Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/109

 WILLIAM McKINLEY 81 August are a matter of contemporary history, in the making of which President McKinley and the United States played a conspicuous part. The president s moral influence for justice and fairness to China in her difficulties, resulting from the rash ness of her misguided rulers and people, has been second to none among the leaders of the world s great nations. Among the more important measures which Mr. McKinley forwarded during 1900 and early in 1901 the following may be mentioned: An estab lished government for Porto Rico and the Philip pines ; the redemption of the pledge of the United States to Cuba for the inauguration of indepen dent civil rule in the island ; a reorganization of the army of the United States; extension of the Ameri can merchant marine; the construction of the Ni caragua Canal; and the signing of reciprocity treaties with various European powers. At the Republican National Convention which was held in Philadelphia in June, 1900, President McKinley was unanimously renominated for a sec ond term, and Theodore Roosevelt, then governor of New York, was likewise nominated unanimously for the vice-presidency. Their Democratic oppo nents were, respectively, William Jennings Bryan and Adlai E. Stevenson. At the election on No vember 6 the Republican candidates were elected,