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ROOSEVELT 



tion in bringing together the Russian and 

 Japanese peace commissioners, and thus being 

 directly responsible for the conclusion of the 

 Russo-Japanese War in 1905. In the nev 

 the Nobel Prize for peace was awarded Roose- 

 velt for his sen-ices to the world in ending this 

 war. The successful cruise of an American bat- 

 tleship fleet around the world and the laying of 

 the Pacific cable to Hawaii and the Philippine 

 Islands were also of great importance in dis- 

 degree of preparedness possessed 

 Btattt, The dramatic voyage 

 of the fleet was conceived and inspired by him, 

 although naval experts predicted disaster for 

 the ships, and its moral effect on the nations 

 of the world was tremendous. 



Antitrust Movement. One of the most im- 

 portant tendencies of the last years of the nine- 

 teenth century was the agitation against trusts. 

 President Roosevelt's administration was 

 marked by special activity in this direction, 

 notably against common carriers. As a result 

 of investigations carried on by the Bureau of 

 Corporations in the Department of Commerce 

 and Labor, the government brought suit against 

 the Northern Securities Company, a holding 

 company which owned the controlling interests 

 in the Great Northern and the Northern Pa- 

 cific railways. The Securities Company was 

 ordered dissolved by the Supreme Court in 

 1904. Similar suits were instituted and convic- 

 tions obtained against the so-called "beef trust" 

 and other monopolistic groups. Indictments 

 for receiving or granting rebates were voted 

 against the Standard Oil Company, the New 

 York, New Haven & Hartford Railway and 

 other railways and industrial corporations. The 

 air was constantly filled with rumors of further 

 attacks upon "big business," and there was 

 much criticism of the President for the en- 

 couragement he was said to be giving to pos- 

 sible industrial and financial disturbances. In 

 fact, in 1907, the country suffered from a sharp 

 financial crisis, which did not, however, leave a 

 serious effect on industry. 



Strike of Coal Miners. Although not di- 

 rectly connected with the antitrust agitation, 

 a great strike of the anthracite coal miners in 



1902 was symptomatic of the industrial unrest 

 which pervaded the country. The strike lasted 

 the whole summer, and the country faced a coal 

 famine. The miners refused to return to work 

 unless the owners would submit the questions 

 in dispute to arbitration, but the owners de- 

 clined to meet those demands. The President, 

 in this crisis, called the representatives of tho 

 owners and the miners together in conference. 

 The owners at first declined to consider arbi- 

 tration, but within two weeks, when the public 

 was aroused at the spectacle of the President's 

 discomfiture, they agreed to it, provided the 

 President would name a commission. The 

 President at once named three men, Judge 

 George Gray, Bishop John L. Spalding and 

 Carroll D. Wright. This commission decided 

 all questions at issue, and made peace in the 

 anthracite coal industry. 



Other Affairs. Roosevelt's term was marked 

 by three anniversary expositions the Louisiana 

 Purchase at Saint Louis in 1904, the Lewis and 

 Clark at Portland, Ore., in 1905, and the James- 

 town Tercentennial at Hampton Roads, Va., in 

 1907. (Each of these expositions is described 

 in a special article in THE WORLD BOOK.) In 

 April, 1906, occurred the disastrous San Fran- 

 cisco earthquake and fire, which made 200,000 

 homeless and caused a property loss of about 

 $500,000,000. 



An event of international importance was the 

 laying of the Pacific cable, the first American 

 cable across the Pacific, in 1903. This cable is 

 7,846 nautical miles long, and touches at Guam, 

 Hawaii and the Philippine Islands. It was 

 later extended from Manila to Japan and to 

 Shanghai. Oklahoma was admitted as a state 

 in 1907. An interesting event was the adoption 

 by Wisconsin, in 1903, of the first state-wide 

 primary-election law for the nomination of 

 elective officials. 



The Election of 1908. It was generally un- 

 derstood that President Roosevelt favored Sec- 

 retary-of-War Taft as his successor. Taft was 

 nominated, and he was elected by an electoral 

 vote of 321 to 162 for William Jennings Bryan 

 (see TAFT, WILLIAM HOWARD), his election be- 

 ing due largely to Roosevelt's influence. 



The Most Interesting American 



African Explorations. The biographies of 

 most Presidents come to a more or less suddtn 

 termination as soon as they leave office. Not 

 so with President Roosevelt. When he retired 

 from the Presidency in 1909 he was in the full 



vigor of middle life. He was a few months 

 past fifty, physically and mentally as active as 

 when he began his first term. Long walks, 

 tennis and horseback riding his three favorite 

 forms of exercise had kept him full of energy. 



