The new Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, was a popular figure from the War. President McKinley again had defeated William Jennings Bryan, but the campaign issue was American expansionism overseas. Chief Justice Melville Fuller administered the oath of office on a covered platform erected in front of the East Portico of the Capitol. The parade featured soldiers from the campaigns in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. An inaugural ball was held that evening in the Pension Building.
None exists now.
Then our Treasury receipts were inadequate to meet the current obligations of the Government. Now they are sufficient for all public needs, and we have a surplus instead of a deficit. Then I felt constrained to convene the Congress in extraordinary session to devise revenues to pay the ordinary expenses of the Government. Then there was deep solicitude because of the long depression in our manufacturing, mining, agricultural, and mercantile industries and the consequent distress of our laboring population. Now every avenue of production is crowded with activity, labor is well employed, and American products find good markets at home and abroad.