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THE USE OF PRESIDENTIAL POWER 1789-1943 By George Fort Milton (1944) ARDMIVES Ano RECORDA OF SERVICE** "The most far-reaching extension of presidential power Theodore Roosevelt ever undertook to employ was his plan to occupy and operate Pennsylvania's anthracite coal mines, under his authority as Commander in Chief. In the issue, he found other means than force to end the 1902 hard-coal strike, but he had made detailed plans to use his power as Commander in Chief to wrest the mines from the stubborn operators, so that coal production would begin again. In view of his direct action in such matters as Panama, there seems little reason to doubt that he would have carried out his occupational plans. "This strike, covering the whole anthracite field, began early in the spring of 1902, and resulted in virtual paralysis of coal production. The ensuing coal famine became increasingly disastrous to the populous industrial States from Ohio east. As it went into the fall, the specter of great public disorder disturbed ordinarily conservative men; the Gover- nor of Massachusetts, the Mayor of New York and other officials warned the President that if the famine continued, the consequences would be frightful. T. R. believed the situation before Pennsylvania, New York and New England, by October, 'was quite as serious as if they had been threatened by the invasion of a hostile army of overwhelming force'.