,
when Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office, the presidency passed
to a new generation and a leader of a new type recalling, if comparisons
must be made, Andrew Jackson rather than any Republican predecessor.
Roosevelt was brusque, hearty, restless, and fond of action--"a young
fellow of infinite dash and originality," as John Hay remarked of him;
combining the spirit of his old college, Harvard, with the breezy
freedom of the plains; interested in everything--a new species of game,
a new book, a diplomatic riddle, or a novel theory of history or
biology. Though only forty-three years old he was well versed in the art
of practical politics. Coming upon the political scene in the early
eighties, he had associated himself with the reformers in the Republican
party; but he was no Mugwump. From the first he vehemently preached the
doctrine of party loyalty; if beaten in the convention, he voted the
straight ticket in the election. For twenty years he adhered to this
rule and during a considerable portion of that period he held office as
a spokesman of his party. He served in the New York legislature, as head
of the metropolitan police force, as federal civil service commissioner
under President Harrison, as assistant secretary of the navy under
President McKinley, and as governor of the Empire state. Political
managers of the old school spoke of him as "brilliant but erratic"; they
soon found him equal to the shrewdest in negotiation and action.

[Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y._

ROOSEVELT TALKING TO THE ENGINEER OF A RAILROAD TRAIN]

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

=The Panama Canal.=--The most important foreign question confronting
President Roosevelt on the day of his inauguration, that of the Panama
Canal, was a heritage from his predecessor. The idea of a water route
across the isthmus, long a dream of navigators, had become a living
issue after the historic voyage of the battleship _Oregon_ around South
America during the Spanish War. But before the United States could act
it had to undo the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, made with Great Britain in
1850, providing for the construction of the canal under joint
supervision. This was finally effected by the Hay-Pauncefote treaty of
1901 authorizing the United States to proceed alone, on condition that
there should be no discriminations against other nations in the matter
of rates and charges.

This accomplished, it was necessary to decide just where the