“‘That man looks precisely as if he had examined the building and, finding it suitable, has made up his mind to inhabit it!’ “‘He is the living picture of that pose,’ replied Greenhalge; ‘but do you know him? That is Theodore Roosevelt!’” The assassination of President McKinley, which led Roosevelt to the White House, simply hastened the goal which was already in sight. From his early days in politics he took a high moral stand and formed the habit of going to the people over the heads of the politicians whenever he thought that the public interest required such drastic measures. He set for himself a high standard, yet, when he quitted the Presidency, that standard had been set even higher than when he made his first campaign for clean politics in the New York Legislature. Roosevelt’s first notable act on entering the Presidency was to retain in office all of McKinley’s subordinates. It had been the habit on the three previous occasions when Vice-Presidents succeeded Presidents through the death of the President to change the personnel of the higher offices, especially in the Cabinet. Roosevelt did not think this a wise course. He asked all of the members of the Cabinet to stay and help him carry out McKinley’s policies. Some of his friends told him this would make him only “a pale copy of McKinley.” He told them that he was not concerned in following or not following in McKinley’s footsteps. What he wanted to do was to face and solve the new problems that arose. THE GREAT COAL STRIKE In the fall of 1902 he adopted a course of action in regard to labor disputes that, at the time, called forth much criticism, but which from the public standpoint was soon justified. That spring a universal strike began in the anthracite coal regions. It was continued through the summer and early fall. The feeling between the mine operators and the miners was very bitter, and the big operators had banded together and refused to yield a point in their dispute with their workers. As winter approached a coal famine menaced the nation. In the East, where anthracite is the principal household fuel, soft coal proved to be a very poor substitute. The Governor of Massachusetts and the Mayor of New York were among the conservative men who urged Roosevelt to take action. They pointed out that if the coal famine continued the suffering throughout the Northeast would be alarming and that disastrous riots were liable to occur. Roosevelt delayed interfering as long as possible, though he directed Carroll Wright, head of the Labor Bureau, to report all of the facts of the case to him. The coal operators, knowing that the suffering among the miners was great, felt confident that if the government did not interfere, the miners would be forced to yield. Bent on winning, they refused to see that the rights of the people were affected.