he regarded the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably established, that he should act accordingly if elected President, and that if his views were unsatisfactory to the convention he wished another to be nominated in his stead. The reading of the telegram threw the convention into confusion and at first there was considerable feeling in favor of rescinding the nomination of Parker and substituting someone else. It was asserted by some that he had even trifled with the convention. Ever since his name had been mentioned as a possible nominee he had maintained absolute silence as to his views on the money question. He had so skillfully concealed them, it was charged, that perhaps less than half a dozen men in the convention knew what his opinions were. Instead of frankly making them known beforehand for the intelligent guidance of the party, he waited until the nomination had been accorded him and then spoke out when it was impracticable to undo the work of the convention. Such was the feeling of many delegates who had voted for his nomination, the most conspicuous of whom was Mr. Bryan. Judge Parker's friends, on the other hand, took the position that in view of the silence of the platform he had exhibited rare courage and manliness in thus stating his views before the adjournment of the convention, in order that it might have an opportunity to nominate someone else.

After a little reflection the convention recovered its equanimity, and it was seen to be impossible to reopen the platform and impracticable to rescind the nomination of Parker. Accordingly a conference of the leaders was held and an agreement reached that a telegram should be sent to him assuring him that there was nothing in his views which would preclude him from accepting a nomination on the platform. This was done with the approval of the convention, which thereupon adjourned.