big or little. John Hay was Secretary of State when I became President,
and continued to serve under me until his death, and his and my views
as to the attitude that the Nation should take in foreign affairs were
identical, both as regards our duty to be able to protect ourselves
against the strong and as regards our duty always to act not only justly
but generously toward the weak.

John Hay was one of the most delightful of companions, one of the most
charming of all men of cultivation and action. Our views on foreign
affairs coincided absolutely; but, as was natural enough, in domestic
matters he felt much more conservative than he did in the days when as
a young man he was private secretary to the great radical democratic
leader of the '60's, Abraham Lincoln. He was fond of jesting with me
about my supposedly dangerous tendencies in favor of labor against
capital. When I was inaugurated on March 4, 1905, I wore a ring he sent
me the evening before, containing the hair of Abraham Lincoln. This ring
was on my finger when the Chief Justice administered to me the oath of
allegiance to the United States; I often thereafter told John Hay that
when I wore such a ring on such an occasion I bound myself more than
ever to treat the Constitution, after the manner of Abraham Lincoln,
as a document which put human rights above property rights when the
two conflicted. The last Christmas John Hay was alive he sent me the
manuscript of a Norse saga by William Morris, with the following note:

Christmas Eve, 1904.

DEAR THEODORE: In your quality of Viking this Norse saga should belong
to you, and in your character of Enemy of Property this Ms. of William
Morris will appeal to you. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and many happy
years, I am yours affectionately,

JOHN HAY.

In internal affairs I cannot say that I entered the Presidency with any
deliberately planned and far-reaching scheme of social betterment. I
had, however, certain strong convictions; and I was on the lookout for
every opportunity of realizing those convictions. I was bent upon making
the Government the most efficient possible instrument in helping
the people of the United States to better themselves in every way,
politically, socially, and industrially. I believed with all my heart
in real and thoroughgoing democracy, and I wished to make this
democracy industrial as well as political, although I had only partially
formulated the methods I believed we should fol