There were three three other events which will loom large in the history of President Taft's Administration. One was the decennial census that carried the population of the United States, including its dependencies, over the hundred million mark 101,100,000- the continental population, not including dependencies, being 91,972,266. This furnished a basis for a new appointment of 42 additional members of the House of Representatives, carrying the total to 433. Another was the passage of a bill submitting to the States the question of an amendment to the Federal Constitution in favor of the direct election of United States Senators the culmination of years of discussion and hitherto fruitless effort. The admission of New Mexico (January 6, 1912) and Arizona (February 14, 1912) made intact the continental sisterhood of States and added two new stars to the flag-48 in all.

The Panama Canal was practically completed by the close of the Administration, and plans were well under way for its formal opening in 1915. The total cost up to this time was approximately $375,000,000 every dollar of which " President Taft proclaimed with pride, "has been honestly expended." Preliminary expenditures for the fortification of the canal, to the extent of $3,000,000, were appropriated in 1911.

In May of 1912 the House passed a bill admitting to free use of the canal all American-owned ships, de

barring vessels owned directly or indirectly by railroads, and fixing a toll of $1.20 per net registered ton on foreign merchant ships, and 50c per ton on foreign battleships, the former being based on tonnage and the latter on displacement. The toll for merchant vessels is the same as the reduced Suez Canal rates will be in 1913; but on the Panama Canal no per capita passenger tolls will be additionally assessed. Our battleship rates are, however, somewhat higher than those on the Suez Canal. It is estimated that the rates agreed upon will produce enough revenue by 1925 to pay the cost of operation and maintenance, the government and sanitation of the Canal Zone, interest on the capital invested in the canal, and the annual payment of $250,000 to the Republic of Panama; and to place $3,750,000 in a sinking fund toward the ultimate amortization of the investment in the project. Not only did the clause relating to railroad-owned ships hamper the coastwist trade of Canada, but the toll on foreign ships was held by Great Britain to be a violation of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1902, which declared specifically that the Panama Canal should be open to vessels of all nations" on terms of entire equality" and that there should beno discrimination in respect of the conditions or charges of traffic or otherwise." President Taft asserted that the United States had full right to regulate traffic in the manner provided by the pending bill, but never

theless sent a message to Congress asking the House and Senate to pass resolutions declaring that the United States had no intention of violating the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty.

The foreign relations of the United States during the years 1909-1912 were peaceful, and, in the main, cordial, and while there were no occasions for large achievements, the diplomacy of the State Department under Secretary Knox proved itself, in such opportunities for exercise as presented themselves, to be of a high order. The delicate and often trying questions that came up in connection with the Mexican insurrection and the mobilization of United States troops upon her frontier, were handled with conspicuous skill, as was the final settlement of the long pending disputes with Venezuela. The arbitration treaties with several countries, the new treaty with Japan, and especially the securing of a joint treaty between the United States, Great Britain, Russia and Japan forbidding pelagic sealing in the North Pacific for fifteen years, were noteworthy. Perhaps no other action of the State Department met with more criticism than the so-called "dollar diplomacy" (while the United States policy in Nicaragua is a phase of "dollar diplomacy," it, in reality, means much more, viz.: the giving of Government aid to American capital seeking investments in foreign lands and American producers seeking markets abroad for goods) which led to a

treaty with Nicaragua, and the negotiation of another with Honduras, on the successful plan of the San Domingo act of the previous Administration. The policy of these treaties for the United States is to liquidate the foreign obligations of the abovenamed South American republics with liens on customs receipts as security, turning over 55 per cent. to the foreign bondholders and 45 per cent. to the government of each republic concerned. The chief objection to this policy, as voiced by Senator Bacon of Georgia, is that "it practically compels the United States to take over these Latin countries one after another." The broad general answer of diplomacy and humanity is that, in the case of these small republics which are constantly involved in the naturally insistent attempts of creditor nations to collect their debts, the only desire of the United States is to "substitute economic prosperity for predatory strife "- which appears to be a broad, statesmanlike view.

Perhaps the greatest non-political event that will be forever associated with the Administration of President Taft was the announcement of Lieutenant Robert E. Peary, U. S. N., on September 6, 1909, that, on April 6 of the same year he had discovered the North Pole.* It was the

Five days before Lieutenant Peary's announcement, Dr. Frederick A. Cook, another Arctic explorer, surprised the world by declaring that he had discovered the North Pole on April 21, 1908. His claims, however, have not stood the test of a rigid examination by scientists, while

culmination of a quest of centuries, beginning with attempts to find a short water route from Europe to the Indies. Previous to the Nineteenth century, Americans had done little or nothing in the Arctic regions; but, with the search for Sir John Franklin in 1850, American explorations in the North were unremitting and brilliant. Dr. E. K. Kane, chief surgeon of the Franklin rescue party, organized an expedition of his own in 1853, reaching north latitude 80°35'. He was followed in 1860 by Dr. I. I. Hayes; Charles F. Hall's three expeditions from 1860 to 1871; the Jeannette expedition in 1879, fitted out by the New York Herald and under the command of G. W. Delong, who perished after the Jeannette was crushed in the ice; and the Greeley expedition of 1881, which, in spite of poor equipment, reached north latitude 83°24′, but endured terrible suffering, the few survivors being rescued by Captain W. S. Schley in 1884. Then began Lieutenant Peary's great attempts, to which he gave the best years of his life. His first expedition was made in 1886, and was little more than tentative. His next voyage was in 1891, when he crossed Greenland, and three other expeditions followed in 1894–96. The remaining voyages were undertaken under the auspices of the Peary Arctic Club, organized in 1898, and

those of Lieutenant Peary, backed by ample proofs, have been fully substantiated, and the world has "officially" accepted him as the actual discoverer of the North Pole.

VOL. X-20

were thoroughly equipped with all the scientific and practical appliances that a cumulative experience deemed available. In 1898-1902 Peary reached north latitude 84°17′; in 1905, sailing in a new vessel, the Roosevelt, built expressly for the service, he set a new mark of 87°6′; and in 1908 he left the United States on his last and final expedition. Wintering near Cape Sheridan, he started north on March 1, 1909, with a party of 7 whites, 17 Eskimos, 133 dogs and 19 sledges. After sending back his last supporting party from 87°48', he pushed on for the last stage with his colored man Henson and four Eskimos. On April 6, 1909, the goal struggled for during three long centuries was reached, and the American flag was unfurled at the top of the world.

Other notable happenings were the Alaska - Yukon - Pacific exposition at Seattle in 1909 and the Hudson-Fulton celebration at New York in 1909the latter in double commemoration of Hudson's discovery of the river

that bears his name and Fulton's trip on the first steamship, the Clermont. The Administration's third year, 1912, was crowded with events. The Titanic was lost on her maiden voyage, on April 15, with 1,595 persons, many of international reputation; only 745 persons were saved. Floods in the Mississippi Valley covered a total area of 250 square miles, made 30,000 people homeless, and entailed an estimated loss of $10,000,000. The remains of the martyred battle

ship Maine, having been raised from the mud of Havana harbor where they had lain for fourteen years, were towed out to sea and buried with all the naval honors of war, while twentyone bodies of her sailors were interred with highest honors at Arlington. The Olympic games at Stockholm in July were won by the American contestants, who gained 128 points; Sweden was second with 104 points; and Great Britain came in third with 66 points.

It was natural that President Taft, realizing that many of his most important policies were in an incomplete state, should desire a reëlection. He laid his plans to this end with long foresight, and, early in 1912, had succeeded in having most of the Southern States call their conventions for the purpose of choosing delegates to the National convention. As time went on, a few other delegates favoring the President's reëlection were selected by the new system of Presidential primaries in vogue in many States a plan

a plan designed to give voters of every party an opportunity to send to the National convention delegates who should support for nomination the man designated by the majority of the respective party voters in the State. But the " preference primary "system did not always work out to the President's liking, and it is necessary to go back a little to find the reason.

As soon as ex-President Roosevelt landed in this country on June 18,

1910, after his African and European travels, although he disavowed all intention of reëntering politics, the public shrewdly forecast his homecoming as a “return from Elba." Curiosity and interest had not long to wait, for in October he made a tour of the country advocating the " New Nationalism," by which he meant increased concentration of power in the Federal Government and the hand of the Executive; and in the elections of that year, especially in New York State, he took an active part. During the succeeding year and the first part of 1912 he formulated many doctrines, more or less radical, under New Nationalism in his "Osawatomie speech," the culmination of his progressivism appearing in the "Columbus speech" before the Ohio Constitutional Convention in February of 1912, where he openly advocated the "recall of judges " and other startling innovations. It was evident from the first that he intended to take advantage of the Progressive movement in the Republican party to become its sponsor and leader. He had long ago broken with the President as too conservative and "reactionary,' charging him with having proved false to "Roosevelt policies "; and when, about the time of the Columbus speech, the governors of seven States addressed him in a joint letter asking if he would allow his name to be used as a candidate for the Presidency, he expressed his entire willingness to do so. Then came