The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-06-19

ders" (First Regiment of United
States Volunteer Cavalry IS a matter
of history and is yet, fresh in the
memory of the people Plainsmen,
mountaineers and millionaires were
afiame over its organization and from
the East TO the West the flower of
the country sought enlistment in its
ranks.
Though he was at first offered the
command of this body of horse, he
insisted that Leonard Wood be made
Colonel and contented himself with
the observation-disclosures office. He was
sworn in as lieutenant colonel on May
+, 1898, and from May 9 to 10. the
Rough Riders organized at San Anto-
rio, Texas.
They left San Antonio on May 18th,
arriving at Tampa, Florida. on June 3.
On June % they arrived on Cuban soil
and on the cath of that month their
first engagement took place, the fight
at Las Guiasimas.
The Rough Riders were easily the
most spectacular regiment in the Gu
ban field. Their doings and sayings
lent themselves to the descriptive fac
ulties of the war correspondents and
n short time their names was up
On every lip and their fame had spread
throughout the United States.
Then came the battle of San Juan
and Roosevelt's gallant leadership dur
ing that ARRAY There has been some
little criticism of this affair but a
sreat deal more praise. At the time of
his charge, July 2, 1898, however, there
were nothing but encomiums for the
man who waited for orders that came
not and finally headed the advance
that sewpt over Kettle Hill and then
up the slope of San Juan, under a gall
ing fire.
The war over, the Rough Riders re-
turned to the United States on August
Is, 1898. landingat Yontauk Point.
They We're greeted ~ the heroes of
the campaish aid Roosevelt. their lea
der, was hailed as a popular idol. On
September q of/the same year he
was nominatek for governor of New
York state oh7the Republican ticket,
and in ths-efecrion in November he
OF Office was one of the most memora-
bic in the annals of tke state Republi-
can party. IEsiYweeks after his in
auguration hS<was the recognized mas
ter of the political situation. During
his term of office he advocated the
franchise tax bill measure that won
him much enmity among politicians
and set afoot plan to bury" him in
the vice presidency of the United
States. Roosevelt saw through this
ruse and time and again announced
that under no circumstances" would
he accept the office. In the National
convention hall in 1900, however, pop
ular sentiment proved too strong and
he was given the second position on
the Republican ticket by reclamation.
The assassination of President McKin-
ley followed on September 6, 1901,
end Roosevelt, the man who was sup
posed to be politically buried, stepped
into the chair of the Chief Executive
of the United States.
There has been both criticism and
praise for the two Roosevelt admins
trations. But there can be no doubt of
his cogent generalship of a difficult
political situation.
Hardly had he taken his seat as
President at the White House, when
the coal strike threatened the welfare
OF the country. Roosevelt inaugurated
an arbitration commission that finally
succeeded in settling that industrial
revolt on October Is, 1902.
10
Roosevelt administration was the clar-
ihcation of the railroad situation
through the passage, in the Fifty-Sev-
enth Congress, of the Hepburn rate
law. Other railroad legislation under
the Roosevelt regime was the safety
appliance law, the employers liability
law and the law limiting the hours of
labor of railroad employees.
His prosecution of the Northern Sc
curities Company was another act that
brcnght wide publicity and attention
to his administration. In this prosecu-
ton the bitterest vituperations we're
vented against Roosevelt by men of
wealth throughout the country. They
claimed that his endeavor to dissolve
the great holding company was blow
at financial safety of the nation" The
Supreme Court upheld the govern
ments' action, however, and the pros
ecution fthis case has since come
10 be viewed as one of the greatest
achievements of the Roosevelt tenure
OF Office.
The Hay-Herran Treaty, which made
the Panama canal possible of construc-