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MARCH 10, 1305
The Commoner.
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The Inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt 5
Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of offlco
March 4, before a vast gathering of people. The
Associated Press report says:
The attendant scene3 were not unusual. In
augurations from the time the east front of tho
capitol first became the setting for the ceremony
have been much the same. Many of the central
figures have officiated in like capacity on other oc
casions when presidents have acceded to tho
highest office in the gift of the American people.
"Chief Justice Fuller, in administering the
oath, repeated a solemn function he has performed
four times today his last. Yet, with all this repe
tition, nothing was jaded and everything appeared
new.
"The great crowd assembled for the crowning
event of a day full of features can not be estimated
even by comparison. It extended far beyond the
reach of the voice and was so densely packed as to
carry the stage out of the sight of many. -The
capitol plaza, resourceful in accommodating tho
thousands eager to view the ceremony, was com
pietely filled.
"Hours before the ceremony could be expected
to take place the people sought the most advan
tageous positions.
-"Although the ceremony differed little from
those that have preceded it, in the great sea of
spectators probably there was a larger number
of representative Americans than any inaugura
tion has brought to Washington. The eastern,
states were rivalled in point of attendance by rea
son of President Roosevelt's great popularity in
the middle and far west Delegations were pres
ent from every one of the insular possessions.
Many of them had never seen the capitol and, to
a large number, the inauguration of a president
was wholly strange.
"The rendezvousing of the troops, committees
and civic societies entertained the crowd through
out the long wait incident to the schedule.
"As rapidly as the troops arrived they took the
position assigned them. The military escort
strotohed far to the left and consisted of all
branches of the service, horse, foot and artillery.
To the right were grouped division after division
of state troops and in different places of honor
the other organizations took their stand to await
the signal to move.
"The stand was of symmetrical architectural
proportions, on a different plan from those used
( in former years. For this occasion it had been
built in the, form of a semi-circle inclining to a
level platfprm on which was placed a pavilion for
the presiderit'3 personal use. The ampitheater
accommodated nearly 7,000 persons.
"Jutting out from the main entrance the plat
form, with its decorations of flags, bunting, palms
and flowers,' was in brilliant contrast to the naked
purity of the stately capitol, on which, by act of
congress no decorative draping is permitted.
"Some t.me before the beginning of the inau
gural tcerempny several thousand persons holding
tickets entitling them to seats on the stand began
to take th,eir places. By 12 o'clock the human
garden, wh).ch had flourished in the senate and
house galleries, was transplanted to the open air
ampitheater
"At about 1 o'clock the official party came
through the mjiin door, Cheers were sent up
from the enthusiastic multitude, and all eyes were
directed that way and strained to get the first
glimpse of the president.
"The official entrance wa3 dramatic. All ex
cept those "who were participating in the ceremony
were seated. When the justices of the supreme
court, with the exception of Chief Justice Ful4er,
emerged from between the Corinthian pillars and
marched down the sloping carpeted aisle to their
station they were greeted with applause. Tho
justices wore their robes and skull caps. Then
came the members of the diplomatic corps in
their gorgeous uniforms, and they evoked thun
derous applause. Led by Count Cassini, the Rus
sian ambassador and dean of the corps, and fol
lowed by tho others in order of precedence, they
took seats on the right of tho stand. Strolling in
after them were members of tho cabinet, senators
and representatives in congress.
"Taking as a signal the arrival of Mrs. Roose
velt and a party of friends and a moment later of
Vice President Fairbanks and his escort, the ap
plause subsided to await the coming or tne man
of the hour. .Suddenly the crowd on tho stand
began to cheer. This was taken up by those im
mediately in front of tho platform. The military
presented arms, the committees uncovered and
soon the great sea of people was waving hat's and
flags and shouting Itself hoarse.
President Roosevelt came forth from between
the massive pillars quietly and composedly. Ho
was escorted by Chief Justice Fuller.
"As the president passed down the aisle he
bared his head and, with a characteristic sweep
of his hat, bowed in acknowledgment of the salu
tations from the stand and the ovation from the
people.
"At a sign from Chief Justice Fuller the clerk
of the supreme court stepped forward, holding a
Bible. A hush fell over the crowd. The president
raised his right hand and the oath to support the
laws and the constitution of the United States was
taken.
When this had been concluded there was prac
tically no demonstration and the president began
his inaugural address. A3 soon as he finished
speaking he. re-entered the capitol and, as he dis
appeared within the building, a 3ignal was flashed
to the navy yard and the roar of twenty-one
guns was begun In official salute to the president."
Mr. Roosevelt's inaugural address was as fol
lows: "My Fellow Citizens: No people on earth have
more cause' to be thankful than ours, and this is
said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our
own strength, but with gratitude to the Giver of
Good, who has blessed us with the conditions which
have enabled us to achieve so large a measure
of well being and of happiness.
"To us as a people It has been granted to lay
the foundations of our national life in a new con
tinent. We are the heirs of the ages, and yet
we have had to pay few of the penalties which in
old countries are exacted by the dead hand of a
bygone civilization. We have not been obliged to
fight for our existence against any alien race; and
yet our life has called for the vigor and effort
without which the manlier and hardier virtues
wither away. Under such conditions it would be
our own fault if we failed; and the success which
we confidently believe the future will bring, should
cause in us no feeling of vainglory, but rather
a deep and abiding realization of all which life
has offered us; a full acknowledgment of respon
sibility which is ours; and a fixed determination
to show that under a free government a mighty
people can thrive best, alike as regards as the
things of the body and the things of the soul.
"Much has been given to us, and much will
rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to
others, and duties to ourselves; and we can shirk
neither. We haye become a great nation, forced
by the fact of its greatness into relations with
tho other nations of the earth; and we must be
have as beseems a people with such responsibilities.
"Toward all other nations, large and small, our
attitude must be one of cordial and sincere friend
ship. We must 3how not only in our words, but
in our deeds that wo are earnestly desirous of
securing their good will by acting toward them
in a spirit of just and generous recognition of all
their rights. But justice and generosity in a na
tion, as In an Individual, count most when shown,
not by tho weak, but by tho strong. While ever
careful to refrain from wronging othera wo must
be less insistent that wo arc not wronged our
selves. Wo' wish peace; but wo wish the pcaco of
justice, the peace of righteousness. We wish It
because we think it is right and not because we
are afraid. No weak nation that acts manfully
and justly should ever have cause to fear us, and
no stronger power should ever be able to singlo
us out us a subject for Insolent aggression.
"Our relations with the other powers of the
world are important; but still more Important aro
our relations among ourselves. Such growth In
wealth, In population and in power as this nation
has seen during the century and a quarter or its
national life Is inevitably accompanied by a like
growth in the problems which aro ever before
every nation that rises to greatness. Power In
variably means both responsibility and danger.
Our forefathers faced certain perils, which wo
havo outgrown.
We now face other perils the very existence
of which It was impossible that they should for
sco. Modern life is both complex and intense, and
tho tremendous changes wrought by the extra
ordinary industrial development of the last half
century are felt In every fibre of our social and
political being.
Never before have men tried so vast and formi
dable an experiment as that of administering tho
affairs of a continent under the forms of a demo
cratic republic.
Tho conditions which have told for our mar
velous material well being, which have developed
to a very high degree our energy, self-reliance and
individual Initiative have also brought tho caro
and anxiety inseparable from the accumulation of
great wealth In Industrial centers. Upon the suc
cess of our experiment much depends; not only as
regards our own welfare, but as rpgards tho
welfare of mankind. If we fall the cause of
free self-government throughout the world will
Tock to its foundations; and therefore our respon
sibility is heavy to ourselves, to tho world as it
is today and to tho-generations yet unborn. There
is no good reason why wo should fear the future,
but there is every reason why we should face it
seriously, neither hiding from ourselves the grav
ity of the problems before us nor fearing to ap
proach these problems with tho unbending, un
flinching purpose to solve them aright.
Yet, after all, though the problems are new,
though the tasks set before us differ from the tasks
set before our fathers, who founded and preserved
this republic, the spirit in which these tasks must
be undertaken and these problems faced, if our
duty is to bo well done, remains essentially un
changed. Wo know that self-government is diffi
cult. We know that no people needs such high
traits of character as that people which seeks to
govern its affairs aright through the freely ex
pressed will of the freemen who compose it. But
we havo faith that we shall not prove false to the
memories of the men of the mighty past. They
did their work, they left us the splendid heritage
wo now enjoy. We In our turn have an assured
confidence that we shall be able to leave this her
itage unwasted and enlarged to our children and
our children's children. To do so we must show,
not merely In great crises, but In the everyday
affairs of life, the qualities of practical intelligence,
of courage, of hardihood and endurance, and above
all the power of devotion to a lofty ideal, which
made great tho men who founded this republic
in the days of Washington, which made great the
men who preserved this republic in the days of
Abraham Lincoln.
Mr Garfield Makes His Report of the Beef Trust Investigation
On March 3 President Roosevelt
transmitted to congress the report of
Mr. Garfield, who has been investigat
ing tho beef. trust. The report is long
and detailed, ,and a summary thereof
follows: ' , r
. The reppj.-Js to the effect that six
packing conpapies Armour & Co.,
Swift & GoiEocris & Co.,. the. .National
Packing Co., the Schwarzschild & Sulz
berger Co., and the Cudahy Packing
Co.-slaughtered in the year 1903 about
45 per cent of the total indicated
slaughter in the United States; that
the Average net profit in 1903 for three
of the companies was 99 cents per
, i. fw 1ia vear 1902, instead of
being one of exorbitant - profits, was
less profitable than usual; that during
the month when prices of beef were
the highest, some, at least, of the lead
ing packers, were actually losing money
on every head slaughtered. The
changes in the margin between prices
of cattle and beef are in themselves
no indications whatever of the change
in profits,- says the report. Prices ''arid1.
conditions for the years 1902, 1903 and
1904 are reviewed, and the conclusions
are stated that the six companies espec
ially discussed are apparently not
over-capitalized; that the percentage of
profit on the gross volume of business
is comparatively small, and that during
the years 1902, 1903 and 1904 Swift &
:' (Continued on page 13.)' -
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