The 1908 Republican National Convention was held in Chicago Coliseum, Chicago, Illinois on June 16 to June 19, 1908. It convened to nominate successors to President Theodore Roosevelt and Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks. U.S. Secretary of War William H. Taft of Ohio won Roosevelt's endorsement and received the presidential nomination. The convention nominated New York Representative James S. Sherman to be his vice presidential running mate. The Platform The Republican platform celebrated the Roosevelt administration's economic policies such as the keeping of the protective tariff, establishment of a permanent currency system (the Federal Reserve), additional government supervision and control over trusts. It championed enforcement of railroad rate laws, giving the Interstate Commerce Commission authority to investigate interstate railroads, and reduction of work hours for railroad workers, as well as general reduction in the work week. In foreign policy, it supported a buildup of the armed forces, protection of American citizens abroad, extension of foreign commerce, vigorous arbitration and the Hague treaties, a revival of the U.S. Merchant Marine, support of war veterans, self-government for Cuba and the Philippines with citizenship for residents of Puerto Rico. In other areas, it advocated court reform, creation of a federal Bureau of Mines and Mining, extension of rural mail delivery, environmental conservation, upholding of the rights of African-Americans and the civil service, and greater efficiency in national public health agencies. The platform lastly expressed pride in U.S. involvement in the building of the Panama Canal, the admission of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories; called for the celebration of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln; and generally deplored the Democratic Party while celebrating the policies of the Republicans. The platform explained the differences between democracy and republicanism in which the Republicans made clear that democracy was leaning towards socialism and republicanism towards individualism. Speakers The following individuals spoke at the 1908 Republican National Convention. Many spoke with the goal of nominating a specific nominee as this was before the age of the primary and the nominees were all decided at the convention. June 16 Prayer by Rt. Rev. P.J. Muldoon V.G. Julius C. Burrows, Michigan Senator June 17 Prayer by Rev. William Otis Waters Henry Cabot Lodge, Massachusetts Senator June 18 Prayer by Rev. Dr. John Wesley Hill George Henry Williams, Former Attorney General Henry Sherman Boutell of Illinois, Lawyer and diplomat Joseph W. Fordney, Congressman of Michigan Frank Hanly, Governor of Indiana Charles