What did he do while he was President?  What laws were passed by Congress, which he advocated or urged, and which he approved by his signature?  Here are some of them as they are given by Mr. Washburn, [Footnote:  Washburn, “Theodore Roosevelt,” p. 128.] a Congressman of that time: 

The Elkins Anti-Rebate Law, to end unjust business dealings of the railroads.

The creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor.

The law for building the Panama Canal.

The laws to prevent impure and poisonous food being sold under false labels; and the law to establish the proper inspection of meat.

The creation of the Bureau of Immigration.

The law limiting the working hours of employees and protecting them in case of injury in their occupations.

The law against child-labor in the District of Columbia.

The reformation of the Consular Service.

The law to stop corporations from giving great sums of money for political purposes at election time.

You will notice that these were not laws to enable a few rich men to get richer still at the expense of the many; neither were they designed to help dishonest labor leaders to plunder the employers.  They were aimed to bring about justice between man and man, to protect the weak.

There was, when Mr. Roosevelt became President, a long standing dispute between this country and England and Canada about the boundary of Alaska.  This was quickly settled by arbitration; our rights were secured; and all possible causes of war were removed.

The South American country, Colombia, made an attempt to block the building of the Panama Canal.  This canal had been planned to run through the State of Panama, which was part of the Republic of Colombia.  It was a part of that country, however, separated by fifteen days’ journey from the capital city, Bogota, and so separated in friendship from the rest of the country that it had made over fifty attempts in fifty years to revolt and gain independence.  Our State Department, through Mr. Hay, had come to an understanding with the Minister from Colombia as to the canal, and the amount we were to pay Colombia for the privilege of building this important waterway, for the benefit of the whole world.

But the Colombian Government at that time were a slippery lot,—­ dealing with them, said President Roosevelt, “was like trying to nail currant jelly to a wall.”  It struck them that they would do well to squeeze more money yet out of Uncle Sam, and that they might by twisting and turning, get forty million dollars as easily as ten millions.  So they delayed and quibbled.

In the meantime, the people of Panama, not wishing to lose the advantage of the canal, and desiring greatly to take any opportunity to free themselves from the Colombians who had plundered them for years, declared a revolution, which took place without bloodshed.  Colombian troops, coming to try to reconquer Panama, were forbidden to land by our ships, acting under President Roosevelt’s orders.  We were under treaty agreement to preserve order on the Isthmus.  Our Government recognized the new Republic of Panama, an act which was promptly followed by all the nations of the earth.  We then opened negotiations with Panama, paid the money to her, and built the Canal.