Chapter XI: Part 11

The land forces in Cuba were under the command of General Shafter. They stormed El Caney and San Juan and marched on Santiago. But the "Rough Riders," a regiment raised from the mountains and plains, attracted the most attention. Colonel Leonard Wood had command of them, aided by Theodore Roosevelt. When Wood was made a general, Roosevelt became their colonel, and fought through the war with them.

[Sidenote: =Spanish fleet in Santiago Harbor=]

A large fleet sent from Spain under Admiral Cervera had kept out of the way of the American fleet under Rear-Admiral Sampson and Commodore Schley and was now hidden in Santiago Harbor. When the Americans captured El Caney and San Juan, the Spanish admiral decided that Santiago would soon be in American hands. To escape being taken prisoner he made a bold dash from the harbor.

[Sidenote: =Cervera's fleet destroyed=]

The American naval forces were on the watch, and soon the entire Spanish fleet was destroyed or captured--July 3, 1898.

[Sidenote: =Treaty of peace signed=]

The occupation by the Americans of the city of Manila, in the Philippines, in August (1898), brought peace proposals from Spain. These were accepted, the treaty being signed on the tenth of December.

[Sidenote: =The Philippines bought for twenty million dollars=]

This war was fought for the sake of humanity and freedom and not for gain or glory. The United States had taken the side of an oppressed people struggling for independence but she did not claim these countries as the spoils of war. She paid Spain twenty million dollars in gold for the Philippines, and at once set to work to establish schools, build good roads, help the farmers, and improve living conditions by making the government more stable and humane.

[Sidenote: =Hawaiian Islands annexed=]

It had long been felt, especially by the people of the Pacific States, that for both commercial and military reasons the Hawaiian Islands should belong to us. These islands--eight in all--were annexed in 1898.

[Sidenote: =Cuba a republic=]

[Sidenote: =Conditions in Cuba greatly improved=]

[Sidenote: =United States a world power=]

Steps were taken at once to give the people of Cuba a government of their own. The island was made a republic. The constitution, drawn up somewhat like our own, was adopted by the people of Cuba, February 21, 1902. The United States did much to help the people before it withdrew from the island in 1902 and left the Cubans to rule themselves. Conditions have rapidly improved. In 1894, under Spanish rule, there were only about 900 public schools, and, even including the 700 private schools, only about 60,000 pupils were on the rolls. Six years later, under American rule, there were 3,550 public schools, with 172,000 pupils enrolled. By the conduct of their government the Cubans are justifying the confidence the American people had in them.

As a result of the war Guam and Porto Rico also became American possessions. This was the beginning of American territorial expansion. The United States took its place among the great world powers, and has since played an important part in the affairs of nations.

[Sidenote: =McKinley shot by an anarchist in 1901=]

=184. McKinley Assassinated.= President McKinley did not live to see the results of self-government in Cuba. Shortly after his election to a second term as president, he was shot by an anarchist, while the guest of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo in September, 1901. After a week of patient suffering, watched with painful anxiety by the people, William McKinley, our third martyr president, passed away.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

=The Leading Facts.= _1._ William McKinley was born in Ohio. _2._
He went to college at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and afterwards
taught school. _3._ Enlisted as a private in 1861 and won praise
and promotion for bravery in fighting for the Union. _4._ After the
war he studied law and opened an office in Canton, Ohio. _5._ Was
a good speaker and was sent to Congress at Washington for seven
terms. _6._ Twice governor of Ohio, he was elected president of
the United States in 1896. _7._ The Cubans had revolted many times
against Spanish oppression and now rose again. _8._ The Americans
sympathized with the suffering Cubans; Congress voted fifty
thousand dollars for relief work. _9._ The United States battleship
_Maine_ blown up in Havana Harbor. _10._ Spain declared war against
the United States. _11._ Admiral George Dewey destroyed the Spanish
fleet at Manila in the Philippine Islands. _12._ American forces,
among them the Rough Riders, attacked the Spanish in Cuba. _13._
American fleet destroyed the Spanish fleet at Santiago. _14._ Peace
proposals came from Spain and the treaty of peace was signed in
December, 1898. _15._ The United States bought the Philippines
from Spain, the Hawaiian Islands were annexed, and Cuba became
a republic. _16._ Guam and Porto Rico also became American
possessions. _17._ Conditions in former Spanish possessions greatly
improved. _18._ McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist while
he was the guest of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, in
September, 1901 and died soon after.

=Study Questions.= _1._ Describe McKinley's boyhood surroundings
and what he liked to do. _2._ What made him fall ill? _3._ How did
he answer Lincoln's call for troops? _4._ What effect did army life
have on his health? _5._ What did he do after the war? _6._ To
what public office was he elected? _7._ Why did the Cubans revolt
against Spain? _8._ How did the Spaniards attempt to crush the
revolt? _9._ What did the Americans do to relieve the suffering
of the Cubans? _10._ What did they want to do? _11._ How did the
sinking of the Maine affect Americans? _12._ What did the United
States demand of Spain? _13._ Describe Dewey's action at Manila.
_14._ What state led in the number of volunteers? _15._ What were
the "Rough Riders"? _16._ What happened at Santiago? _17._ What
finally brought peace proposals from Spain? _18._ Why had the war
been fought? _19._ What did the Americans do in the Philippines?
_20._ What other islands came into American possession? _21._
What happened in Cuba? _22._ When and in what city was President
McKinley assassinated?

=Suggested Readings.= Stratemeyer, _American Boy's Life of William
McKinley_; Morris, _The War with Spain_, 150-169, 180-214, 267-285;
Barrett, _Admiral George Dewey_, 55-152, 230-251; Ross, _Heroes of
Our War with Spain_.

THE MAN WHO WAS THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY

THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THE TYPICAL AMERICAN

[Sidenote: =Of Dutch descent=]

=185. Theodore Roosevelt as a Boy.= Although the son of a rich man, Roosevelt both as boy and man was most democratic. One of his forefathers, Klaes Martensen van Roosevelt, came from Holland to New York in the steerage of a sailing vessel, a most lowly way to travel. This was long ago, before Peter Stuyvesant was governor of New Netherland, as New York colony was then called.

Young Roosevelt had learned a few words of an old Dutch baby-song. When in South Africa, he pleased the Dutch settlers by repeating the few words he still remembered. The settlers still teach this song to their children, though their forefathers left Holland for that country more than two hundred and fifty years ago.

_From a photograph by Bell_]

Roosevelt's mother was a charming southern woman, who was true to the South in the Civil War; her brothers were in the Confederate Navy. One night, as she was putting the children to bed, Theodore broke out into a rather loud prayer for the Union soldiers. The mother only smiled.

[Sidenote: =Absence of sectional bitterness=]

The father stood for the Union and for Lincoln. He helped fit out regiments and cared for the widow and the orphan. But there was no quarreling in this home over these differences. What a fine example to set before children! No wonder Roosevelt could refer with pride, when a man, to the heroic deeds of the Blue and the Gray.

[Sidenote: =What the Roosevelt children did=]

Theodore was a sickly boy. Hence he was sent to a private school or had a tutor. The children spent their summers among the delights of a country home. They had all sorts of frolicsome games. They had pets: cats, dogs, rabbits, woodchucks, crows, and a Shetland pony. They ran barefoot and joined their elders in playing at haying, harvesting, and picking apples. In the fall they climbed the hickory and the chestnut trees in search of nuts. Sometimes they played "Indians," in real fashion, by painting hands and faces with pokeberry juice!

But the children thought that by far the happiest time was Christmas. Roosevelt declares that he never knew another family to have so jolly a time at that season of the year.

[Sidenote: =Praises father as model man=]

Roosevelt makes a statement I wish every boy could make: "My father was the best man I ever knew." Roosevelt, the father, did not permit his children to become selfish. Each was taught to divide his gifts--not always an easy thing for older folks to do. In this home the children were taught to avoid being cruel and to practice kindness. Idleness was forbidden. The children were kept busy doing interesting things. Neither was young Roosevelt permitted to play the coward. He was taught to face unpleasant things like a man. His father could never stand a lie, even if it were only a "white" one. There was no room in that home for the coward or the bully.

[Sidenote: =Enters Harvard=]

At fifteen, after a year or more spent in Egypt, Palestine, and Germany, Theodore came home a more enthusiastic American than ever. He now began to prepare for college. He entered Harvard in 1876. He made a good but not a brilliant student. Throughout his course he taught a mission Bible class. He would not be without something to do even on Sunday.

[Sidenote: =A boxing match=]

He graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Yet he was not a "bookworm," but fond of all college sports. He was a genuine sportsman without being "sporty," as a boxing match once proved. One day Roosevelt and another student were having a hard fight. Students crowded around. The battle was hot. Time was called. Roosevelt promptly dropped his hands, while the other fellow landed a smashing blow on Roosevelt's nose. "Foul! foul!" shouted the students. "No! He did not hear," cried Roosevelt, and warmly shook hands with the offending student. How many boys can stand a blow in the face and not get angry? Roosevelt could.

[Sidenote: =Fought hard for health=]

Roosevelt had a resolute will, and he determined to make himself stronger, so far as he could. He took boxing lessons, and became skilled in this art. He rode horseback in the chase. He took long tramps into the dark woods of Maine. In the summer he went on canoe trips, and in winter on long hikes on snowshoes.

This frail boy, through his determination, became a man noted for his ruggedness and ceaseless energy. He had a keen love of adventure. As a rancher, hunter and explorer he met constant hardship and danger. But Roosevelt welcomed it all as part of the game.

[Sidenote: =Beginnings of political life=]

=186. Enters Politics.= He joined a local Republican association in New York. His rich friends laughed at him for joining hands with saloonkeepers and "ward heelers." They would not do it, but this young democrat did. He was nominated for the assembly. He must now show his mettle. He began canvassing the saloon vote. A saloonkeeper declared his license too high. Roosevelt declared it too low; he said if elected he would make it higher. In spite of opposition he won.

Before he got through at Albany he learned that no man could be a fearless leader whose moral character was weak. Another lesson he learned was that a man must act in office as if he were never to hold another. He was elected three times to the assembly and made a name for himself in fighting bad laws and demanding good ones.

[Sidenote: =Often lived life of cowboy on ranches=]

=187. Western Life.= After this, Roosevelt spent a number of years in the great Northwest. These years added to his strength and helped him become finely developed both physically and morally. In the time he spent on the ranches of this wild region and on a Dakota ranch of his own, he lived as a cowboy. He was a young man then, and with all the enthusiasm of youth he hunted the big game of the Rockies, rode the "bucking broncho," and slept with his saddle for a pillow in the "round-up."

This life tested courage as well as endurance, but Roosevelt was equal to the test. One day a drunken fellow with pistols in his belt ordered him to treat the crowd. Roosevelt knocked him down and took his guns from him.

[Sidenote: =Law enforcement under difficulties=]

Another time a boat was stolen, and Roosevelt, with two other men, started down the river in pursuit. They caught the three thieves, but an ice jam prevented them from going farther. Through days of bitter cold the whole party followed the slowly moving jam. After while there was nothing left to eat but bread made with the brown river water. But Roosevelt was a deputy sheriff. He was determined to punish the lawbreakers.

Finally provisions and a wagon were found. Leaving his men, Roosevelt started with his prisoners on a two-days' overland trip. He had a driver, but he himself tramped through the mud with his gun, behind the wagon. At last after a one hundred and fifty mile trip, the lawbreakers were landed in jail.

[Sidenote: =Wins admiration of West=]

In this big young country where bravery and manliness meant so much, the people thought there was no one like him.

=188. Returns to Politics.= He was surprised just before he left for the east to find that he was to be nominated for mayor of New York, at the early age of twenty-eight. He was defeated.

[Sidenote: =Fights spoilsmen of all parties=]

He served as Civil Service Commissioner for four years under President Harrison and for two years under Grover Cleveland, a Democrat. He was not head of the commissioners, but he worked so hard and fought the "spoilsman" so boldly that everybody called it Roosevelt's Commission. He had to fight Republicans and Democrats alike, for they were bent on turning all men out of office simply because the positions were needed for their party workers.

[Sidenote: =Roosevelt and the children of the tenement=]

In 1895 Roosevelt was appointed police commissioner for New York City. As head of the Police Board he was on the Health Board, too. He took special delight in looking after playgrounds for the children of the slums. He was aided by Jacob Riis, who wrote _How the Other Half Lives_. Roosevelt's idea was to take children from the streets and put them in playgrounds to prevent them from becoming "toughs." A Washington city editor said, "Roosevelt is the biggest man in New York City. I saw a steady stream of people go up and down the stairs which led to police headquarters. He has more visitors than the President." The truth is, as police commissioner for all New York he was commander-in-chief of an army.

[Sidenote: =Merit system for police=]

A policeman before could not get promoted without a "pull." But Roosevelt changed this. A Civil War veteran who had served for a long time as a policeman and had no "influence" rescued twenty-eight men and women from drowning. Congress had given him two medals, but New York City did nothing. Roosevelt came. The veteran, one night, plunged into the icy river and rescued a woman. Roosevelt showed his appreciation by promoting him. Every man on the force did his best now, for he knew promotion would come.

[Sidenote: =Builds up United States Navy=]

Roosevelt was called to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy, under President McKinley. He built up the navy and sent Dewey with the fleet to the Pacific. The war with Spain came (1898). Roosevelt resigned from his office, raised the Rough Riders, and took command with Colonel Wood.

=189. Congress Orders Medal.= For bravery in leading the Rough Riders in a gallant charge up San Juan Hill in the face of a murderous fire he was promoted, and a medal was ordered for him.

He went back to New York with his Rough Riders. They fairly worshiped him. "He knows everybody in the regiment," said one. "He is as ready to listen to a private as a major-general," said another. The boys presented him with a statue of the "Broncho Buster." Tears ran down the sun-tanned faces as a comrade made a touching speech. Roosevelt now was a real hero.

[Sidenote: =Defies bosses as governor=]

On his return from war he was elected governor of New York. He told the leaders of his party that he would be controlled by no man or set of men. He said that he would gladly talk with all classes of men, but must be permitted to make up his own mind. This was plain talk for the "bosses." "He just plays the honesty game," said a Tammany politician.

[Sidenote: =National recognition of his work=]

But he had the same old battles as in the days when he was a young man in the assembly. He tried to run the government of the state in a businesslike manner, and his fight for cleaner politics was so determined that it caught the interest of the entire country.

[Sidenote: =Becomes Vice-President=]

After two years he was nominated for the vice-presidency. The New York "bosses" were glad because they knew that as president of the Senate he could do very little to disturb them. But he had set a good example, and the great man who brought notice of his nomination said, "There is not a young man in the United States who has not found your life and influence an incentive to better things and higher ideals."

He made a whirlwind campaign. He spoke for eight weeks, in twenty-four states, traveling more than twenty thousand miles, making nearly seven hundred speeches to three million citizens.

[Sidenote: =Succeeds McKinley=]

In just six months President McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became President.

[Sidenote: =How he had risen to high office=]

=190. At Height of Ambition.= The young man who had made himself strong, who cherished the memory of his father and mother, who had taught the mission class while in college, who had joined the Republican Club against the advice of his friends, who had fought against spoilsmen in state and national politics, who battled for the right of children to a breathing place in New York City, who had led the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill, who had stood as governor of New York against wrongdoing in high as well as low places, who was made Vice-President against his will, for the good of his party, now stood at the height of political power in America.

The people loved him so well that they called him to be President a second time; and that, too, by the largest majority ever given to any President. He was the youngest President ever elected.

[Sidenote: =Square deal, his motto=]

His motto as President was "a square deal for everybody." He did many wonderful things as President: he stopped men from stealing public lands in the West; he built great dams in the dry regions to hold the water for raising crops; he established national parks containing millions of acres of woodland; he kept millions of acres of coal lands from falling into the hands of private companies; he established fifty-one national reservations where birds might nest and live protected from harm. How he did enjoy saving what nature had given men!

[Sidenote: =A great writer=]

Down to his time, Roosevelt was the most learned man ever President. He knew more subjects and knew them better than most men. He was a great writer. For a long time he thought that writing was to be his career. It turned out to be only a small part of his crowded life, yet he wrote over thirty books--more than any other President.

[Sidenote: =Roosevelt's books=]

He wrote histories, books on hunting, essays on American life and ideals, and lives of famous men. His story of his own life is well known. In his book, "The Strenuous Life," he tries to rouse other people to as active and fearless a life as he himself lived. He wrote always in vigorous, stirring language. Nearly every one agrees that Roosevelt's books alone would have made him famous.

=191. President Taft, an Advocate of Peace.= Roosevelt was President nearly two whole terms. He refused another term, and worked for the nomination of his Secretary of War, William Howard Taft.

Taft was well fitted for his new tasks as President. He had held many public offices. He had made a very wise and successful governor of the Philippines.

President Taft was deeply interested in the need of world peace. He submitted to the Senate wide-reaching treaties to uphold peace with France and Great Britain, and also a reciprocity treaty with Canada. Under this last agreement the two countries were to treat each other's trade alike, and some things were to be free of duty. The outcome was disappointing. Canada failed to accept the reciprocity treaty, and the Senate passed the British and French peace treaties only after changing them greatly.

The passage of a new tariff bill caused a sharp division among the Republicans. The tariff was much criticized; but President Taft defended it. This was one reason why, in the second half of his term, the lower house of Congress became Democratic.

[Sidenote: =New laws passed=]

A divided Congress could not easily agree on any needed laws. Yet many good laws were passed during Taft's presidency. One was a Parcel Post measure. Two others proposed constitutional amendments for the taxation of incomes, and the election of United States senators directly by the people. Two new states, New Mexico and Arizona, were admitted to the Union.

The growing differences between the two wings of the Republicans in 1912 led to the nomination of both Taft and Roosevelt. Both were defeated by Woodrow Wilson.

[Sidenote: =Taft professor at Yale=]

After he left the presidency, Mr. Taft became professor of law at Yale. But he now worked more earnestly than ever in behalf of world peace. His sincere and generous efforts in this cause won him increased influence and respect throughout the nation.

=192. Roosevelt's Active Life as Ex-President.= Roosevelt, after his defeat in 1912, started out to explore a Brazilian river. Four years before he had also made a hunting trip through the tropical wildernesses of Africa.

[Sidenote: =Explores Brazilian river=]

Now Roosevelt and his party went into a jungle where no white man had been before. They were faced with tremendous hardships of all kinds.

The trip was longer than they expected, and there was little food in the jungle. They ate palm cabbages, and were glad to find a bit of wild honey or shoot a monkey.

[Sidenote: =A hazardous voyage=]

Most of the party became ill with fever. But they scarcely dared halt. With their few provisions they were in danger of starving. Roosevelt begged the party to leave him behind, but no one would hear of it. So with his party Roosevelt pushed on to civilization, at grave risk to his life. The Brazilian government renamed the six-hundred-mile river he explored Rio Roosevelt.

[Sidenote: =In the World War=]

In the great World War, Roosevelt stood for the Allies from the first. He opposed our neutrality and our failure to get ready for the war which he saw coming.

When America declared war he begged to take an army to Europe. Although for some reason he was not sent, he did send four sons. Two of them, Theodore and Archie, were wounded, and Quentin gave his life flying and fighting inside the German lines.

In January, 1919, Theodore Roosevelt died. No other man carried the love and admiration of the boys and girls as did Roosevelt. The friendly name "Teddy" was the children's name for this great man.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Though the son of a rich man, Roosevelt
even as a boy was most democratic. _2._ In the Roosevelt home
idleness, selfishness, and cowardice were unknown. _3._ In college
Roosevelt was a good student and a genuine sportsman. _4._ In spite
of the jeers of his rich friends Roosevelt started on a political
career by joining the 21st District Republican Association of New
York City. _5._ Roosevelt was elected three times to the New York
Assembly. _6._ In 1886 he was nominated for mayor of New York City,
but he lost. _7._ In 1895 he was appointed police commissioner
for New York City. _8._ Under President McKinley he was chosen
Assistant Secretary of the Navy. _9._ During the Spanish-American
War he organized the Rough Riders and led them to victory. _10._ On
his return from war he was elected governor of New York. _11._ In
1900 he was elected Vice-President and on the death of President
McKinley six months later became President. _12._ In 1904 he was
reëlected. _13._ After he retired from the presidency he traveled
in Africa, Europe, and South America. _14._ Although nominated
for President in the campaign of 1912, he was defeated by Woodrow
Wilson. _15._ At the beginning of the World War, Roosevelt opposed
neutrality and advocated preparedness. _16._ Four of his sons took
an active part in the war. _17._ In January, 1919, Roosevelt died.
_18._ Taft had been governor of the Philippines before becoming
President. _19._ Both during his administration and afterward he
was an earnest advocate of peace.

=Study Questions.= _1._ Describe Roosevelt's boyhood. _2._ What
influence did his family life have on his character? _3._ Show
how Roosevelt's character was revealed by the boxing bout. _4._
What sort of a young man was he during his college days? _5._ What
was his first political experience and what did he learn from it?
_6._ What did Roosevelt accomplish as head of the Police Board? as
Assistant Secretary of the Navy? _7._ Explain his connection with
the Rough Riders. _8._ Tell how Roosevelt came to be President and
what he accomplished in that office. _9._ What was Roosevelt's
political nickname and why was it given to him? _10._ Relate his
activities from the time he retired from the presidency to 1914.
_11._ Tell what was his attitude toward the World War and the part
he played in it. _12._ What become of the treaties Taft supported?
_13._ Tell of some good laws passed while he was President. _14._
What did Taft do at the close of his administration?

=Suggested Readings.= ROOSEVELT: Hagedorn, _Boys' Life of Theodore
Roosevelt_; Morgan, _Theodore Roosevelt, the Boy and the Man_;
Hale, _A Week in the White House with Theodore Roosevelt_; Riis,
_Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen_.

WESTWARD EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT

THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT OF POPULATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Sidenote: =The gold seeker=]

[Sidenote: =Three routes to the Pacific coast=]

[Sidenote: =New discoveries of gold=]

=193. The New West.= We have seen how the discovery of gold in the sand near the American River over one hundred miles from San Francisco started the tremendous rush to the Pacific coast. The gold seekers went by three routes: by ship all the way around the Horn, the longest and stormiest way; by ship to Panama and beyond, a way beset by danger from fever in crossing the isthmus; and by long overland trails on which travelers suffered untold hardships from losing their way on the sandy plains or among the mountains. Many hundreds perished from sickness and hunger. In 1858, ten years later, gold was discovered near Pike's Peak; in 1859, silver was found in what is now southern Nevada. People streamed westward in ever-increasing numbers. Long lines of covered wagons, called "prairie schooners," filled with fortune seekers toiled over the plains and mountain trails. "Way stations" sprang up along the routes of travel, to supply the needs of immigrants. These supply stations soon grew into towns. Then came the discovery of gold in what is now Idaho and Montana, and in the Black Hills of the Dakotas. The westward tide of population broadened. It filled the bounds of the United States from the Dakotas to Texas; but it was the lure of gold and silver that caused all this early development.

=194. A Faster Means of Travel.= The demand for means of rapid communication with the new West became strong. It was necessary to bind the new country firmly with the old. The "pony express" and the overland stage were too risky and too slow.

[Sidenote: =California admitted as a state=]

The number of people in California was increasing steadily. In 1850, two years after the discovery of gold, California with about one hundred thousand inhabitants was admitted as a state. The Homestead Law of 1862, by which settlers could easily obtain land, brought great numbers of farmers to the western plains.

The first railway engine in the United States was built in 1830. Such engines had been in use in England for some time. The earliest railroads were very short. Seven companies owned the parts of the first line from Albany, New York to Buffalo. Now in the same number of great systems is included two-thirds of the mileage of the United States.

[Sidenote: =Rapid growth of railroads=]

On March 10, 1869, the Union Pacific Railway, the first link between the Atlantic and the Pacific, was finally completed. There were then only a few short lines besides, west of the Mississippi. It was hard to find the large amounts of capital needed for railway building. Congress and the states helped the railroads by granting them many square miles of land along their rights of way. After 1869 the miles of railroad in the United States increased over seven times in twenty years. To-day (1920) seven great railways cross the mountains to the Pacific coast.

[Sidenote: =Farming develops=]

=195. The Growth of Farming.= The railroads brought thousands of settlers into the new regions. But it was no longer to hunt for gold. It was to build homes on the rich farm lands of the West.

Miners, cattlemen, farmers, and permanent settlers crowded on the lands of the Indians. The regions occupied by the red men now became smaller and smaller. Nearly all the Indians were placed on reservations on land which the national government does not allow to pass out of their hands.

[Sidenote: =Irrigation projects aided by the government=]

The need of more and still more land brought the farmers to the dry slopes and plateaus of both sides of the Rockies. Here were vast regions which water would make productive. The government gave its support to great irrigation projects. Water was brought to the barren deserts and they became vast expanses of waving grain.

[Sidenote: =Gold becomes more difficult to get=]

In California the rich gold deposits which lay comparatively free were growing smaller. The gold seekers were no longer able to wash gold from the sands and gravel of the river beds, or to find nuggets in rocky hollows of the hillsides. They had to make a living in some other way. Vast mineral resources were still there, but they could only be reached by mining. Expensive machinery was necessary, and companies were formed to work the deposits.

[Sidenote: =California a great agricultural state=]

Then began the real development of California and the great Pacific Northwest. Up to 1875 California had been peopled with prospectors for gold. Now the output of minerals kept increasing, but the farm crops grew still faster in value until in 1920 they were worth many times the mineral output, because of the wonderful climate and the richness of the land.

[Sidenote: =The leading fruit-growing state=]

The first product to which the settler turned was wheat. California became one of the leading wheat states of the Union. Then the state discovered its great fruit-growing possibilities, and to-day it raises the largest fruit crop in the nation. People at first became almost as excited about their golden orange crops as they had been over yellow metal.

[Sidenote: =Great cities develop=]

Meanwhile great cities were springing up rapidly, and the riches of forest, mine, and stream brought unlimited prosperity and growth. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland have taken their places among the great cities of the Union.

[Sidenote: =Agriculture on the great plains=]

From the Mississippi valley to the mountains agriculture and commerce developed with great strides. Enormous elevators were built to handle the vast quantities of grain. Great packing plants were established, where immense numbers of cattle and sheep could be slaughtered and the meat shipped to all parts of the world.

GEORGE WASHINGTON GOETHALS, CHIEF ENGINEER OF THE PANAMA CANAL

=196. The Panama Canal.= In the great rush of gold seekers to the Pacific coast, many of the thousands who started out never reached California, for the crossing of the Panama isthmus and the long journey around Cape Horn were both full of danger.

It was this which first made Americans realize the value to their country of a canal across the Isthmus. As time passed, the great development of the Pacific coast region brought demands for fast and easy communication with the East. Railroads were built across the mountains, but transportation was still very expensive. The remedy lay in a short route by water between the east and the west coasts. Then came the Spanish-American War and the wonderful trip of the _Oregon_. People now saw that a canal across the Isthmus of Panama must be built at whatever cost.

[Sidenote: =The French attempt to build a canal=]

[Sidenote: =Work begun by the United States=]

In 1869 a French company had begun building a canal at Panama. They met great difficulties. The expense was so heavy and the waste of money so great that little progress was made before the company failed. In 1903 the United States bought the rights of the French company and obtained a strip of land ten miles wide from the new Republic of Panama. Work was then begun by our government where the French had left off.

[Sidenote: =George Washington Goethals, 1858=]

[Sidenote: =Studies engineering at West Point=]

[Sidenote: =Serves in the Spanish-American War=]

=197. George Washington Goethals.= During the progress of the work there were several changes in the position of chief engineer in charge of building the canal. In 1907 this work was given to George Washington Goethals, of the corps of army engineers. Colonel Goethals was born in Brooklyn, June 29, 1858. He was clearly a boy of unusual ability. At the age of fifteen he entered the College of the City of New York. At graduation he stood at the head of his class. He then took up the study of engineering at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He advanced rapidly, and when twenty-four years of age was appointed first lieutenant of army engineers. After teaching at West Point for several years he was appointed captain of engineers. His ability caused him to be given charge of the Mussel Shoals Canal Construction on the Tennessee River. During the Spanish-American War he served with the volunteers as lieutenant-colonel and chief of engineers.

[Sidenote: =Goethals put in charge=]

In 1907 came the great opportunity of his life. He was given charge of building the Panama Canal. He faced a gigantic task. But the government of his country had entrusted it to him, and he determined to do it without losing more lives by fever than necessary.

[Sidenote: =Canal completed, 1914=]

The great work was finished at a comparatively low cost. Meanwhile Colonel Goethals had cleaned up the Canal Zone and made it a healthful place to live in.

The building of the Canal took about eight years' time, required the services of forty thousand men, and cost the United States four hundred million dollars.

[Sidenote: =Goethals governor of the Canal Zone=]

When the Canal was nearly finished, in 1914, a civil government was established in the Canal Zone. President Wilson appointed Colonel Goethals the first governor. The enormous task which he had done so well showed that he was a great manager as well as a great engineer.

[Sidenote: =Benefit of Canal to the Pacific States=]

=198. Value of the Canal to the Pacific Coast.= The Pacific Coast States now more than ever ranked high among the leading states of the country. They could now send the valuable products of their forests, streams, fields, and mines to the Atlantic coast by water. The water route to New York has been shortened by 7,800 miles, and to Europe by more than 5,600 miles. The canal supplies a cheaper means of carrying freight than the overland route, and there is no limit to its usefulness for this purpose.

[Sidenote: =The San Francisco Exposition=]

In 1915 the Panama-Pacific International Exposition was held at San Francisco and the Panama-California Exposition at San Diego to celebrate the opening of the Canal.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Gold seekers reached the Pacific coast
by three routes: by ship around Cape Horn; across the Isthmus
at Panama; and over trails across the mountains. _2._ With new
discoveries of gold and the increasing population on the Pacific
coast, means of rapid communication were urgently needed. _3._
In 1869 the Union Pacific Railway was completed. _4._ Settlers
in large numbers entered the new West; agriculture on the great
plains developed rapidly. _5._ Farmers crowded on the dry slopes
and plateaus and irrigation projects were aided by the government.
_6._ In California, when free deposits of gold became hard to find,
the gold seekers became farmers. _7._ First a leading wheat state,
California then became the leading fruit-growing state. _8._ Great
cities grew up along the coast.

_9._ The Spanish-American War brought home to Americans the urgent
necessity for a short route by water between the east and the west
coasts. _10._ The United States took up the work of building a
canal at Panama, buying the rights of a French company which had
started the work and had failed. _11._ George Washington Goethals
given position of chief engineer. _12._ Educated at West Point,
Goethals served as chief of engineers in the Spanish-American
War. _13._ The Canal was completed in 1914 and Goethals was
appointed first governor of the Canal Zone, a strip of land ten
miles wide along the course of the Canal. _14._ The Panama-Pacific
International Exposition was held at San Francisco in 1915 to
celebrate the opening of the Canal.

=Study Questions.= _1._ How did the gold seekers reach the Pacific
Coast? _2._ What demand did the increasing population in the West
bring? _3._ What was the name of the first railway across the
mountains to the Pacific coast? _4._ How many railways cross the
mountains to-day? _5._ What did the railways bring about? _6._ How
did this affect the Indians? _7._ How did the government aid the
farmers in the dry areas? _8._ What happened in California when the
free gold deposits gave out? _9._ What great cities grew up along
the Pacific coast? _10._ What was happening in the plains east of
the Rockies? _11._ What first brought home to Americans the urgent
need of a canal across the Isthmus? _12._ Who began a canal at
Panama? _13._ Why did the French not succeed? _14._ Who was put in
charge of the work of the Americans? _15._ Where did Goethals study
engineering? _16._ In what war did he serve? _17._ When was the
Canal completed? _18._ How was the event celebrated?

=Suggested Readings.= Wright, _Children's Stories of American
Progress_, 268-298; Brooks, _The Story of Cotton_ and _The Story of
Corn_; Nida, _Panama and Its "Bridge of Water,"_ 63-187.

MEN OF RECENT TIMES WHO MADE GREAT INVENTIONS

THOMAS A. EDISON, THE GREATEST INVENTOR OF ELECTRICAL MACHINERY IN THE WORLD

[Sidenote: =His parentage=]

=199. The Wizard of the Electrical World.= Thomas A. Edison was born in 1847 at Milan, Ohio. His father's people were Dutch and his mother's were Scotch. When he was seven years of age his parents removed to Port Huron, Michigan.

Edison owed his early training to his mother's care. At the age of twelve he was reading such books as Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, Hume's _History of England_, Newton's _Principia_, and Ure's _Dictionary of Science_. The last-named book was too full of mathematics for him.

[Sidenote: =A tireless reader=]

That Edison was a great reader is proved by his resolution to read all the books in the Detroit Free Library! He did finish "fifteen feet of volumes" before any one knew what he was doing.

In 1862 General Grant fought the terrible battle of Pittsburg Landing. Everybody wanted to hear the news. Edison bought a thousand newspapers, boarded a train, and the engineer allowed him a few minutes at each station to sell papers.

[Sidenote: =His experience as a newsboy=]

As the first station came in sight, Edison looked ahead and saw a wild crowd of men. He grabbed an armful of papers, rushed out, and sold forty before the train left. At the next station the platform was crowded with a yelling mob. He raised the price to ten cents, but sold one hundred fifty.

Finally he reached Port Huron. The station was a mile from town. Edison seized his papers. He met the crowd coming just as he reached a church where a prayer meeting was being held. The prayer meeting broke up, and though he raised his price to twenty-five cents he "took in a young fortune."

[Sidenote: =Experimenting in electricity=]

Edison began very early to make experiments in electricity. After rigging up a line at home, hitching the wire to the legs of a cat, and rubbing the cat's back vigorously, he saw the failure of his first experiment--the cat would not stand!

[Sidenote: =Saves a life and receives lessons in telegraphy=]

At Mt. Clemens, one day, young Edison saw a child playing on the railroad with its back to an on-coming freight train. He dashed at the child, and both tumbled to the ground at the roadside. For this act of bravery the telegraph operator gave him lessons in telegraphy.

[Sidenote: =Makes a set of telegraphic instruments=]

[Sidenote: =Becomes a tramp telegrapher=]

=200. Begins to Study Electricity.= He studied ten days, then disappeared. He returned with a complete set of telegraphic instruments made by his own hand! After his trade was learned he began a period of wandering as a telegraph operator. For many boys still in their teens this would have been a time of destruction, but Edison neither drank nor smoked. He wandered from Adrian to Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Memphis, and Boston, stopping for shorter or longer periods at each place.

_After a photograph from life_]

By the time he was twenty-two he had invented and partly finished his plan of sending two dispatches along the same wire at the same time. This was equal to doubling the number of wires in use.

[Sidenote: =Repairs electric machinery and gains a situation=]

Edison was a poor boy and was two or three hundred dollars in debt. He went from Boston to New York. The speculators in Wall Street were wild with excitement, for the electric machinery had broken down. Nobody could make it work. Edison pushed his way to the front, saw the difficulty, and at once removed it.

All were loud in their praise of Edison. On the next day he was engaged to take charge of all the electric machinery at three hundred dollars per month.

[Sidenote: =Receives forty thousand dollars for his inventions=]

After a time he joined a company and gave his time to working out inventions. The company finally sent a number of men to ask Edison how much he would take for his inventions. He had already decided to say five thousand dollars. But when the men came he said that he did not know. He was dumfounded when they offered him forty thousand dollars!

[Sidenote: =Establishes his first workshop=]

=201. Edison's Inventions.= In 1873 Edison established his first laboratory or workshop in Newark, New Jersey. Here he gathered more than three hundred men to turn out the inventions pertaining to electricity which his busy brain suggested. They were all as enthusiastic over the inventions as Edison himself. No fixed hours of labor in this shop! When the day's work was done the men often begged to be allowed to return to the shop to complete their work.

[Sidenote: =More inventions=]

[Sidenote: =Builds a new laboratory and gathers a fine library=]

Many telegraph and telephone inventions were made in this laboratory. There were forty-five inventions all told. They brought in so much money that Edison decided they must have a better place to work. He built at Menlo Park, New Jersey, twenty-four miles from New York City, the finest laboratory then in the world. On instruments alone he spent $100,000. In the great laboratory at Menlo Park Edison gathered one of the finest scientific libraries that money could buy. This library was for the men in the factory--to help them in their inventions and to give them pleasure.

[Sidenote: =Invents the microphone=]

The microphone is one of Edison's inventions. Its purpose is to increase sound while sending it over the wire. The passing of a delicate camel's-hair brush is magnified so as to seem like the roar of a mighty wind in a forest of giant pines.

[Sidenote: =The megaphone=]

Next came the megaphone, an instrument to bring far-away sounds to one's hearing. By means of this instrument, persons talking a long distance apart are able to hear each other with ease.

The phonograph, which can reproduce the human voice and other sounds almost perfectly, was invented by Edison in 1876.

[Sidenote: =Edison's first phonograph=]

Sounds reach the ear by means of air waves which the sounding body sets in motion. In Edison's first phonograph these waves struck a bit of taut parchment, and were marked by a needle on a tinfoil disc. But tinfoil does not hold its shape well. In 1888 Edison patented a better phonograph in which the record was made on a wax disc.

Phonograph records are now made with one hundred grooves to an inch. Each groove is not more than four one-thousandths of an inch deep. A lever tipped with sapphire cuts the grooves. Its tiny marks have been photographed--one way of seeing a sound!

[Sidenote: =What the phonograph does=]

The phonograph is used everywhere for amusement. It preserves the voices of great singers for the future. With it songs and bits of folklore can be collected in languages that are now dying out.

[Sidenote: =The electric light=]

Edison has put into practical use many principles discovered by other men. He does not claim to be the discoverer of the electric light. He did much, however, to make it useful to people in lighting their houses, and also in lighting great cities.

[Sidenote: =The first great electrical exhibition=]

In the winter of 1880, in Menlo Park, Edison gave to the public an exhibition of his electric light. Visitors came from all parts of the country to see this wonderful show. Seven hundred lights were put up in the streets, and inside the buildings. Edison had produced a much better light than any that had been used before.

=202. A Great New Industry.= Edison also had a part in another invention for which Americans can claim most of the credit--moving pictures.

[Sidenote: =Settling a racetrack dispute=]

A dispute about horseracing did most for the discovery of moving pictures. The question was whether a horse ever had all four feet off the ground at once. To settle it, Edward Muybridge, an employee of the government, was called in. He stretched cords, fastened to the shutters of a row of cameras, across a racetrack. As the horse ran past, it took its own pictures. Later Muybridge made a camera which would take pictures very quickly, but he could not show his pictures well.

[Sidenote: =Edison's camera=]

Edison in 1892 invented a camera which used long strips of celluloid film. These pictures were looked at through a slot by one person at a time.

Another government worker, C. Francis Jenkins, invented the first complete moving picture machine in 1894.

[Sidenote: =The moving picture business=]

At first people were slow to welcome the new kind of play. Now it is claimed that our fifth largest industry is moving pictures. Probably as many tickets are sold here each year as there are people in the world.

[Sidenote: =Moving pictures of the war=]

In the war each army had its own moving picture camera men. They took pictures of ships torpedoed, of airplane battles, and of the fighting among the icy peaks of the Alps, often at great danger to their own lives. Great events of world history like the signing of the armistice can now be recorded for future times. Such pictures teach us things that cannot easily be learned from books.

Many schools have a machine of their own, and use moving pictures as a part of their regular class work. The subject is first outlined, then the pictures are shown, and afterwards the pupils write about what they have learned.

[Sidenote: =Moving pictures in schools=]

Some schools have films of their own. Others find it easy to get them. Our government sends out educational films on silo building, dairying, airplane manufacture, and many government activities. Business firms have films to loan on shoes, soap, automobiles, and other things they make. Regular film companies have pictures of animal life, the natural wonders of our country, current events, foreign countries, and other subjects suitable for school use, such as the teaching of cube root by moving picture cartoons.

Outside of schools moving pictures can be used for educational purposes in social service and Americanization work. One state, North Carolina, has trucks carrying moving picture machines for many of its counties. Programs of educational and amusing pictures can be given regularly in small towns with these machines.

TWO INVENTIONS WIDELY USED IN BUSINESS

[Sidenote: =The work of many inventors=]

=203. Christopher L. Sholes and the Typewriter.= The typewriter cannot be called the invention of any one man. Many inventors, half of them Americans, worked on the problem, for even a simple machine has many parts.

Machines by which the blind could print or type raised letters were first made. A little difficulty may hold back a great invention. A typewriter was not built until long afterward because inventors did not know how to ink type.

In the Scientific American more than fifty years ago was printed an article on a new invention which was rather grandly called the "literary piano." Christopher Latham Sholes, a Wisconsin editor read the article. He was convinced that he could make a better typewriter than this himself.

[Sidenote: =The earliest typewriter=]

He set to work, and his first typewriter was patented in 1868. It was indeed something like a piano. It had long ivory and ebony keys, but it also had a third set of peg-shaped keys like those we now use. It carried its type on levers arranged in a circle. It had a spacer, and a way to move the paper along as it was typed, as well as inked ribbon, which he borrowed from an earlier inventor.

Sholes' was the first successful practical typewriter made. Now nearly twenty million dollars' worth are produced in this country each year.

=204. The Dictaphone in Business Offices.= An interesting outgrowth of Edison's phonograph is the dictaphone, used in dictating business letters. It consists of two machines much alike. On the first are put smooth cylinders of wax. The person dictating speaks through a tube. Then the dictaphone operator puts the cylinders on her machine, places light tubes in her ears, and takes down the dictation on her typewriter as she hears it.

Both machines are run by electric motors, and that of the operator can be stopped with the foot. The wax cylinders may be pared and used again and again.

The dictaphone means a great saving of time and labor, for dictating can be done anywhere at any moment.

AUTOMOBILE MAKING IN THE UNITED STATES

=205. The Earliest Automobiles.= The first kind of automobile men tried to build was a "steam carriage." A Frenchman in 1755 invented a steam road wagon meant to draw a field gun. But his invention could not be steered, and was soon wrecked by running into a wall.

[Sidenote: ="Steamers"=]

In England one hundred years ago a few of these "steamers" were run as stage coaches. They were noisy, clumsy "steamers" and always likely to explode. They were not popular, and a law was passed that a man must always walk ahead of them carrying a red flag. They were only allowed to go only four miles an hour. Of course this meant they could not be used at all.

[Sidenote: =Watts could not imagine good roads=]