UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



the Senators, control of the Senate. Under such 

 circumstances the President could not force his 

 views on Congress, and occasionally he vetoed 

 bills. The most noteworthy acts provided for 

 the admission of Arizona and New Mexico, for 

 reciprocity with Canada, and for the creation 

 of a parcel post system. 



In the Republican party the antagonism of 

 which Roosevelt had assumed the leadership 

 came to a head in the national convention in 

 the summer of 1912, and led to the formation 

 of a new party, the National Progressive, which 



RECENT ADMISSIONS OF STATES 

 Since 1876, when on August 1 Colorado was 

 admitted to the Union as the thirty-eighth state, 

 all the territories within the continental area 

 have been granted statehood. 



nominated Roosevelt for President and Gov- 

 ernor Hiram Johnson of California for Vice- 

 President. The regular Republican convention 

 renominated Taft and James S. Sherman, the 

 Vice-President, for reelection, and the Demo- 

 crats chose Woodrow Wilson and Thomas R. 

 Marshall, of Indiana. The election was a 

 Democratic victory, and Wilson tok office sup- 

 ported by a substantial majority in the House. 

 President Wilson's inaugural address made it 

 clear that the tariff would be the first problem 

 to be attacked. At a special session of Con- 

 gress called for this purpose the President ap- 

 peared in person to deliver his message, thus 

 reviving a precedent established by Washington 

 and John Adams. The Simmons-Underwood 

 Tariff Act was signed by the President on Oc- 

 tober 3, 1913, fulfiling one of the pledges of the 

 Democratic platform. Congress remained in 

 session to consider the act reforming the cur- 



rency and the banking system ; and after much 

 debate, both in and out of Congress, the act 

 was passed by both houses during the regular 

 session which began on December 1, and was 

 approved by the President on December 23 

 (see BANKS AND BANKING). 



Another att of great importance was ap- 

 proved by the President on June 15, 1914 the 

 repeal of the provision in a law of 1912 by 

 which American-owned ships were exempt from 

 tolls on the Panama Canal. The repeal was 

 due chiefly to the continued efforts of the 

 President. In foreign relations the personality 

 of the President made itself felt as distinctly as 

 in domestic affairs. Because of Japan's pro- 

 tests he made an earnest attempt to prevent 

 the passage of an alien land bill in California 

 (subhead History}. Towards Mexico he pre- 

 served a policy to which the public gave the 

 name of "watchful waiting." This refusal to 

 recognize General Huerta as President of 

 Mexico was one of the reasons for Huerta's 

 eventual elimination. In spite of clamor the 

 President refused to be drawn into a war with 

 Mexico, notwithstanding the insolent attitude 

 of that country through three years of patient 

 endeavor to bring order to the distracted re- 

 public. In 1916 the President's attitude seemed 

 fully justified when the Carranza government 

 appeared to have begun to "set Mexico's house 

 in order." 



The War of the Nations. The outstanding 

 event in the history of the modern world was 

 the beginning of the war which convulsed Eu- 

 rope in 1914. During its early months the 

 United States viewed it with little personal in- 

 terest beyond proclamations of neutrality and 

 a sincere official effort to enforce throughout 

 the country a neutral attitude. Europe ordered 

 vast quantities of munitions in America and 

 also sought foodstuffs; an era of prosperity 

 dawned for those who had wares to sell, but the 

 cost of living soared to heights not known be- 

 fore for fifty years. Had the effect of the Euro- 

 pean conflict not gone farther it would have 

 had a serious effect in America, but the United 

 States was destined to play a leading part in 

 the gigantic struggle. 



Germany's failure to end the war speedily, 

 or at least to win a decidedly favorable turn, by 

 the capture of Paris in the first month of the 

 conflict led by degrees to a war policy not 

 countenanced by the laws of nations. The 

 United States inevitably suffered when the 

 central powers ignored the just claims of neu- 

 trals. The President was reflected in 1916 on 



