THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



41 



eludes the history of the most im- 

 portant field operations of the 

 Spanish -American War and needs 

 no repetition here. His indomita- 

 ble energy was well exhibited in 

 the way he ignored and over-rode 

 the yards of red tape in the War 

 Department, which anyone else 

 would have felt obliged to unwind 

 with due ceremony. It was due 

 entirely to the leader himself that 

 the most useful and successful of 

 all the regiments sent to Cuba ar- 

 rived in time for action. At the 

 time of the battle of Manilla, know- 

 ing that the supply of ammunition 

 had necessarily been greatly re- 

 duced, Mr. Roosevelt was acting 

 Secretary of the Navy and at once 

 without further notice ordered a 

 full supply of ammunition sent from 

 California to Dewey's command. 



Immediately after his return, he 

 was elected governor of New York 

 and filled that office with conspicu- 

 ous ability. He gave up his own 

 desire to run for this office again in 

 obedience to the universal demand 

 of the Republican party that he 

 should become their candidate for 

 vice president. This action of 

 Roosevelt's in sacrificing his own 

 preferences for the good of his 

 party is quite similar to that of 

 President Lincoln in 1856. When 

 he was within six votes of election 

 to the United States senatorship, 

 Lincoln gave up his claim on it to 

 Judge Trumbull, who was sup- 

 ported by only six votes, because 

 these six would not yield and vote 

 for himself, in order that the Re- 

 publican party might be successful 

 in the election. This generous ac- 



tion on Lincoln's part secured him 

 the unanimous support of his party 

 against Douglas for United States 

 senator in 1858. While Mr. Lin- 

 coln was not successful in that cam- 

 paign, the great ability shown in 

 joint debates with Judge Douglas 

 secured for him the nomination and 

 election to the presidency in 1860. 

 So in giving up the really preferable 

 goverornship in order to add his 

 personal strength to the national 

 ticket, Roosevelt has unexpectedly 

 attained the same high office. 



During the campaign he dis- 

 played his present wonderful 

 powers of physical endurance by 

 traveling over 21.000 miles 

 throughout the country, making 

 speeches everywhere and still far- 

 ther increasing his popularity with 

 the masses of the people. During 

 the few months that he was allowed 

 to remain vice president, he pre- 

 sided with conspicuous ability over 

 one extra session of the senate and 

 made several trips through the 

 country attending public functions 

 and making speeches. 



Now for the fifth time in our his- 

 tory, the necessity of having a 

 very able man as vice president 

 has been forced upon us by the 

 death of our chief executive. 

 Roosevelt is the youngest presi- 

 dent we ever had; yet nothing de- 

 monstrates the wisdom of our 

 political institutions more than the 

 fact that he is older and more ex- 

 perienced than most of the present 

 rulers of Europe. He is forty-three 

 the 27th of this month, while the 

 Emperor of Germany is forty-two, 

 the King of Portugal thirty-eight, 



