The campaign for the control of New York State in the approaching election of a Governor had already begun when the Rough Riders returned from Cuba. Colonel Roosevelt’s name had often been mentioned for the Republican nomination and the popular enthusiasm for this selection was supported by the leaders of the party in the state. Governor Frank S. Black had been elected by an enormous plurality two years previously, and according to all traditions should have been renominated. He was set aside, however, for the new hero, and the convention at Saratoga nominated Colonel Roosevelt with a hurrah. The friends of Governor Black had fought bitterly so long as there seemed a chance of success, and they started the rumor that Colonel Roosevelt was ineligible for the nomination, as he had relinquished his residence in New York when he went to Washington to enter the Navy Department. The actual campaign was a most picturesque one. B. B. Odell, chairman of the state committee and now Governor of New York, was opposed to Colonel Roosevelt stumping the state in his own behalf, but it soon became apparent that general apathy existed, and consent was reluctantly given to the candidate to do so. There followed a series of speeches that woke up the voters. Colonel Roosevelt, by nature forceful, direct, and theatrical in his manner and method, went back and forward, up and down New York, accompanied by a few of his Rough Riders in their uniforms. These cowboys made speeches, telling, usually, how much they thought of their Colonel, and the tour met with success. Colonel Roosevelt was elected Governor over Augustus Van Wyck, the Democratic candidate, by a plurality of about 17,000 votes. Among the achievements of Governor Roosevelt as chief executive of the Empire State were the enforcement of the law to tax corporations, which had been passed at a special session of the Legislature called by the Governor for that purpose; making the Erie Canal Commission non-partisan; his aid to the tenement commission in their work for the betterment of the poor in New York, and in breaking up the sweatshops through rigid enforcement of the factory law. As a writer Mr. Roosevelt has been a contributor to magazines of innumerable articles on historical, political, and scientific subjects. A list of his more extended and important works includes “The Winning of the West,” “Life of Gouverneur Morris,” “Life of Thomas Hart Benton,” “Naval War of 1812,” “History of New York,” “American Ideals and Other Essays,” “The Wilderness Hunter,” “Hunting Trips of a Ranchman,” “Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail,” “The Strenuous Life,” and “The Rough Riders.” [Illustration: SCENE ON MARKET STREET, CANTON.] [Illustration: RECEIVING VAULT, WESTLAWN CEMETERY, CANTON, OHIO.] CHAPTER XXIX. GREAT EVENTS OF THE WORLD DURING PRESIDENT McKINLEY’S ADMINISTRATIONS.