says in his "Autobiography", "the mixture of relief and amusement
I felt when I thoroughly grasped the fact that while they would
heroically submit to anarchy rather than have Tweedledum, yet if
I would call it Tweedledee they would accept with rapture." All
that he needed to do was to "commit a technical and nominal
absurdity with a solemn face." When he realized that this was the
case, Roosevelt announced that he was glad to accept the terms
laid down, and proceeded to appoint to the third position on the
Commission the labor man whom he had wanted from the first to
appoint, Mr. E. E. Clark, the head of the Brotherhood of Railway
Conductors. He called him, however, an "eminent sociologist,"
adding in his announcement of the appointment this explanation:
"For the purposes of such a Commission, the term sociologist
means a man who has thought and studied deeply on social
questions and has practically applied his knowledge."

The Commission as finally constituted was an admirable one. Its
report, which removed every menace to peace in the coal industry,
was an outstanding event in the history of the relations of labor
and capital in the United States.

But the most interesting and significant part of Roosevelt's
relation to the great coal strike concerned something that did
not happen. It illustrates his habit of seeing clearly through a
situation to the end and knowing far in advance just what action
he was prepared to take in any contingency that might possibly
arise. He was determined that work should be resumed in the mines
and that the country should have coal. He did not propose to
allow the operators to maintain the deadlock by sheer refusal to
make any compromise. In case he could not succeed in making them