thoroughly established as one of the steering committee of the Upper House. His successful stumping tour during the campaign had increased the area of his personal popularity with the American people. At the same time none of the former ingredients of his effective power had suffered any diminution. In spite of his disagreements with Mr. McKinley before and during the campaign, their relations were never more close and confidential than they were during the early months of 1901. And, of course, the reëlection of Mr. McKinley decidedly increased his influence both with the leading business men of the country and with the local leaders of the Republican party.

Mr. Hanna exercised his power so discreetly that it rarely became a matter of public comment or protest; but occasionally some evidence or expression of it slipped out. One such incident occurred during the short session preceding Mr. McKinley's second inauguration. Certain Democratic Senators were pressing the passage of a bill providing for the immediate construction of a canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific by the Nicaraguan route, but they could accomplish nothing, because the Republican leaders were not ready to act on the matter, until pending negotiations with Great Britain for the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty were concluded. In the midst of the discussion, Senator Clay of Georgia made the following appeal to Mr. Hanna, which reads curiously in the light of the latter's subsequent activity in relation to an interoceanic canal.

"I appeal," said Senator Clay, "to the National Chairman of the party in power to come to the support of the bill providing for the construction of this waterway. Does the distinguished Senator from Ohio recognize that this great waterway is of more importance to the people of the United States and to American commerce than his ship-subsidy scheme? I appeal to the Senator from Ohio because I know the influence which he exerts among his party associates. I realize that a word from him would mean success to this great enterprise. We all know that he largely shapes and molds the policy of his party. We know the influence he has exerted in keeping before the Senate this ship-subsidy scheme, which has consumed so much of the time of the Senate."

It is scarcely necessary to add that this somewhat naïve sup

plication failed to move the hard heart of Mr. Hanna; but the Senator from Georgia was a true prophet in asserting that a word-albeit a long word-from Mr. Hanna would eventually have much to do with the success of an interoceanic canal.

If Mr. Hanna made no response to the appeal of the Senator from Georgia, it was not because he repudiated some measure of responsibility for the passage of a legislative program. His position, indeed, demanded that he should do what he could to carry out the promises of his party in the matter of legislation, and the position of the party itself made the redemption of such promises more than ever important. Never since the reconstructed Southern States renewed their representation in Congress had the Republican control over all the departments of government been so complete and so secure. Never, apparently, had the party been so thoroughly united on all questions of public policy. Never had it possessed such general confidence in the ability and good faith of its leadership. If partisan responsibility amounted to anything at all, an energetic effort must be made to pass the legislation to which the party was pledged. Mr. Hanna's complex position as the Congressional representative of the President, as Chairman of the National Committee and as one of the most prominent Senators made it inevitable that he should play a leading part in redeeming such pledges.

The only kind of legislation in which Mr. Hanna could take any lively personal interest would necessarily have for its object the promotion of business activity. That was the cause with which his personal political career was identified, and on behalf of which the Republicans had assumed and retained power. For the most part all that business needed in order to become more prosperous was to be let alone. Existing legislation both national and state was encouraging it in almost every possible way. But there was one branch of American industry and commerce, which was far from prosperous, and which assuredly needed some additional protection on the part of such a solicitous government. The American merchant marine engaged in foreign trade was notoriously decrepit. Over nine-tenths of the imports and exports of the country were carried in vessels. which were not built in American shipyards, which did not

employ American labor, and the foreign owners of which collected their tolls from American merchants. In the absence of some additional legislation this condition was likely to become worse rather than better, because the American either as shipbuilder or operator could not compete on equal terms with foreigners, and particularly with Englishmen and Germans. Unless the government gave to him the same kind of assistance that it gave to the other branches of American industry, the American merchant marine would continue to stagnate.

As early as 1888 the problem of re-creating an American merchant marine had been considered by the Republican leaders. The subsequent platforms of the party had declared in favor of some effective means of restoring the American flag to the high seas. But throughout the whole of this period legislation in regard to the matter was not seriously pressed, because other issues had forced themselves to the front. Now, however, that the Republicans were in full control, and were free to deal with domestic economic problems, it was inevitable that the matter should come up for insistent consideration. They could not have avoided the attempt to pass some kind of a bill, even if Mr. Hanna had not been on hand to urge them on; and Mr. Hanna's personal influence made the attempt the more unavoidable and the more energetic.

Ever since Mr. Hanna had entered public life he had been interested in the revival of the American merchant marine as he had been in no other economic policy. His own business career had been continuously connected with the building and operation of ships, so that he brought to the subject a prolonged and instructive personal experience. When he entered the Senate he was appointed to the Committee on Commerce, partly because he wanted to have a hand in the work of framing the legislation the passage of which had already been approved by the party leaders. The one important measure which he personally introduced was the original Hanna-Frye Subsidy Bill of 1898. It could not be pressed at that time, but he frequently discussed the necessity of such legislation in his speeches on the stump. He was doing his best to create a more vigorous public opinion in its favor throughout the Middle West. That part of the country had never been much interested in the restora