McKINLEY AND ROOSEVELT -1891-1904 245 



by the heat. Moreover, there was an amazing complica- 

 tion of political matters at this time, calculated to pros- 

 trate the Washington officials, even if the heat had not done 

 so ; and, among these, those relating to American control in 

 the Philippine Islands ; the bitter struggle then going on in 

 China between the representatives of foreign powers, in- 

 cluding our own, and the Chinese insurrectionists; the 

 difficulties arising out of the successful result of the Span- 

 ish War in Cuba ; complications in the new administration 

 of Porto Rico; and the myriad of questions arising in a 

 heated political campaign, which was then running fast 

 and furious. 



Arriving at the White House, I passed an hour with the 

 President, and found him, of all men in Washington, the 

 only one who seemed not at all troubled by the heat, by 

 the complications in China, by the difficulties in Cuba and 

 Porto Rico, or by the rush and whirl of the campaign. He 

 calmly discussed with me the draft of a political note 

 which was to be issued next day in answer to the Russian 

 communications regarding the mode of procedure in 

 China, which had started some very trying questions ; and 

 then showed me a letter from ex-President Cleveland de- 

 clining a position on the International Arbitration Tribu- 

 nal at the Hague, and accepted my suggestion not to con- 

 sider it a final answer, but to mate another effort for 

 Mr. Cleveland's acceptance. During this first visit of 

 mine, the Secretary of State and the First Assistant Secre- 

 tary were both absent, having been almost prostrated by 

 the extreme heat. At a second visit in October, I again 

 saw the President, found him in the same equable frame of 

 mind, not allowing anything to trouble him, quietly dis- 

 charging his duties in the calm faith that all would turn 

 out well. Dining with Secretary Hay, I mentioned this 

 equanimity of the President, when he said: "Yes; it is a 

 source of perpetual amazement to us all. He allows no 

 question, no matter how complicated or vexatious, to dis- 

 turb him. Some time since, at a meeting of the cabinet, 

 one of its members burst out into a bitter speech against 



