The Triumphant Life of Theodore Roosevelt edited by J. Martin Miller

CHAPTER XX
THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION
President Roosevelt's First Message—Entertains Prince Henry of Prussia
—Cuban Reciprocity—The Great Anthracite Coal Strike—The Vene-
zuelan Affair—The Alaskan Boundary—The Panama Canal— PostofBce
Frauds—The Railroad Merger Defeated—The Hay Note.
The three years of President Roosevelt's first administration
were eventful ones in the history of the country, and it has
been said that few presidents were ever called upon to settle
so many momentous questions. Theodore Roosevelt, for one
thing, will go down to history as the American president in
whose hands Congress placed the lump sum of $180,000,000,
told him to select a route, and dig the Panama Canal. There
were no restrictions. He was told to choose his own engi-
neers, to make his own contracts. More than that, after he
had negotiated and secured the right of way, thus adding a
strip of territory to American possessions, Congress told him
to make such laws for the government of that territory as he
saw fit. What ruler among all the great of the earth has ever
been freely vested with so tremendous a responsibility?
FIRST MESSAGE CONSERVATIVE
President Roosevelt's first message was read in Congress
on the first Tuesday in December, 1901. It was one of the
most vigorous presidential messages ever read to the repre-
sentatives of the people. It was outspoken, and yet conserva-
tive. It called for a vigorous, honest administration of the
affairs of every department of the government; was out-
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