His gallantry in the war carried him into office as Governor of New York in 1893, with a large majority, and his administration was conspicuous for its reform work. His nomination as the candidate of his party for President appeared to be a foregone conclusion as far back as 1902. Even at that early date, some of the States began to endorse him and pledged their support. President Roosevelt’s action in the great coal strike of 1902 restored order and secured a return of the miners to their work, at the same time making the workingmen feel that their cause had not suffered from his counsel. The country applauded his work at this time, although some of the big corporations showed hostility. This was the most important internal question in his first administration--that is, it vitally affected more people than any other. There was no law by which he could interfere to end the strike, and he proceeded to use his great moral influence to bring the interested parties together. He brought about a resumption of work pending a settlement by a commission appointed by him. His counsel during this critical period was given while he was confined to his room owing to his wounded leg. In the same year and the next, he handled carefully the complications growing out of the Venezuelan trouble. He maintained the Monroe Doctrine in all negotiations with European powers interested, and was honoured by Venezuela in being named as an acceptable arbiter, which duty he gracefully avoided by proposing the Hague tribunal as the proper means for arriving at a peaceful solution. In the matter of the uprising of Panama and the recognition of that country by the United States, the President was both applauded and criticized. The great majority of the people upheld his treaty with Panama, by which the territory of the Panama Canal passed into the hands of the United States, so that the beginning of work on that giant construction should not be longer delayed. He established a reputation of getting things done. During his seven and a half years as President, the navy was nearly doubled in tonnage, the Russo-Japanese War was ended by the Treaty of Portsmouth, the battleship fleet was sent around the world, the Consular Service of the United States was reorganized, the National Irrigation Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act were passed, the Panama Canal was begun, the Department of Commerce and Labour was established. No President ever created so many new lines of public welfare, or so many projects of business for government functioning. Some of the policies recommended by Roosevelt were the Inheritance Tax, the Income Tax, the Parcel Post Service, and the increase of the army and navy forces. His most noteworthy achievement, in the estimation of many of his fellow citizens, was the fact that he “changed the attitude of government toward property, and gave the Republic a new ideal of the duties and responsibilities of citizenship.”