Durango semi-weekly herald., 1906-11-22
WORLD IS GETTING SMALLER.

WOHLC 10 0E INV 0iUNLh@'t
Although President Roosevelt Will
be outside OF the territorial boundar-
les OF the United States for week
or more while on his trip to Panama,
he will be In closer communication
with the nations capital than were
his earlier predecessors while on
their jaunts through the country The
man who set the fashion for presi-
dental tours was the country's first
president. Immediately after the
close of the first session OF the first
congress under the constitution,
George Washington set out on Jour
ney through part of New England.
That was in the fall of 1888. New
York was then the seat OF govern
ment of the United States, and II re-
muiped SO for year longer, when II
was removed to Philadelphia, from
which point 1t was transferred to the
permanent capital in Washington IN
1900. When President Washington,
on that tour, was having his talk in
Boston with John Hancock, the gov
ernor of Massachusetts-the same
John Hancock whose signature on the
declaration of independence, accord
ing to Ben Franklin, could be seen
by George III. all the way across the
Atlantic without putting on his spec
tacles-he was farther away from
New York, In time of communication,
than President Roosevelt Will be, n
few days hence, when he is being
banuueted by President Amador at
the capital of the republic OF Pan
anna.
Wireless, submarine and land teleg-
raphy will keep President Roosevelt
constantly in touch with affairs in
the United States and with the entire
world. Many kilograms from him by
the wireless and the wire routes have
been received since he made his start
for the isthmus three days ago. Many
communications have been sent from
Washington to him. His whereabouts
while on the ocean on the outward
run have been known at every hour
of the day by his representatives at
the national capital. He Is Informed
from time to time of matters which
his private secretary at the White
House thinks may be of immediate
interest to him. In these days, be-
tween the election and the meeting
of congress, there is less for the pres
ident to do in Washington than there
has been ct any previous time for
many months, and the occasion Is IA
yorable for his absence. His message
has been written. so report says, so
that all the changes which may be
necessitated by events between now
and the opening of the session three
weeks from tomorrow will probably
be those which may be suggested by
his personal investigation Of condl-
tions at the isthmus. Root, Taft,
Shaw, Hitchcock and the rest of the
members of the official family are on
duty at Washington, and will attend
to most of the matters of immediate
concern during the trip, but 1t has
been arranged that everything which
needs his personal attention shall be
submitted to the president at once.
Thus, while at Panama, Porto Rico or
the other localities which he will visit
on his three weeks trip, the presi-
dent will be in supervision of the ex-
ecutive affairs almost as directly and
absolutely as he was while at his desk
in the White House.
In these days of telegraphy and
swift steam transit on land and sea
nobody can lose himself for many
days or hours at a time. Marconi has
made 1t possible for the traveller
across the Atlantic to keep in con-
stant communication with the United
States and Europe, and thus with the
entire world. The globe has shrunk
to very small dimensions in the past
century or two. When Lewis and
Clark were on their exploring trip
from st. Louis to the mouth of the
Columbia n hundred years ago they
were lost to the country during the
greater part of their tour. For more
than year no tidings from them
reached the region east of the Mis-
souri, river. Magellan, Drake and the
rest of the early globe-girdlers were
three years in making the circuit. BY
land and water today the trip can be
made in much less than three months
By telegraph, messages can be sent
around 1t in less than three minutes.
We will soon be able to talk by tele-
phone with the the antipodes. Amer
lea. Japan, Patagonia and Russia are
near neighbors. A few weeks ago
Peary came within 200 miles of reach.
Ing the North Pole. Peary or some
body else will touch II within a few
years or decades. No hermits or her.
init nations are possible in this draw.
ing together OF the four corners OF
the globe, in which every individual
and every people are constantly In
the sunlight. For every inhabitant of
the earth the resources of civiliza.
tion" have abolished latitude and lon
gitude. At every point on the presl.
dents trip, on sea and on land, all
the earth's parallels and meridians
VIII -Globe-Democrat.
The Denver papers are never at a
loss for red ink sensations