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

GETTING CLOSE TO THE I'EOPLIC 49
parts of the country prior to his nomination at the Chicago
Convention, as well as afterwards, but uniformly declined their
acceptance. The only invitation he accepted during the
greater part of the year was to visit the battlefield of Gettys-
burg on IMay 30th, Decoration Day, and make a speech there.
He remained in Washington until the middle of the summer,
when he went to his home in Oyster Bay to spend the
remainder of vacation.
CUSTOM ORIGINATED BY PRESIDENT HARRISON
President Harrison was the first of the Chief Executives to
start the custom of making extensive tours through the coun-
try. During his administration he made a trip to the Pacific
coast. President McKinley likewise went to the Pacific coast
during his administration, and it was while there that Mrs.
McKinley came near dying, lying at death's door for many
days in the city of San P'rancisco. All of these trips are made
on special trains, placed at the disposal of the presidents by
the railroad companies of the country. There has frequently
been criticism by radical members of Congress because of
that fact, that these trips were made without expense to the
presidents. It is very likely that none of these trips would
have been made had the expenditures come from the pockets
of the presidents. A president does not make a trip because
of his own desire, but upon the invitation of the people and
for their gratification. Consequently the railroads have been
only too glad to place their finest trains at the disposal of the
president of the United States for such journeys as he may
care to make. The railroads always profit largely by such
trips, as they carry thousands of passengers into the cities and
towns where the president is stopping, and increase their local
passenger earnings very much thereby. The trip of President