Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1901 — ROOSEVELT IS AT THE HELM [ARTICLE]

ROOSEVELT IS AT THE HELM

New President Now Guiding Ship of State. HE ANNOUNCES HIS POLICY. He Will Continue Unbroken the Policy of Preeldent McKinley—There Mey Be Changes In the Cabinet, However—Cool to Office Seekers. Simple ceremonies Saturday afternoon marked the administration of the -oath which made Theodore Roosevelt president of the United States to fill the unexpired term of William McKinley, slain by an assassin’s bullet. The oath was administered by United States District Judge John R. Hazel, for the western district of New York. Those present at the ceremony were Secretly of War Elthu Root, Secretary of the Navy John D. Long, Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, Postmaster General Smith, Attorney General - Knox, George D. Cortelyou, secretary of the late President; William Loeb, Jr., secretary of the new President; Colonel Theodore Bingham, master of ceremonies at the White House; Senator Chauncey Depew of New York, John D. Milburn of Buffalo, at whose house the President died; George P. Keating, clerk of the federal court for the western district of New York; Dr. C. E. Stockton of Buffalo, who was called in to aid in saving the life of the late President when the efforts of the surgeons seemed to have failed, and a number of newspaper correspondents and women. The ceremony was as remarkable for Its simplicity as its brevity. Secretary Root, after a brief personal chat with the new President, while both were standing in the center of the circle of spectators Who had been admitted to the Wilcox parlor, conveyed to the President the desire of the cabinet that he proceed at once to take the oath of office as the necessary preliminary step to assuming the powers and duties of President. President Roosevelt responded just as briefly. He made a single allusion to the great national bereavement that was afflicting the American people, and then, after stating that he would continue the policies of the late President, turned to Judge Hazel and said he was ready for the oath. Judge Hazel was standing in an old-fash-ioned window embrasure holding a manuscript copy of the presidential oath in his hand. President Roosevelt moved quickly to his Side, and, upraising his right hand, indicated by a nod of the head that he was ready to face the greatest ordeal of his eventful life. The judge read the formula solemnly, clearly, pronouncing each word with distinct emphasis. The President waited until there was a pause, and with equal distinctness repeated the words of the oath. There was a ring of firmness in his voice, but his manner was strained and tense. It Is known that President Roosevelt was greatly pleased with the simplicity of the few formalities which were gone through with to constitute him President. It is understood from official sources that matters with reference to the cabinet stand now as they -did when the President said he should continue unbroken the policy of President McKinley. The members of the 4 McKinley cabinet have promised the new executive to remain with him. The President did not indicate to any of them how long the present relations were likely to continue. A delegation waited upon the President Sunday to urge the filling of a vacancy in the White House staff. He treated the visitors rather coolly, telling them that nothing would be done until after the funeral. The President, with fatherly pride, told his friends that his son, Theodore, shot his first buck on his visit to the Adirondacks last week. A great quantity of mail and telegraphic matter arrived at the Wilcox house and some of it concerned matters which were urgent and compelled the President’s instant attention. He was fliliy occupied until the hour of his starting for the Milburn house to attend the funeral of President McKinley. Notwithstanding the President’s rooted objection to anything in the nature of a body guard, he has been overruled by some of those who are close to him, and there are a considerable number of secret service men nearer to him than he always realizes.

PROCLAMATION TO PEOPLE. President Sets Apart Thursday as Oay of Mourning and Prayer. President Roosevelt performed his first official action as President In Issuing the following proclamation: “By the President of the United States a proclamation: “A terrible bereavement has befallen our people. The President of the United States has been struck down; a crime committed not only against the chief magistrate, but against every law-abiding and liberty-loving citizen. President McKinley crowned a life of largest love for his fellow men, of most

earnest endeavor for their welfare, by a death of Christian fortitude; and both the way in which he lived hta life and the way in which, in the supreme hour or trial, he met his death, will remain forever a precious heritage of our people, tl is meet that we as a nation express our abiding love and reverence for his life, our deep sorrow for his untimely death. Now, therefore, I; Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do appoint Thursday next Sept. 19, the day in which the body of the dead President will be laid in its last earthly resting place, as o day of mourning and prayer throughout the United States. I earnestly recommend all the people to assemble on that day !n their respective places of divine worship, there to bow down in submission to the will of Almighty God, and to pay, out of full hearts, their homage of love and reverence to the great and good President whose death has smitten the nation with bitter grief. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and paused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, the 14th day of September, A. D. P one thousand nine hundred and one, and of the independence of the United States, the one hundred and twenty-sixth. "THEODORE ROOSEVELT, "By the President: "JOHN HAY, Secretary of State.” President Roosevelt, says Walter Wellman, has decided to ask Secretary Gage to remain as Secretary of the Treasury, and will urge his acceptance of the offer. This is the second known decision on the new cabinet, the first being the determination to promote Secretary Root to the secretaryship of state.