But there has been more noise made over his suddenness on the Isthmus of Panama than elsewhere. It is difficult to treat this charge with seriousness. The President had made a treaty with Colombia at her own solicitation, which was infinitely to her advantage, to inaugurate an enterprise which was to be for the benefit of the world. He waited with endless patience while Bogota delayed and trifled with the matter, and finally rejected it, and suggested new negotiations for a larger sum. Panama, outraged by this climax of the wrongs she had already suffered, declared and established her independence. The President, following an unbroken line of precedents, entered into relations with the new Republic, and, obeying his duty to protect the transit of the Isthmus as all other Presidents had done before him, gave orders that there should be no bloodshed on the line of the railway. He said, like Grant, "Let us have peace," and we had it. It will seem incredible to posterity that any American could have objected to this. He acted wisely and beneficently, and all some people can find to criticise in his action is that he was too brisk about it. If a thing is right and proper to do, it does not make it criminal to do it promptly. No, gentlemen! That was a time when the hour and the man arrived together. He struck while the iron was white hot on the anvil of opportunity and forged as perfect a bit of honest statecraft as this generation has seen.

We could desire no better fortune, in the campaign upon which we are entering, than that the other side should persist in their announced intention to make the issue upon President Roosevelt. What a godsend to our orators! It takes some study, some research, to talk about the tariff, or the currency, or foreign policy. But to talk about Roosevelt! it is as easy as to sing "the glory of the Graeme." Of gentle birth and breeding, yet a man of the people in the best sense; with the training of a scholar and the breezy accessibility of a ranchman; a man of the library and a man of the world; an athlete and a thinker; a soldier and a statesman; a reader, a writer, and a maker of history; with the sensibility of a poet and the steel nerve of a rough rider; one who never did, and never could, turn his back on a friend or an enemy. A man whose merits are so great that he could win on his merits alone; whose personality is so engaging that you lose sight of his merits. Make their fight on a man like that! What irreverent caricaturist was it that called them the Stupid party?

In our candidate for the Vice-Presidency we have followed the old and commendable custom of the Republic and have nominated a man in every way fit for the highest place in the nation, who will bring to the Presidency of the Senate an ability and experience rarely equaled in its history.

A Word to Young Men.

I have detained you too long; yet as I close I want to say a word to the young men whose political life is beginning. Anyone entering business would be glad of the chance to become one of an established firm with years of success behind it, with a wide connection, with unblemished character, with credit founded on a rock. How infinitely brighter the future when the present is so sure, the past so glorious. Everything great done by this country in the last fifty years has been done under the auspices of the Republican party. Is not this consciousness a great asset to have in your mind and memory? As a mere item of personal comfort is it not worth having? Lincoln and Grant, Hayes and Garfield, Harrison and McKinley-names secure in the heaven of fame-they all are gone, leaving small estates in worldly goods, but what vast possessions in principles, memories, sacred associations! It is a start in life to share that wealth. Who now boasts that he opposed Lincoln? who brags of his voting against Grant? though both acts may have been from the best of motives. In our form of government there must be two parties, and tradition, circumstances, temperament, will always create a sufficient opposition. But what young man would not rather belong to the party that does things, instead of one that opposes them; to the party that looks up, rather than down; to the party of the dawn, rather than of the sunset. For fifty years the Republican party has believed in the country and labored for it in hope and joy; it has reverenced the flag and followed it; has carried it under strange skies and planted it on far-receding horizons. It has seen the nation grow greater every year and more respected; by just dealing, by intelligent labor, by a genius for enterprise, it has seen the country extend its intercourse and its influence to regions unknown to our fathers. Yet it has never abated one jot or tittle of the ancient law imposed on us by our God-fearing ancestors. We have fought a good fight, but also we have kept the faith. The Constitution of our fathers has been the light to our feet; our path is, and will ever remain, that of ordered progress, of liberty under the law. The country has vastly increased, but the great-brained statesmen who preceded us provided for infinite growth. The discoveries of science have made miraculous additions to our knowledge. But we are not daunted by progress; we are not afraid of the light. The fabric our fathers builded on such sure foundations will stand all shocks of fate or fortune. There will always be a proud pleasure in looking back on the history they made; but, guided by their example, the coming_generation has the right to anticipate work not less important, days equally memorable to mankind. We who are passing off the stage bid you, as the children of Israel encamping by the sea were bidden, to Go Forward; we whose hands can no longer hold the flaming torch pass it on to you that its clear light may show the truth to the ages that are to come.

SPEECH BY SENATOR FAIRBANKS AT JACKSON, MICH., JULY 6th, 1904, ON THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF

THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

Senator Burrows and Fellow Citizens:

We are met to commemorate no ordinary event, for here a half century ago American patriots solemnly pledged themselves to vindicate the first principles of republican government, to challenge the aggressions of the slave power. Here was issued the second declaration of freedom. Here was taken the initial step which led to the overthrow of slavery and the establishment of the government upon truly national lines. We freely pay the tribute of our grateful appreciation to the memory of those who raised here the standard of republicanism.

The Republican party was born of the conscience of the people, and it was here dedicated to as high and holy a service as ever summoned men to heroic duty.

The appeal to the people of Michigan which was issued by Zachariah Chandler, that stalwart among stalwarts, and his associates, was like a clarion call to exalted service. It was conceived in the same spirit which inspired our fathers in the morning of the American Revolution.

The resolutions here adopted were put upon a high plane. Differences of individual opinion upon all other subjects of state or domestic policy were subordinated to the one overmastering question of the hour. It was solemnly "Resolved, That, postponing and suspending all differences with regard to political economy or administrative policy, in view of the imminent danger that Kansas and Nebraska will be grasped by slavery, we will act cordially and fathfully in unison to avert and repeal this gigantic wrong and shame."

Integrity of the Nation.

Thus consecrated, the Republican party was here christened and sent forth to accomplish a more vital mission than ever challenged the consideration of the people since the foundation of the Government.

To the Republican party was committed, in God's providence, the stupendous responsibility of preserving the integrity of the nation itself. We would not here kindle anew the fires of past hates or reopen the debate of long-buried differences which divided section against section, for we stand united under the acknowledged supremacy of one flag and one Constitution. But we may

appropriately recall the history of a great generation in which American contested with American for the triumph of opposing theories. In that contest the Republican party stood for the national solidarity. It stood for the nation above the state, and the victory it achieved blessed both the victor and the vanquished. American opposed American with titanic power. American met American upon the field of glory and the God of battles was with the cause espoused by the Republican party. The hates and the enmities which ignorance and false teaching engendered have happily perished and perished forever.

The memory of the valor of those who fought for conscience sake beneath opposing flags remains as a rich national inheritance. The impartial verdict of history is that the Republican party was everlastingly right, and its further verdict is that no American ever surrendered his sword save to an American. Every grave, whether it is tenanted by the heroic youth who wore the blue, or by him who wore the gray, is an enduring pledge of the solidity and unity of the Republic.

Out of the unhappy divisions which followed quickly upon the accession to power of the Republican party came a new national birth, a fusing of national strength beyond the dreams of our fathers.

Amidst Stirring Events.

Fifty years is a brief period when compared with the life of the older nations, yet it embraces the entire life of the Republican party, a party whose achievements are among the most lasting and luminous of the deeds done by any party since the beginning

of the Government. It has not lived the life of repose and inactivity, for its career has been characterized by restless energy and serious work. Its lines have been cast amidst stirring events, when great problems were to be solved and mighty deeds were to be done. It has met upon a high level domestic questions of farreaching significance, and it has increased our national prestige abroad. Our primacy among the nations of the world is generally acknowledged. It is a cause for congratulation to us that the orator of this historic occasion should be one who has done more than any other to establish our prestige among foreign courts, the wise, able, modest, loyal, trusted friend of Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt-the Hon. John Hay. The span of the last fifty years is, indeed, the golden age of the Republic. During the greater part of this period the Republican party was in the ascendency. Its principles and its policies were in full operation in the nation and our country advanced as never before. Its growth during the existence of the Republican party verges on the marvelous. While the tremendous progress that has been made can not be ascribed, of course, entirely to the wisdom and beneficence of its policies, yet it has contributed immeasurably to the results which have been attained.

Human Liberty Extended.

It has given security and protection to capital and labor. It has been the wise and loyal friend of each, for it has realized that our greatest development must come through their harmonious cooperation. It has inspired confidence among the people in the integrity and soundness of its administration, all of which is essential to the highest development and progress. No duty has been laid upon it, now matter how sudden or grave, but that it has met it wisely and bravely. It has never capitulated to mere expediency or made a truce with wrong. It has taken the moral side of every great question and has confidently trusted in the sober and ultimate judgment of the American people. It has taught the unity of the Republic, the oneness of the American people, and their interdependency. It has stood against socialistic tendencies and opposed those malign teachings which would establish class distinctions, which are the very life of monarchical institutions and which are baneful to the Republic.

The country of fifty years ago stands in marked contrast to what we behold to-day. Then there were thirty-two States with some 25,000,000 of people, part slave and part free. To-day we have forty-five States, with 80,000,000 of freemen. Then there was division among the States. To-day there is unity of sentiment. Then there was slavery. To-day it is dead and buried beyond the possibility of resurrection. The zone of human liberty has been extended beyond the limits of our borders by the valor of our arms, and established among alien peoples in the distant

seas.

Worthy of Our Fathers.

The progress of our people has been manifest in every avenue of human effort. It has been marked in art and science, in philanthropy and charity, in school and church, in industry and commerce. While we have developed in the material world beyond the most optimistic dreams of those who fifty years ago assembled here beneath the historic oaks, we have expanded in all of the higher and better qualities which excite the pride and admiration of the most advanced people.

We stand at the morning of a new century which is to be greater than the past with all of its glorious achievement. It is a happy augury that we enter upon it with the Republican party in the ascendency, under Republican policies which are suited to the largest national growth.

The Republican party has given to history many statesmen of great eminence, whose names have become a part of the immeasurable glory of the Republic. We will enter upon the half century which opens before us with such hopeful promise under a brave, patriotic, wise American whose ideals are in harmony with the best traditions of the Republic, and whose ambition is to lead our countrymen and our country in the paths of peace, prosperity, and honor-Theodore Roosevelt.

Let us take hence new inspiration from this hallowed spot and prove ourselves worthy of the virtue and courage of our fathers.

SPEECH OF HON. ELIHU ROOT.

Temporary Chairman of Republican National Convention, at Chicago, June 21, 1904.

The responsibility of the Government rests upon the Republican party. The complicated machinery through which the 80,000,000 people of the United States govern themselves answers to no single will. The composite government devised by the framers of the Constitution to meet the conditions of national life more than a century ago, requires the willing co-operation of many minds, the combination of many independent factors, in every forward step for the general welfare.

The President at Washington with his cabinet, the ninety senators representing forty-five sovereign states, the 386 representatives in Congress are required to reach concurrent action upon a multitude of questions involving varied and conflicting interests and requiring investigation, information, discussion, and reconciliation of views. From all our vast territory with its varieties of climate and industry, from all our great population active in production -and commerce and social progress and intellectual and moral lifeto a degree never before attained by any people-difficult problems press upon the National Government.

Within the past five years more than sixty-six thousand bills have been introduced in Congress. Some method of selection must be followed. There must be some preliminary process to ascertain the general tenor of public judgment upon the principles to be applied in government, and some organization and recognition of leadership which shall bring a legislative majority and the Executive into accord in the practical application of those principles, or effective government becomes impossible.

The practical governing instinct of our people has adapted the machinery devised in the eighteenth to the conditions of the twentieth century by the organization of national political parties. In them men join for the promotion of a few cardinal principles upon which they agree. For the sake of those principles they lay aside their differences upon less important questions. To represent those principles and to carry on the Government in accordance with them, they present to the people candidates whose competency and loyalty they approve. The people by their choice of candidates indicate the principles and methods which they wish followed in the conduct of their government. They do not merely choose between men, they choose between parties-between the principles they profess, the methods they follow, the trustworthiness of their professions, the inferences to be drawn from the records of their past, the general weight of character of the body of men who will be brought into participation in government by their ascendency.

A Great Record.

When the course of the next administration is but half done the Republican party will have completed the first half century of its national life. Of the eleven administrations since the first election of Abraham Lincoln, nine-covering a period of thirtysix years have been under Republican Presidents. For the greater part of that time the majority in each House of Congress has been Republican. History affords no parallel in any age or country for the growth in national greatness and power and honor, the wide diffusion of the comforts of life, the uplifting of the great mass of the people above the hard conditions of poverty, the common opportunity for education and individual advancement, the universal possession of civil and religious liberty, the protection of property and security for the rewards of industry and enterprise, the cultivation of national morality, respect for religion, sympathy with humanity, and love of liberty and justice

which have marked the life of the American people during this long period of Republican control.

With the platform and the candidates of this convention we are about to ask a renewed expression of popular confidence in the Republican party.

We shall ask it because the principles to which we declare our adherence are right and the best interests of our country require that they should be followed in its government.

Be

We shall ask it because the unbroken record of the Republican party in the past is an assurance of the sincerity of our declarations and the fidelity with which we shall give them effect. cause we have been constant in principle, loyal to our beliefs, and faithful to our promises we are entitled to be believed and trusted now.

We shall ask it because the character of the party gives assurance of good government. A great political organization, competent to govern, is not a chance collection of individuals brought together for the moment as the shifting sands are piled up by wind and sea, to be swept away to be formed and re-formed again. It is a growth. Traditions and sentiments reaching down through struggles of years gone, and the stress and heat of old conflicts, and the influence of leaders passed away, and the ingrained habit of applying fixed rules of interpretation and of thought all give to a political party known and inalienable qualities from which must follow in its deliberate judgment and ultimate action like results for good or bad government. We do not deny that other parties have in their membership men of morality and patriotism, but we assert with confidence that, above all others, by the influences which gave it birth and have maintained its life, by the causes for which it has striven, the ideals which it has followed, the Republican party as a party has acquired a character which makes its ascendency the best guaranty of a government loyal to principle and effective in execution. Through it more than any other political organization the moral sentiment of America finds expression. It cannot depart from the direction of its tendencies. From what it has been may be known certainly what it must be. Not all of us rise to its standard, not all of us are worthy of its glorious history, but as a whole this great political organization -the party of Lincoln and McKinley-cannot fail to work in the spirit of its past and in loyalty to great ideals.

We shall ask the continued confidence of the people because the candidates whom we present are of proved competency and patriotism, fitted to fill the offices for which they are nominated to the credit and honor of our country.

We shall ask it because the present policies of our Government are beneficial and ought not to be set aside; and the people's business is being well done and ought not to be interfered with.

A Few Questions.

Have not the American people reason for satisfaction and pride in the conduct of their Government since the election of 1900, when they rendered their judgment of approval upon the first administration of President McKinley? Have we not had an honest government? Have not the men selected for office been men of good reputation who by their past lives had given evidence that they were honest and competent? Can any private business be pointed out in which lapses from honesty have been so few and so trifling, proportionately, as in the public service of the United States? And when they have occurred have not the offenders been relentlessly prosecuted and sternly punished without regard to political or personal relations?

Have we not had an effective government? Have not the laws been enforced? Has not the slow process of legislative discussion upon many serious questions been brought to practical conclusions embodied in beneficial statutes? And has not the executive proceeded without vacillation or weakness to give these effect? Are not the laws of the United States obeyed at home, and does not our Government command respect and honor throughout the world? Has

Have we not had a safe and conservative Government? not property been protected? Are not the fruits of enterprise and industry secure? What safeguard of the constitution for vested