President Roosevelt

     For the fifth time in the history of the United States the death of a President in office has resulted in the elevation of a Vice-President to the chief magistracy. As we said last week, however, when the shadow of the coming bereavement lay heavy upon all hearts, there never was a period when a change in the personnel of the chief magistracy boded so little alteration in the policy of the government, and, perhaps, it may not be out of place to say that none of those who filled out the unfinished term of a predecessor in the past carried such promise to the discharge of their new duties as that which attends the elevation of President Roosevelt. His, the latest succession of this kind in our history, furnishes, indeed, a most striking contrast to the earliest one. Tyler’s succession to Harrison was marked by so great a change in policy that a cabinet which began under the leadership of Daniel Webster ended under that of John C. Calhoun. President Roosevelt has declared his intention to carry out the policy of Mr. McKinley, and has, it is understood, requested the members of the cabinet to retain their portfolios until the conclusion of the existing presidential term.
     President Roosevelt is the youngest man who has ever held his high office. He has not had the long experience in the national legislature which his lamented predecessor enjoyed, but he has served as a state legislator, as a national civil service commissioner, as president of the board of police commissioners in New York city [sic], as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and as governor of New York state. In addition, he served with distinction in the war with Spain, from which he returned with the commission of colonel of volunteers. His course in office has been marked by an ability that has met all requirements, by high and earnest purpose and by a moral enthusiasm which has made him the most conspicuous figure among the younger statesmen of the republic. His education and early associations were of a kind which might have fostered in him a certain exclusiveness of habit and temper, but he has studied men at first hand and has mingled with all sorts and conditions of humanity, and no man can be said to have readier or less restricted sympathies. There are those who have regarded Mr. Roosevelt as somewhat lacking in conservatism, but the acts and declarations of the new President since his accession have been of a nature to show the essential unsoundness of such a view of his energetic character.
     It will not have escaped attention that his first statement after taking the oath of office was a declaration of his intention “to continue absolutely unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace, prosperity and honor of the country.” This statement he has since emphasized by his invitation to the members of the cabinet to continue in service until the conclusion of his term. Moreover, he has declared in addition that he will regard the speech of President McKinley at Buffalo as outlining the policy to be followed out by him. Among the features of that policy, as he understands it, are more liberal and extensive reciprocity tariffs, so that the overproduction of this country can be satisfactorily disposed of by fair and equitable arrangements with foreign countries; the abolition of such tariffs on foreign goods as are no longer needed for revenue, if such abolition can be had without harm to American industries and labor; the establishment of direct commercial lines to Central and South America; the encouragement of the merchant marine and the building of ships which shall carry the American flag and be owned and controlled by Americans; the building of an isthmian canal, so as to give direct water communication between the two oceans; the construction of a cable, owned by the government, connecting the mainland of the United States with the possessions in the Pacific; the use of conciliatory methods of arbitration in all disputes with foreign nations, so as to avoid armed strife, and the protection of the savings of the people in banks and in other forms of investment by the preservation of the commercial prosperity of the country, and by placing in positions of trust men of the highest integrity only. The President’s course, it will be seen, is not set toward unpathed waters. Differences, doubtless, will arise in regard to the working out of these policies in the future. For the present every patriotic citizen will feel it to be his duty to hold up the hands of the new executive, so that the supremacy of the law may be maintained and that order may prevail and confidence be strengthened wherever the flag of the republic floats.