ncisco had
rescinded their discriminatory school decree.

The incident is eminently typical of Roosevelt's principles and
practice: to accord full measure of justice while demanding full measure
in return; to be content with the fact without care for the formality;
to see quickly, to look far, and to act boldly.

It had a sequel which rounded out the story. The President's ready
willingness to compel California to do justice to the Japanese was
misinterpreted in Japan as timidity. Certain chauvinistic elements in
Japan began to have thoughts which were in danger of becoming inimical
to the best interests of the United States. It seemed to President
Roosevelt an opportune moment, for many reasons, to send the American
battle fleet on a voyage around the world. The project was frowned on
in this country and viewed with doubt in other parts of the world. Many
said the thing could not be done, for no navy in the world had yet done
it; but Roosevelt knew that it could. European observers believed
that it would lead to war with Japan; but Roosevelt's conviction was
precisely the opposite. In his own words, "I did not expect it;... I
believed that Japan would feel as friendly in the matter as we did;
but... if my expectations had proved mistaken, it would have been proof
positive that we were going to be attacked anyhow, and... in such
event it would have been an enormous gain to have had the three months'
preliminary preparation which enabled the fleet to start perfectly
equipped. In a personal interview before they left, I had explained
to the officers in command that I believed the trip would be one of
absolute peace, but that they were to take exactly the same precautions
against sudden attack of any kind as if we were at war with all the
nations of the earth; and that no excuse of any kind would be accepted
if there were a sudden attack of any kind and we were taken unawares."
Prominent inhabitants and newspapers of the Atlantic coast were deeply
concerned over the taking away of the fleet from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. The head of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, who hailed
from the State of Maine, declared that the fleet should not and could
not go because Congress would refuse to appropriate the money; Roosevelt
announced in response that he had enough money to take the fleet
around into the Pacific anyhow, that it would certainly go, and that if
Congress did not choose to appropriate enough money to bring th