contrary, I feel now, in the light of subsequent events, as I did then, that President Roosevelt's action was entitled to the highest commendation as not only wise and patriotic, but as absolutely necessary to the protection and advancement of American interests in connection with an Isthmian Canal.

As I dictate these lines a rather amusing incident comes to mind. The claim Colombia is now making is not now made for the first time. She commenced making the claim. immediately after we recognized the independence of Panama, and entered into a treaty with her under which she gave us a canal zone, upon which we commenced the construction of the canal.

At the beginning she claimed only ten millions of dollars, but that she claimed very vigorously and very industriously. The Colombian Minister then in Washington in some way had hope that the Congress expiring March 4, 1904, would make an appropriation of that amount for her benefit. It seems that in connection therewith he had a number of interviews with Mr. Hay as Secretary of State.

The day after Congress adjourned I had occasion to call upon President Roosevelt. He told me, with much appreciation of the humor involved, that he had heard from Secretary Hay that the Colombian Minister had visited the Department of State; that he was greatly disappointed because the Congress had not made the appropriation he desired and expected. He wanted Mr. Hay to advise him what he should do, and Mr. Hay, according to his report, told him to "be patient and trust in the Lord." Mr. Hay added that he left with a despondent look on his face that "plainly enough indicated that in his opinion trust in the Lord' was a poor substitute for an appropriation."

IN

CHAPTER XXXIX.

CAMPAIGN OF 1904

ELECTION OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT.

N 1904 I was chosen by the State Republican Convention of Ohio to be for the sixth time in succession a delegate-at-large to the National Republican Convention held that year in Chicago.

In that convention, as in a number of the previous conventions, I served as the Ohio member of the Committee on Resolutions, and in that capacity assisted in the framing of our platform.

Long before the convention assembled it was evident that President Roosevelt would be nominated. In fact, there had been no reasonable doubt in the mind of any one, subsequent to his indorsement in 1903 by the Republican State Convention of Ohio.

A few days after the convention I took a short vacation with my family. We visited Yellowstone National Park. All of us enjoyed greatly the outing.

After my return I commenced active campaign work in Ohio, but was called upon to participate in the campaign in other states. In the course of the campaign I spoke in New York, Pennsylvania, several of the New England States and a number of the Western States.

One of the first of these speeches was made under the auspices of the Hamilton Club of Chicago on the 17th day of September, 1904, and one of the last speeches was made in Music Hall, Cincinnati, October 29, 1904.

My speech at Chicago was widely published in the Republican press of the country as one of the keynotes of the campaign. I had many beautiful letters of congratulation

on account of it. Among them the following from Mr. John Hay:

NEWBURY, N. H., September 20, 1904.

Dear Senator Foraker:-Only a word-to say what a magnificent speech that was with which you opened the campaign in Illinois, crowded and crammed with facts, energy and eloquence. That is the sort of thing that is worth while.

Yours faithfully,

JOHN HAY.

Words of commendation from him for such an effort were always highly appreciated by every one fortunate enough to receive them. The fact is, I trust, a sufficient excuse for my using here what he said. But much as I appreciated his letter about the Chicago speech, I appreciated still more a letter I received from him about the Cincinnati speech, of which the following is a copy:

DEPARTMENT of State.
WASHINGTON.

December 7, 1904.

My Dear Senator Foraker:-I had a leisure minute or two yesterday, and once more read over your magnificent speech of the 29th of October. One gets a new light on such an address by reading it a month after it is delivered, and after the smoke has cleared away from the battlefield. Read even in this light, it is still an admirable piece of work, and, while congratulating you on it, I must thank you for your very kind reference to myself.

HON. J. B. FORAKER,

Yours faithfully,

JOHN HAY.

United States Senate.

For John Hay, Secretary of State and as busy a man as could be found connected with the Government, to read a political speech once and write a note about it was a high compliment. To have him read a speech twice and write about it, as he did in this letter, was indeed the very highest character of compliment. I appreciated it accordingly.

I not only insert the letter with pleasurable pride, but I also insert extracts from the speech because it shows the character of the campaign of that year, the arguments

made and the spirit that was abroad in the lard. The speech was a free and easy talk adapted to an enthusiastic mass meeting assembled in the closing hours of a triumphant campaign when exhortation was more in order than argument.

Our candidate for Vice President, Senator Fairbanks, was present, and thousands had come to see and hear that distinguished statesman. I had spoken that afternoon at Xenia, Ohio, and was not expecting to do .more than speak a few words of congratulation following the remarks of our candidate for Vice President.

The meeting was, however, so enthusiastic, the spirit was so splendid and the responses to what I said were so emphatic that it appeared impossible to find any place to stop.

I complimented Mr. Fairbanks on the good work he had done in the campaign, dwelt upon the prosperity the country was enjoying and then said:

And yet I find in the newspapers of this morning a speech made yesterday by Judge Parker at his home at Esopus, in which he says, speaking to a delegation of farmers-from Wall Street (laughter), that the farmers of this country have suffered on account of the tariff. Let me read his exact language:

"The farmers suffered even more, possibly, than the wage earner, by excessive tariff duties." Then he proceeds to tell those farmers how they are compelled to pay $9.00 a ton more for steel rails than they are sold for abroad. (Laughter.)

But, my fellow citizens, let us stop and think for a moment of what he says about the farmers. Have the farmers af this country been suffering during the last seven years? (Cries of "No!") Only this afternoon in Xenia, Ohio, I spoke in an opera house filled with farmers, and from their general appearance they might have been mistaken for so many bank presidents. (Applause.) I did not see one of them who was not clad in becoming clothing, who did not look happy, who did not look prosperous, who did not seem to know that "The frost was on the pumpkin and the corn was in the shock.” (Applause.) Senator Fairbanks well remembers how the Dingley law was framed, and if you never read it, I would be glad if you would read it, in view of this statement of Judge Parker. You will find that the framers of that Dingley law did not forget any interest or any industry in this broad land, least of all the farmer, who is protected by it as to every product he brings forth. There is a tariff on corn, and on wheat, and on everything else, from corn and wheat down to butter and eggs; and the result is that the farmers of this country were never so prosperous as they are today, because they not only have our tremendous home markets that have

been built up under the Dingley law, but they have those home markets all to themselves. No Canadian eggs, or Canadian butter, or rye, or oats, or barley, or wheat can come into this country until they walk up to the captain's office and settle with Uncle Sam. (Applause.) If the farmers who waited on Farmer Parker yesterday (laughter) could only travel about through Ohio and other States of this Union, as I have been doing during this campaign, they could not help finding out the fact that there is not an acre of farm land in all this whole country, from ocean to ocean, that is not worth today at least fifty per cent. more than it was when McKinley was elected. (Applause.) There never was a time in the history of this country when the farmer owed so few mortgages as he owes today. There never was a time when he had as much money as he has today with which to buy all the land that next adjoins him. (Applause.) And as it is with the farmer, so it is with every industry in this broad land. Why? Think of the figures that have been named; think of the aggregate of the balances of trade in favor of this country in the last seven years; amounting to the incomprehensible sum, for such it is, of three thousand, six hundred millions of dollars. No wonder we have prosperity.

Senator Fairbanks has alluded to the Panama Canal and President Roosevelt's recognition of the Panama Republic. Let me add just a word to what he has said.

Since 1846 we have been under treaty obligations to preserve peace and order on the Isthmus of Panama at the transit. This secession was calculated to precipitate war. Colombia commenced marshaling her army. She assembled four hundred men and eighty-seven colonels. (Laughter.) They commenced threatening all kinds of dire doings. Among other things, they were going to kill some Americans and destroy some American property, and they were going to fight the Panamans on the transit. It was in that emergency, to obey and discharge the obligations of our treaty, that President Roosevelt ordered from the Nashville the marines to be landed, and they landed-twenty-four of them. (Laughter.) That was enough, because they carried the American flag with them. (Applause.) They represented the power and the authority of this great Republic, the United States of America. Later thirty or forty more were landed, and they gave it out as the order of President Roosevelt that they were there not to make war on anybody, but only to protect American rights and property, and to preserve peace and law and order on that transit, and, therefore, if the Colombians wanted to fight, they were welcome to; that was none of our business, but they must find some other place than that particular spot to do their fighting. (Applause.) They were told that if they wanted to fight to go off in the woods. (Laughter.) That settled it, for if a South American can't fight within reach of the telegraph, so his bravery can be properly exploited, he does not want to fight at all (laughter); and so it was that we acted throughout, as well as in recognizing the Republic of Panama, in discharge of our treaty obligations. Our Demo