The Life and Meaning 
 
 of 
 Theodore Roosevelt 
 
 BY 
 
 EUGENE THWING ' 6 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CURRENT LITERATURE 
 
 PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 1919
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1919 
 CURRENT LITERATURE PUBLISHING COMPANY
 
 THE REASON AND PURPOSE 
 
 It would be next to impossible for any one man 
 alone to write a complete life of Theodore Roose- 
 velt. There will be many lives of Roosevelt, 
 as there are many of Lincoln, and among them 
 will be, in course of time, an " authorized " life, 
 by one of Mr. Roosevelt's close friends, to whom 
 he turned over much personal material shortly 
 before his death. But even this " authorized " 
 life cannot tell the whole remarkable story. It is 
 hoped and expected that other personal friends 
 will write lives of Roosevelt such as only they 
 could write. Senator Lodge, for example, and 
 William Loeb, would bring to the work a wealth 
 of personal reminiscences and an intimacy of 
 narrative and interpretation quite different from 
 that available to other biographers. On the 
 other hand, any life written by an intimate per- 
 sonal friend or co-worker will necessarily con- 
 tain much of personal viewpoint and feeling. 
 It will present the observations, the impressions, 
 the understandings and estimates gained in close 
 contact during circumstances which reveal some- 
 thing less than the whole man. 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt was so many-sided; his 
 interests and activities covered such a surprising 
 range of subjects and places; he was so many 
 men compressed into one ; such a marvelous com-
 
 iv THE REASON AND PURPOSE 
 
 posite of mentaf, physical, and spiritual charac- 
 teristics, that no single one of his friends could 
 be expected to know, or to understand all of 
 him. Times without number, when groups of 
 his friends met, there were persons among them 
 utterly foreign to one another, without any possi- 
 ble point of contact or relationship of interest 
 or understanding. Yet every one of them was 
 definitely and closely related by some mutual in- 
 terest and sympathy to Mr. Roosevelt. He has 
 been called by his most recent biographer " the 
 typical American," and the flattering unction has 
 been laid to our souls that " he is our kind " ; but 
 these statements, as they stand, are far from 
 accurate in any individual sense. If he were a 
 typical American, there would be enough others 
 like him to justify pointing to him as the type. 
 If he were " our kind " the converse ought to be 
 true, that the rest of us are his kind. That is 
 true in a possessive sense but not in a descriptive 
 sense. Happy, indeed, would be the Nation if it 
 were true, so happy, so pure, so strong, that 
 every one of us may well devote time and effort 
 to the utmost to make it true. Theodore Roose- 
 velt was a composite of all the best American 
 types, including politicians, statesmen, litterateurs, 
 naturalists, soldiers, hunters, plainsmen, explor- 
 ers, family men, reformers, orators, athletes, com- 
 mon citizens, and hundred per cent Americans. 
 We are proud to think of him as typifying 
 America, and we want to produce more indi- 
 viduals like him if we can. 
 
 To view a large landscape, it is necessary to 
 stand off at a distance. To see the whole world,
 
 THE REASON AND PURPOSE v 
 
 it is necessary for most of us to look at many 
 pictures made by other men who have seen what 
 we cannot hope to see. Theodore Roosevelt's 
 life, as he lived it, is too big and many-sided for 
 one man, however intimate, to see without the 
 help of many other men. Many thousands of 
 men, of many kinds, and many stations in life 
 could contribute exclusive pictures, and stories, 
 and personal impressions to a real life of Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt. Perhaps no other man ever 
 lived who created, during his lifetime, so rich 
 and varied a supply of biographical material to 
 overwhelm historians with its surprising wealth. 
 He has been the source of more news and more 
 controversy, the inspirer of more newspaper edi- 
 torials and magazine articles, the creator of more 
 issues and personal impulses than any other hu- 
 man being. To serve the special purpose for 
 which this present volume is prepared, I have 
 thought it better, therefore, to gather some of the 
 stories, the impressions and the intimate personal 
 experiences of many men who have known Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt in the widely diversified activities 
 of his life, rather than to attempt anything like 
 a historical biography. Others are far better 
 equipped for the latter work, and it will be done 
 well in a sufficient variety of ways. If this book 
 shall help to preserve in a series of vivid pictures, 
 for our own comfort and delight, the personality 
 of the man who became so dear to us all and so 
 great a part of our interest in life, if this book 
 shall help a little to put something of the inspira- 
 tion of that manly personality into the hearts and 
 minds of men who yet have before them the pos-
 
 vi THE REASON AND PURPOSE 
 
 sibility of making their own lives and their own 
 achievements bulk larger in the days ahead, its 
 purpose will be accomplished. 
 
 The last few chapters, containing a frank study 
 of the characteristics and meaning of Roosevelt's 
 life, are somewhat amplified from an article which 
 I wrote for The Circle Magazine after Mr. 
 Roosevelt's return from his African hunting trip. 
 He expressed unusual satisfaction with the article 
 at that time, and the passing years and events 
 have added emphasis to the lessons which his life 
 brings home to the young men of to-day. 
 
 I am very grateful to many who have gener- 
 ously granted me permission to include in the 
 collection of personal reminiscences and sketches 
 here presented choice material gathered or pre- 
 pared by themselves. Without their cooperation 
 it would have been impossible to give, now, such a 
 many-sided picture of this many-sided man. I 
 am indebted also to the special material pre- 
 sented in the press, particularly The Sun, Times, 
 Tribune, Herald, and Evening Post, New York, 
 at the time of Mr. Roosevelt's death, for much 
 helpful information and numerous incidents. I 
 am especially indebted to George William Doug- 
 las for numerous incidents which he had been to 
 no little pains to gather and to verify for his book 
 " The Many-sided Roosevelt," now unfortu- 
 nately out of print. He very generously granted 
 liberal use of this material. I have been im- 
 pressed more and more, however, with the im- 
 possibility of giving anything like an adequate 
 portraiture of so remarkable and multiple a 
 man as Mr. Roosevelt in a single small volume.
 
 THE REASON AND PURPOSE vii 
 
 The story, or stories, of his life would fill many 
 volumes with fascinating narrative and char- 
 acter study. I hope this one book may at least 
 stimulate some appetites for a wider and deeper 
 study of the life and meaning of Theodore Roose- 
 velt. 
 
 EUGENE THWING. 
 New York, April 10, 1919.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 THE REASON AND PURPOSE iii 
 
 I A TWICE-BORN BOY i 
 
 II COLLEGE AND GROWTH 18 
 
 III INTO THE FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT . 31 
 
 IV RANCHMAN AND HUNTER IN THE GREAT 
 
 WEST 56 
 
 V ROUGH RIDERS AND SPANIARDS .... 87 
 
 VI " SHELVING " A FIGHTING GOVERNOR . . 102 
 
 VII PRESIDENT BY THE CALL OF DEATH . . .112 
 
 VIII CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE 128 
 
 IX PRESIDENT BY THE CALL OF THE NATION . . 140 
 
 X EXPLORER AND GOOD SPORTSMAN . . . 160 
 
 XI BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE PROGRESSIVE 
 
 PARTY 174 
 
 XII THE VOICE THAT ROUSED THE NATION'S 
 
 SOUL 190 
 
 XIII THE LAST SCENES OF THE GREAT ADVENTURE 202 
 
 XIV A LOVER OF HOME AND CHILDREN . . .215 
 XV A BIRD LOVER AND NATURALIST . . . .231 
 
 XVI THE AUTHOR AND MAN OF INTELLECT . . 238 
 XVII THE MAN OF VIGOR AND ACTION . . .253 
 
 XVIII HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC, ABOUNDING IN 
 
 FELLOWSHIP 281 
 
 XIX THE HERO OF MANY A GOOD STORY . . .312 
 
 XX THE MORAL LEADER AND STALWART AMERI- 
 CAN 340 
 
 XXI THE MEANING OF ROOSEVELT 357
 
 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND 
 MEANING 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A TWICE-BORN BOY 
 
 WHAT kind of a boy was the father of so 
 great a man? The inspiration of Theodore 
 Roosevelt's life and example, the marvelous 
 power he wielded so easily over men of all classes 
 and in all lands, the surprising variety and value 
 of his achievements during nearly forty years 
 of active participation in public affairs have 
 impelled many of his fellow citizens to inquire 
 more closely into conditions and influences of 
 his boyhood. Was he miraculously endowed 
 an infant prodigy with genius and strength 
 beyond other boys ? He answered that question 
 once, himself, when Mr. Julian Street asked him 
 if he thought he had genius. " Most certainly 
 I have not," he said, pointing out some of his 
 own deficiencies. Then he said, with a frank 
 smile, " To tell the truth, I like to believe that, 
 by what I have accomplished without great gifts, 
 I may be a source of encouragement to American 
 boys." 
 
 Very little that can be called unusual has been 
 found by searchers into the childhood life of
 
 2 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt. Most of the stories thus 
 far told of his boyhood exploits are not more 
 remarkable than the stories which could be told 
 of many another American small boy. Not- 
 withstanding a discouraging handicap of ill health 
 during the first thirteen years of his life he had 
 many of the normal traits of an average boy 
 plus a little more than normal interest in natural 
 history. 
 
 His father, Theodore Roosevelt, descended 
 from Holland stock, was a well-to-do glass mer- 
 chant in New York City. He " was the best 
 man I ever knew," wrote our own Theodore in 
 his autobiography. " He combined strength and 
 courage with gentleness, tenderness, and great 
 unselfishness. He would not tolerate in us chil- 
 dren selfishness or cruelty, idleness, cowardice, 
 or untruthfulness. As we grew older he made 
 us understand that the same standard of clean 
 living was demanded for the boys as for the 
 girls; that what was wrong in a woman could 
 not be right in a man. With great love and 
 patience, and the most understanding sympathy 
 and consideration, he combined insistence and 
 discipline. He never physically punished me but 
 once, but he was the only man of whom I was 
 ever really afraid. I do not mean that it was a 
 wrong fear, for he was entirely just, and we chil- 
 dren adored him. He was interested in every 
 social reform movement, and he did an immense 
 amount of practical charitable work himself. He 
 was a big, powerful man, with a leonine face, 
 and his heart filled with gentleness for those who 
 needed help or protection, and with the possi-
 
 A TWICE-BORN BOY 3 
 
 bility of much wrath against a bully or an oppres- 
 sor." 
 
 Of his mother, Martha Bulloch, Theodore 
 Roosevelt says, " she was a sweet, gracious, 
 beautiful Southern woman, entirely ' unrecon- 
 structed.' to the day of her death." Her devo- 
 tion to the Southern cause and her husband's 
 ardent espousal of the Union cause did not, how- 
 ever, result in the unhappiness from which so 
 many families suffered in that tragic period. 
 Complete harmony in the home was preserved 
 together with complete independence of individ- 
 ual convictions, and so the storm passed over 
 the Roosevelt household leaving it unscathed. 
 
 From such parents Theodore Roosevelt was 
 born October 27, 1858, inheriting love and un- 
 derstanding of both North and South and the 
 fighting spirit which had nothing of bitterness, 
 deceit, or narrowness. 
 
 The parental discipline which formed a neces- 
 sary part of young Theodore's training was not 
 of the whipping kind. Only once, he tells us, 
 was he punished in this manner, and it was his 
 teeth, evidently an effective part of his per- 
 sonality even at the early age of four years which 
 got him into trouble. In later years he had 
 them under better control, showing them but 
 not using them to emphasize his demands. At 
 four years, however, he was elemental and 
 planted his teeth in his sister's arm. Then, flee- 
 ing the wrath to come, he ran away to the kit- 
 chen. The cook was making bread. Grabbing a 
 handful of plough as the only defensive ammuni- 
 tion in sight, the fugitive hid under a table, and
 
 4 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 when relentless fate in the person of his father 
 overtook him, he heaved the dough full into his 
 face. It was an unexpected attack, but it did 
 not repel the invader, and retreat was the only 
 thing left. The young American dough-boy 
 darted out from his table trench and ran half- 
 way up the stairs before he was caught and re- 
 ceived the punishment which he admits " fitted 
 the crime." 
 
 At another time, while still a very small boy, 
 and feeling little of the great struggle which had 
 torn the nation, yet quick to understand that 
 father and mother were not one in their views 
 about that conflict, young Theodore ventured to 
 take sides in a surprising manner. Some act of 
 maternal discipline had displeased him during 
 the day, and at night, when all the children gath- 
 ered at their mother's knee to say their bed-time 
 prayers, Theodore prayed loud and fervently for 
 the success of the Union Arms. His mother, re- 
 strained by love and a strong sense of humor, 
 did not inflict punishment to " fit the crime," but 
 she warned him not to repeat the offense, under 
 penalty of having the case referred to his father, 
 who might not allow his delight at gaining so 
 militant an adherent to the Union Cause deter 
 him from administering punishment for the in- 
 dignity paid to the mother. 
 
 Theodore's aunt Anna, his mother's sister, was 
 like a second mother to the children, and a 
 mutual devotion existed between them. She 
 taught them their lessons, and she and the mother 
 spent many hours telling them stories of life on 
 the Southern plantations, and of the " queer go-
 
 'A TWICE-BORN BOY 5 
 
 ings-on in the Negro quarters." All the " Br'er 
 Rabbit " stories, which years later were made 
 famous by " Uncle Remus," were known at first 
 hand by Aunt Anna, and young Theodore " was 
 brought up on them," to quote his own testi- 
 mony. 
 
 The stories he had heard and his own active 
 imagination made him very popular with the 
 other children as a story-teller and an inventor 
 of games in make-believe. One curious little ad- 
 venture, when he was quite a small boy in short 
 trousers, led him to the discovery of something 
 which he kept until the day of his death. 
 
 Madison Square was a fine natural play- 
 ground in those days a good mile from the 
 business center of the city and only a short dis- 
 tance from Theodore's home on East Twentieth 
 Street. He played many a game of tag there. 
 On the east side of the square was a Presbyterian 
 church. One Saturday morning the doors stood 
 open invitingly while the sexton aired the build- 
 ing. Adventure seemed to beckon to the youth- 
 ful Roosevelt from the dim, mysterious recesses 
 of the church. He peered in at the door, curi- 
 ously, but made no move to enter. The sexton 
 had been watching him, and now good naturedly 
 invited him to come inside. " No, thank you," 
 replied Theodore. Then, realizing that some 
 explanation might be polite, he added, confi- 
 dentially, " I know what you've got in there." 
 The sexton smiled encouragingly " I haven't 
 anything in here that little boys are not welcome 
 to see. Come in and look around." Theodore 
 hesitated. The tingle of curiosity and love of ad-
 
 6 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 venture urged him to go in, but something made 
 him hold back. He cast quick and somewhat ap- 
 prehensive glances around the pews and shadowy 
 galleries. "No I guess I'd rather not," he said 
 and ran away to his play. 
 
 But the open church fascinated him and he 
 returned to it again and again, search- 
 ing it with his eyes, but never venturing beyond 
 the portals. When he went home and told his 
 mother about his play, and how the sexton asked 
 him to go into the church, but that he had stayed 
 out, his mother was puzzled. " Why didn't you 
 go in ? " she asked. " There would have been no 
 harm in walking quietly and looking around the 
 church." 
 
 A boy never likes to admit that he was afraid 
 of anything, and young Theodore was reluctant 
 to explain ; but after a little urging he owned up 
 that he refused to go in for fear the " zeal " would 
 jump out at him from behind some pew, or the 
 gallery, or wherever he might be hiding. 
 
 " The Zeal ? What in the world do you mean 
 by that ? " exclaimed his mother. 
 
 " Why, I suppose it must be some big animal 
 like a dragon or an alligator," explained Theo- 
 dore. " You know I went there to church last 
 Sunday with Uncle Robert, and I heard the 
 minister read from the Bible about the Zeal, 
 and it made me afraid of the place." 
 
 Mrs. Roosevelt went at once for the Con- 
 cordance to settle the mystery, and read aloud 
 one after another, the texts containing the word 
 " zeal." Suddenly the boy's eyes grew eager 
 with excitement, and he explained.
 
 A TWICE-BORN BOY 7 
 
 " That's it the one you just read ! " It was 
 from the Psalms : " For the zeal of thy house 
 hath eaten me up." 
 
 It was not long before Theodore captured a 
 fine specimen of American " zeal " and kept it as 
 his closest companion through life. But he 
 named it " strenuosity." 
 
 Like many other boys, young Roosevelt had no 
 particular appetite for school. He admits) it 
 himself ; but he worked hard and did the best 
 he could against the handicap of ill health and 
 defective eyesight. He was far more fond of 
 reading alone, and his parents allowed him 
 abundant freedom, within the law, to read what 
 he liked, never forcing him to read what he did 
 not like. Books were put in his way which his 
 parents thought he ought to read, but if he 
 didn't like them, other good ones were pro- 
 vided that he did like. Certain books, such as 
 dime novels were taboo. He read some of 
 them on the sly, but did not enjoy them enough 
 to pay for the feeling of guilt which came with 
 the disobedience and concealment. 
 
 Mayne Reid's books were among his favorite 
 and constant companions. Although too young 
 to understand all that was in them, the adven- 
 ture and natural history parts " enthralled " 
 him. He enjoyed also the quieter and more do- 
 mestic stories of " Little Men," and " Little Wo- 
 men," " An Old Fashioned Girl," " A Summer in 
 Leslie Goldthwaite's Life," and even " Pussy 
 Willow." Evidently some of the contrasts 
 which surprised those who knew him in man- 
 hood began to show themselves in his earliest
 
 8 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 boyhood. Our Young Folks he believed was 
 the very best magazine in the world, and this 
 belief of his boyhood remained with him un- 
 changed throughout his whole life, for he wrote 
 in his autobiography, " I seriously doubt if any 
 magazine for old or young has ever surpassed 
 it." " Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales " were, 
 perhaps, the most greedily devoured books of all. 
 Many years later his friend Jacob Riis once 
 asked him if he liked them. 
 
 " Like them ! " he exclaimed, with kindling 
 eyes. " Like them ! Why man, there's nothing 
 to compare with them. I could pass an examina- 
 tion in the whole of them to-day. Deerslayer 
 with his long rifle, Jasper and Hurry Harry, Ish- 
 mael Bush with his seven stalwart sons do I 
 not know them? I have bunked with them and 
 eaten with them, and I know their strength and 
 their weakness. They were narrow and hard, 
 but they did the work of their day and opened 
 the way for ours. Do I like them? Cooper is 
 unique in American literature, and he will grow 
 upon us as we get farther away from his day, let 
 the critics say what they will." 
 
 The earliest assertive interest of Theodore's 
 \ childhood and the one which remained most 
 | strongly and persistently with him through all 
 his life was his interest in natural history. Jacob 
 Riis tells of the " little lad, in stiff white petti- 
 coats, with a curl right on top of his head, toil- 
 ing laboriously along with a big fat volume un- 
 der his arm, ' David Livingstone's Travels and 
 Researches in South Africa,' and demanding of 
 every member of the family to be told what were
 
 A TWICE-BORN BOY 9 
 
 ' the foraging ants ' and what they did. It was 
 his sister, now Mrs. Cowles, who at last, in ex- 
 asperation, sat down to investigate, that the busi- 
 ness of the family might have a chance to pro- 
 ceed, for baby Theodore held it up mercilessly 
 until his thirst for information was slaked. 
 Whereupon it developed that the supposedly 
 grim warriors of the ant-hill were really a blame- 
 less tribe ' the foregoing ants/ in fact." 
 
 The first real enterprise in his natural history 
 career was launched when Theodore was nine 
 years old. He saw laid out on a slab of wood in 
 the open market a dead seal which had been caught 
 in the harbor. All his imagination and love of 
 adventure blazed up at the sight of this seal which 
 seemed to give realism to the stories he had read. 
 He paid daily visits to the market as long as the 
 seal remained on exhibition. He measured it, 
 and preserved a record of the measurement. He 
 longed to own that seal and preserve it, but suc- 
 ceeded only in obtaining the skull when the rest 
 of the carcass was disposed of. Then with two 
 of his cousins he started the " Roosevelt Museum 
 of Natural History," a highly worthy institution 
 which was soon banished, by request of the cham- 
 bermaid, from the naturalist's bedroom to a set of 
 shelves in the back hall upstairs. " It was the 
 ordinary small boy's collection of curios," he tells 
 us, " quite incongruous and entirely valueless 
 except from the standpoint of the boy himself. 
 My father and mother encouraged me warmly in 
 this, as they always did in anything that could 
 give me wholesome pleasure or help to develop 
 me."
 
 io ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 The interest stimulated by the seal and by the 
 museum foundation was quickly expressed in 
 literary effort. He began to write a natural his- 
 tory of his own in a small blank book. The title 
 page announced : " Natural history on insects. 
 By Theodore Roosevelt, Jr." A " Preface " 
 gives the scope and exclusiveness of the contents : 
 " All these insects are native of North America. 
 Most of the insects are not in other books. I will 
 write about ants first." Here is the contribution 
 to the world's knowledge of hymenoptera : 
 
 ' Ants are derided into three sorts for every 
 species. These kinds are officers, soilders and 
 work. There are about one officer to ten soilders, 
 and one soilder to two workers." Information 
 follows regarding the common black ant, the 
 brown path ant, and other kinds. Then come 
 notes on spiders, lady-bugs, fireflies, horned 
 " beetles," dragon-flies, and " misqueto " hawks. 
 " All the insects that I write about in this book in- 
 habbit North America." He does not forget due 
 acknowledgment of indebtedness for information. 
 " Now and then," he writes " a friend has told me 
 something about them but mostly I have gained 
 their babbits from observ-a-jtion." Exercising an 
 author's freedom, he includes in his volume on 
 insects a few notes on fishes : " I need not describe 
 the form of the crayfish to you," he assures the 
 reader ; " look at a lobster and you have its 
 form." Further " observ-a-tion " leads him to 
 write, " the minnow is found in brooks in 
 the same parts as the crayfish and eel. It eats 
 worms, catipallars, egg, bread, anything in fact.
 
 A TWICE-BORN BOY n 
 
 It swims quite swiftly. It is about seven inches 
 long when full grown." 
 
 The most interesting specimen in his book is 
 thus described near the end : " P. S. My home is 
 in North Amer-i-ca. All these stories were gained 
 by observation. Age. Nine years. Born 28th 
 of October." 
 
 The love of natural history was not a mere 
 boy's whim to be forgotten when new interests 
 developed. It was a growing passion, and settled 
 into an earnest study, encouraged in every 
 reasonable way by sympathetic parents. For 
 some time, until nearly thirteen years of age, 
 Theodore was greatly hindered in studying 
 nature, quite unknown to himself, because he 
 was so near-sighted that he could study only the 
 things that came to him without searching. 
 When he discovered his defect and spoke about it 
 to his father, who, it would seem, ought to have 
 discovered it earlier, a pair of spectacles opened a 
 wonderful new world to the enthusiastic young 
 naturalist, and he made more rapid progress in all 
 his studies. 
 
 Three years before this opening of new win- 
 dows to the world about him, young Roosevelt 
 had visited Europe with his parents, and " cordi- 
 ally hated " the experience, seeing nothing to in- 
 terest him, suffering much homesickness, and 
 gaining no improvement in health. In 1872, 
 when he went for a second overseas trip to spend 
 a winter in Egypt, all was different. He thor- 
 oughly enjoyed the journeyings up the Nile, 
 through the Holy Land, and part of Syria, with
 
 12 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 visits to Greece 1 and Constantinople. Here in 
 Egypt he had abundant opportunity to indulge in 
 natural history study and specimen collecting to 
 his heart's content, and he made the fullest use 
 of his opportunity, sometimes to the embarrass- 
 ment of other members of his party. His bed- 
 rooms in the various hotels were turned into 
 taxidermy laboratories and reduced to wild con- 
 fusion. His brother Elliott, the embodiment of 
 neatness, says Hermann Hagedorn, ventured, on 
 one occasion, to inquire of his father whether it 
 would be altogether too extravagant if he should 
 be given, now and then, a room to himself in 
 hotels and he explained his request by leading his 
 father to the room occupied by the two brothers. 
 
 , " There were bottles on the tables and the chairs ; 
 there were bottles on the mantel and the wash- 
 stand. Clothes were everywhere they happened 
 to fall, and in the basin were the entrails of ani- 
 mals recently deceased." Meanwhile the wealth of 
 the " Roosevelt Museum of Natural History " 
 grew apace. 
 
 Born with an active mind, eager, alert, search- 
 ing for knowledge in printed books and in the 
 greatest of all books the inexhaustible book of 
 nature, the boy Roosevelt seemed ready for de- 
 velopment into the larger life ahead of him. But 
 he had not been born with a strong body or vigo- 
 rous constitution. He was sickly and delicate, 
 undersized, " pig-chested and asthmatic." Again 
 and again his parents had to take him away on 
 
 . trips to find a place where he could breathe. 
 Among his earliest memories he tells of his 
 " father walking up and down the room with me
 
 A TWICE-BORN BOY 13 
 
 in his arms at night when I was a very small 
 person, and of sitting up in bed gasping, with my 
 father and mother trying to help me." On other 
 long, sleepless nights, says another friend, " the 
 father would take his invalid boy in his arms, 
 wrap him up warmly and drive with him in the 
 free open air through fifteen or twenty miles of 
 darkness." 
 
 His first trip to Europe, in 1869, was planned 
 in the hope that it would benefit his health, wrote 
 one of his first biographers, James Morgan. " A 
 tall, thin lad with bright eyes and legs like pipe 
 stems," he was at that time. But the hoped for 
 benefit was not gained, and four years later, in re- 
 newed anxiety on account of his weakened lungs, 
 the family took him away to spend the winter in 
 the warm African air. This winter's trip meant 
 more to the ambitious boy than merely an oppor- 
 tunity to hunt natural history specimens and fill 
 his hotel bedrooms with the unsavory parapher- 
 nalia of taxidermy. During the summer of that 
 year he had been striving to be born again. 
 Hermann Hagedorn in his " Boy's Life of Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt," x tells the story of what might 
 be called this second birth by which the immor- 
 tality of the boy's conquering spirit began to put 
 on the mortality of a sound body: 
 
 " In all his reading he enjoyed with special zest 
 the old epics. They thrilled him. The heroes of 
 the ballads were still his heroes. More and 
 more ardently he wanted to be like them. 
 
 " And then something happened. For, one 
 day, he picked up the Dramatic Romances of 
 
 1 Copyright, 1918, by Harper & Brothers.
 
 14 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Browning and read ' The Flight of the Duchess " ; 
 and he had not read far before he came on a de- 
 scription of a young duke, a poor sprig of a grand 
 line: 
 
 " ' the pertest little ape 
 That ever affronted human shape ; ' 
 
 and this was the duke's ambition : 
 
 " ' All that the old Dukes had been without knowing it, 
 This Duke would fain know he was without being it.' 
 
 In other words, the duke admired his ancestors 
 and wanted to appear to be like them without 
 making any effort actually to be like them. 
 
 " Those lines pulled Theodore Roosevelt up 
 sharp, like a lasso. He felt that the resemblance 
 between that young duke and himself was close 
 enough to be disquieting. He felt discovered ; he 
 felt ashamed. He, too, had had his heroes. He 
 had wanted to be like those heroes; or had he 
 wanted merely to appear to be like them? 
 
 " Those lines made him unhappy. They pur- 
 sued him, taunting him. Then one day he sud- 
 denly discovered that a new resolve had taken 
 shape in him. There was no harm in dreaming, 
 but henceforth he would not be satisfied unless, 
 even while he dreamed, he labored to translate 
 the dream into action. 
 
 " That was a very important resolve. It gave 
 Theodore Roosevelt back his peace of mind and 
 set his face in the direction of the high road. 
 
 " It was not long after this new resolve had 
 taken root in him that chance or destiny or the 
 good Lord, who likes to test the vitality of the 
 good resolutions that boys make, put Theodore
 
 A TWICE-BORN BOY 15 
 
 Roosevelt's high sounding decision to the test. 
 
 " He was, even at thirteen, a timid boy, as chil- 
 dren who are frail physically are apt to be. He 
 had not had enough rough contact with boys 
 to become accustomed to being hurt, and to give 
 blows and take punishment as a matter of course ; 
 and his younger brother Elliott, who suffered 
 from none of the ailments which pursued Theo- 
 dore, had in consequence been his protector 
 against bullies more than once. It happened, in / 
 the summer of '72, however, that certain bullies I 
 descended on Theodore at a time when Elliott { 
 was a little more than five hundred miles away. 
 
 " Theodore had been suffering more than usual 
 from asthma and had been sent to Moosehead 
 Lake in Maine in the hope that the clear, crisp 
 air would give him relief. The last lap of the 
 journey was by stage-coach, and on the coach 
 with Theodore were two boys who were not slow 
 in discovering that here was a victim sent to them 
 from on high. They were not really bullies, but 
 they were strong, wholesome mischievous boys, 
 and Theodore was just a gift to them to break the 
 tedium of the journey. They proceeded forth- 
 with to make him miserable, and succeeded. He 
 endured their attention as long as he could ; then 
 he tried to fight. 
 
 " He was plucky, without question. Perhaps 
 he had visions of perishing nobly against over- 
 whelming odds. But no such fate was his. The 
 boys took him singly and handled him like a kit- 
 ten. And the worst of it all was, they did not 
 even really hurt him. They didn't have to, he 
 was so easy to handle.
 
 i6 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " Theodore Roosevelt spent his time at Moose- 
 head Lake thinking this over. He remembered 
 the deeds of the men he most admired, the men 
 he wanted most to be like. And then he thought 
 of the silly duke; and of something his father 
 had recently said to him ' You have the mind, but 
 you haven't the body. It is hard work to build up 
 the body.' 
 
 " He remembered certain tiresome exercises his 
 father had persuaded him to go through daily in 
 the gymnasium on the third floor. And then he 
 thought of his resolution. 
 
 " He made up his mind then and there that if 
 he was ever to be anything but a parody of the 
 heroes of his dreams, he must first make him- 
 self fit physically to bear what they had borne, to 
 fight as they had fought. 
 
 " He decided to take boxing-lessons. 
 
 " This was a praiseworthy decision ; but what 
 was really praiseworthy was the fact that when 
 he returned to New York he confided the whole 
 matter to his father, and, with the elder Theodore 
 Roosevelt's enthusiastic approval, sought out a 
 certain John Long, an ex-prize fighter, and dog- 
 gedly set to work." 
 
 The loving help of his parents constantly sup- 
 ported him in his determination to be strong. 
 A gymnasium was fitted up for him on the wide 
 back porch of the Twentieth Street house, and 
 there he worked with enthusiasm to develop his 
 muscles. Later, in the new house at 8 West 
 Fifty-Seventh Street, to which the family moved 
 after returning from Europe in the autumn of 
 1873, he was given a better gymnasium, where he
 
 A TWICE-BORN BOY 17 
 
 " chinned himself and struggled with the parallel 
 bars patiently day after day." He kept up his 
 boxing and wrestling persistently and "gradu- 
 ally became, not a champion, even among boys of 
 his own age, but an average boxer, able in emer- 
 gency to defend himself even against opponents 
 physically more powerful than himself. Once, in 
 a series of ' championship ' matches held by his 
 teacher, the ex-prize fighter, he did win a pewter 
 cup in the light-weight contest. That was not 
 much, but Theodore thought that it was decidedly 
 better than being tossed about like a fuzzyrabbit 
 by a couple of boys at Moosehead Lake." 
 
 Every day this growing youth, drinking eagerly 
 from every cup of knowledge, alert and sensitive 
 to every new fact and impression, full of energy, 
 and dreaming dreams, like the young herdsman, 
 Joseph, became increasingly aware of the strug- 
 gles he must win if he would translate his dreams 
 into reality. He was not gifted mentally, except 
 with desire, power of concentration, and a good 
 memory. Very likely thousands of boys living in 
 his time were more brilliantly endowed, but 
 " Theodore Roosevelt had, which most of the 
 others had not, a deep hunger to excel, to be of 
 the fellowship of great deeds. With it, vague at 
 first but increasingly clear, came the recognition 
 that men attain only through endless struggle 
 against the sloth, the impurity, the fears, the 
 doubts, the false content in their own hearts. He 
 determined to build up for himself a clean 
 valiant, fighting soul." 
 
 Out of his own boyhood struggles, out of the 
 travail of his slow birth from weakness into
 
 i8 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 bodily vigor, out of his own victories he was 
 able to formulate his famous rule for the genuine 
 American boy : 
 
 " The chances are strong that he won't be 
 much of a man unless he is a good deal of a boy. 
 He must not be a coward or a weakling, a bully, 
 a shirk or a prig. He must work hard and play 
 hard. He must be clean-minded and clean-lived, 
 and able to hold his own under all circumstances 
 and against all comers. In life, as in football, 
 the principle to follow is : Hit the line hard ; don't 
 foul and don't shirk, but hit the line hard." 
 
 "Go on and increase in valor, O boy! 
 This is the path to immortality." 
 
 Virgil ^Eneid. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 COLLEGE AND GROWTH 
 
 THE slim youth with narrow shoulders and 
 flat chest and rather delicate in health who en- 
 tered Harvard in 1876 gave little hint that he 
 would become the most rugged and impressive 
 figure of his time. Of all the men in the class 
 of '80, so his classmates have testified, Theodore 
 Roosevelt was the last one they would have 
 picked out as destined for greatness. He studied 
 hard and never loafed, but found little in his 
 actual studies which interested him deeply or 
 helped him in his later life. This is his own testi- 
 mony. Yet he thoroughly enjoyed his four years 
 at Harvard and believed they did him good in
 
 COLLEGE AND GROWTH ig 
 
 their general effect. He had no idea, at that 
 time, of entering public life, and did not study 
 elocution nor practice debating. He regretted, 
 later on, that he had not equipped himself with 
 some knowledge of elocution, but he never ceased 
 to be glad that he did not take part in the con- 
 ventional debates. The reason he gives in his 
 autobiography is worthy of serious consideration 
 by young men of to-day : " Personally I have not 
 the slightest sympathy with debating contests in 
 which each side is arbitrarily assigned a given 
 proposition and told to maintain it without the 
 least reference to whether those maintaining it 
 believe in it or not. I know that under our 
 system this is necessary for lawyers, but I em- 
 phatically disbelieve in it as regards general dis- 
 cussion of political, social, and industrial mat- 
 ters. What we need is to turn out of our col- 
 leges young men with ardent convictions on the 
 side of the right; not young men who can make 
 a good argument for either right or wrong as 
 their interest bids them. The present method of 
 carrying on debates on such subjects as ' Our 
 Colonial Policy,' or ' The Need of a Navy,' or 
 ' The Proper Position of the Courts in Constitu- 
 tional Questions,' encourages precisely the 
 wrong attitude among those who take part in 
 them. There is no effort to instill sincerity and 
 intensity of conviction. On the contrary, the 
 net result is to make the contestants feel that 
 their convictions have nothing to do with their 
 arguments. I am sorry I did not study elocu- 
 tion in college; but I am exceedingly glad that I 
 did not take part in the type of debate in which
 
 20 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 stress is laid, not upon getting a speaker to think 
 rightly, but on getting him to talk glibly on the 
 side to which he is assigned, without regard 
 either to what his convictions are or to what they 
 ought to be." 
 
 / Having no thought of public life, he turned, as 
 ( a matter of course to natural science as his choice 
 j of a career. His father, from the very begin- 
 ning of his training, had fixed in his mind the 
 knowledge that he was to work out his own des- 
 tiny and make his own way in the world. This 
 at first seemed to mean a business career, but dur- 
 ing his freshman year, his father told him that 
 he was perfectly free to become a scientific man 
 if he wished. The one condition insisted upon 
 was that he must be very sure that he intensely 
 desired to do scientific work and would go into 
 it with the determination to do the very best work 
 there was in him. Together with this condi- 
 tion went a sound piece of advice which the obe- 
 dient son declares he always remembered. Here 
 (is the way he tells it: "If I was not going to 
 earn money, I must even things up by not spend- 
 ing it. As he expressed it, I had to keep the 
 fraction constant, and if I was not able to in- 
 crease the numerator, then I must reduce the 
 denominator. In other words, if I went into a 
 scientific career, I must definitely abandon all 
 thoughts of the enjoyment that would accom- 
 pany a money-making career, and must find my 
 pleasures elsewhere." ^Thereupon he immedi- 
 
 , ately decided to make science his life work, but 
 abandoned the idea when he found that his col- 
 
 \ lege preparation was restricted too much to 
 
 \
 
 COLLEGE AND GROWTH 21 
 
 laboratory and microscopic study and section- 
 cutting, with none of the outdoor search and ob- 
 servation to which his taste ran. 
 
 The lesson in economy was not thrown away 
 however. Indeed, all his boyhood struggles and 
 ideals had tended to simple tastes and freedom 
 from ostentation. He might easily have lived 
 in luxurious style at Harvard, but he took, in- 
 stead, two modest rooms in the residence of 
 Benjamin H. Richardson on Winthrop Street, 
 and occupied them during all the four years at 
 college. He fitted them up to suit his own 
 taste, covering the walls with many pictures and 
 photographs, foils, boxing-gloves, and horns of 
 wild animals. Birds which he had stuffed stood 
 on the shelves, and everywhere were books. 
 
 As a student he won no special honors, but he 
 became very popular with his classmates, and 
 quickly became a member of all the best clubs 
 and societies in the college. He was one of the 
 few chosen from his class for the institute of 
 1770, the Porcellian, and the Alpha Delta Phi. 
 In the famous old Hasty Pudding Club he was 
 elected secretary. The social circles of Boston 
 and Cambridge welcomed him, but they had less 
 attraction for him than the more vigorous activi- 
 ties of the gymnasium and the rivalry of his 
 fellows in manly sports. His classmates often 
 laughed at his eccentricities, his enthusiasm, and 
 his fondness for Elizabethan poetry, but they 
 respected him, and what he did was very likely 
 to set the style. For example, as a part of his 
 persistent training to make himself strong, he 
 took to skipping the rope in order to develop the
 
 22 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 muscles of his legs. Very soon others copied 
 I the habit from him and rope skipping became, for 
 awhile, one of the favorite exercises of the class 
 of '80. 
 
 To wrestling, as a vigorous and profitable ex- 
 ercise, he gave close and scientific attention, but 
 boxing was his chief sport at Harvard. " His 
 delicate appearance amazed those who saw him 
 make his first ventures with the gloves in the 
 gymnasium," says James Morgan in his book, 
 " Theodore Roosevelt, the Boy and the Man." 1 
 " He weighed only one hundred and thirty and 
 was a very doubtful looking entry in the light- 
 weight class. Besides, he had to go into combat 
 with a pair of big spectacles lashed to his head, a 
 bad handicap, which put his eyesight in peril 
 every time he boxed. To offset this disadvan- 
 tage, he aimed to lead swiftly and heavily and 
 thus put his opponent on the defensive from the 
 start. 
 
 " Not a few old Harvard men recall a char- 
 acteristic instance of Roosevelt's sportsmanlike 
 bearing. He was in the midst of a hot en- 
 counter when time was called. He promptly 
 dropped his hands to his side, whereupon his an- 
 tagonist dealt him a heavy blow squarely on his 
 nose. There was an instant cry of ' Foul ! 
 Foul ! ' from the sympathetic onlookers, and a 
 scene of noisy excitement followed. Above the 
 uproar, Roosevelt, his face covered with blood, 
 was heard shouting at the top of his voice, as he 
 ran toward the referee, ' Stop ! Stop ! he didn't 
 
 1 Copyright, 1907, 1919, by The Mactnillan Co.
 
 COLLEGE AND GROWTH 23 
 
 hear ! he didn't hear ! ' Then he shook the hand 
 of the other youth warmly, and the emotion of 
 the little crowd changed from scorn of his op- 
 ponent to admiration for him." 
 
 In his boxing bouts Roosevelt never looked 
 for the easy places. If his opponent chanced 
 to be the champion of the class double his own 
 weight and size, he welcomed the battle with all 
 the more delight. The hardest pummeling he 
 took with hearty good nature and refused to cry 
 quarter, pushing his fight home in a way which 
 made even the victors know that they had met 
 a real fighter. 
 
 Jacob Riis tells a story which he heard and 
 believes of how Roosevelt beat up a man with 
 the reputation of a fighter but without the in- 
 stincts of a gentleman. The fellow took a mean 
 advantage and struck a blow that drew blood 
 before Roosevelt had finished putting on his 
 gloves. The by-standers cried foul, but Roose- 
 velt smiled one of his grim smiles. " I guess 
 you made a mistake. We do not do that way 
 here," he said, offering the other man his gloved 
 hand in formal salutation as a sign to begin hos- 
 tilities. The next minute his right shot out and 
 took the man on the point of his jaw, and the 
 left followed suit. In two minutes he was down 
 and out. Roosevelt was " in form " that day. 
 All the fighting blood in him had been roused by 
 the unfairness of the blow. 
 
 His interest in wrestling and boxing led him 
 to help some of his classmates on occasions, and 
 he would not tolerate anything which violated 
 fair play. It happened, during his sophomore
 
 24 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 year, that some' one entered the name of his 
 classmate William A. Gaston, in a wrestling 
 match in the college games without Gaston's 
 knowledge. George William Douglas tells the 
 story in " The Many-sided Roosevelt." Gaston 
 did not learn that he was entered until a few 
 days before the match was to come off, and 
 wished to withdraw, but Roosevelt persuaded 
 him to stay in, promising to coach. Accord- 
 ingly Roosevelt hunted up fellows to wrestle with 
 Gaston, rubbed him down after the bouts, and in 
 general acted as his trainer. One Saturday Gas- 
 ton met four other men in the gymnasium to be 
 " tried out." He threw two of them twice, one 
 of them once, and was thrown twice by the other 
 one. In the final matches the victor had to throw 
 his opponent twice out of three times. The 
 rules, however, were rather loose then, as athletic 
 sports were not in the present highly organized 
 condition. In a day or two Roosevelt and Gas- 
 ton learned that the latter had been put on the 
 final program to wrestle with the man whom he 
 had thrown once, as though this man were a new 
 candidate. This did not seem fair either to the 
 wrestler or to his trainer, and they decided to 
 enter a protest. 
 
 As they were about to appear before the ath- 
 letic committee Roosevelt said : 
 
 " You are too hot-headed, Gaston, to state the 
 case. What it needs is cold, hard logic. Let 
 me present the case calmly, and then we shall be 
 more likely to win. They can't help seeing how 
 unjust it is to make you throw that man three
 
 COLLEGE AND GROWTH 2$ 
 
 times, when he will win if he throws you only 
 twice." 
 
 Roosevelt accordingly stated the case, begin- 
 ning with an assumption of judicial calm, but 
 before he got through with the discussion he had 
 threatened to thrash two of the members of the 
 committee. The outcome, however, was as he 
 had predicted. The committee saw the force of 
 his arguments and the program was changed. 
 
 Roosevelt had considerable faith in Gaston's 
 ability, for he backed him in a sparring bout with 
 Ramon Guiteras, the champion middle-weight of 
 the college. Guiteras was large and heavy, too 
 heavy, indeed, for his class, and Gaston was a 
 light-weight, and under weight at that. Roose- 
 velt believed that Gaston's grit and perseverance 
 would win over the other man's greater weight. 
 The series of bouts in which this match occurred 
 attracted a good deal of attention. Interest cen- 
 tered especially in this bout between the light- 
 weight and the middle-weight. And there was 
 much gratification among their friends when 
 Roosevelt's judgment was vindicated by Gas- 
 ton's victory. 
 
 Other things than games and exercise attracted 
 Roosevelt's attention while at Harvard. His 
 father had been active in the work of public aid. 
 He died while the boy was at college, and young 
 Theodore sought to walk in his footsteps. He 
 became Secretary of the Prison Reform Associa- 
 tion and acted on several committees. In addi- 
 tion he became a teacher in a Sunday-school. 
 His family faith was the Dutch Reformed, but
 
 25 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 he found no church of that denomination at 
 Cambridge, and drifted into a mission school of 
 the high church of Episcopalian faith. 
 
 He did not stay there long. One day a boy 
 came to his class with a black eye. He ac- 
 knowledged that he got it in a fight, and that, too, 
 on Sunday. The teacher questioned him sternly. 
 The fact came out that Jim, the other boy, had 
 sat beside the lad's sister and had pinched her all 
 through the school hour. A fight followed, in 
 which Jim was soundly punched, the avenger of 
 his sister coming out with a black eye. 
 
 " You did just right," was Roosevelt's ver- 
 dict, and he gave the young champion a dollar. 
 
 This pleased the class highly. It appealed to 
 them as justice. But when it got out among the 
 school officers they were scandalized. Roosevelt 
 was already a black sheep among them in other 
 ways. He did not observe the formalities of the 
 high church service as they thought he should. 
 They asked if he had any objection to them. 
 None in the world, but he was Dutch Re- 
 formed. This did not help matters and in the 
 end Roosevelt left this field of labor and entered 
 a Congregational Sunday-school near by, where 
 he taught during the remainder of his college 
 term. 
 
 In the first year of his college life, Roosevelt 
 met a man who made a lasting impression on his 
 life. His friend and tutor, Arthur Cutler, had 
 been hunting in the Maine woods, the year be- 
 fore, with Emlin Roosevelt, Theodore's cousin, 
 and Bill Sewall of Island Falls was their guide. 
 Cutler was greatly taken with the stalwart, warm-
 
 COLLEGE AND GROWTH 27 
 
 hearted woodsman, and he urged Theodore to go 
 with him the next year, partly for the sake of 
 the tramping, hunting and mountain climbing, but 
 more than all that for the sake of knowing Bill 
 Sewall. 
 
 Cutler had warned Sewall in advance of the 
 irrepressible youth who was to be his companion. 
 " I want you to take good care of this young 
 fellow," he told him, " for he's ambitious and not 
 very strong. He'll never tell you when he's 
 tired ; but he'll just break down. You can't take 
 him on all the tramps you take us." 
 
 Sewall gave silent assent, and apparently the 
 caution slipped his mind, for very shortly after 
 the conversation he started off with Roosevelt for 
 a tramp which covered a good twenty-five miles 
 " a good, fair walk for any common man," said 
 Sewall. Never a word of complaint came from 
 Roosevelt, and Sewall concluded that the young 
 man, notwithstanding his asthma, was far from 
 a weakling. He had been receiving impressions 
 of his own, and told his nephew, Wilmot Dow, a 
 few days later that young Roosevelt was " differ- 
 ent from any human being he had ever met. He 
 wouldn't let any one else lug his gun, or help 
 him out in any way. He never shirked his share 
 of anything, no matter how played out he might 
 be. The boy has grit clean through." A long 
 time afterwards Bill Sewall spoke with still more 
 emphasis, as quoted by Hermann Hagedorn : 
 " We hitched up well, somehow or other, from 
 the start. He was fair-minded, Theodore was. 
 And then he took pains to learn everything. 
 There was nothing beneath his notice. I liked
 
 28 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 him right off. J liked him clean through. 
 There wasn't a quality in him I didn't like. He 
 wasn't headlong or aggressive, except when nec- 
 essary, and as far as 1 could see he wasn't a bit 
 cocky, though other folks thought so. I will 
 say, he wasn't remarkably cautious about ex- 
 pressing his opinion." 
 
 The liking was mutual. Roosevelt formed a 
 life-long friendship, with Bill Sewall, who after- 
 wards became the organizer of the Rough Riders. 
 To the eighteen-year-old college youth, the giant 
 backwoodsman of prodigious strength, alert mind 
 and indomitable spirit, was " the living embodi- 
 ment of his boyhood heroes." He returned again 
 and again, twice a year at least, during his col- 
 lege course, to spend his vacations in the wilder- 
 ness of Maine with Bill Sewall. Once he went 
 from his studies to the Maine forests barely in 
 time to save himself from a physical breakdown. 
 He never failed to find there the healing which 
 Nature supplies so generously to tired spirits 
 and bodies, and each time Roosevelt fought his 
 way nearer to the goal of his own constant ef- 
 fort a strong, vigorous body. 
 
 During the four years of Harvard life, inter- 
 spersed with vacations in Maine, Roosevelt had 
 much reason for hope and encouragement. He 
 grew from a frail youth of eighteen into a vig- 
 orous, self-reliant, purposeful man. " For him," 
 says Hermann Hagedorn, " there was no grop- 
 ing, no stumbling about in blind alleys, no wast- 
 ing of time and strength in the pursuit either of 
 false, enervating pleasures or of vague social, 
 political, and religious theories. He knew ex-
 
 COLLEGE AND GROWTH 29 
 
 actly what he wanted. He wanted to become a 
 man who did things. That was his goal. He 
 had seen it clearly from his fifteenth year, and 
 with ever-increasing clearness he saw the road, 
 the only road, that led to it. The name of that 
 road was WORK. He worked to build up his 
 body, not for the sake of mere bodily strength; 
 he worked to build up his mind, not for the sake 
 of mere mental agility; but both together as 
 muscle and sinew for that spiritual power which 
 constitutes the backbone of great men." 
 
 The ideal of work, actual accomplishment, the 
 translation of words and thoughts into acts, was 
 ever his guiding principle through the whole of 
 his life. Jacob Riis tells of an interview Roose- 
 velt had with Julian Ralph, " when as a Police 
 Commissioner he was stirring New York up as 
 it had not been stirred in many a long day. 
 
 " I can see him now striding up and down the 
 gray office. 
 
 ' ' What would you say to the young men of 
 our city, if you could speak to them with com- 
 mand this day?' asked Mr. Ralph. 
 
 " ' I would order them to work,' said Mr. 
 Roosevelt, stopping short and striking his hands 
 together with quick emphasis. ' I would teach 
 the young men that he who has not wealth owes 
 his first duty to his family, but he who has means 
 owes his to the State. It is ignoble to go on 
 heaping money on money. I would preach the 
 doctrine of work to all, and to the men of wealth 
 the doctrine of unremunerative work.' " 
 
 With the fresh impulses of such an ideal strong 
 in him, as his college preparation ended, a rude
 
 30 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 shock came as a, result of his final visit to his 
 physician a day or two before leaving Cam- 
 bridge. " The doctor told him that he had heart 
 trouble," says Hermann Hagedorn, who tells the 
 incident, " that he must choose a profession that 
 would demand no violent exertion, that he must 
 take no vigorous exercise, that he must not even 
 run upstairs. It was a stiff blow, but he took it 
 as he had taken other blows. ' Doctor,' he 
 said/I' I am going to do all the things you tell me 
 not to do. If I've got to live the sort of life 
 you have described, I don't care how short it 
 is.' " 
 
 He began his defiance of the fate read to him 
 by the doctor by getting married in October, to 
 Alice Lee, and by going to Europe the following 
 year to study in Dresden, and to spend his spare 
 time in long hikes, swimming rivers, and climb- 
 ing mountains. In recognition of his achieve- 
 ments in climbing the Jungfrau and the Matter- 
 horn he was elected a member of the London Al- 
 pine Club. He returned to his own country with 
 a mind well trained, with his outlook broadened, 
 with a body more than ever obedient to the de- 
 mands of his will, ready to enter upon the serious 
 work of life, the apostle of work and the strenu- 
 ous life, and the most consistent embodiment of 
 his own teachings.
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 31 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 INTO THE FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 
 
 WITHOUT waiting for something to turn up, 
 after graduating from Harvard, Theodore Roose- 
 velt plunged into the active life of his home city 
 and turned things up himself. A brief period of 
 law study in the office of his uncle, Robert B. 
 Roosevelt, was interrupted by his first political 
 adventure, and he never practiced law. He had 
 formed some very definite ideas, however, as to 
 the best way to win success at the bar, and 
 George William Douglas tells how Mr. Roosevelt 
 expressed these ideas a few years later for the 
 benefit of a struggling young lawyer. 
 
 " If I were you," he said, " I would hang out 
 my shingle and get a case. I don't care how you 
 get it. Your own wits ought to find one, at least, 
 which no other lawyer has. I would not take a 
 justice-shop case, either. I would find a case 
 that was right up in the regular courts and 
 which possessed some merit. I wouldn't take it 
 up for nothing, either, or on a contingency. I 
 would have a decent fee attached to it. In other 
 words, I would have as many respectable fea- 
 tures attached to the case as possible under the 
 circumstances. 
 
 " Having got that case, I would try it as if it 
 were the last case I ever expected to have or 
 which would ever be in the courts. I would not 
 make a nuisance of myself you know enough 
 to avoid that but you can be so persistent that
 
 32 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 you will win the respect of every one who in any- 
 way comes in connection with the trial. Put 
 all of yourself into the case. Get every side of it, 
 and above all things, hammer it into your client 
 by the force of your actions that your integrity 
 is above reproach. 
 
 " When you get done with the case you will 
 have a reputation that many lawyers devote years 
 in other ways trying to obtain. You will find 
 that a second case is certain to come to you 
 whether you lose or win the first case. I would 
 treat the second case just as I did the first one. 
 Live and act as if there never were such a case in 
 existence before, and master it, just as you are 
 required to master your studies of the law school. 
 If you find yourself weakening at all, use the spur 
 and whip until you have created an enthusiasm in 
 your work that imparts itself to client, court, and 
 jury, and results in your victory. 
 
 " Go at the third case in the same way. And 
 for the matter of that, as your patronage in- 
 creases, give the same treatment to all your cases. 
 You will create confidence in yourself that will 
 insure you a constant practice, and your clients, 
 once secured, will never leave you." 
 
 It may be worth while noting that this theory 
 worked, for the young man put it into practice 
 and won his first case on a technical point which 
 all the other lawyers had overlooked. 
 
 Opinions differ as to the underlying motives in 
 Mr. Roosevelt's choice of political activities as a 
 profession. Indeed, there is strong testimony 
 that he did not choose it nor look upon it as his 
 real life work, but that he intended to follow a
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 33 
 
 literary career. He had a passion for author- 
 ship, and repeatedly referred to it even after 
 several of his earlier political successes. Imme- 
 diately after his first election to the New York 
 Assembly, he wrote to his friend Charles G. 
 Washburn, " Don't think I am going to go into 
 politics after this year, for I am not." He still 
 had the same idea twelve years later, while a 
 member of the National Civil Service Commis- 
 sion, when he wrote to S. N. D. North, Manag- 
 ing Editor of the Utica Tribune, " I am a little 
 inclined to envy a man who can look forward to 
 a long and steady course of public service, but in 
 my own case such a career is out of the ques- 
 tion. . . . My career is that of a literary man, 
 and as soon as I am out of my present place I 
 shall go back to my books." 
 
 Notwithstanding his apparent choice of the 
 work of a writer and notwithstanding some 
 opposition from his family and friends, he joined 
 the Republican association of his assembly dis- 
 trict almost immediately upon his return from a 
 trip abroad following his graduation from col- 
 lege. Whether he was prompted by a desire to 
 render service to his country, or by his love of 
 work and a good fight, or by all three, the fact is 
 undeniable that they all came to him in abundant 
 measure. The story of his " political apprentice- 
 ship, of the tempering of the bold spirit, and the 
 ripening of the untiring mind of this young Gala- 
 had " is interestingly told in The Evening Sun of 
 New York : 
 
 " You will find no one at your political meet- 
 ings," those who sought to dissuade him said,
 
 34 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " but grooms, liquor dealers, and low politicians." 
 
 " Well," was Roosevelt's reply, "If that is so, 
 they belong to the governing class, and you do 
 not. I mean, if I can, to be of the governing 
 class." 
 
 One day when he was scarcely more than a 
 year beyond the last of his college days he was 
 now 23 years old he met one Joe Murray, a 
 district worker around the Roosevelt home lo- 
 cality. Joe Murray had had a falling out with 
 Barney Hess, the district boss of the Twenty- 
 first Assembly District. Barney Hess had had 
 one idea as to who should be the next Assembly- 
 man from the Twenty-first. Joe had an idea 
 wholly different. 
 
 " Listen, men," said Joe Murray to his faction 
 of anti-Hess district workers (all this on the word 
 of the best local political historian of the day). 
 " What this silk-stocking neighborhood will rise 
 to is a swell candidate for the Assembly. Who's 
 the swellest family around here ? The Roosevelts. 
 Listen, men let's trot out this young colleger, 
 Teddy Roosevelt, and we'll put Barney Hess flat 
 on his back." 
 
 The young " colleger " got the nomination. 
 Instantly he began a local campaign that had all 
 those elements of the picturesque which in after 
 years were to draw the attention of the world to 
 his far greater contests. And whether it was due 
 to his own campaign methods, the hearty hustling 
 of his lieutenant, Joe, a desire of the neighbor- 
 hood for blue blood in the Assembly or a combi- 
 nation of all these elements, the youthful looking 
 college man was elected.
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 35 
 
 The local boss thought the awakening of the 
 brownstone proletariat was only an " annoying 
 incident." At Albany they said : " Well, they've 
 sent up another silk-stocking." But Roosevelt 
 was reflected in 1882 and 1883. Before his first 
 term was half over it was seen that he was likely 
 to " make trouble." The moral crusade which 
 attended every phase of his career he started 
 before the first session of which he was a mem- 
 ber had been under way more than a few 
 months. 
 
 The elevated railroad ring corruptionists had 
 involved the Attorney-General of the State and 
 a Judge of the Supreme Court, and Roosevelt's 
 fellow legislators showed no disposition to satisfy 
 the desire of their angry constituents that those 
 concerned be punished. Roosevelt was counseled 
 by his Republican elders in the Assembly to hold 
 his peace. The kind of peace he held was pretty 
 well described by a magazine writer of the 
 time: 
 
 " So far as the clearest judgment could see, it 
 was not the moment for attack. Indeed, it 
 looked as if attack would strengthen the hands of 
 corruption by exposing the weakness of the op- 
 position to it. Never did expediency put a 
 temptation to conscience more insidiously. 
 
 " It was on April 6th, 1882, that young Roose- 
 velt took the floor in the Assembly and demanded 
 that Judge Westbrook, of Newburg, be im- 
 peached. And for sheer moral courage that act 
 is probably supreme in Roosevelt's life thus far. 
 He must have expected failure. Even his youth 
 and idealism and ignorance of public affairs could
 
 36 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 not blind him t6 the apparently inevitable con- 
 sequences. 
 
 " That speech the deciding act in Roose- 
 velt's career is not remarkable for eloquence. 
 But it is remarkable for fearless candor. He 
 called thieves thieves, regardless of their mil- 
 lions; he slashed savagely at the Judge and the 
 Attorney-General ; he told the plain unvarnished 
 truth as his indignant eyes saw it. 
 
 " When he finished the veteran leader of the 
 Republicans rose and with gently contemptuous 
 raillery asked that the resolution to take up the 
 charge be voted down. He said he wished to 
 give young Mr. Roosevelt time to think about the 
 wisdom of his course. ' I have seen,' said he, 
 ' many reputations in the State broken down by 
 loose charges made in the legislature.' And pres- 
 ently the Assembly gave ' young Mr. Roosevelt 
 time to think ' by voting not to take up his ' loose 
 charges.' 
 
 " Ridicule, laughter, a ripple apparently it 
 was all over, except the consequences to the 
 bumptious and dangerous young man which 
 might flow from the cross set against his name 
 in the black books of the ring. 
 
 " That night the young man was once more 
 urged to be ' sensible,' to ' have regard to his 
 future usefulness,' to ' cease injuring the party.' 
 He snapped his teeth together and defied the 
 party leaders. And the next day he again rose 
 and again lifted his puny voice and his puny 
 hand against smiling, contemptuous corruption. 
 Day after day he persevered on the floor of the 
 Assembly and in interviews for the press ; a few
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 37 
 
 newspapers here and there joined with him; 
 Assemblymen all over the State began to hear 
 from their constituents. Within a week his name 
 was known from Buffalo to Montauk Point, and 
 everywhere the people were applauding him. 
 On the eighth day of his bold, smashing attack, 
 the resolution to take up the charges was again 
 voted upon at his demand. And the Assembly- 
 men, with the eyes of the whole people upon 
 them, did not dare longer to keep themselves on 
 record as defenders of a judge who feared to 
 demand an investigation. The opposition col- 
 lapsed. Roosevelt won by 104 to 6." 
 
 In the underworld of politics Roosevelt's fear- 
 less fight against corruption earned him many 
 bitter enemies. " A certain class grew to fear 
 and hate him to such a degree that they plotted 
 to do him bodily harm," wrote Edward Strate- 
 meyer, and he tells in his " American Boy's Life 
 of Theodore Roosevelt " the following incident : 
 
 " He has got to learn that he must mind his 
 own business," was the way one of these cor- 
 ruptionists reasoned. 
 
 "But what can we do?" asked another. 
 " He's as sharp on the floor of the Assembly as a 
 steel trap." 
 
 " We'll get Stubby to brush up against him," 
 said a third. 
 
 Stubby was a bar-room loafer who had been 
 at one time something of a pugilist. He was a 
 thoroughly unprincipled fellow, and it was 
 known that he would do almost anything for 
 money. 
 
 " Sure, I'll fix him," said Stubby. " You just
 
 38 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 leave him to me'and see how I polish him off." 
 
 The corruptionists and their tool met at the 
 Delavan House, an old-fashioned hotel at which 
 politicians in and around the capital were wont 
 to congregate, and waited for the young Assem- 
 blyman. Roosevelt was not long in putting in 
 an appearance and was soon in deep discussion 
 with some friends. 
 
 " Watch him, Stubby," said one of the young 
 assemblyman's enemies. "Don't let him get 
 away from you to-night." 
 
 " I have me eye on him," answered Stubby. 
 
 Roosevelt was on the way to the buffet of the 
 hotel when the crowd, with Stubby in front, 
 pushed against him rudely. The young As- 
 semblyman stepped back and viewed those before 
 him fearlessly. 
 
 " Say, what d' yer mean, running into me that 
 way ? " demanded Stubby, insolently. 
 
 As he spoke he aimed a savage blow at Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt. But the young Assemblyman 
 had not forgotten how to box, and he dodged 
 with an agility that was astonishing. 
 
 " This fellow needs to be taught a lesson," 
 Theodore told himself, and then and there he 
 proceeded to administer the lesson in a manner 
 that Stubby never forgot. He went down flat on 
 his back, and when he got up, he went down 
 again, with a bleeding nose and one eye all but 
 closed. Seeing this, several leaped in to his 
 assistance, but it was an ill-fated move, for 
 Roosevelt turned on them also, and down they 
 went, too; and then the encounter came to an 
 end, with Theodore Roosevelt the victor.
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 39 
 
 " And that wasn't the end of it," said one, who 
 witnessed the affair. " After it was over young 
 Roosevelt was as smiling as ever. He walked 
 straight over to some of his enemies who had 
 been watching the mix-up from a distance and 
 told them very plainly that he knew how the at- 
 tack had originated, and he was much obliged to 
 them, for he hadn't enjoyed himself so much for 
 a year." 
 
 His district sent him back to Albany as an 
 Assemblyman in 1882 and again in 1883. In 
 that year he was chosen minority leader of a 
 House now verging toward the Democratic su- 
 premacy which came to its full flower with the 
 victory of Grover Cleveland and the sending of 
 the Republican machine to the political round- 
 house for a radical overhauling. 
 
 Republican State leaders who had grown gray 
 in the political turmoil while young Roosevelt still 
 was a stripling suddenly began to look his way 
 and take some notice. In 1884, or in his twenty- 
 sixth year, they sent the young Assemblyman as 
 chairman of the New York delegation to the Re- 
 publican convention at Chicago which nominated 
 the Plumed Knight, idol of the rank and file of 
 Republicanism, as Cleveland's opponent after a 
 bitter scrimmage. 
 
 In a characteristically vigorous speech, Roose- 
 velt on the floor of the convention opposed 
 Elaine's nomination. But once Elaine had been 
 nominated, despite the fact that a sizable wing 
 bolted the party and espoused the Democratic 
 nominee, Grover Cleveland, Roosevelt gave 
 Elaine his support.
 
 40 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 For this shift'of attitude Roosevelt was much 
 criticized, but his reply gives the key to many 
 later acts such as his support of Judge Hughes, 
 the Republican candidate, in 1916, when the 
 Bull Moose wanted him again to carry its stand- 
 ard. He declared that in politics permanent 
 good was achieved not by guerilla warfare, but 
 by working vigorously for reforms within a 
 party. 
 
 The next adventure in politics was his nomi- 
 nation for Mayor of New York City, in 1886, a 
 really hopeless chance with a " United Labor 
 Party " led by Henry George, and a very re- 
 spectable citizen, Abram S. Hewitt, put up by 
 Tammany Hall to save itself. Theodore Roose- 
 velt ran third. 
 
 " When we received the news of his defeat," 
 says his old friend, William D. Murphy, " Roose- 
 velt met the announcement with a typical fighting 
 phrase, which phrase was a part of the popular 
 conception of the man. At 10 o'clock we knew 
 that he had been definitely beaten. ' Never 
 mind, Teddy, old boy,' I said, placing my arm 
 around his shoulder, ' this means bigger things 
 later on.' ' Never give a thought to it,' he an- 
 swered. ' We've had a bully fight.' This was 
 his first use of the famous fighting sentence, 
 ' We've had a bully fight.' " 
 
 These early experiences in political life taught 
 Mr. Roosevelt many helpful lessons. He con- 
 fided at least one of them to his close friend 
 and admirer, Jacob Riis. His successes in the 
 Legislature, especially in his single-handed fight 
 against Judge Westbrook, had so impressed him
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 41 
 
 with the virtue of independent action that he cut 
 himself off from the opinions of other advisers. 
 He had received much bad advice, and had won 
 his fight by rejecting it. Now he made the mis- 
 take of rejecting all advice and cooperation. He 
 depended wholly upon his own conscience and 
 judgment, refusing to make concessions or to see 
 virtue in the views and plans of those who dis- 
 agreed with him. His enemies immediately 
 spoke of his " big head " and his friends criti- 
 cized. He began to fail in his efforts. His influ- 
 ence waned. But he had the saving sense of 
 humor, and a keen understanding of himself. In 
 his confession to Jacob Riis, he said : 
 
 " I suppose," he said, " that my head was 
 swelled. It would not be strange if it was. I 
 stood out for my own opinion, alone. I took 
 the best mugwump stand ; my own conscience, 
 my own judgment, were to decide in all things. 
 I would listen to no argument, no advice. I 
 took the isolated peak on every issue, and my 
 people left me. When I looked around, before 
 the session was well under way, I found my- 
 self alone. I was absolutely deserted. The 
 people didn't understand. The men from Erie, 
 from Suffolk, from anywhere, would not work 
 with me. ' He won't listen to anybody/ they 
 said, and I would not. My isolated peak had 
 become a valley ; every bit of influence I had was 
 gone. The things I wanted to do I was power- 
 less to accomplish. What did I do? I looked 
 the ground over and made up my mind that 
 there was several other excellent people there, 
 with honest opinions of the right, even though
 
 42 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 they differed with me. I turned in to help them, 
 and they turned to and gave me a hand. And 
 so we were able to get things done. We did 
 not agree in all things, but we did in some, and 
 those we pulled at together. That was my first 
 lesson in real politics. It is just this : if you are 
 cast on a desert island with only a screw-driver, 
 a hatchet, and a chisel to make a boat with, why, 
 go make the best one you can. It would be 
 better if you had a saw, but you haven't. So 
 with men. Here is my friend in Congress who 
 is a good man, a strong man, but cannot be made 
 to believe in some things which I trust. It is 
 too bad that he doesn't look at it as I do, but 
 he does not, and we have to work together as 
 we can. There is a point, of course, where a 
 man must take the isolated peak and break with 
 it all for clear principle, but until it comes he 
 must work, if he would be of use, with men as 
 they are. As long as the good in them over- 
 balances the evil, let him work with that for the 
 best that can be got." 
 
 President Harrison had watched Roosevelt's 
 fight in the New York State Assembly for civil 
 service reform, and in 1889 appointed him a 
 United States Civil Service Commissioner. 
 " Immediately," says The Sun, New York, " he 
 jumped into a program of civil service uplift 
 that met with instant opposition from Congress- 
 men, largely from the South and Southwest, 
 who saw their patronage privileges going by the 
 board if the Roosevelt program was effected. 
 
 " Thereupon Commissioner Roosevelt exe- 
 cuted what was considered a brilliant coup : he
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 43 
 
 instituted the practice of having the examina- 
 tions for positions in Washington held in dis- 
 tant States; and straightway many a Congress- 
 man, who knew that by this plan pet constitu- 
 ents would have to take examinations under the 
 eye of men who often were not of the same 
 political faith, became converted on the spot to 
 the beauties of civil service." 
 
 The earnestness with which Mr. Roosevelt 
 worked in those years has been described by Mr. 
 John Fletcher Lacey, who was then representing 
 an Iowa district in Congress. A few days after 
 Mr. Lacey took his seat in the Fifty-first Con- 
 gress he met the late Thomas B. Reed in one 
 of the cloak-rooms of the Capitol, studying a 
 map of the United States. Mr. Lacey good 
 humoredly asked him if he were figuring out 
 the size of his majority as Speaker. According 
 to the lowan, Mr. Reed replied : 
 
 " Xo. A young constituent of mine who has 
 just failed in a civil service examination claims 
 that a competitor passed safely by bribing the 
 examiners to give him a list of the questions in 
 advance. I didn't believe my young friend, and 
 have sent him to the headquarters of the Civil 
 Service Commission to tell his story there. 
 While awaiting his return I have been figuring 
 out on this map that if, say, Columbus, Ohio, 
 represented one hundred per cent, in a civil serv- 
 ice table of markings, my constituent would 
 come out somewhere about Jamaica, Long 
 Island." 
 
 " I was amused," said Mr. Lacey, " by Reed's 
 quaint way of stating his belief in his constit-
 
 44 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 uent's inability to pass the examination. While 
 we were discussing the subject of civil service 
 regulations in a general way in walked the young 
 man who had failed and gone to unburden his 
 conviction to the Civil Service Commission that 
 a rival had been successful through connivance 
 with an agent of the Commission." 
 
 " Well, what happened when you told your 
 story ? " Reed asked. 
 
 " Why," faltered the youth, " a very emphatic 
 fellow in charge there whipped out one hundred 
 dollars in bills, laid them across his knee and 
 exclaimed : ' I'll pay you one hundred dollars, 
 young man, if you can prove that a single sylla- 
 ble of what you say of corruption is true.' That 
 is all the satisfaction I got." 
 
 " And that is all you deserve," Reed added. 
 
 " Then he turned to me," said Mr. Lacey, 
 " and remarked, ' We've got an American of 
 blood and iron a coming man on the Civil 
 Service Commission. I tell you, Lacey, you 
 want to watch that Civil Service Commissioner. 
 He'll be President some day." 
 
 " ' What's his name ? ' I asked. 
 
 " ' Theodore Roosevelt/ replied Reed. 
 
 " Of course I had heard vaguely of Roosevelt, 
 but never having had occasion to meet him I 
 had formed no definite opinion of him. Reed's 
 characterization aroused in me the greatest curi- 
 osity to see Roosevelt. The next day I called 
 and introduced myself, and took the liberty to 
 repeat what the young man had brought back 
 about the one hundred dollar guarantee that no 

 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 45 
 
 turpitude on the part of the examiner in question 
 existed. 
 
 " ' I have resolved to purify the civil service 
 system,' was Mr. Roosevelt's reply, ' and to that 
 end have placed in charge men whom I trust 
 with my whole heart, and I stand ready, there- 
 fore, to pledge my fortune and my honor to the 
 sacredness with which they respect the trust I 
 repose in them.' " 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt was willing, says George Wilr 
 liam Douglas, to back not only the integrity of 
 his subordinates but the fairness of his exam- 
 inations as well. It has been the favorite charge 
 of the opponents of the merit system that the 
 examinations did not test the ability of the candi- 
 dates for the duties which they aspired to per- 
 form. Mr. Roosevelt had to meet this charge 
 once before a committee, and he frankly ad- 
 mitted that some of the questions asked were 
 intended only to discover something about the 
 general intelligence of the candidates. 
 
 " Not long ago," he said, " we asked who 
 Lincoln was, and the answers that we got were 
 various. We were told that he was a Revolu- 
 tionary general, that he was assassinated by 
 Thomas Jefferson, that he assassinated Aaron 
 Burr, that he commanded a regiment in the 
 French and Indian War, and that he was an 
 Arctic explorer." 
 
 He insisted, however, that all examinations 
 should be practical, so far as possible. When it 
 was decided to put the Government inspectors 
 along the Rio Grande in the classified service, it
 
 46 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 became necessary to prepare questions for the 
 examinations. As these men were to prevent 
 outlaws from running cattle across the border 
 into Mexico, it was important that they should 
 be first-class horsemen, familiar with handling 
 cattle, and that they should also be acquainted 
 with the various brands of cattle on the Texas 
 frontier ranges. In short, men of experience in 
 frontier life were needed. Some subordinate 
 drafted a lot of questions in history, rhetoric, 
 and mathematics for the candidates to answer. 
 Mr. Roosevelt knew something about the West 
 and was aware that while men who could answer 
 these questions might make good inspectors, the 
 men who could be got to serve as inspectors 
 could not answer the questions, and that whether 
 they could or not was immaterial. He there- 
 upon drew up a new examination paper. The 
 only test of scholarship was the requirement that 
 the candidates should answer the questions in 
 their own language and in their own handwrit- 
 ing. 
 
 The men were asked, among other things, to 
 " state the experience, if any, you have had as 
 a marksman with a rifle or a pistol ; whether 
 or not you have practiced shooting at a target 
 with either weapon, or at game or other moving 
 objects; and also whether you have practiced 
 shooting on horseback. State the make of the 
 rifle or revolver you use." 
 
 This was intensely practical and was intended 
 to disclose the kind of information needed in 
 guiding the selection of inspectors. A second 
 question was similar to the first :
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 47 
 
 " State fully what experience you have had 
 in horsemanship; whether or not you can ride 
 unbroken horses; if not, whether you would be 
 able, unassisted, to rope, bridle, saddle, mount, 
 and ride an ordinary cow pony after it had been 
 turned loose for six months; also, whether you 
 can ride an ordinary cow pony on the round-up, 
 both in circle riding and in cutting-out work 
 around the herd." 
 
 Another question was framed so as to test 
 the applicants' knowledge of the different brands 
 of cattle in the cattle country. When Mr. 
 Roosevelt submitted the paper to his colleagues, 
 he declared that to be a successful Government 
 inspector and shoot lawless Mexicans who were 
 trying to run the cattle over the border, it was 
 not necessary for a man to discuss the nebular 
 hypothesis, nor to have an intimate knowledge 
 of the name and number of inhabitants of the 
 capital of Zanzibar. 
 
 Because he was a practical civil service re- 
 former and did not " play politics," he was kept 
 in office by President Cleveland, experiencing in 
 his own person the benefits of the merit system. 
 After he had been in the commission six years, 
 he concluded that his work there was finished. 
 The merit system was so firmly established that 
 no one dared propose to return to the old spoils 
 system of the distribution of the patronage 
 among the successful party workers; and the 
 examinations to test the fitness of the applicants 
 had been made so practical that no capable man 
 would fail to pass them. 
 
 So whole-souled and effective was Roosevelt's
 
 48 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 work in enforcing the civil service law that he 
 received notable commendation both from the 
 Republican and Democratic presidents under 
 whom he served. He was called from his civil 
 service work in Washington to New York to 
 accept Mayor Strong's offer of a Police Com- 
 missionership, and became president of the New 
 York Police Board in 1895. He expected that 
 under the reform administration " things would 
 be happening" and he was glad of the chance 
 to help them to happen. " I thought the storm 
 center was in New York, and so I came here," 
 he said to a friend. " It is a great piece of 
 practical work. I like to take hold of work 
 that has been done by a Tammany leader, and 
 do it as well, only by approaching it from the 
 opposite direction. The thing that attracted me 
 to it was that it was to be done in the hurly- 
 burly, for I don't like cloister life." 
 
 And into the thick of the hurly-burly he went, 
 while all his " unbounded genius for the unusual 
 immediately began to function," to quote a 
 graphic account from The Sun : " He strolled 
 Manhattan streets late into the night and he got 
 evidence at first hand. He antagonized Jimmy 
 Wakely, then an all powerful prize-fight 
 backer and saloonkeeper, who had been led to 
 believe that excise laws did not apply to the 
 Wakely " place of business." He made police 
 station speeches to astonished bluecoats, who 
 for the first time heard a superior tell them that 
 merit, not Tammany pull, would result in pro- 
 motion. 
 
 " He had taken the job on the condition that
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 49 
 
 he should have free rein, and thereupon he drove 
 headlong into the work. As president of the 
 Board he started in to practice what he preached, 
 but the old Gibraltar reared a new pinnacle in 
 the form of local laws, which said that the power 
 of substantial reward was vested in the chief 
 of police, not in the police board. 
 
 " Tom Byrnes, famed as a detective through- 
 out the land, was the chief of police. With 
 the idea of beginning the reform at the top 
 Roosevelt convinced his board colleagues that 
 the " great " Tom Byrnes should go, and a whole 
 city started at the audacity of the idea. But into 
 the police board rooms the mighty detective was 
 summoned for an explosive interview. Ten 
 minutes after the dust had settled Tom Byrnes, 
 the mighty, had sent in his resignation. 
 
 " Peter Conlin, acting chief, was promoted to 
 Byrnes' job, the commission figuring that Con- 
 lin, supposedly a weak man, would take orders 
 and carry them out. But, unknown to Com- 
 missioner Roosevelt, Commissioner Parker didn't 
 side altogether with Rooseveltian views of po- 
 lice management, and Parker had great influ- 
 ence over Chief Conlin. 
 
 " For a year Conlin did Roosevelt's bidding. 
 Then the chief grew headstrong to the point 
 where Roosevelt found himself unable to reward 
 policemen as he had promised or to punish where 
 he had threatened. He faced about and began 
 to fight from a new angle; he tried to get reme- 
 dial legislation passed that would solve his po- 
 lice difficulties. He failed, and his reorganiza- 
 tion work as planned went to smash.
 
 50 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " Policemen were growing rich, he knew, by 
 protecting saloonkeepers that steadily broke the 
 Sunday excise law. Out came the Roosevelt 
 dictum despite protests from his friends that 
 he was threatening the future success of his 
 own career that every saloon in Manhattan 
 must obey the statute, which said saloons must 
 close from Saturday night to Monday. 
 
 " Shrieks of anguish arose the length and 
 breadth of the island. Roosevelt's local popu- 
 larity got a temporary setback. Chief Conlin 
 seized the chance to be " with the crowd " and 
 defied his Commissioner. When influential citi- 
 zens, who had heard the protests of the vicious 
 against the enforcement of the laws regulating 
 liquor-selling, began to be afraid lest business 
 should suffer, and went to him and suggested 
 that it was not wise to bring about this new 
 order of things, his answer was uniformly the 
 same : 
 
 " I am placed here to enforce the law as I 
 find it. I shall enforce it. If you don't like 
 the law, repeal it." 
 
 George William Douglas, in his book " The 
 Many-Sided Roosevelt " called attention to the 
 fact that this was a practical application of Gen- 
 eral Grant's dictum that the best way to secure 
 the repeal of an improper law is to enforce it. 
 But the people of New York have not yet been 
 able to secure the repeal of the statutes which 
 the new Police Commissioner insisted should be 
 obeyed. New statutes have been passed and new 
 conditions created, but the situation is prac- 
 tically unchanged. In his conversation with Mr.
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 51 
 
 Eggleston in the spring of 1902 the subject was 
 referred to, and Mr. Eggleston told the Presi- 
 dent that he was the author of the situation 
 which then existed: 
 
 " How is that? " Mr. Roosevelt asked. 
 
 " Why, it was you who first demonstrated the 
 fact that it is possible for an honest police ad- 
 ministration to compel the police to honest 
 ways," Mr. Eggleston replied. " You thus 
 created a popular demand for honest police ad- 
 ministration which will not down at any man's 
 behest." 
 
 Then Mr. Eggleston, at his request, briefly 
 described the conditions, and after some mo- 
 ments' thought Mr. Roosevelt said : 
 
 " The difficulty seems to be inherent in the 
 conditions. If a reform administration honestly 
 endeavors to carry out reform, it makes an end 
 of itself at the end of its term and insures the 
 return of Tammany to power. If a reform ad- 
 ministration fails or falters in carrying out the 
 pledges of reform on which it was elected, it 
 utterly loses the confidence and support of the 
 reform forces, and that again means a triumph 
 for Tammany at the next election." 
 
 " What, then, is to be done ? " asked Mr. Eg- 
 gleston. 
 
 " Enforce the law and take the consequences," 
 he quickly answered. " The police force is 
 composed mainly of good men, who have no 
 love for crookedness. They need only know 
 that an honest discharge of duty is required of 
 them in order to insure conduct of that charac- 
 ter on their part."
 
 52 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 The sum total * of the whole excise crusade 
 demonstrated that there were many honest po- 
 licemen who would go straight if encouraged; 
 that there were Police Commissioners who dared 
 do their duty ; that traces of a rise in the morals 
 of the whole force were noticeable, and that 
 according to the Roosevelt figures Sunday 
 drinking had been cut down " 40 per cent." while 
 the wave lasted. 
 
 In many other ways the new vigor in the 
 police department made itself felt in bettering 
 city conditions. The tenement-house law was 
 invoked anew against buildings which were unfit 
 for human inhabitants. " New York City was 
 crowded with such buildings," writes Edward 
 Stratemeyer, " but nobody had ordered them 
 torn down, because either nobody wanted to 
 bother, or the owners paid black-mail money to 
 keep them standing for the rent they could get 
 out of them." 
 
 " Those tenements must come down," said 
 Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
 " If you order them down, the owners will 
 fight you to the bitter end," said another officer 
 of the department. 
 
 " I don't care if they do. The houses are a 
 menace to life and health. They are filthy, and 
 if a fire ever started in them, some would prove 
 regular traps. They have got to go." And 
 shortly after that about a hundred were seized, 
 and the most destroyed. 
 
 For many years a large number of shiftless 
 and often lawless men, and women too, were 
 attracted to the metropolis because of the
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 53 
 
 " tramps' Lodging Houses " located there. 
 These resorts were continually filled by vagrants 
 who would not work and who were a constant 
 menace to society at large. 
 
 "We must get rid of those lodging houses," 
 said Mr. Roosevelt. " They simply breed crime. 
 No respectable man or woman, no matter how 
 poor, will enter them." 
 
 " But we'll have to have some sort of shelter 
 for the poor people," said others. 
 
 " To be sure for those who are deserving. 
 The others should be driven off and discour- 
 aged," answered Mr. Roosevelt. And one by 
 one the tramps' lodging places were abolished. 
 In their place the Board of Charities opened a 
 Municipal Lodging House, where those who 
 were deserving were received, were made to 
 bathe, and given proper shelter and nourishment. 
 
 More than once threats were made against 
 Commissioner Roosevelt's life, but they did not 
 move him an inch. When told by a friend one 
 day that a group of saloonkeepers were plotting 
 to harm him, he said, " What can they do ? " 
 
 " I am afraid they can do a good deal," was 
 the answer. " Each of those men has a bar- 
 keeper who has been in jail for various crimes. 
 They may attack you some dark night and kill 
 you." 
 
 " Perhaps I won't give them the chance," an- 
 swered the man who had been on many a dan- 
 gerous hunt in the wild West. <( If they can 
 shoot, so can I." 
 
 " But they may sneak up behind you and 
 knock you out," insisted the visitor.
 
 54 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " Well, if they do that, I shall have died doing 
 my duty," was the calm answer. 
 
 But the Gibraltar of the underworld and the 
 " invisible government " was too strong in those 
 days for even a Roosevelt to demolish, and when 
 the McKinley Administration offered him an ap- 
 pointment much to his liking, that of Assistant 
 Secretary of the Navy, he resigned from the 
 Police Board, April 17, 1897, and went to Wash- 
 ington again. He left a different police force, 
 both as to individuals and as to organized effi- 
 ciency, from the one he found. Hermann Hage- 
 dorn has quoted, in his delightful " The Boy's 
 Life of Theodore Roosevelt," the following tes- 
 timony of a captain and a lieutenant of police 
 as to the effect of the Roosevelt influence on the 
 force : 
 
 " The police department was in a coma," said 
 a lieutenant of police, many years later, " and 
 Roosevelt woke it up." 
 
 " He put new morale into the force," said a 
 captain of police. " All payments for advance- 
 ment stopped at once. No political boss could 
 appoint, promote, or injure you. Promotions 
 were strictly on the level. No man was afraid 
 to do his duty while Roosevelt was commis- 
 sioner, because he knew that the commissioner 
 was behind him. The crooks were afraid of the 
 cops and the cops were not afraid of the 
 crooks. All the decent, manly fellows on the 
 force loved this strenuous master who led them. 
 He was human. You could talk to him. He 
 made even people with a shady past feel at home 
 with him."
 
 FIGHT FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT 55 
 
 " No matter how you felt when you were go- 
 ing to him," said the lieutenant of police, " when 
 you were with him you felt you were as good 
 as he was. He gets acquainted with me as an 
 East Side kid, and because I was a genuine East 
 Side kid he stuck to me. And he made me feel 
 that he would sooner be seen in the company 
 of me and my kind than in the company of 
 ambassadors and kings." 
 
 " It took some months," said the captain 
 of police, " to give the force their faith in Roose- 
 velt. They thought he might be just a flash 
 in the pan. But they found out soon there was 
 no bunk in him. He had an open door for any 
 member of the force. Every man who really 
 tried to do right or, having gone crooked, re- 
 formed and showed he was trying to do right, 
 always received a fair chance. He detested 
 cowardice and shirking and the milk-and-water 
 men, but he always stuck to the man who proved 
 he was doing or trying to do his job." 
 
 " He was a great sticker," said the lieutenant 
 of police. 
 
 " The whole thing in a nutshell was this," 
 said the captain of police. " The force, kickers, 
 gamblers, and all, knew in their hearts that if 
 they gave good and faithful service this man 
 Roosevelt would stick to them. And if they in- 
 curred the enmity of the underworld or the po- 
 litical world, no unjust accusation would hurt 
 them. It would help them, if anything." 
 
 " I've had my troubles on the force since he 
 left," said the lieutenant of police, " and there's 
 been times when I've felt, just as any man would,
 
 56 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 like getting my revenge, when the chance came, 
 on men who were trying to hurt me, or doing 
 things that other men were doing, but that 
 weren't just all right. But I thought of him 
 and I didn't do them. I said to myself, people 
 know that you're his friend and what you do 
 reflects on him. You have a right to dabble 
 with your own reputation, but you haven't a 
 right to dabble with his." 
 
 " I guess," said the captain of police, " that 
 nine-tenths of the men that's ever come in con- 
 tact with Theodore Roosevelt are better and 
 squarer men because of it." 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER IN THE GREAT WEST 
 
 ALMOST immediately after the Republican 
 convention of 1884, at which Elaine was nom- 
 inated for President, Roosevelt closed his af- 
 fairs in New York and turned his face toward 
 the great West for a period of vigorous life 
 in the land of broad skies and big game. There 
 for two years he studied the wildest traits of 
 Nature and of men and found his way into the 
 hearts of both. George William Douglas has 
 gathered and verified some of the most charac- 
 teristic incidents of this period and by his per- 
 mission a few of them are reproduced in this 
 chapter. 
 
 Roosevelt arrived at Medora on the Little 
 Missouri River in Dakota Territory in Sep-
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 7 
 
 tember of 1884, and when he inquired about 
 the hunting prospects was told that he would 
 have to ride fifty miles into a rough, unbroken 
 country before finding any big game. Saddle- 
 horses were difficult to obtain, and were not 
 trustworthy when they could be got. Camping 
 in the open was not agreeable or restful after 
 a long day in the saddle, and only strong men 
 voluntarily endured the hardships of buffalo 
 hunting in that part of the country. Mr. Roose- 
 velt did not look like a strong man. He was 
 not tall and then he was rather slender, as a 
 young man of less than twenty-five naturally 
 would be. Besides, he wore glasses, which 
 Westerners living in the open fortunately do 
 not need till age dims their sight. No one was 
 anxious to go hunting with the slight Easterner, 
 but finally his determination impressed Mr. J. 
 A. Ferris, an experienced guide, and he con- 
 sented to go with him. 
 
 " We started out with a hunting outfit to the 
 head of Bacon Creek, about fifty miles from 
 the railroad crossing," said Mr. Ferris later, in 
 describing the trip. " Mr. Roosevelt was on 
 horseback, and where he learned to ride I don't 
 know ; but he rode as well, if not better, than 
 I did and could stand just as much knocking 
 about. 
 
 " In making or breaking camp he was as 
 handy as a pocket in a shirt and seemed to know 
 just what to do. On the first night out, when 
 we were twenty-five miles from a settlement, 
 we went into camp on the open prairie, with 
 our saddle-blankets over us, our horses picketed
 
 58 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 and the picket ropes tied about the horns of 
 our saddles, which we used for pillows. 
 
 " In the middle of the night there was a rush, 
 our pillows were swept from under our heads 
 and our horses went tearing off over the prairie, 
 frightened by wolves. Away they tore, and we 
 heard the saddles thumping over the ground 
 after them. Mr. Roosevelt was up and off in 
 a minute. Together we chased those frightened 
 horses over the prairie until they slackened speed 
 and we caught up with them. The night was 
 dark and there was little to guide us on our 
 return. Mr. Roosevelt's bump of locality was 
 good, and he led the way back to camp straight 
 as a die. 
 
 " On the following day we reached our hunt- 
 ing grounds, and for several days traveled about 
 without being able to get a shot at a buffalo. 
 On the fourth or fifth day out, I think it was, 
 while we were riding along, our horses pricked 
 up their ears, as they will do when big game 
 is near, and I told Mr. Roosevelt that there 
 was a buffalo close at hand. 
 
 " We dismounted and advanced to a big wash- 
 out near by and peered over the edge. There 
 stood a huge buffalo bull calmly feeding and 
 unaware of our presence. 
 
 ' ' Hit him where that patch of red shows 
 on his side,' said I, ' and you've got him.' 
 
 " Mr. Roosevelt was as cool as a cucumber. 
 He raised his gun carefully, took aim calmly 
 and fired. Out came the buffalo from the wash- 
 out with blood pouring from his mouth and nose. 
 
 " ' You've shot him,' I shouted, and so it
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 59 
 
 proved, for the buffalo plunged a few steps and 
 fell dead." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt had not been long in the West 
 before he discovered, if he did not already know, 
 that the social conventions there differ from 
 those in the East. And he had several interest- 
 ing experiences before he convinced those whom 
 he met that he was entitled to as much con- 
 sideration as any self-respecting Westerner. 
 
 One evening after supper he was reading at 
 a table in the public room of a frontier hotel 
 where he was passing the night. The room was 
 office, dining-room, bar-room and everything 
 else. A man, half drunk, came into the hotel 
 with a swagger, marched up to the bar and with 
 a flourish of his arm commanded everybody to 
 drink. Everybody was willing to obey, that is, 
 everybody but Mr. Roosevelt. He still sat at 
 the table busy with his book. 
 
 " Who's that fellow ? " the man asked, point- 
 ing in Roosevelt's direction. 
 
 " Oh, he's a tenderfoot, just arrived," some 
 one said. 
 
 " Humph," he grunted. Then he turned 
 squarely around and called out : " Say you, Mr. 
 Four-eyes, I asked this house to drink. Did you 
 hear me?" 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt made no reply. The man 
 swaggered over to him, pulling out his pistol 
 and firing as he crossed the room. 
 
 " I want you to understand that when I ask 
 a man to drink with me, that man's got to 
 drink," he threatened, fondling his still smok- 
 ing pistol.
 
 60 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " You must excuse me to-night. I do not 
 care for anything to drink," said Roosevelt. 
 
 " That don't go here. You just order your 
 drink or there'll be more trouble." 
 
 " Very well, sir," Roosevelt replied, rising 
 slowly to his feet and waiting till he was firmly 
 poised on them before completing his re- 
 mark, " I do not care for anything, but if I 
 must " 
 
 With the word "must" he let his fist fly, 
 striking the bully a terrific blow on the jaw 
 and knocked him to the floor. In an instant 
 Roosevelt was astride of him with his knees 
 holding down the man's arms. After taking 
 away all the weapons he could find he let the 
 man up. 
 
 " Now, I hope you understand, sir, that I 
 do not care to drink with you," said the young 
 " tenderfoot," who had hardened his muscles to 
 some purpose before he went West. 
 
 This is the common version of the story. Mr. 
 Roosevelt has referred to the incident in this 
 way : " I was never shot at maliciously but 
 once. This was on the occasion when I had to 
 pass the night in a little frontier hotel where 
 the bar-room occupied the place where every 
 one, drunk or sober, had to sit. My assailant 
 was neither a cowboy nor a bona fide ' bad man,' 
 but a broad-hatted ruffian of a cheap and com- 
 monplace type who had for the moment terror- 
 ized the other men in the bar-room, these being 
 mostly sheep-herders and small grangers. The 
 fact that I wore glasses, together with my evi- 
 dent desire to avoid a fight, apparently gave
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 61 
 
 him the impression a mistaken one that I 
 would not resent an injury." 
 
 When the Marquis de Mores, whose ranch 
 was in the same part of the territory as Mr. 
 Roosevelt's, attempted to bulldoze him there 
 is no foundation in the story that the Marquis 
 challenged him to a duel he met the situation 
 with perfect self-possession. The Marquis had 
 the reputation of being a " bad man." This 
 was because he was a mediaeval Frenchman born 
 out of his time, and thought that any reflection 
 upon his honor or upon anything that concerned 
 him must be resented to the death. Naturally 
 he got into frequent trouble in the democratic 
 surroundings of the cattle country and he was 
 not let alone until he had killed a man. This 
 did not improve his reputation, and when his 
 cowboys and Roosevelt's clashed, everybody ex- 
 pected trouble between the masters. 
 
 The Marquis justified the expectation by send- 
 ing a messenger to Mr. Roosevelt, bearing a 
 letter containing the intimation that there was 
 a way for gentlemen to settle their differences 
 and calling his attention to it. This was as 
 near a challenge to a duel as it came, but it 
 was near enough. Roosevelt did not think 
 dueling worth while, and, regardless of the prec- 
 edents of .an antiquated code, he sent word that 
 there must be some misunderstanding, and that 
 he would follow the messenger in an hour or so 
 to discover what it was all about. The Mar- 
 quis, as soon as the reply arrived, not to be 
 made ridiculous by such a matter-of-fact treat- 
 ment of the case, sent another messenger to meet
 
 62 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt with an invitation to dinner. 
 The invitation was accepted, and coffee for two 
 was served without the pistols of the old-fash- 
 ioned " affair of honor." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt had been ranching some time 
 when this happened. It was during his buffalo- 
 hunting trip that he decided that the country 
 which supported big game would also support 
 cattle, and he made arrangements to fatten 
 steers on the land, supplying the cattle in the 
 first place to a partner who had a ranch. Later 
 he acquired two ranches and persisted in the 
 business for some years, notwithstanding the 
 severe losses he sustained through the destruc- 
 tion of his cattle by blizzards. He lived and 
 worked among his men and was like them save 
 that he carried a razor and read good literature. 
 He usually carried a book or two with him on 
 his hunting trips or whenever he expected to be 
 away from the ranch-house for any great length 
 of time. He had pocket editions of Burns and 
 Shakespeare and other classics. 
 
 On one occasion while he was hunting for a 
 lost horse, he was overtaken at night by a snow- 
 storm and took refuge in a deserted hut in com- 
 pany with a cowboy whom he had run across 
 on a similar errand. There were no inhabited 
 houses, if there were houses of any kind, for 
 many miles. The two men built a fire and ate 
 their supper together. Then " to while away the 
 long evening," Mr. Roosevelt writes, " I read 
 Hamlet aloud from a little pocket Shakespeare. 
 The cowboy, a Texan one of the best riders 
 I have ever seen, and also a very intelligent as
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 63 
 
 well as a thoroughly good fellow in every way 
 was greatly interested in it and commented 
 most shrewdly on the parts he liked, especially 
 Polonius's advice to Laertes, which he translated 
 into homely language with great relish, and 
 ended with the just criticism that ' old Shakes- 
 peare saveyed human natur' some.' " 
 
 In all respects, Mr. Roosevelt entered into 
 the life about him with a wholesome zest. His 
 horses were as good as the best, and his men, 
 both those whom he took with him from the 
 East and those whom he employed in the West, 
 were as loyal to him as it was possible for men 
 to be. He washed his own clothes the same 
 as the others. He went to the frontier balls 
 and danced with the women, opening one cow- 
 boy ball with the wife of a small stockman, 
 who had not long before killed a noted bully 
 of the neighborhood in self-defense, the stock- 
 man himself dancing opposite. The dance was 
 the lanciers, and Mr. Roosevelt says that the 
 stockman knew all the steps better than he did. 
 
 During his residence in the West he did not 
 forget his duties as an orderly citizen of a dis- 
 orderly country, in which each man had to de- 
 fend his own property. The part of the terri- 
 tory in which he was living had been pretty 
 well cleared of horse and cattle stealers in the 
 early winter of 1885, but three suspected men 
 remained, and as spring approached they became 
 anxious to leave that part of the country, as 
 threats to lynch them had been made. 
 
 The leader of these three was named Finne- 
 gan. He usually explained that he was " from
 
 64 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Bittle Creek, where the further up you went the 
 worse people got," and he " lived at the fountain 
 head," a description, when you come to think 
 of it, not devoid of merit. Finnegan and his 
 companions a German and a half-breed 
 had a hut on the river-bank about twenty miles 
 above Roosevelt's ranch, and Roosevelt knew it. 
 Therefore, when one of his men told him, in 
 March, 1886, that his Eastern-built skiff, used 
 in crossing the Little Missouri to the horse 
 range on the other side, had been stolen, he at 
 once decided that these men were the thieves. 
 The skiff was light and strong and was much 
 more easily handled than the flat-bottomed 
 scow which they were known to have. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt decided to deliver the men up 
 to justice, if possible, as he believed that to sub- 
 mit tamely on this occasion would invite further 
 depredations from lawless characters. He there- 
 fore had Sewall and Dow, the two Maine men 
 whom he had taken with him to the West, make 
 a flat-bottomed boat. They completed it in 
 three days of rapid work. Then it was loaded 
 with provisions enough to last for about two 
 weeks, and Mr. Roosevelt, Dow, and Sewall 
 embarked in it in pursuit of the thieves. They 
 counted on overtaking them in a short time, as 
 they knew that Finnegan was aware that the 
 Roosevelt skiff was the only boat besides his 
 own scow on that part of the river and would 
 conclude that he was safe from pursuit. It was 
 not practicable to follow the thieves down the 
 river on horseback. Finnegan had not counted 
 on the building of a new boat, so he was taken
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 65 
 
 unawares, when, on the afternoon of the third 
 day of the pursuit, Roosevelt's party, as they 
 turned a bend in the river, saw the smoke from 
 a camp fire and not far from it, on the river- 
 bank, the stolen boat tied to the shore. Then 
 they knew that the thieves could not be far 
 away. They fastened their own boat to the bank 
 and separated, planning to surround the camp. 
 When they came near enough to see what was 
 going on they discovered that only ojie of the 
 three men was there, and he was sitting down 
 without his weapons. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt covered him with his gun and 
 ordered him to hold up his hands. Then the 
 three men rushed in and searched him to make 
 sure that he had no pistols in his pockets, and 
 to prevent him from giving an alarm to his 
 companions. Dow was left in charge of the 
 prisoner while Sewall and Mr. Roosevelt went 
 some distance to a point from which they com- 
 manded all paths to the camp and awaited the 
 return of the others. After a time they heard 
 voices approaching, and soon Finnegan and his 
 companion came in sight. They were at once 
 covered by the Roosevelt guns and commanded 
 to surrender. As they had no alternative worth 
 considering, they obeyed and were marched back 
 to the camp, where they were to spend the night. 
 It was bitterly cold, and the problem of guard- 
 ing their prisoners became a difficult one. If 
 their feet and arms were bound tightly enough 
 to make them helpless, the circulation of the 
 blood would be stopped and the hands and feet 
 of the men would be frozen. As the next best
 
 66 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 way of making the men helpless, their boots 
 were taken off and they were compelled to sleep 
 all together in one blanket. The country was 
 so full of prickly cactus that Mr. Roosevelt 
 knew the men would not attempt to escape in 
 their stocking feet. As an additional precau- 
 tion, the night was divided into two watches, 
 one of the captors sitting up half the night and 
 another the other half, while the third man had 
 his sleep unbroken. Early the following morn- 
 ing the start was made down the river to the 
 nearest sheriff and jail, which they hoped to 
 reach in three or four days at the most. But 
 their plans were disarranged by the ice in the 
 river. For ten days they followed an ice- jam 
 down stream, which moved so slowly that before 
 they reached the " C Diamond " ranch, their 
 provisions were almost exhausted and for two 
 or three days they had been living on flour and 
 water mixed up together and baked. On the 
 outskirts of this ranch they found a hut with 
 a solitary cowboy and some bronchos. Mr. 
 Roosevelt left his prisoners here while he rode 
 to a ranch fifteen miles away, where he was 
 told he could get a wagon for carrying them 
 safely to the sheriff at Dickinson. After en- 
 gaging the wagon, a " prairie schooner," and a 
 team of horses, with the ranchman for a driver, 
 he returned to the cowboy's hut and his prison- 
 ers. 
 
 The next day he walked the prisoners, with 
 Dow and Sewall as assistant guards, to the 
 ranchman's house and loaded them into the 
 schooner. Then he dismissed Sewall and Dow
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 67 
 
 and sent them back up the river with the boats. 
 The start for Dickinson and the jail was made 
 with Mr. Roosevelt on foot behind the wagon 
 with his cocked gun over his shoulder. He 
 knew that the only way to prevent the men from 
 over-powering him was to remain out of their 
 reach and to keep his gun ready. The trail over 
 the prairie was a track of deep mud and progress 
 was slow. 
 
 Night overtook the party at a small hut, where 
 they stopped. The prisoners were put into the 
 upper bunk, from which it would not be easy 
 for them to get out, and Mr. Roosevelt mounted 
 guard over them, seated with his back against 
 the cabin door all night, fighting sleep. It was 
 one armed man against three desperadoes and 
 the possible treachery of his own physical ex- 
 haustion. The one man with the gun remained 
 master of the situation and got his prisoners 
 into the wagon again all right in the morning 
 and followed them into town on foot, arriving 
 there about six o'clock in the afternoon, com- 
 pletely exhausted after thirty-six hours with- 
 out sleep. He turned them over to the sheriff 
 with a statement of the charge against them. 
 Then, after making up his lost sleep, he returned 
 to his ranch, satisfied that he had established 
 his reputation for taking care of his own prop- 
 erty. 
 
 These three prisoners were the last of the 
 gang of outlaws the expulsion of whom from 
 that part of the country had been begun some 
 time before the skiff was stolen. A meeting of 
 the cattle-men had been held in the freight shed
 
 68 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 at Medora to form an organization for their mu- 
 tual protection against the marauders. It had 
 been openly hinted that a certain deputy sheriff 
 was in collusion with the outlaws. The deputy 
 was present at the meeting. 
 
 After the preliminaries of organization, it is 
 said that Mr. Roosevelt rose in his place and 
 addressed the deputy. He openly accused the 
 man of dishonesty and incompetency, and ignor- 
 ing the menace of the officer's revolver, the 
 handle of which was projecting above his belt, 
 he expressed his scorn of him as a man un- 
 worthy and unfit for the office which he held. 
 The disappearance of the next cow, he declared, 
 might become the signal for declaring the cor- 
 rupt official's office vacant, and it was not with- 
 out the pale of possibility that certain of Roose- 
 velt's friends, whom he might be unable to re- 
 strain, might invoke the assistance of a rope 
 or a Winchester in protecting their herds from 
 depredations. In the history of that part of the 
 country such a speech had never been heard 
 before. Few men would have had the courage 
 to make such an accusation in such a company, 
 and many of those present held their breath till 
 they saw that the accused man dared not re- 
 taliate. He sat with downcast head and said 
 not a word ; but his prestige was gone forever, 
 and it was not long before another deputy suc- 
 ceeded him. Thereafter the ranchmen of the 
 Kildeer Mountain region came to have a serene 
 feeling as they turned into their blankets at 
 night that their herds of cows would not dim- 
 inish before morning.
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 69 
 
 From that time on Roosevelt's position in the 
 West was one of distinction among the men of 
 the plains. His real business among those men 
 was raising cattle and caring for them on the 
 plains, and if anything could have raised him in 
 their estimation more than his determination to 
 be a real " cattle man " as distinct from a " sheep 
 man," it was the display of nerve which he never 
 lacked. 
 
 It seemed to make no difference that men 
 " were supposed to go about with their fingers 
 on the triggers of their guns," Roosevelt never 
 hesitated to stand up to those who boasted of 
 several notches on the handles of their revolvers. 
 The editor of the Bad Lands Cowboy has told of 
 a scene of this kind which took place in his 
 office, where Mr. Roosevelt used to drop in and 
 gossip with his widely scattered neighbors. He 
 had listened with manifest disgust to the low 
 talk of one of the most noted " bad men " in 
 the country, on the occasion which the editor has 
 recalled. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt knew that this man had well 
 earned his repute for badness and was always 
 ready to shoot up things on the least provoca- 
 tion. Nevertheless, when he was thoroughly 
 tired of the fellow's tales, it did not occur to 
 him to be afraid to say so. On the contrary, 
 he looked him straight in the eye and, speaking 
 in a low voice and " skinning his teeth," said, 
 " Jim, I like you ; but you are the nastiest talk- 
 ing man I ever heard." This candor took the 
 breath away from the men who were sitting 
 around the office, and every eye was on Jim's
 
 70 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 right hand to see if he would pull his " gun." 
 Instead of that, they saw a sheepish look come 
 into his hard face, and heard him say, in a 
 tone of apology : " I don't belong to your out- 
 fit, Mr. Roosevelt) and I am not beholden to 
 you for anything. All the same, I don't mind 
 saying that mebbe I've been a little too free 
 with my mouth." Jim knew that he had been 
 told the truth for once, and without fear and 
 without malice. He always remembered it to 
 the credit of the man who had dared to speak 
 what he thought, and remained a loyal friend of 
 Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
 There were other things in this Western life 
 besides taming bullies and defying negligent of- 
 ficials. The business there was raising cattle 
 and taking care of them on the plains. Mr. 
 Roosevelt rode with his cowboys and was as 
 good as any of them. On the round-up -he en- 
 dured all sorts of hardships with his men, rid- 
 ing all day and sleeping on the ground at night. 
 On one rainy night he was awakened by the 
 report that his cattle were being driven before the 
 storm and were in danger of stampeding. Every 
 man rushed to his horse, saddled him and rode 
 to the herd, hoping to head it off. But the 
 storm raged and the cattle continued to retreat 
 before it, at first slowly, but as the thunder 
 grew louder the animals began to show terror, 
 and it was not long before the men were riding 
 for their life in front of the stampeding brutes. 
 
 A vivid flash of lightning revealed an empty 
 corral not far away, and Mr. Roosevelt shouted 
 to the two men near him to make an opening
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 71 
 
 into it, while he tried to guide the cattle around 
 to it. By the time two sections of the fence 
 were down Roosevelt dashed through on his 
 horse, with the maddened animals at his heels, 
 and he barely escaped through a narrow open- 
 ing at the other side. The herd was saved with 
 the exception of a few animals that were 
 trampled to death in the struggle to get through 
 the break in the fence. Then the ranch-owner 
 and his men rolled themselves in their blankets 
 and went to sleep again. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt not only stood the test when 
 it was a question of presence of mind or of 
 physical endurance, but also when it was a ques- 
 tion of public spirit It was while on a hunting 
 trip with three other men that he fought a fire 
 on a cattle range all one night that he might 
 save the grass for his own and his neighbors' 
 cattle. He had noticed the fire in the morning 
 away to the southward, and thought it was too 
 far off to be of concern to him; but in the 
 afternoon he was surprised to see it bursting 
 out not more than a mile away. 
 
 After he and his companions had vainly 
 striven to turn the course of the flames he rode 
 off to seek a way of escape, but the fire was 
 moving so rapidly that he soon saw that their 
 only way out would be cut off before they could 
 reach it. He hastened back to the men and the 
 hunting wagon, which he found on the lee of 
 a damp stretch of ground, where the men were 
 busily engaged in beating down the grass, so 
 that when the fire passed around the place it 
 might not eat back to where they were. They
 
 72 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 succeeded in saving their belongings, as the fire 
 went around them, as they had planned. 
 
 When the wind went down at sunset they 
 killed a stray steer that had been caught for 
 the purpose, and split the carcass open down 
 the center. They dragged one half of this to the 
 fire, which was now eating its way slowly along 
 in a line not much broader than the length of 
 the steer's body. A passageway was beaten 
 through the flames to the dry grass on the other 
 side and one of the horses forced through with 
 a rope attached to one end of the carcass. The 
 other end of the carcass was attached to another 
 horse, so that the wet and bloody flesh might be 
 dragged along the ground, extinguishing the 
 flames. Mr. Roosevelt rode one of the horses, 
 and one of his men the other, while the two re- 
 maining men walked behind and stamped out 
 what few sparks were left. They continued till 
 the flesh was worn off the bones and the back- 
 bone broke. Then they got the other half of 
 the carcass and used it up the same way, work- 
 ing all night, and then stopping only because 
 they were completely exhausted. They made 
 a heroic effort, but four men and one steer car- 
 cass were not enough to put out a fire in the 
 rough country. 
 
 From boyhood Roosevelt had been an ac- 
 complished rider, and after very little experi- 
 ence in ranching he learned to sit in his saddle 
 and ride his horse like a life-long plainsman, 
 says James Morgan, who tells the following 
 two incidents of tricks played on Mr. Roose- 
 velt by playful cowpunchers: He was in
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 73 
 
 Medora waiting for a train that was to bring 
 a guest from the East. While he was in a store, 
 the jokers placed his saddle on a notoriously 
 vicious beast which they substituted for Mr. 
 Roosevelt's mount. When he came out, in haste 
 to ride around to the railroad station, he did 
 not detect the deception. 
 
 Once he was on the horse's back, he was 
 made instantly aware of the change. The 
 broncho bucked and whirled, to the amusement 
 of the grinning villagers. But to their amaze- 
 ment, the young ranchman succeeded in staying 
 on him and spurring him into a run. Away 
 they flew to the prairies and soon back they 
 raced in a cloud of a dust and through the town. 
 The friend from the East arrived and joined 
 the spectators, who waited to see if the young 
 squire of Elkhorn ever would return. In a little 
 while he was seen coming along the road at a 
 gentle gait, and when he reached the starting 
 point, he dismounted with a smile of quiet mas- 
 tery from as meek a creature as ever stood on 
 four legs. 
 
 He had no use, however, for a horse whose 
 spirit ran altogether to ugliness. When he first 
 went West, he doubted the theory of the natives 
 that any horse was hopelessly bad. For in- 
 stance, there was one in the sod-roofed log 
 stable of Elkhorn who had been labeled " The 
 Devil." Mr. Roosevelt believed that gentleness 
 would overcome Devil. The boys thought it 
 might if he should live to be seventy-five. After 
 much patient wooing, Devil actually let Mr. 
 Roosevelt lay his hand on him and pat him.
 
 74 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 The boys began to think that possibly there 
 was something in this new plan of bronco bust- 
 ing. 
 
 One day, however, when his gentle trainer 
 made bold to saddle and mount him, Devil 
 quickly drew his four hoofs together, leaped 
 into the air and came down with a jerk and a 
 thud. Then he finished with a few fancy curves 
 that landed his disillusioned rider a good many 
 yards in front of him. Mr. Roosevelt sprang to 
 his feet and on to the back of the animal. Four 
 times he was thrown, and one of the onlookers 
 has vowed that sometimes he could see twelve 
 acres of land between him and the saddle. 
 Finally the determined rider maneuvered Devil 
 out on to a quicksand, where bucking is im- 
 possible, and when at last he was driven back 
 to solid earth he was like a lamb. 
 
 In this rough life of the range the young 
 ranchman conquered forever the physical weak- 
 ness of his youth and put on that rugged strength 
 which enabled him to stand before the world, 
 a model of vigorous manhood. 
 
 In the fall of 1886 Roosevelt had been sum- 
 moned back to New York to make the Independ- 
 ent-Reform-Republican campaign for Mayor, 
 but the following spring he returned to North 
 Dakota to look after his cattle. The winter had 
 been terribly severe, and half his herd had per- 
 ished. He took the heavy loss, as he took every 
 defeat, without complaining, and never lost his 
 spirit of tender solicitude for any in need of 
 help. Cowboys who were with him in the spring 
 round-up that year, says the Chicago Tribune,
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 75 
 
 will never forget his act of kindness to a weak- 
 ling calf, as illustrative of the gentler side of 
 his nature. 
 
 The expedition comprised about one hundred 
 cowboys, who represented several ranches, and 
 was divided into " outfits " of twenty men to 
 each. The foreman of Colonel Roosevelt's 
 ranch was foreman of the round-up. This was 
 before Roosevelt became a colonel, and the cow- 
 boys all called him " Teddy." 
 
 Before the plainsmen galloped away from 
 Medora on the morning of May I5th, Roose- 
 velt told his foreman that he wished to be treated 
 no better than any other man in the party. He 
 was anxious and willing to do his share of the 
 work, he said, and the relations existing between 
 employer and employee were to be forgotten until 
 after the round-up. 
 
 Rudolph Lehmicke, a former cowboy, and 
 later a compositor on The Tribune, who was 
 with the expedition, tells the following story 
 of Roosevelt's saving the life of a calf. 
 
 " We had been out about three weeks and had 
 not met with any unusual adventure. It had 
 rained steadily two days and nights of the third 
 week, and every man in the round-up was 
 drenched to the skin. With the exception of 
 Colonel Roosevelt, or Teddy, as we then called 
 him, all of us were used to that rough life, and 
 we half expected him to plead illness when at 
 three o'clock the next morning we turned out 
 with the rain still pelting. But he was in the 
 saddle as quickly as any of us and not a word 
 of complaint did he utter.
 
 76 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " On this day Roosevelt, Merle Bentley, and 
 myself were driving what is called the day 
 herd. This is a bunch of cattle that have strayed 
 away from their own ranges during the winter. 
 The brand shows to whom they belong. Stray 
 cattle are gathered up and driven over the 
 divide, being headed down to their own 
 ranges. 
 
 *' About noon we came across a small bunch 
 of cattle, among which was a cow with a calf 
 not more than a week old. It was still raining 
 in torrents. When the cattle separated and 
 broke into a run, we saw the calf for the first 
 time. The mother cow was compelled to lag 
 behind on account of the calf's inability to travel 
 fast. Bentley was riding nearest the calf and 
 mother, and he tried to urge them on to join 
 those ahead. 
 
 " Teddy had been watching the feeble efforts 
 of the calf to keep along with the mother, and 
 he was touched by the little fellow's plucky 
 struggle to follow. He rode over to Bentley 
 and in a good-natured way asked him to ex- 
 change positions. Bentley galloped off to an- 
 other part of the field, glad to get rid of the 
 troublesome calf. 
 
 " Teddy rode along slowly to accommodate 
 the pace of the calf, but after half an hour's 
 struggle the little fellow had to give up. With 
 a bleat he fell from exhaustion. Teddy got 
 off his horse, picked the calf up in his arms, 
 put it on the saddle in front of him, and rode 
 along for a couple of miles. The mother cow 
 trotted along at the horse's side, and her big
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 77 
 
 brown eyes seemed to express the gratitude she 
 felt. 
 
 " The calf was put down after its rest in the 
 saddle, and by great exertion it managed to keep 
 along with the mother for a mile or so. Its 
 strength again gave out and it sank to the 
 ground. Teddy sprang from his horse and again 
 placed the little beast on the saddle in front of 
 him. 
 
 " This was repeated three or four times, I 
 think, before it was decided to let the calf lie 
 where it had fallen in the last brave struggle. 
 Usually in such cases the mother cow is driven 
 along with the day herd, and the abandoned 
 calf soon dies of hunger and exposure. We 
 were going to do this when Teddy said : 
 
 " ' Boys, it doesn't seem just right to drive 
 away the mother and leave the calf to die on 
 the prairie. That's hardly a square deal. What 
 do you say if we leave the mother with the 
 little fellow, and in a few days he will be able 
 to paddle his own canoe ? ' 
 
 " Bentley and I wanted to laugh, but we didn't, 
 and we rode away." 
 
 The serious work of cattle-raising was inter- 
 spersed with hunting trips, both for big game 
 and small. Mr. Roosevelt was never a " dead 
 shot," but he was fairly successful with the 
 rifle, and many incidents are told of his hunt- 
 ing journeys. The following is told by Edward 
 Stratemeyer, in his " American Boy's Life of 
 Roosevelt," as illustrating the tireless persistence 
 which was one of Roosevelt's best qualifications 
 as a hunter :
 
 78 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 There were no "elk in the immediate vicinity 
 of Theodore Roosevelt's ranches, nor were there 
 many bear or buffalo. But all these animals 
 were to be met with further westward, and 
 the young ranchman had been after them dur- 
 ing a previous year's hunting while on a trip 
 to Montana and Wyoming. 
 
 At that time the destination of the party was 
 the Bighorn Mountains, which were reached only 
 after a painful and disheartening journey over a 
 very uncertain Indian trail, during which one 
 of the ponies fell into a washout and broke his 
 neck, and a mule stuck fast in a mud-hole and 
 was extricated only after hours of hard work. 
 
 " It was on the second day of our journey into 
 the mountains that I got my first sight of elk," 
 says Mr. Roosevelt. The party was on the trail 
 leading into a broad valley, moving slowly and 
 cautiously along through a patch of pine trees. 
 When the bottom of the valley was gained, Mr. 
 Roosevelt saw a herd of cow elk at a great dis- 
 tance, and soon after took a shot at one, but 
 failed to reach his mark. 
 
 " I am going after that herd," he said. And 
 as soon as the party had pitched camp, he sallied 
 forth in one direction, while his foreman, Merri- 
 field, took another. 
 
 As Theodore had supposed, the elk had gone 
 off in a bunch, and for some distance it was 
 easy to follow them. But further on the herd 
 had spread out, and he had to follow with more 
 care, for fear of getting on the wrong trail, for 
 elk tracks ran in all directions over the moun- 
 tains. Their tracks are there to-day, but the
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 79 
 
 elk and the bears are fast disappearing, for ruth- 
 less hunters have done their best to exterminate 
 the game. 
 
 After passing along for several miles, Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt felt he must be drawing close 
 to the herd. Just then his rifle happened to tap 
 on the trunk of a tree, and instantly he heard 
 the elk moving away in new alarm. His hunt- 
 ing blood was now aroused, and he rushed for- 
 ward with all speed, but as silently as possible. 
 By taking a short cut, the young ranchman man- 
 aged to come up beside the running elk. They 
 were less than twenty yards away, and had it 
 not been for the many trees which were on 
 every side, he would have had an excellent shot 
 at them. As it was he brought low a fine, full- 
 grown cow elk, and hit a bull calf in the hind leg. 
 Later on he took up the trail of the calf and 
 finished that also. 
 
 Of this herd the foreman also brought down 
 two, so that for the time being the hunters had 
 all the meat they needed. But Theodore Roose- 
 velt was anxious to obtain some elk horns as 
 trophies of the chase, and day after day a watch 
 was kept for bull elk, as the hunters moved 
 the camp from one place to another. 
 
 At last the long-looked-for opportunity ar- 
 rived. Three big bulls were seen, and Roose- 
 velt and his man went after them with all pos- 
 sible speed. They were on foot, and the trail 
 led them over some soft ground, and then 
 through a big patch of burnt timber. Here run- 
 ning was by no means easy, and more than 
 once both hunters pitched headlong into the dirt
 
 8o ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 and soot, until they were covered from head 
 to foot. But Theodore Roosevelt was bound 
 to get the elk, and kept on until the sweat was 
 pouring down on his face and neck. Shot after 
 shot was fired, and all three of the animals 
 were wounded, but still they kept on bounding 
 away. 
 
 " One is down ! " shouted Roosevelt at last. 
 And the news proved true; the smallest of the 
 bulls had rocked unsteadily for a few seconds 
 and gone to earth. Then on and on after the 
 remaining game sped the hunters, panting and 
 sweating as before. 
 
 " The sweat streamed down in my eyes and 
 made furrows in the sooty mud that covered my 
 face, from having fallen full length down on 
 the burnt earth," writes the dauntless hunter, 
 in relating this story. " I sobbed for breath 
 as I toiled at a shambling trot after them, as 
 nearly done out as could well be." 
 
 But he did not give up and now the elk took 
 a turn and went downhill, with Theodore Roose- 
 velt pitching after them, ready to drop from 
 exhaustion, but full of that grit to win out which 
 won the admiration of all who knew the man. 
 The second bull fell ; and now but one remained, 
 and this dashed into the thicket. On its heels 
 went the daring hunter, running the chance of 
 having the elk turn on him as soon as cornered, 
 in which case, had Roosevelt's rifle been empty, 
 the struggle for life on both sides would have 
 been a fierce one. 
 
 In the midst of the thicket the hunter had to 
 pause, for the elk was now out of sight, and
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 81 
 
 there was no telling what new course had been 
 taken by the game. At a distance he saw a 
 yellow body under the evergreen trees, and, taking 
 hasty aim, fired. When he came up, he was 
 somewhat dismayed to learn that he had not 
 brought down the elk, but a black-tail deer in- 
 stead. In the meantime, the third elk got away, 
 and it proved impossible to pick up the trail 
 again. 
 
 Probably the most exciting adventure of all 
 those hunting trips in the western wilderness, 
 was his " hack at the bears " in September of 
 1889, and there is hardly any doubt that Her- 
 mann Hagedorn has written the best story of 
 the incident in his " Boy's Life of Theodore 
 Roosevelt," x published a few months ago. It 
 is reproduced here by permission : 
 
 His companion was a Grabbled, rheumatic old 
 mountain hunter named Hank Griffin, who had 
 an extraordinary gift for finding game, but also 
 a surly temper and profound contempt for 
 " tenderfeet," especially " tenderfeet " who wore 
 spectacles. He had never " trundled a tender- 
 foot before, he remarked, and gave the im- 
 pression that he considered Roosevelt in the 
 light of one who had blackened his otherwise 
 spotless record. He took his revenge by lying 
 abed late and letting Roosevelt do all the work 
 about the camp. 
 
 Finally, one day, he refused altogether to go 
 out on the day's hunt. He had a pain, he said. 
 
 Roosevelt went out by himself, returning at 
 
 1 Copyright, 1918, by Harper & Brothers.
 
 82 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 dusk, to find that the " pain " had during his 
 absence flourished on a flask of whiskey which 
 he kept in his kit for emergencies. Hank was 
 sitting very erect on a tree-stump, with his rifle 
 across his knees. Roosevelt nodded in greeting. 
 The guide leered at him. He was evidently very 
 drunk. 
 
 Roosevelt leaned his rifle against a tree near 
 the cooking-things and walked over to where his 
 bedding lay. He suspected that his flask had 
 been tapped. He rummaged among his belong- 
 ings. The flask was there, but the whiskey was 
 gone. 
 
 He turned on the man swiftly. " Hank, 
 you've emptied my flask ! " he cried. 
 
 The guide chuckled drunkenly. " Suppose I 
 have," he said. " What are ye going to do about 
 it?" 
 
 " I'll tell you what I am going to do about it," 
 answered Roosevelt, hotly. " I am going to take 
 one of the horses and go on by myself." 
 
 Hank stiffened up and cocked his rifle. " You 
 can go alone," he muttered, " but you won't take 
 a horse." 
 
 Roosevelt saw that the man was in a danger- 
 ous mood. " All right ! " he said. " If I can't, 
 I can't, I suppose." Then he began to move 
 about, in search of some flour and salt pork. 
 The guide, misled by his apparent acceptance 
 of the situation, stared straight ahead drunkenly. 
 
 Hank Griffin's cocked rifle lay across his knees, 
 the muzzle pointing to the left ; Roosevelt's rifle 
 stood toward the right. Roosevelt worked his 
 way unobtrusively toward it. Then suddenly he
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 83 
 
 whipped it up and threw the bead on the old 
 hunter. 
 
 " Hands up ! " 
 
 The man put up his hands. " Oh, come ! " he 
 said. " I was only joking." 
 
 "Well, I'm not!" Roosevelt replied, 
 " straighten your legs and let your rifle go to the 
 ground." 
 
 " It'll go off." 
 
 " Let it go off ! " 
 
 But the gun did not go off, after all, for the 
 guide straightened his legs with care so that it 
 slipped to the ground without a jar. 
 
 " Move back ! " 
 
 The guide obeyed and Roosevelt picked up the 
 rifle. The crabbed old man was quite sober 
 now, and quizzical instead of angry. 
 
 " Give me back my rifle," he remarked, in a 
 conciliatory voice, " an' we'll call it quits an' go 
 on together." 
 
 " I guess we won't do that," said Roosevelt. 
 " The hunt's about through anyway, and I think 
 I'll go home." He pointed to a blasted pine on 
 an eminence about a mile from camp. " Do you 
 see that pine? If I see you in camp when I reach 
 there, I'll leave your rifle there for you. If you 
 try to come after me, I'll take it for granted that 
 you mean to get me if you can, and I'll shoot." 
 
 " I'm not coming after you," grumbled the 
 guide. 
 
 Roosevelt started off, taking his little mare, his 
 bed-roll, and half the remaining supply of flour, 
 bacon, and tea. At the blasted pine he stopped 
 and looked around. Old Hank was still in camp.
 
 84 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Roosevelt left the rifle at the tree and pressed 
 on. At dusk he stopped and cooked his sup- 
 per. He did not believe that the old hunter 
 would follow him, but there was just a chance 
 that he might. So he made use of a familiar 
 trick of the trappers in the old Indian days. 
 Leaving his camp-fire burning brightly, he pushed 
 ahead until darkness made further progress im- 
 possible. Picketing the mare, but building no 
 fire, he lay down and slept until the first streak 
 of dawn, then again pushed on for two hours or 
 more before halting to cook breakfast. 
 
 There was no trail, but he kept his course along 
 the foot-hills where glades and little prairies 
 broke the pine forest; and it was not until the 
 end of this, the second day of his solitary jour- 
 neying, that he had difficulty finding his way. 
 That afternoon, however, he became enmeshed 
 in a tangle of winding valleys at the foot of the 
 steep mountains. Dusk was coming on. For 
 the moment he was " lost." He decided to 
 camp where he was. He threw his pack and his 
 buffalo sleeping-bag on the soft pine needles and 
 strolled off through the frosty gloaming with his 
 rifle on his shoulder, to see if he could pick up 
 a grouse for his supper. 
 
 He found no grouse. Among the tall, slender 
 pines the daylight was rapidly fading and he 
 turned toward his camp again at last. 
 
 Suddenly, as he stole noiselessly up to the crest 
 of a ridge, he caught the loom of a large, dark 
 object. 
 
 It was a great grizzly, walking slowly off with 
 his head down.
 
 RANCHMAN AND HUNTER 85 
 
 Roosevelt fired. The bear uttered a loud, 
 moaning grunt and plunged forward at a heavy 
 gallop. Roosevelt ran to cut him off. The 
 bear entered a laurel thicket, and for a time re- 
 mained hidden in the jungle of twisted stems and 
 foliage, now and again uttering a strange, savage 
 whine. Roosevelt began to skirt the edge, peer- 
 ing anxiously through the dusk. 
 
 The bear plunged out of the laurel on the far- 
 ther side, wheeled, and stood for a moment 
 broadside to the hunter. Stiffly he turned his 
 head. Scarlet strings of froth hung from his 
 lips ; his eyes burned like embers in the gloom. 
 
 Roosevelt fired again. Instantly the great 
 bear turned with a harsh roar of fury and chal- 
 lenge, blowing the bloody foam from his mouth. 
 Roosevelt saw his white fangs gleam as the 
 grizzly charged straight at him, crashing and 
 bounding through the laurel-bushes. He did not 
 fire at once. The raging animal came plunging 
 on. As he topped a fallen tree, Roosevelt fired 
 again. The ball went through the bear's chest, 
 but the grizzly neither swerved nor flinched, but 
 came steadily on. Roosevelt had only one more 
 shot in his magazine, and in a second the bear 
 would be upon him. 
 
 He fired for the beast's forehead, but his bul- 
 let went low, smashing the bear's lower jaw and 
 entering his neck. Roosevelt leaped aside even 
 as he pulled the trigger. The smoke hung for 
 an instant, and through it he saw a great paw 
 striking viciously at him. He flung himself 
 back, hurriedly jamming a couple of cartridges 
 into his rifle. The rush of the grizzly's charge
 
 86 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 carried him past his pursuer. As he struck he 
 lurched forward, recovering himself, and made 
 two or three leaps onward ; then suddenly col- 
 lapsed, rolling over and over. 
 
 Roosevelt's " hack at the bears " had been suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 Even the inveterate dweller in city caves must 
 feel the thrill of this characterization of hunting 
 which appears in the preface of Mr. Roosevelt's 
 book "The Wilderness Hunter." It has been 
 called " a poetical classic of the joys and thrill of 
 the chase " : 
 
 " In hunting, the finding and killing of the game 
 is, after all, but a part of the whole. The free, 
 self-reliant, adventurous life with its rugged and 
 stalwart democracy ; the wild surroundings, the 
 grand beauty pf the scenery, the chance to study 
 the ways and the habits of the woodland crea- 
 tures all these unite to give the career of the 
 wilderness hunter its peculiar charm. 
 
 " The chase is among the best of all national 
 pastimes ; it cultivates that vigorous manliness for 
 the lack of which in a nation, as in an individual, 
 the possession of no other qualities can possibly 
 atone. No one but he who has partaken thereof 
 can understand the keen delight of hunting in 
 lonely lands. 
 
 " For him is the joy of the horse well ridden 
 and the rifle well held; for him the long days 
 of toil and 'hardship, resolutely endured and 
 crowned at the end with triumph. 
 
 " In after years there shall come forever to 
 his mind the memory of endless prairies shim- 
 mering in the bright sun; of vast snow-clad
 
 ROUGH RIDERS AND SPANIARDS 87 
 
 wastes lying desolate under gray skies; of the 
 melancholy marshes, of the rush of mighty rivers, 
 of the breath of the evergreen forest in summer, 
 of the crooning of ice-armored pines at the touch 
 of the winds of winter, of cataracts roaring be- 
 neath hoary mountain masses, of all the innumer- 
 able sights and sounds of the wilderness, of its 
 immensity and mystery and of the silences that 
 brood in its still depths." 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ROUGH RIDERS AND SPANIARDS 
 
 IN 1897, Roosevelt was called back to Wash- 
 ington by President McKinley to fill the office of 
 Assistant Secretary of the Navy under John D. 
 Long, who had accepted the Navy portfolio with 
 the understanding that he should have as Assist- 
 ant Secretary a strong and active man. In this 
 respect Mr. Roosevelt did not disappoint him. 
 
 All the world knows his splendid efficiency in 
 putting through the program for naval prepared- 
 ness. Day and night he was to be found at his 
 desk in the Navy Department, cutting red tape 
 with a relentless hand and inspiring the bureau 
 chiefs and the officers of the navy to renewed 
 effort and accomplishment. His tireless energy 
 and quick mastery of detail contributed much 
 to the successful administration of the depart- 
 ment and the preparation of the navy for the 
 most brilliant feats in naval warfare in the his- 
 tory of the world. He pushed with his utmost
 
 88 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 vigor the repair and general overhauling of what 
 ships we then owned. He began to assemble am- 
 munition and supplies of all kinds. He framed 
 an important personnel bill. He started the navy 
 on a course of real gunnery, so as to improve 
 marksmanship. He distributed ships and supplies 
 where they would be of most help and use if a 
 storm burst, particularly remembering to place 
 ships in Pacific waters, where they might loaf 
 expectantly in the general neighborhood of the 
 Philippines. 
 
 From the very first he foresaw the probability 
 of a conflict with Spain and was determined to 
 be ready for it whenever it should come. He 
 worked earnestly for the navy personnel bill and 
 visited the various naval reserves throughout the 
 country. He left nothing undone that would in 
 his opinion secure the highest efficiency in the 
 service when the time for action came. He is 
 said to have been the first to realize the tre- 
 mendous opportunity that the war would open in 
 the Far East, and he it was who had Dewey, in 
 whom he recognized the right man for the place, 
 appointed to command the eastern squadron. 
 
 Scarcely had he got his feet under a Navy De- 
 partment desk when he asked for $800,000 for 
 powder and shell for the navy. It was granted. 
 He knew that the guns of the navy would be 
 useless unless the gunners could shoot straight. 
 There had been little target practice in past 
 years, for target practice with big guns is ex- 
 pensive. Now he saw to it that the gunners 
 learned how to fire real ammunition at real 
 targets, and hit the mark. A few months later
 
 ROUGH RIDERS AND SPANIARDS 89 
 
 he wanted $500,000 more. The representatives 
 of the people asked him, aghast, what had be- 
 come of the ammunition purchased with the 
 $800,000 handed to his department. 
 
 " Great heavens ! " he cried, equally aghast at 
 the question. " What d' you suppose we did with 
 it? We fired it. And this new half million 
 dollars' worth of ammunition will all be ex- 
 ploded thirty days after we get it. What else 
 do you want to know, gentlemen ? " 
 
 Many naval experts agree that the remarkable 
 skill in marksmanship displayed by the American 
 gunners was due to Roosevelt's foresight and in- 
 sistence. 
 
 The deliberation with which many of the of- 
 ficials in Washington went about their business 
 tried his patience, says George William Doug- 
 las. Mr. Roosevelt held a subordinate position 
 and. of course, had to wait on the pleasure of his 
 superiors, even when they were not delayed by 
 the inaction of Congress. On one occasion he 
 had urged a committee of Congressmen to ap- 
 prove certain things which he thought should 
 be done at once. The members of the committee 
 talked and talked without reaching any conclu- 
 sion. An hour passed and they were still talk- 
 ing, when Mr. Roosevelt sprang to his feet with 
 considerable show of impatience, and said : 
 
 " Gentlemen, if God had referred the ark to a 
 committee on naval affairs like this, it's my opin- 
 ion that it wouldn't have been built yet." 
 
 In the records of the Navy Department, Roose- 
 velt left many memorials to his keen interest in 
 the service, but none more striking than an order
 
 90 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 cabled to Admiral Dewey on February 25, 1898, 
 nearly two months before war was declared 
 on Spain, in which the first step toward Ameri- 
 can occupation of the Philippine Islands was 
 taken. 
 
 Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the 
 Navy, issued the order without the knowledge or 
 approval of Secretary Long, and in his autobiog- 
 raphy he described this as one of the times when 
 he seized opportunities presented by the absence 
 of the Secretary to take steps toward preparation 
 for war, which he regarded as vital. 
 
 Roosevelt had repeatedly urged that prompt 
 action be taken to make ready for war. He be- 
 lieved Admiral, then Commodore Dewey, com- 
 manding the Asiatic fleet, should be given ad- 
 vance instructions, for even before the Maine 
 was sunk he had felt certain that war with Spain 
 was inevitable. No instructions were sent to 
 Dewey, however, and when Mr. Long departed 
 from Washington on February 25, leaving Roose- 
 velt as Acting Secretary, this order, over Roose- 
 velt's name, went over the cables : 
 
 " Dewey, Hong Kong : 
 
 " Secret and confidential. Order the squadron, except 
 Monacacy, to Hong Kong. Keep full of coal. In event 
 of declaration of war with Spain your duty will be to 
 see that Spanish squadron does not leave Atlantic coast, 
 and then offensive operations in Philippine Islands. 
 Keep Olympia (Dewey's flagship at Manila Bay, pre- 
 viously order home) until further orders. 
 
 " ROOSEVELT." 
 
 Before war was declared it was reported that 
 the Spanish fleet was about to sail for Cuba, and
 
 ROUGH RIDERS AND SPANIARDS 91 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt urged that in view of all the cir- 
 cumstances, word be sent to Spain that the des- 
 patch of the fleet would be regarded as an act 
 of war. He had explained his views to President 
 McKinley, and the President sent for him one 
 day to tell the same things to the Cabinet. 
 What happened was told in 1901, after Mr. 
 Roosevelt had become President. As he en- 
 tered the room where the Cabinet was gath- 
 ered, President McKinley asked him 
 
 " What would you advise as to the action of 
 the United States in connection with Cervera's 
 fleet?" 
 
 After pressing his lips firmly together for a 
 moment, Mr. Roosevelt spoke : 
 
 " With all due deference to you, Mr. President, 
 since you ask me for my honest opinion, I will 
 say that my advice is to meet Cervera at the 
 Canaries and sink every ship in the fleet." 
 
 " But that would be an act of war," the Presi- 
 dent replied. 
 
 " Certainly it would," admitted Mr. Roosevelt, 
 " but I have noticed in my study of history that 
 it is the nation that gets in the first blow which 
 usually wins, and I believe in getting in the first 
 blow." 
 
 This advice was not taken, for reasons that 
 seemed to the responsible officers to be good and 
 sufficient. The Spanish fleet, with its torpedo 
 boats, sailed under command of Admiral Cer- 
 vera. Many of the older naval officers advo- 
 cated a policy of caution. They advised that 
 the men in command of our ships should exercise 
 great care and on no account get near enough
 
 92 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 to the torpedo boats to risk the loss of their own 
 ships. There was great dread of the destructive 
 power of the torpedoes in those days. Mr. 
 Mr. Roosevelt was discussing this situation one 
 day with a friend. He got so indignant at what 
 he regarded as the stupidity of the policy of 
 dodging the enemy, that he jumped from his 
 chair and paced up and down the room, shooting 
 words from his mouth like bullets from a rapid- 
 fire gun. 
 
 " Confound it all," he exclaimed, " of course 
 we must take risks. But what is the good of a 
 naval officer who would not run some risk when 
 the necessity arose? Suppose a torpedo boat 
 does destroy one of our ships, you may be sure 
 there will be no more Spanish torpedo boats after 
 that engagement is over. It is nonsense to talk 
 about keeping our ships in port while the Spanish 
 torpedo boats are on the sea. We must go out 
 and find them and destroy them. And that 
 would not be difficult, because I don't believe 
 they are half so dangerous as they are repre- 
 sented to be." 
 
 There was a lighter side to all this hard and 
 earnest work in preparation for possible war. 
 Mr. Roosevelt's good digestion and high spirits 
 still made it possible for him to enjoy life and 
 to take many things less seriously. He liked 
 to play pranks upon his associates. On one oc- 
 casion he accompanied a squadron that went out 
 for two days' target practice, to shoot away some 
 of the powder that he had persuaded Congress to 
 permit the Navy Department to buy. When 
 the squadron was about to return, the officers
 
 ROUGH RIDERS AND SPANIARDS 93 
 
 were invited on board the flag-ship as the guests 
 of Mr. Roosevelt. They talked for some time, 
 as the story is told, and as no creature comforts 
 appeared they began to look inquiringly at one 
 another. Mr. Roosevelt understood the glances, 
 and, without the flicker of a smile, he said: 
 
 " Will you step into the cabin, gentlemen, and 
 have some tea?" 
 
 The officers knew that strong waters were for- 
 bidden on board ship, but they also knew that an 
 appetizer by any other name would sit as well 
 on the stomach. So the movement toward the 
 cabin was prompt and unanimous. There, in the 
 center of a great table, rested a punch-bowl of 
 magnificent proportions, filled nearly to the brim 
 with liquid a shade darker than amber. In its 
 center floated an island of ice. Sprays of mint 
 extended their slender leaves over its brim, and 
 pieces of lemon and other fruits floated on the 
 surface of the cool and tempting liquid. 
 
 The old commodore, with the color of the sun 
 on his face and the dryness of the desert in his 
 throat, turned eagerly toward this oasis. He 
 stirred the ladle lovingly in the bowl while the 
 others gathered about him. He held his glass, 
 filled to the brim, between his eye and the sun- 
 light that came in through the cabin window, and 
 the clatter and clink of glasses sounded cheer- 
 fully as each officer filled to the occasion. With 
 an air of contentment and anticipatory joy the 
 commodore brought the glass to his lips. Then 
 as all lifted their glasses to follow his example, a 
 look of astonishment passed over his face, giv- 
 ing way to one of pain.
 
 94 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " I'll be blowecl if it ain't tea ! " he gasped. 
 
 And the regulations were still intact. 
 
 These officers and Mr. Roosevelt and every 
 other close observer of the signs of the times 
 knew when the Maine was blown up in Havana 
 harbor that war could not be delayed much 
 longer. And Mr. Roosevelt began to lay his 
 plans to get into it. He might have gone as a 
 staff officer, but he did not care for that kind of 
 duty. He sought to go as a field officer under 
 General Francis V. Greene, but there were no 
 vacancies. It was not until Congress author- 
 ized the organization of three cavalry regiments 
 from among the frontiersmen and cowboys of the 
 West that he found a way to go. 
 
 Secretary Alger, of the War Department, of- 
 fered to make him a colonel of one of them, but 
 he did not think he had sufficient experience in 
 equipping a regiment for the field to take com- 
 mand at once. He therefore asked the Secretary 
 of War to appoint him lieutenant-colonel and 
 make Leonard Wood the colonel. Wood was a 
 surgeon in the regular army and had been the 
 physician in attendance on President McKinley. 
 Although war was not his business, he had led a 
 body of troops against the Apache Indians in an 
 emergency and won a medal of honor. In the 
 course of his service he had picked up a sound 
 general knowledge of army methods. 
 
 Roosevelt and Wood had never met until the 
 former came to Washington as assistant secre- 
 tary. They had been immediately attracted to 
 each other, and soon became fast friends. The 
 surgeon had been fired with an ambition to lead
 
 ROUGH RIDERS AND SPANIARDS 95 
 
 a relief expedition to the Alaskan mining region 
 on the Klondike the winter before, and had urged 
 Roosevelt to join him. They were now equally 
 eager to serve in the war, and Wood had tried 
 in vain for an appointment from his own state, 
 Massachusetts. He welcomed the chance to 
 join his friend in raising the Western regiment, 
 and, with high ardor, they entered upon their 
 duties. 
 
 After Roosevelt had decided to resign there 
 were still some matters to be arranged in the 
 Navy Department before it was announced that 
 he was to go. But the newspaper men heard a 
 rumor of his intentions, and one of them went, 
 after midnight, to verify the report at the home 
 of his brother-in-law, Commander Cowles, where 
 he was staying. The man knew Mr. Roosevelt 
 personally, and thought that on the strength of 
 the acquaintance he might be able to get some 
 information. He discovered that however im- 
 pulsive the Assistant Secretary of the Navy might 
 seem, there were some things he could not be 
 surprised into saying. The newspaper man said 
 afterward : 
 
 " I stepped briskly up the steps and rang the 
 bell. The house was very dark, every blind 
 drawn and not a ray anywhere. Again I rang, 
 but no sound. Determined not to be bluffed, I 
 rang the bell once more and soon heard footsteps 
 above. The window-sash went up and Mr. 
 Roosevelt leaned out and wanted to know what I 
 wanted. 
 
 " ' Good evening, Mr. Roosevelt,' said I, ' this 
 is . Is it true '
 
 96 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " ' Why, Mr. ,' he interrupted, ' I am sur- 
 prised.' 
 
 " ' So am I, Mr. Roosevelt, but it is an impor- 
 tant matter and I'll explain later. I would like 
 to know if ' 
 
 " ' Why, Mr. , I am surprised.' 
 
 " ' I appreciate that fact,' I persisted, ' but it is 
 exceedingly important to know the exact facts. 
 Is it true that ' 
 
 "'Why, Mr. ?' broke in the cold, calm 
 
 voice, ' I am very much surprised,' and down 
 went the sash and back to bed went Mr. Roose- 
 velt. It was a cold dash and it took me some 
 time to recover from the shock ; but Mr. Roose- 
 velt explained later that he had had a particular 
 anxiety not to have the story appear that day." 
 
 But his purpose soon became generally known, 
 and then there was raised probably the most re- 
 markable regiment that was ever enlisted for any 
 war. 
 
 The plan of a Western regiment had set the 
 plainsmen and the mountaineers aflame with ex- 
 citement, says James Morgan, in his description 
 of this unique military organization. Many tele- 
 graphed offers of their services, singly and in 
 hastily formed bands. People began to speak of 
 the picturesque organization as " The Rough 
 Riders," a term borrowed from the circus. The 
 idea seized upon the imagination of adventurous 
 Eastern youth. From the South, and indeed 
 from all directions, applications flowed in a 
 torrent. 
 
 No one caught the contagion of the Roosevelt 
 spirit more quickly than the college athletes of
 
 ROUGH RIDERS AND SPANIARDS 97 
 
 the East. Young men of education and fortune 
 pressed more earnestly for a chance to serve 
 in the ranks under Roosevelt, than to gain com- 
 missions from the President as officers of other 
 commands. While he had to decline applica- 
 tions by the thousands, Mr. Roosevelt deter- 
 mined to accept a sufficient number of picked 
 men, of athletic tastes, from the other states to 
 form a troop. 
 
 A most remarkable lot of private soldiers they 
 proved to be, when they came to Washington to 
 be mustered in. There were among them gradu- 
 ates of all the famous colleges, members of the 
 most fashionable clubs of New York and Boston, 
 and troopers from the fancy mounted militia of 
 the big cities. There were the celebrated tennis 
 champion and the next best player; a captain of 
 a Harvard crew and one of his men; two foot- 
 ball players from Princeton; two noted track 
 athletes from Yale, two polo players from Mr. 
 Roosevelt's old team at Oyster Bay ; a celebrated 
 steeplechase rider from New York; a captain 
 of a Columbia crew, and there were New York 
 policemen, anxious to serve again under their old 
 commissioner. 
 
 As this unusual troop was about to be must- 
 ered in, Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt addressed 
 a few remarks to them in this vein : " Gentle- 
 men: You have now reached the last point. If 
 any one of you doesn't mean business, let him 
 say so now. An hour from now it will be too 
 late to back out. Once you are in, you've got to 
 see it through. You've got to perform, without 
 flinching, whatever duty is assigned to you, re-
 
 98 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 gardless of the difficulty or the danger attend- 
 ing to it. You must know how to ride, you must 
 know how to shoot, you must know how to live 
 in the open. Absolute obedience to every com- 
 mand is your first lesson. No matter what comes 
 you mustn't squeal. Think it over, all of you. 
 If any man wants to withdraw, he will be gladly 
 excused, for there are thousands who are anx- 
 ious to have places in this regiment." It is 
 needless to say that no one backed out. The 
 lientenant-colonel added, " There are not enough 
 tactics for all, but I will give you these to study 
 in the cars." With this he shot the little books at 
 their heads as if they were bullets aimed at the 
 enemy. 
 
 The War Department, says George William 
 Douglas, was ill prepared for the war, and the 
 regiments, which were anxious to get their equip- 
 ment without delay, had to look out for them- 
 selves or be neglected. Through the zeal of its 
 two commanding officers, the Rough Riders got 
 Krag-Jorgensen rifles, so that they might be as- 
 signed to duty with the regular army. Through 
 their energy they were in condition to be sent to 
 the front before either of the other volunteer 
 cavalry regiments. But it was only after the 
 most strenuous exertions that they succeeded 
 in getting ordered to the rendezvous in Florida. 
 Mr. Roosevelt sent telegrams day after day, be- 
 seeching all the men in authority that he could 
 think of, to get his men into service as soon as 
 possible. Finally, after much exertion, the com- 
 mand to go to Florida was extracted from the 
 War Department. So eager were they to get off
 
 ROUGH RIDERS AND SPANIARDS 99 
 
 that when they got to Tampa and received the 
 command to embark on a transport at Port 
 Tampa, nine miles away, Mr. Roosevelt seized a 
 train of empty coal cars, loaded his men into 
 them and forced the engineer to run them down 
 to the pier at which the transport was to be 
 moored. In the meantime, Colonel Wood was 
 getting the transport up to the pier. Mr. Roose- 
 velt learned accidentally that two other regi- 
 ments were ordered to go on the same boat, one 
 of which contained more men than the transport 
 could carry. He ran at full speed back to his 
 train, left a strong guard to take care of the 
 baggage, and marched the rest of the regiment 
 at double-quick to the point where the transport 
 landed, getting there just in time to scramble 
 aboard before the other regiments arrived. He 
 had set out for the front to see fighting, and he 
 was not going to be left behind if alertness could 
 accomplish anything. 
 
 Instead of waiting for specific orders to dis- 
 embark after the transport arrived off Santiago, 
 the pilot of one of the naval vessels there was se- 
 cured to take the troop ship to within a hundred 
 yards of land; the men were carried off in 
 boats, and the officers' horses were thrown over- 
 board to swim ashore. They had not been on 
 land many hours before the march to the front 
 began. It has been said that the regiment passed 
 the extreme outpost without orders, and conse- 
 quently got into the fight at Las Guasimas the 
 next morning when no fight was planned. When 
 General Shafter heard the news of the engage- 
 ment, it was in the form of a report that the
 
 ioo ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 regiment had been cut to pieces. But a few 
 hours later he received a correct report of the 
 engagement and sent a note to Lieutenant-Col- 
 onel Roosevelt congratulating him on the bril- 
 liant success of the attack. 
 
 It was at the battle of Las Guasimas, on June 
 24, that Roosevelt saw his first real fighting. His 
 undaunted spirit and the wholehearted interest in 
 the welfare of the men there endeared him still 
 further to the members of his command. 
 
 But it was at the Battle of San Juan Hill, on 
 July i, where Roosevelt was ranking officer, that 
 he attained his real claim to fame as a soldier. 
 His horse shot from under him, he ran ahead of 
 his men, waving his sword and shouting encour- 
 agement to them, until the Spaniards had been 
 driven from their trenches. 
 
 Those were the days before battles were won 
 by a predominance of military material rather 
 than by personal bravery, and Roosevelt threw 
 himself into the fight in a manner that silenced all 
 those who had credited him with personal mo- 
 tives for enlistment. 
 
 During the charge many of the Rough Riders 
 were killed. A veritable storm of Mauser bullets 
 plowed through their ranks and threatened to 
 sweep all before them. But the fields before 
 Santiago were cleared and the final surrender 
 of that stronghold was a direct result of the 
 taking of San Juan Hill. 
 
 Here is one of the descriptions of the charge, 
 as sent in a dispatch from the field of battle: 
 
 " Roosevelt was in the lead, waving his sword. 
 Out into the open and up the hill where death
 
 ROUGH RIDERS AND SPANIARDS 101 
 
 seemed certain, in the face of the continuous 
 crackle of the Mausers, came the Rough Riders, 
 with the loth Cavalry alongside. Not a man 
 flinched, all continuing to fire as they ran. 
 Roosevelt was a hundred feet ahead of his 
 troops, yelling like a Sioux, while his own men 
 and the colored cavalry cheered him as they 
 charged up the hill. There was no stopping as 
 men's neighbors fell, but on they went, faster and 
 faster. Suddenly Roosevelt's horse stopped, 
 pawed the air for a moment and fell in a heap. 
 Before the horse was down Roosevelt disen- 
 gaged himself from the saddle, and, landing on 
 his feet, again yelled to his men, and sword in 
 hand, charged on afoot." 
 
 Colonel Wood was promoted to a vacant briga- 
 dier-generalship on July 9, 1898, because he was 
 the senior colonel on the field, and the lieutenant- 
 colonel became colonel, and commanded the regi- 
 ment from a short time after the battle of San 
 Juan Hill till it was mustered out at Montauk 
 Point. 
 
 When the Rough Riders were mustered out in 
 1908, Colonel Roosevelt gave them some famous 
 words of advice, similar to those he frequently 
 gave in later months to the entire country. It 
 was a direct, personal and forcefully typical 
 speech, credited with much potency in the lives 
 of some of the men to whom it was made. In 
 substance it was as follows : 
 
 " Get action ; do things ; be sane ; don't fritter 
 away your time ; create ; act ; take a place wher- 
 ever you are and be somebody ; get action and 
 don't get gay."
 
 JC2 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 The Rough Riders did themselves credit in 
 Cuba, but, aside from San Juan Hill, their part 
 in the campaign which ended with the fall of 
 Santiago was small, as the part of any single 
 regiment was bound to be. The interest which 
 the regiment aroused throughout the country 
 was due more to its romantic composition and 
 history than to its brilliant achievements, though 
 its record is an honorable one. Mr. Roosevelt 
 placed it properly in history when he dedicated 
 his entertaining tale of its career in these words : 
 
 " On behalf of the Rough Riders I dedicate 
 this book to the officers and men of the five 
 regular regiments which, together with mine, 
 made up the cavalry division at Santiago." 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 "SHELVING" A FIGHTING GOVERNOR 
 
 EVEN before Colonel Roosevelt returned from 
 Cuba at the end of the war with Spain he had 
 become the popular hero of the event. Poli- 
 ticians set about planning to profit by his popu- 
 larity, both the politicians in his regular party 
 organization and the independents as well. The 
 latter sought to persuade him to accept a nomina- 
 tion for the governorship of New York from 
 them before the regular organization had a 
 chance to nominate him. They did not know the 
 man. He had not been in the habit of doing 
 things that way. He did not propose to be the 
 candidate of merely a few people who were un-
 
 "SHELVING" A GOVERNOR 103 
 
 able to work in harmony with a majority of 
 their party. Such a candidacy might be amus- 
 ing, but it would lead nowhere. George William 
 Douglas tells of this interesting period, how, 
 with consummate skill, Roosevelt prevented the 
 independents from complicating the situation, and 
 then accepted the regular Republican nomina- 
 tion when it came to him. And he was elected 
 when it was believed that no other candidiate 
 could have saved his party from defeat. 
 
 He not only prevented the reformers, as they 
 pleased to call themselves, from defeating their 
 own purpose in the campaign for his election, but 
 when he took his seat in the State Capitol in Al- 
 bany, he prevented the regular politicians from 
 using their accustomed tactics. The head of one 
 of the State departments seemed to think that 
 the department was maintained to further his 
 own political ambitions, and he used it for those 
 ends. Mr. Roosevelt did not think government 
 was carried on for such purposes and he sent for 
 the man. When the official reached the executive 
 chamber, they say the governor read him a lec- 
 ture about the duty of public officials which he 
 will long remember, and ended it by shaking his 
 finger in the man's face and snapping out at 
 him : 
 
 " Now, if you don't stop playing politics in 
 your office I will pretty soon know the reason 
 why." 
 
 The man was surprised, to say the least ; but he 
 paid more attention to his public duties there- 
 after. 
 The political effect of Mr. Roosevelt's actions,
 
 104 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 if he believed that he was acting for the general 
 good, did not seem to trouble him much. He 
 seconded the efforts of the Democratic Con- 
 troller of New York City to secure the passage 
 of bills to prevent the waste of the city's funds. 
 The Corporation Counsel had been in the habit 
 of confessing judgment in suits against the city 
 when he thought best, without consulting the 
 financial officers or any one else. It was as if 
 a lawyer should confess judgment without first 
 consulting his client. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt thought that this was not right. 
 He also thought that there should be some of- 
 ficial who should audit bills for supplies pur- 
 chased for the various city departments. Mr. 
 Bird S. Coler, the Controller, as the financial 
 head of the city, sought to have the law so 
 changed that his office might audit the supply 
 bills, and so that the law officer of the city 
 should be compelled to consult him before ad- 
 mitting in court that the city had no defense 
 against any suit brought to collect damages 
 for injuries sustained or pay for goods fur- 
 nished. 
 
 When one of the Republican leaders heard 
 that the Governor was working with the Con- 
 troller to secure the passage of the necessary bills, 
 he protested, saying: 
 
 " Governor, you are building up a powerful 
 rival to you next fall," referring to Mr. Coler's 
 desire for the Democratic nomination for the 
 governorship. Mr. Coler was not nominated till 
 two years later, as it turned out. 
 
 " Maybe so," replied Mr. Roosevelt, " but he
 
 "SHELVING" A GOVERNOR 105 
 
 is right and he is going to have those bills if I can 
 get them through the Legislature for him." 
 
 On another occasion other party leaders pro- 
 tested against his advocacy of the measure pro- 
 viding for the appointment of a commission of 
 expert engineers to consider the best method of 
 enlarging the Erie Canal. 
 
 " It is suicide to do it," they urged, " for it 
 will lose votes for you among the farmers and in 
 the districts that elected you. It is bad politics." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt appreciated the force of the 
 argument, but he did not yield. He simply shook 
 his head and said : 
 
 " You are right, but this is a case where the 
 few must give way for the benefit of the many. 
 I realize that it seems unjust to the farmers to 
 be taxed for improvements that will help bring 
 produce from the West to compete with them, 
 but the whole State must be considered, and that 
 canal proposition is in line with commercial 
 progress. It must go through." 
 
 When the Legislature hesitated in its support 
 of the measures he favored, or in support of his 
 desire to secure the appointment of officers who 
 had the confidence of the people, in distinction 
 from professional politicians, he was urged to 
 use the methods which other governors had found 
 effective, that is, to call the recalcitrant Senators 
 and Assemblymen to the executive chamber and 
 threaten to veto the bills in which they were in- 
 terested unless they supported him. They knew 
 the power that a governor could exercise if he 
 used such a weapon. Indeed, they were aware 
 that a Democratic leader who had been governor
 
 106 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 once exclaimed in indignation, when he heard of 
 the rebellion of the Legislature against another 
 Democratic governor: 
 
 " Why doesn't he threaten to veto their bills if 
 they don't come to time? That is what the veto 
 power is for." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt refused to be persuaded. 
 
 " Their bills belong to their constituents, and 
 to the public," he said, " and I have no right to 
 delay, much less to defeat them. As I cannot do 
 this, it is unfair to threaten them. I must win 
 on the merits of the case or not at all. But I 
 will win." 
 
 Measures which he pressed with his personal, 
 as well as official, influence provided for the pre- 
 vention of the adulteration of food products and 
 fertilizers, the betterment of the wage workers in 
 tenement houses, improvements in the labor law 
 and the systems of factory inspection, the pro- 
 tection of game, and especially the honest and 
 efficient administration of the state canals and the 
 extension of civil service regulations. 
 
 When he insisted on the passage of a law taxing 
 the franchises of public utility corporations, after 
 classifying them as real estate, the politicians 
 again told him that he was destroying his politi- 
 cal future. He insisted that he was right and 
 that the bill should be passed. The Legislature 
 agreed to it in the last days of the session, but 
 the bill was in imperfect shape. The Governor 
 at once called the Legislature together again in 
 special session and persuaded it to amend the 
 measure in accordance with his wishes. 
 
 This was in the spring of 1900, when the de-
 
 "SHELVING" A GOVERNOR 107 
 
 mand for his nomination for the vice-presidency 
 was just beginning. The New York leaders, or 
 some of them, were certain that Mr. Roose- 
 velt could not be elected to the governorship 
 again if he were renominated. They said that 
 the large franchise-enjoying corporations from 
 which they were accustomed to receive large 
 campaign contributions would not give a cent if 
 he were the candidate. Craftily the vice-presi- 
 dential seed was planted by the bosses who feared 
 him, in the belief it would grow up to choke the 
 political life of Colonel Roosevelt. 
 
 This was the attitude of the politicians of his 
 own State when the demand for his nomination 
 to the vice-presidency began to be heard in the 
 West. These politicians were willing and anx- 
 ious to get the complications of his candidacy 
 out of the State campaign. Mr. Roosevelt him- 
 self did not wish to go to Washington, but was 
 anxious for another term as governor to com- 
 plete the work which he had begun. The vice- 
 presidency had no attractions for him. In April, 
 1900, he wrote from Albany : " Here I am occu- 
 pied in trying not to be made vice-presidential 
 candidate. I prefer to try for the Governorship 
 again : whether I will be beaten or not I cannot 
 tell; I suppose I should certainly be beaten if it 
 were not a presidential year ; but this year there 
 is a good chance of carrying the Governorship, 
 too; whether it is more than an even chance I 
 should be afraid to say." 
 
 In conversation with his acquaintance he made 
 similar remarks about his unwillingness to be- 
 come vice-president. To one such he said :
 
 loS ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " I don't want to sit up there in the Senate 
 chamber for four years and say, ' All in favor 
 of the motion signify it by saying " Aye," all op- 
 posed, " No," the motion is carried or lost,' as the 
 case may be ; ' The Senator from such and such 
 a State has the floor ' ; and things like that. Be- 
 sides, I'd have to keep quiet up there on the plat- 
 form when that man (naming a conspicuous 
 " anti-imperialist " Senator) got up in his place 
 and talked his confounded treason, when I should 
 feel like going down on the floor and knocking his 
 blamed head off ! " 
 
 He was not the candidate of the delegates from 
 New York to the National Convention. They 
 were inclined to support Timothy L. Woodruff, 
 the Lieutenant-Governor of the State, rather 
 than Theodore Roosevelt, the governor. When 
 asked a few years later by Mr. James B. Mor- 
 row what was the reason of his failure to secure 
 the nomination, Mr. Woodruff replied : 
 
 " Theodore Roosevelt's immense popularity in 
 the West forced his candidacy on the delegates, 
 notwithstanding his wish and determination to 
 stay in New York and run for the Governor- 
 ship again. Back from Cuba but a short time, 
 he was a striking and romantic person- 
 ality. I don't say I could have been nomina- 
 ted, although seventy-two delegates from New 
 York met in Philadelphia and indorsed my candi- 
 dacy. It is true, however, that New York's de- 
 mand for a place on the national ticket is usually 
 respected. I was in Washington several months 
 before the convention met. Mr. Hanna (the 
 chairman of the Republican National Committee)
 
 "SHELVING" A GOVERNOR 109 
 
 sent for me. When I got to his room he sat 
 down and put his knees against mine. 
 
 " ' Timothy/ he said, ' I hear that you will be 
 a candidate for Vice-President.' 
 
 " I told him my friends had suggested it, but 
 that my own mind was open on the subject. 
 
 " ' But you are too young,' he argued. 
 
 " ' So far as that goes,' I replied, ' I am three 
 months and twenty-three days older than Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt, and my son is a junior at Yale.' 
 
 " ' Well/ he answered, winking his right eye, 
 ' you look too young.' " 
 
 The demand for Mr. Roosevelt, as Mr. Wood- 
 ruff said, was so strong that he could not resist 
 it. Many of his friends, even so late as the day 
 of his nomination by the Philadelphia conven- 
 tion, advised him to refuse to allow his name to 
 be presented. They told him that if he accepted 
 he would be shelved for four years and his politi- 
 cal career would be ended. Indeed, they be- 
 lieved that a plot had been laid by his enemies to 
 bury him in the vice-presidency, and three or 
 four years later some of these political enemies 
 confessed that this had been their purpose. He 
 was inclined to believe that the advice of his 
 friends was good but he finally yielded to the 
 pressure brought to bear upon him and, much 
 against his will, allowed himself to be nomi- 
 nated. 
 
 The nomination was made somewhat in this 
 way. When President McKinley was nominated 
 and the thunder of the cheering had died away, 
 Governor Roosevelt rose to second the nomina- 
 tion. His speech was a strong one. He had a
 
 no ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 speech in his hand, type-written, but this he did 
 not once look at, and probably did not follow, 
 speaking the thoughts that rose in his mind and 
 speaking them powerfully and well. 
 
 What he had to say evidently hit the mark, 
 for the members of the convention at once hailed 
 him as vice-president, shouting for McKinley 
 and Roosevelt. At this Senator Depew, seeing 
 his opportunity drawled out, " In the East we call 
 him Teddy." At this the shouting grew roof- 
 lifting ; " Teddy Roosevelt ! Teddy Roosevelt ! " 
 
 Depew was achieving his scheme to " shelve " 
 Roosevelt. When the latter's name was formally 
 presented to the convention calls for a vote rose 
 on every side and the taking of it quickly began. 
 It ended as it only could end under such cir- 
 cumstances. McKinley and Roosevelt were the 
 men of 1900. 
 
 Then Roosevelt made what the newspapers call 
 a " whirlwind " canvass of the country. He was 
 tireless and indefatigable, traveling during it no 
 less than twenty-two thousand miles, making 
 six hundred and seventy-three addresses, speak- 
 ing to three and a half millions of people. The 
 feat was unprecedented, and it made him known 
 to the people to a remarkable extent. He was 
 highly popular before ; he was doubly popular 
 when this remarkable campaign ended. When 
 the day of election came the popularity of the 
 candidates was shown in a plurality of 850,000 
 votes and an electoral majority of 137. On the 
 4th of March, 1901, he took the oath of office 
 and became Vice-President of the United States
 
 " SHEL VING " A GO VERNOR 1 1 1 
 
 and assumed the duties of presiding officer of the 
 smaller branch of Congress. 
 
 On his first day in office there occurred an 
 amusing illustration of his habit of doing what 
 he thought was expected of him, even in an un- 
 familiar situation. President McKinley and the 
 Senators and other distinguished persons left 
 the Senate chamber for the east front of the 
 Capitol, where the oath was to be administered 
 to the President and where he was to make his 
 inaugural address. No Senator had thought to 
 move an adjournment. Mr. Roosevelt, accord- 
 ingly, concluded that he must not desert his post, 
 and he knew that it was not consistent with the 
 dignity of the Senate for him to declare it ad- 
 journed, on his own initiative. For a long time 
 he remained alone on the Senate rostrum. Not 
 another living creature was in the room. He 
 was put away on a shelf and left there, indeed. 
 Then Senator Heitfeld, of Idaho, went into the 
 chamber on his way to the Democratic cloak- 
 room to get his rain-coat, which he had left be- 
 hind. He took in the situation at once, and with 
 great solemnity addressed the Chair. What 
 happened might have appeared in the Congres- 
 sional Record something like this : 
 
 Mr. Heitfeld Mr. President. 
 
 The Vice- President The Senator from 
 Idaho. 
 
 Mr. Heitfeld I move that the Senate do now 
 adjourn till 12 o'clock noon to-morrow. 
 
 The Vice-President (looking vastly relieved) 
 The Senator from Idaho moves that the Senate
 
 Ii2 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 do now adjourn until 12 o'clock noon to-morrow. 
 Is there any objection? The Chair hears none, 
 and the Senate stands adjourned until the hour 
 named. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt emphasized this announcement 
 with a hearty thump of the gavel and rushed 
 down from the rostrum and thanked the Senator 
 for coming to his rescue. When he became 
 President, Senator Heitfeld was one of his first 
 callers, and Mr. Roosevelt asked, as he grasped 
 his hand: 
 
 " Do you remember when you and I were the 
 whole Senate? I want to thank you again for 
 what you did that day. If it hadn't been that you 
 forgot your rain-coat and had to return for it 
 there is no telling how long I should have had to 
 preside over an empty Senate." 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PRESIDENT BY THE CALL OF DEATH 
 
 THE " Old Guard " of Republican politicians 
 were congratulating themselves that they had 
 buried Roosevelt in the famous graveyard of 
 political ambitions the Vice-Presidency. 
 
 He had begun to adjust himself to four years 
 of life in Washington as presiding officer of the 
 Senate, and was again giving some consideration 
 to the reading of law that he might have a lucra- 
 tive profession when his term expired, a pro- 
 fession whose returns were more certain than 
 those of literature.
 
 PRESIDENT BY CALL OF DEATH 113 
 
 Then came the assassination of President Mc- 
 Kinley. 
 
 There are few more trying positions that a 
 man can occupy, remarks George William Doug- 
 las, than that into which an American Vice- 
 President is forced by the sudden death of the 
 President. As Vice-President he has been 
 elected to an office with little power. Its influ- 
 ence over legislation is so slight that it is diffi- 
 cult to discover it, and its demands on the time of 
 its occupant are usually limited to the hours when 
 he is in the chair. 
 
 To be suddenly lifted from this inconspicuous 
 place into the most powerful executive office in 
 the world, at the head of one of the greatest na- 
 tions, is enough to try the stuff in any man. 
 They say that when Vice-President Arthur heard 
 of the assault upon President Garfield he spoke 
 not a word. He sat down and stared into va- 
 cancy for fifteen minutes, and when he rose he 
 had the manner of a man who was staggering 
 under a great burden that had just been put upon 
 his shoulders. 
 
 The first effect of the news of the assault upon 
 President McKinley was to overpower Mr. 
 Roosevelt with grief for the injury to a friend. 
 
 " He must live. He must live," was his 
 thought and his word. 
 
 He received every favorable report with de- 
 light, as it indicated the fulfillment of his wishes, 
 and when it was announced that the danger was 
 over, he went back from Buffalo to the Adiron- 
 dacks to resume his interrupted vacation. 
 
 " To become President through the assassin's
 
 ii4 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 bullet means nothing to me," he said at the home 
 of Ansley Wilcox, in Buffalo. " Aside from the 
 horror of having President McKinley die, there 
 is an additional horror in becoming his successor 
 in that way. The thing that appeals to me is to 
 be elected President. That is the way I want 
 the honor to come if I am ever to receive it." 
 
 When, after a sudden relapse, the President 
 died, Vice-President Roosevelt was in the moun- 
 tains, no one knew exactly where. Runners were 
 sent in haste to find him, and fired their guns at 
 intervals until he heard and understood that the 
 shots must be intended as signals. He was high 
 on Mount Marcy when he fired his own gun in 
 response and the searchers found him. 
 
 The sudden news, blurted without ceremony, 
 almost stunned him. He didn't speak for min- 
 utes, gazing the while silently toward a distant 
 mountain peak. Then he went into his camp, 
 hastily threw his belongings together and drove 
 off at hair raising speed through the autumnal 
 woods toward a railway station many miles 
 away. For several hours he urged the driver of 
 the mountain buckboard to drive faster, as the 
 horses plunged through the black, misty night 
 down the rough trail. With great difficulty 
 Roosevelt held to his seat. At five o'clock in the 
 morning he reached the train. At three in the 
 afternoon he was in Buffalo, and strode nerv- 
 ously, with fixed gaze, into a darkened room in 
 the Milburn residence, a room adjoining the one 
 in which the body of the martyred McKinley 
 lay. Distinguished old men, their white heads 
 bowed, sat about the darkened room as the youth-
 
 PRESIDENT BY CALL OF DEATH 115 
 
 ful looking Roosevelt entered with quick, alert 
 step. 
 
 " The President ! " some one whispered, and 
 the elder statesmen rose to their feet. They in- 
 formed him that for purposes of state it would 
 be necessary for him to take the oath at once. 
 Judge Hazel administered the solemn oath of 
 President of the United States, and half an hour 
 later the new President held his first Cabinet 
 meeting. He asked all the members of Mc- 
 Kinley's Cabinet to remain with him, and all of 
 them consented. 
 
 President Roosevelt's first public declaration, 
 upon assuming office, was a pledge to carry out 
 unbroken the policies of his predecessor. " It 
 would have been impossible for him," said 
 Walter Wellman, writing of the occasion, " to 
 make a wiser or stronger promise to the country. 
 That brought him confidence and sympathy, 
 which he could have won in no other way. His 
 sincerity no one could doubt; standing by the 
 bier of McKinley, confronted with the great task 
 which fate had thrust upon him, he meant every 
 word of it. Yet it was but a few hours before 
 the positive individuality, the self-reliance, and 
 the aggressive ego of the new president led him 
 into plans for a reconstruction of the cabinet. 
 Had no check come to these hastily formed 
 plans, to these wholly natural self-assertions in a 
 most trying hour, the cabinet that McKinley left 
 would not have been the cabinet of his suc- 
 cessor. 
 
 " Probably no greater service was ever ren- 
 dered a newly installed President than was then
 
 ii6 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 and there rendered Mr. Roosevelt by Senator 
 Marcus A. Hanna and Secretary of War Elihu 
 Root. To them was due the change the spir- 
 itual betterment, it might be called which 
 averted the threatened disruption. It is proper 
 to add that at no time in his marvelous career has 
 Mr. Roosevelt shown greater strength of charac- 
 ter of the right and true sort than when he per- 
 mitted himself to be thus guided. With that 
 clear-headedness which has often marked him in 
 the crisis of his life, and with that willingness to 
 listen and to learn which is beautiful in an in- 
 trepid character like his, he yielded his half- 
 formed plans for reconstruction of the council, 
 and exclaimed : " We'll keep them all ; we'll re- 
 tain the whole McKinley government and carry 
 out all the McKinley policies, in their full spirit 
 and letter." 
 
 " Thus was averted a blunder which might well 
 have been fatal. It mattered not that afterwards 
 a few members of the McKinley cabinet with- 
 drew, Mr. Roosevelt did not drive them out. 
 It mattered not that gradually some of the Mc- 
 Kinley policies were forgotten or became less 
 popular, probably Mr. McKinley himself could 
 not have carried out all of them reciprocity, 
 for example, had he lived. The point was that 
 Mr. Roosevelt had won the country. By an act 
 of self-abnegation he had made himself morally 
 large and well-nigh perfect in the eyes of the 
 people." 
 
 On his first Sunday in Washington as Presi- 
 dent he went quietly to the little Reformed 
 Church which he had been accustomed to at-
 
 PRESIDENT BY CALL OF DEATH 117 
 
 tend. Here he joined in the prayers offered, and 
 sang with the congregation, and nodded approv- 
 ingly as the preacher expressed sentiments with 
 which he agreed. 
 
 He entered upon his new duties with char- 
 acteristic vigor. While trying to carry out the 
 McKinley policies, he had to do so in the Roose- 
 velt way. " There is a prevalent impression," 
 continued Mr. Wellman, " that Mr. Roosevelt 
 led a strenuous life in the White House, that 
 he played there a strong hand, ruling imperiously, 
 and sometimes impetuously, being self-willed, 
 high-spirited, and impatient of restraint. Noth- 
 ing could be farther from the truth. Not in my 
 time has there been a man in the White House 
 who leaned more heavily upon his advisers ; one 
 more eager to seek and to follow good counsel ; 
 or one more prone to ' heart to heart ' talks with 
 all whose positions or interests have given them 
 right to be heard or offered promise of good from 
 conference with them. Few great men are actu- 
 ally what they seem, and Mr. Roosevelt was very 
 far from being the character the popular im- 
 pression ascribed to him. With rare exceptions 
 he took no important step without the fullest and 
 frankest conferences with members of his cabinet 
 and leaders of his party. In no other recent 
 administration were there so many councils of 
 war at the White House. At Washington it 
 was axiomatic that Mr. Roosevelt never did any- 
 thing without talking it over with many people, 
 cabinet officers, senators, representatives, and 
 personal friends, so much so that it was a com- 
 mon joke that cabinet ministers and a coterie of
 
 n8 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 leading republican senators never dared make 
 dinner engagements, lest they be summoned to 
 the White House at the very moment they should 
 be forking their oysters. It was not a method 
 which conduced to the close keeping of secrets ; 
 but it had its advantages, and it gave a loud nega- 
 tive to the prevalent belief that the President was 
 too self-reliant, and too much prone to " go it 
 alone," as a sort of bull in the China shop of 
 statesmanship. 
 
 " There are exceptions to most rules, and Mr. 
 Roosevelt, like all other strong and fearless men 
 under habitual self-restraint and discipline, was 
 liable, now and then, to do the unexpected. 
 Probably the greatest act of his first administra- 
 tion, in so far as its effects upon his political 
 future were concerned, was performed without 
 consultation even with his Cabinet. This act 
 and the manner of doing it were so character- 
 istic of the man that they must be placed in 
 history. 
 
 " He ordered suit brought against the North- 
 ern Securities Company without once laying the 
 matter before his constitutional advisers. They 
 knew nothing of it until they read it in the news- 
 papers. Attorney-General Knox was the only 
 man consulted. Even Mr. Root, the great law- 
 yer from New York, who knew better than any 
 one else the magnitude and sensitiveness of the 
 interests involved, Root, upon whom Mr. 
 Roosevelt had so heavily leaned, as had his 
 predecessor in office, that, when the great war 
 secretary boarded a train to leave Washington, 
 on the first day of February, a member of the
 
 PRESIDENT BY CALL OF DEATH 119 
 
 Cabinet remarked, " There goes back to his 
 law office a man who has been president of the 
 United States for four and one-half years," 
 even Mr. Root was not advised, and the North- 
 ern Securities thunderclap came to his ears out 
 of a clear blue sky. But Mr. Roosevelt knew 
 what he was about. He knew that, if this pro- 
 posal had been made in council, fierce opposition 
 to it would have appeared. Members of his 
 Cabinet would have resigned rather than be 
 parties to it. Before a decision could have been 
 reached, if once the case had been thrown open 
 to debate, the great interests in New York would 
 have heard of it, and pressure vast, insistent, and 
 almost irresistible would have been brought to 
 bear to stay his hand. It was better that he 
 should keep his own counsel, and that he alone 
 should bear the responsibility. 
 
 " Every one knows that an explosion followed. 
 New York was rabid. The President was trying 
 to destroy prosperity. His course was hostile to 
 the business interests of the country. He was an 
 enemy of commerce, of property, and of stabil- 
 ity. Such a man was ' unsafe/ and not to be 
 trusted. But he did not worry. Trusting to his 
 instinct, which never failed him in his pursuit of 
 big game, he watched the effect upon public 
 opinion. In a week he knew he had the coun- 
 try with him ; he had convinced the masses that 
 he was fearless, that he dared beard the trust 
 lion in his den, and that his courage was equal 
 to his promises. He was content. He felt that 
 he had won his battle, that he had made him- 
 self the man of the people. He was right. The
 
 120 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Northern Securities case earned him the enmity 
 of the recklessly speculative portion of Wall 
 Street, and it was enmity of that very kind that 
 helped to give him the nomination of his party 
 for a second term virtually without opposition. 
 
 " In the autumn following a great strike in 
 the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania 
 threatened to cripple the country. With char- 
 acteristic fighting spirit called ' meddling ' by 
 his opponents he started to untie the tangle 
 into which coal operators and labor had got 
 themselves. But in the matter of the coal strike, 
 President Roosevelt thought long and carefully 
 before he acted. Then with the exclamation, ' I 
 suppose this'll end me, but I'll do it,' he ap- 
 pointed an arbitrating commission and the 
 miners went back to work. Again the brokers 
 were angry, but once more the people applauded. 
 As long as Wall Street fought him, the President 
 hit back. He exposed the famous blunder of the 
 Rockefellers in trying to defeat anti-trust legis- 
 lation with clumsy telegrams, clinching his hold 
 upon the country as an intrepid foe of the trusts. 
 He let it become known that Wall Street had 
 made overtures of peace on a basis of some 
 pledge from the President as to his future course, 
 a proffer which he declined with scorn." 
 
 It was during the end of the same year, 1902, 
 that our affairs dangerously shifted to a part of 
 the world, Venezuela, which had almost led us 
 into a European war during the Cleveland 
 regime. A fleet of Germans and British war- 
 ships came to anchor off La Guayra in Decem- 
 ber first having obtained United States per-
 
 PRESIDENT BY CALL OF DEATH 121 
 
 mission to do so and told President Castro 
 that if certain debts due Germans and English- 
 men weren't paid, the fleet would seize certain 
 Venezuelan ports and custom houses and hold 
 them until the amounts in dispute had been ob- 
 tained. 
 
 Castro's answer was immediate preparation for 
 armed defense. The Europeans opened fire, 
 ports were bombarded, Venezuelans were killed. 
 
 Then ensued one of the momentous episodes of 
 America's foreign relations in modern times, one 
 of the bravest and most dramatic moves ever 
 made by an American President on his own re- 
 sponsibility, and certainly President Roosevelt's 
 most forcible act in validation of the Monroe 
 Doctrine. 
 
 Quietly, consulting nobody, he used the navy 
 with complete success as his Big Stick over the 
 swollen heads of the Kaiser and the Pan-Ger- 
 mans, eager to make their claims a pretext for a 
 characteristic rape of Venezuelan territory. The 
 episode never was known to the public until an 
 account of it, authorized by Colonel Roosevelt, 
 appeared in " The Life of John Hay," by Profes- 
 sor William Roscoe Thayer. Here is that ac- 
 count : 
 
 " In 1901 Germany persuaded Italy and Eng- 
 land to join her in blockading the coast of Vene- 
 zuela until the more or less irresponsible Govern- 
 ment of that country should see to it that long- 
 standing debts were paid to Germans, English- 
 men and Italians. What was called a ' pacific 
 blockade ' was established in December. During 
 the following year Secretary of State Hay vainly
 
 122 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 urged the blockaders to arbitrate, but on Decem- 
 ber 8, 1902, Germany severed diplomatic rela- 
 tions with Venezuela, making it plain, that * the 
 next steps would be the bombardment of 
 Venezuelan towns and the occupation of 
 Venezuelan territory.' Here the Monroe Doc- 
 trine was put to a sharp test. ' If the United 
 States permitted foreign nations under the pre- 
 tense of supporting their creditors' claims to in- 
 vade a weak debtor state by naval or military ex- 
 pedition and to take possession of its territory, 
 what would become of the Doctrine?' Fur- 
 thermore, Germany had just before this appar- 
 ently been making efforts to get a foothold in 
 the Western Hemisphere within striking distance 
 of the Panama Canal. 
 
 " At this point President Roosevelt took the 
 matter out of the hands of the Secretary of State. 
 England and Italy at once agreed to come to an 
 understanding, but Germany refused. * She 
 stated that if she took possession of territory 
 such possession would only be temporary ' ; 
 but such possessions easily become permanent; 
 and, besides, it is difficult to trust to guarantees 
 which may be treated as ' scraps of paper.' " 
 Here is the way President Roosevelt taught the 
 Kaiser that the Monroe Doctrine was more than 
 a " scrap of paper." 
 
 " One day, when the crisis was at its height, he 
 summoned to the White House Dr. Holleben, 
 the German Ambassador, and told him that un- 
 less Germany consented to arbitrate, the Amer- 
 ican squadron under Admiral Dewey would be 
 given orders, by noon ten days later, to proceed
 
 PRESIDENT BY CALL OF DEATH 123 
 
 to the Venezuelan coast and prevent any taking 
 possession of Venezuelan territory. 
 
 " Dr. Holleben began to protest that his Im- 
 perial master, having once refused to arbitrate, 
 could not change his mind. The President said 
 that he was not arguing the question, because 
 arguments had already been gone over until no 
 useful purpose would be served by repeating 
 them; he was simply giving information which 
 the Ambassador might think it important to 
 transmit to Berlin. A week passed in silence. 
 Then Dr. Holleben again called on the Presi- 
 dent, but said nothing of the Venezuelan matter. 
 When he rose to go, the President asked him 
 about it, and when he stated that he had received 
 nothing from his Government, the President in- 
 formed him in substance that, in view of this 
 fact, Admiral Dewey would be instructed to sail 
 a day earlier than the day he, the President, had 
 originally mentioned. Much perturbed, the 
 Ambassador protested; the President informed 
 him that not a stroke of a pen had been put on 
 paper; that if the Emperor would agree to arbi- 
 trate, he, the President, would heartily praise 
 him for such action and would treat it as taken 
 on Germany's initiative ; but that within forty- 
 eight hours there must be an offer to arbitrate 
 or Dewey would sail with the orders indicated. 
 Within thirty-six hours Dr. Holleben returned 
 to the White House and announced to President 
 Roosevelt that a dispatch had just come from 
 Berlin, saying that the Kaiser would arbitrate. 
 Neither Admiral Dewey (who with an American 
 fleet was then maneuvering in the West Indies)
 
 124 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 nor any one else knew of the step that was to be 
 taken ; the naval authorities were merely required 
 to be in readiness, but were not told what for. 
 
 " On the announcement that Germany had con- 
 sented to arbitrate, the President publicly compli- 
 mented the Kaiser on being so staunch an ad- 
 vocate of arbitration. 
 
 " The humor of this was probably relished 
 more in the White House than in the Palace at 
 Berlin. The Kaiser suggested that the President 
 should act as arbiter, and Mr. Roosevelt was 
 ready to serve ; but Mr. Hay dissuaded him. Mr. 
 Hay had permitted Mr. Herbert W. Bowen, 
 American Minister to Venezuela, to act as arbi- 
 trator for that country, and Mr. Bowen regarded 
 it as improper that the United States, which also 
 had claims against Venezuela, should sit in judg- 
 ment on that case. Mr. Hay, desirous of vali- 
 dating the Hague Tribunal, saw a further ad- 
 vantage in referring to it this very important 
 contention. The President acquiesced therefore, 
 and Venezuela's claims went to The Hague for 
 arbitrament." 
 
 In a letter to a private correspondent, Secre- 
 tary Hay takes a parting shot at the Venezuelan 
 settlement : 
 
 " They (the German Government) are very 
 much preoccupied in regard to our attitude, and 
 a communique recently appeared in the Berlin 
 papers indicating that the negotiations would 
 have gone on better but for our interference. 
 We have not interfered, except in using what 
 good offices we could dispose of to induce all 
 parties to come to a speedy and honorable set-
 
 PRESIDENT BY CALL OF DEATH 125 
 
 tlement, and in this we have been, I think, emi- 
 nently successful. I think the thing that rankles 
 most in the German official mind is what Bowen 
 said to Sternburg : ' Very well, I will pay this 
 money which you demand, because I am not in 
 position to refuse, but I give you warning that 
 for every thousand dollars you exact in this way, 
 you will lose a million in South-American 
 trade.' " 
 
 It was seven years and five months later that 
 Colonel Roosevelt, duly visiting Berlin in the 
 course of his triumphal tour of Europe at the 
 end of the African hunt, and reviewing German 
 troops at maneuvers in the Kaiser's company, 
 was fulsomely addressed by the monarch he had 
 thwarted : " My friend Roosevelt, I am glad to 
 welcome you, the most distinguished American. 
 You are the first civilian who has ever reviewed 
 German soldiers ! " 
 
 The next year the old Alaska boundary dis- 
 pute between Great Britain and the United States 
 began to erupt again. At Roosevelt's suggestion 
 the matter was settled once and for all by a joint 
 commission that met in London the commis- 
 sion deciding in favor of the American con- 
 tentions. 
 
 As Roosevelt's " first term " drew to a close 
 the eyes of the Administration in a day were 
 turned upon Morocco. An American, Ion Per- 
 dicaris, and his English son-in-law were kid- 
 naped from their home near Tangier by the 
 notorious Moorish bandit, Raisuli, on May 18, 
 1904. Raisuli demanded a ransom and other 
 favors from the Sultan of Morocco before he
 
 126 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 would release his' prisoners. Nine days later on 
 orders from Roosevelt the U. S. S. cruiser 
 Brooklyn with Rear Admiral Chadwick's flag fly- 
 ing was headed toward Tangier, Rear Admiral 
 Jewell following with three more warships. 
 British warships joined the fleet in African 
 waters. 
 
 " Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead ! " Roosevelt 
 was quoted as saying, and whether he said it or 
 not the slogan blazed around the world. And a 
 month later the American and Englishman had 
 been released, although Raisuli in the meantime 
 had obtained from the Sultan about all the bandit 
 had demanded. 
 
 The declaration of war between Japan and 
 Russia in February, 1904, was to result eventu- 
 ally in one of the most famous diplomatic tri- 
 umphs of Roosevelt's seven and a half years in 
 the White House. He enjoyed the unbounded 
 confidence of both belligerents, and he had been 
 watching closely for the right moment to offer his 
 good offices to restore peace. While the terrific 
 land and sea fights in the Orient were holding 
 the attention of the world, Roosevelt and his 
 remarkable Secretary of State, the late John 
 Hay, sent forth first the famous " Hay Note," 
 asking that the two warring countries respect 
 the neutrality of China lest a greater catas- 
 trophe be precipitated. 
 
 Russia and Japan agreed to the American re- 
 quest. In the meantime came Roosevelt's nomi- 
 nation to succeed himself for a full term in the 
 White House ; and some measure of the way 
 America had lost its fear of a " Man on Horse-
 
 PRESIDENT BY CALL OF DEATH 127 
 
 back " in the Presidential chair may be gathered 
 from the fact that the Colonel was elected over 
 his Democratic opponent, Judge Alton B. 
 Parker, by the greatest popular vote ever ac- 
 corded a Presidential candidate. 
 
 The Russian-Japanese war was constantly in 
 his thoughts. The beginning of his full term 
 seemed to the President the psychological mo- 
 ment to propose to Japan and Russia that they 
 get together peacefully and thresh out their dif- 
 ference in conferences. On June 7, 1905, the 
 President sent a note to the Czar and another to 
 the Mikado asking them if they didn't think it 
 would be best for all mankind if they met for 
 peace. Following a long discussion as to the 
 exact spot where they should meet the peace en- 
 voys from Japan and Russia began to confer at 
 Portsmouth, N. H., on August 10, 1905 Wash- 
 ington being too hot at that time of the year. 
 
 The peace treaty was signed on September 5, 
 1905, and the world arose and acclaimed Roose- 
 velt the fighter as the greatest peacemaker of the 
 age. The following year he received the Nobel 
 Peace Prize of $40,000 for that great service. 
 
 The keen study given to naval matters by the 
 former President while Assistant Secretary was 
 shown in his first message to Congress, which 
 included more than a hundred specific recom- 
 mendations as to the navy. Throughout the 
 time he was President, Roosevelt showed the 
 keenest interest in the development of the navy, 
 insisting on fleet maneuvers and target practice 
 as the only means of keeping it fit. Finally he 
 sent the Atlantic fleet under Rear Admiral
 
 128 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 (Fighting Bob) Evans on its memorable cruise 
 around the world, the first and last voyage of 
 its kind ever undertaken by any battle fleet. 
 
 But Colonel Roosevelt's interest was not con- 
 fined to the naval service alone. During his 
 first Administration he succeeded in having Con- 
 gress enact the first General Staff act, and he 
 promptly appointed as organizer and first Chief 
 of Staff Major-General Leonard Wood, now 
 the ranking line officer of the army. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt had laid the foundation for the 
 staff by taking General Wood, then a surgeon, 
 from the medical service, and appointing him 
 commander of the famous regiment of Rough 
 Riders, which the former President organized at 
 the outbreak of the war with Spain. 
 
 Some army officers said that the importance 
 of this first, though incomplete, victory over the 
 bureaucratic system that had always ruled the 
 War Department was shown by the fact that it 
 was not until now, with all the experience of 
 the great war as a foundation, that the Depart- 
 ment was preparing with hopes of success to sub- 
 mit to Congress a bill providing for full General 
 Staff control and responsibility for all army 
 matters. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE 
 
 QUITE different from the accustomed for- 
 mality of Presidential interviews, Mr. Roose- 
 velt's way of meeting visitors at the White
 
 CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE 129 
 
 House came, at first, with the surprise and 
 tingle of an electric shock. Mr. George William 
 Douglas tells of a man who was present one day 
 in 1901, when Mr. Roosevelt had been Presi- 
 dent about two months, and this man describes 
 the scene in a most lively manner. Every phase 
 of humanity was gathered in the waiting room, 
 when the President bounded into the room un- 
 announced, and seized the hand of the first per- 
 son he saw. 
 
 " Glad to see you," he exclaimed as he grasped 
 the hand of the visitor. There was an emphasis 
 on the " you " which startled the visitor with its 
 ring of candor. But scarcely had he recovered 
 from his astonishment sufficiently to begin his 
 speech, before the President had darted half- 
 way across the circle, leaving outstretched hands 
 tingling with the rush of blood caused by the 
 firm Presidential grasp, and startled ears try- 
 ing to realize that into them had been hurled 
 the assurance that he was glad to see them. 
 
 When the President was not " Glad to see 
 you " he was " Delighted to see you," our in- 
 formant assures us. Statesmen, office-seekers, 
 giggling brides, tuft-hunters, notoriety-seekers, 
 stately ladies, capitalists, laborers, Democrats, 
 Republicans, Populists, all got the same greet- 
 ing, the same nervous but firm handshake, the 
 same glitter of the eye. And then away darted 
 this bundle of nerves and steel. 
 
 To the visiting delegations who appeared with 
 a spokesman and with the motive of suggest- 
 ing something of value either to the nation or 
 to themselves, these early methods of the Presi-
 
 130 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 dent were perhaps displayed to the best advan- 
 tage. A party of men from Montana were pres- 
 ent on the day in question, and they desired to 
 impress on the President the necessity and the 
 value of their irrigation plans. 
 
 " We would like to have a word with you 
 about irrigation, Mr. President," the spokesman 
 began. He was immediately cut short by the 
 President saying in a tone that was heard all 
 over the room and out in the hallway : 
 
 " Yes, oh yes. You favor irrigation, do you ? 
 Well, so do I, I have urged it in my message. 
 Here, Cortelyou, get me a printed copy of my 
 message so I can read to these gentlemen what I 
 am going to say to Congress on the subject of 
 irrigation." 
 
 The printed copy was produced at once and 
 the President read so everybody within earshot 
 could hear what he intended to ask Congress 
 to do on the irrigation question. 
 
 A tall man, moving about with a dignified 
 stride, next caught the President's eye, as the 
 Montana delegation backed away. What the 
 man of mystery and dignity said could not be 
 heard, but what the President said could be. 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know you and I am delighted to 
 see you," said Mr. Roosevelt, " but you must put 
 your application in writing. Yes. Put it in 
 writing and send it to me with your indorse- 
 ments and I'll see what can be done." 
 
 The man leaned forward and whispered again, 
 this time his face crimson with blushes of em- 
 barrassment. 
 
 "Oh, I know all about that. Yes, certainly
 
 CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE 131 
 
 I do. And I have no doubt you would fill the 
 bill. But I do not know whether or not there 
 is a vacancy. Don't you know that it is im- 
 possible for me to keep all these things in my 
 head? Write out your application. Write it 
 out, and then send it to me with your indorse- 
 ments. Come to see me again, soon. Good-by." 
 
 " Ah, there's Mr. White ! " exclaimed the 
 President as he espied a scholarly-looking man 
 with short gray beard sitting modestly and pa- 
 tiently back in a corner away from the jostling 
 crowd. " Go into my office, Mr. White. I shall 
 be there in two or three minutes." Mr. White, 
 who is a New York editor, did as he was directed. 
 
 " Glad to see you," " Delighted to see you," 
 " Glad to see you," " Delighted," then rang out 
 in greeting as the President whirled around 
 through the room. The people grabbed at his 
 hand as it was extended, or rather, shot out at 
 them. 
 
 " Hello, Senator Proctor, how are you ? I 
 want to see you in my office directly. Please 
 wait a little while until I am through with Mr. 
 White, then come in. You know I am depend- 
 ing on you as one of my main props." 
 
 The rugged Vermont statesman said he would 
 wait, and on the President dashed to another 
 bunch of visitors. In three or four minutes he 
 had squeezed twenty or more hands, and the 
 second crowd of the day was disposed of. With 
 the next crowd there came striding in a hand- 
 some rosy-cheeked lad, gaily dressed in a mili- 
 tary uniform that was decorated with all the 
 distinguishing colors of the various arms of the
 
 132 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Army and insignia of the various grades of the 
 Navy. Into a large upholstered chair this youth 
 plumped his roly-poly form near the door leading 
 to the President's office. The crowd thickened 
 so fast that the doorkeeper refused to let any 
 more people in till the congestion in the room 
 was relieved. Again the President rushed into 
 the room, and bumped into the youth in the 
 chair. 
 
 " Ah, so this is Master , is it ? " Mr. 
 
 Roosevelt inquired as he seized the right hand of 
 the lad. " Well, I received your telegram from 
 Baltimore last night telling me that you would 
 call on me to-day. I am delighted to see you, 
 sir delighted to see you." 
 
 " Mr. President," the boy began, in a deter- 
 mined effort to deliver his carefully prepared 
 speech, " I am traveling " 
 
 " Yes, yes," interrupted the President. " I 
 know you are, and I am glad to see you. Mr. 
 Cortelyou will look after you." 
 
 As the President was surrounded by the eddy- 
 ing crowd the brave little boy, twelve years old, 
 continued his speech thus : 
 
 " I am traveling salesman for a typewriter. 
 My father was a miner in Pennsylvania, and 
 when he died a few months ago he left my 
 mother a large family of children, but no prop- 
 erty. I am making the living for the family, 
 and I have brought you as a Thanksgiving pres- 
 ent one of my typewriters. Accept it, Mr. Presi- 
 dent and make my mother's heart glad. All 
 our family think you are the greatest man that 
 was ever President of the United States."
 
 CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE 133 
 
 There was a kind, gentle, fatherly tone in the 
 President's voice as he held both the hands of 
 this courageous American fighting his own way, 
 and spoke some encouraging words. 
 
 " God bless you," said the President a little 
 while later, as he encountered the lad in an- 
 other part of the room, and a merry-faced old 
 lady who was waiting her turn to greet the 
 President wiped the tears from her eyes 
 that came unbidden as she heard the bene- 
 diction. 
 
 It was now noon, and the reception-room had 
 been filled and emptied five times. For an hour 
 and a half longer the crowd continued to pour 
 in. A pompous man accompanied by a party of 
 women grabbed the President's hand and began 
 to say, " Mr. President, we could not leave 
 Washington without calling to pay our respects. 
 I sat on the stand when you spoke in my town 
 in Colorado last year, and I told the ladies you 
 would remember me." 
 
 " Certainly, certainly," assented Mr. Roosevelt, 
 and before the women finished their speeches of 
 congratulations he landed in an opposite corner 
 of the room, where a man wished to impress 
 on him the desirability of " speaking out in 
 your message in no uncertain tone on the cur- 
 rency question." 
 
 " I believe my message will please you on 
 that point," Mr. Roosevelt assured the man. 
 " Here, I'll read you what I have written on 
 that topic." 
 
 And the President, in his usual way, read that 
 part of his message, to the great delight of his
 
 134 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 listener, who signified his agreement by vigorous 
 nods of his head. 
 
 This was at the beginning of his administra- 
 tion. It was pretty generally admitted then that 
 he had not the composure and dignity which 
 characterizes the manner of older men who have 
 risen to high place more gradually. But as 
 the months passed he acquired greater poise, he 
 spoke less loudly in greeting his callers, and 
 showed more appreciation of the sensibilities of 
 those asking favors. The superficial evidences 
 of nervousness disappeared. His great respon- 
 sibilities sobered him and he began to impress 
 his callers as a man of firm will and steady 
 mental poise. Although there had been a change 
 in his manner he still dealt frankly and insisted 
 that others should be frank with him, just as in 
 the beginning. 
 
 This insistence on frankness brought confusion 
 to more than one man who neglected to tell him 
 the whole truth. On one occasion he rescinded 
 the appointment of a United States Marshal be- 
 cause the man had misled him as to his record. 
 The man had the reputation of being a drunkard 
 and broiler, and Senator Hoar opposed him. 
 When the Senator protested the President told 
 him that the man had been one of the bravest 
 soldiers in his regiment, and that he had re- 
 formed. Later Senator Hoar learned that the 
 man had served a term in prison for horse- 
 stealing, and went to the White House to make 
 further protest. 
 
 " He didn't tell me that," said the President. 
 " I'll telegraph him about it."
 
 CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE 135 
 
 When the reply came it was that the imprison- 
 ment happened fifteen years before and the man 
 said he thought it had been forgotten. 
 
 Then the President sent word to him : " If 
 you had told me that in the first place it would 
 have been all right; but you lied to me and that 
 settles . it." 
 
 In the preparation of his first message to 
 Congress, sections of which we have seen him 
 reading to his callers, he sought the assistance 
 and advice of the men who were familiar with 
 the subjects he intended to discuss. 
 
 " Before he finished it," remarked one Sena- 
 tor, " he consulted every one in whose judg- 
 ment he had confidence. He even did me the 
 honor to summon me here from my home in the 
 West for consultation. When I arrived I found 
 him so busy he was compelled to ask me to dic- 
 tate to a stenographer my views on certain ques- 
 tions of pressing importance, and send them to 
 him in that shape." 
 
 This has been his practice, to take no impor- 
 tant action without previous consultation with 
 the people best informed on the matter involved. 
 Before he took the unprecedented course of or- 
 dering an investigation into the grievances of 
 the striking coal-miners in 1903, he had many 
 conferences with people representing both sides 
 of the controversy. His final determination to 
 recognize the Panama revolutionists in the 
 autumn of the same year was not reached till 
 he had taken the advice of the men who under- 
 stood the situation on the Isthmus. But when 
 he did act he took all the responsibility him-
 
 136 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 self, and he was naturally pleased when his 
 course was approved by those with whom he 
 talked. 
 
 Mr. William C. Adamson, of Georgia, was one 
 of the callers at the White House on the day 
 after the republic of Panama was recognized 
 by the United States. 
 
 " Congressman," said the President, shaking 
 his hand, " I am always glad to see you, but 
 especially so at this time." 
 
 " Mr. President," replied the Congressman, " I 
 am glad to meet you and see that you are well 
 and buoyant. I called thinking I had business, 
 but found that it was not ready to present to 
 you, so I determined to wait, and in the language 
 of Br'er Rabbit, ' pass the time o' day wid you/ 
 before leaving." 
 
 "Speaking of Br'er Rabbit," said the Presi- 
 dent, " that Jack rabbit on the Isthmus jumped 
 one time too many for his good." 
 
 " I imagine the surprise and consternation of 
 that rabbit," Mr. Adamson rejoined, " when, 
 after jumping for a race down the Isthmus, he 
 found himself confronted by a President who 
 was not too bow-legged to head him in the lane." 
 
 The President enjoyed this metaphorical com- 
 pliment so much that he repeated it to a num- 
 ber of his callers. 
 
 After taking the advice of various people, it 
 usually happened that he followed his own judg- 
 ment. Elihu Root, then Secretary of War, called 
 attention to the dominating will of the Presi- 
 dent in the spring of 1903 at a dinner in his 
 honor. Mr. Root was talking about the Man-
 
 CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE 137 
 
 churian question and the possible effect of Rus- 
 sian control of the territory on the course of 
 the United States in maintaining its right in the 
 East. 
 
 " We must never forget, gentlemen," said he, 
 " that the War Department is only an emer- 
 gency bureau, and that the controlling portfolio 
 in the present administration is held by the 
 Secretary of Peace, Theodore Roosevelt." 
 
 It was only a few weeks later that Mr. Roose- 
 velt at a public dinner in Charlottesville, Vir- 
 ginia, set forth his own views of the proper 
 attitude of the United States in its foreign re- 
 lations. 
 
 " I want the United States to conduct itself 
 in foreign affairs," said he, " as you of Vir- 
 ginia believe a private gentleman should con- 
 duct himself among his fellows. I ask that we 
 handle ourselves with a view never to wrong 
 the weak and never to submit to injury from the 
 strong. 
 
 " Another thing : A gentleman does not boast, 
 bluster, bully ; he does not insult others. I wish 
 our country always to behave with consideration 
 for others ; never to speak in a manner that is 
 insulting or might wound the susceptibilities of 
 any foreign nation never to threaten, never to 
 boast, but when we feel that our interest and our 
 honor demand that as a nation we take a certain 
 position, to take that position and then make 
 it good. 
 
 " Speaking to the younger gentlemen present, 
 I wish to state that I myself was once young, 
 and in those days I lived in the cow country
 
 138 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 in the West, and we had a proverb running, 
 ' Don't draw unless you mean to shoot.' It was 
 a middling good proverb, and it applies just 
 as much in international as in private affairs. 
 
 " I do not wish us ever as a nation to take a 
 position from which we have to retreat. Do not 
 let us assume any position unless we are prepared 
 to say that we have got to keep it. As a nation 
 we must hereafter play a big part in the world. 
 It is not open to us to decide whether the part 
 we play, we of the United States, shall be great 
 or small. That has been decided for us by the 
 course of events. A small nation can honorably 
 play a small part; a great nation, no. A great 
 nation must play a great part. All it can decide 
 is whether it will play that great part well or 
 ill. I know you too well, my fellow-country- 
 men, to have any doubt as to what your decision 
 will be." 
 
 It was in explanation of his retirement from 
 the Cabinet to accept the senatorship from Penn- 
 sylvania that Attorney-General Knox said in the 
 summer of 1904 : 
 
 " I called up President Roosevelt over the 
 long-distance telephone and laid the situation 
 before him, asking his advice. The President, 
 after listening to me, said that as Pennsylvania 
 is such an overwhelming Republican State, and 
 as this appointment might open to me a long 
 term of public service and at the same time it 
 would tend to promote harmony among the fac- 
 tions of the party in the State, he thought it 
 was my duty to accept the appointment." 
 
 " But don't you believe that your leaving the
 
 CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE 139 
 
 Cabinet at this time will seriously interfere with 
 President Roosevelt's plans for curbing the 
 trusts ? " Mr. Knox was asked. 
 
 " I do not," was the reply. " My leaving 
 the Cabinet can have no effect upon the con- 
 tinuance of the anti -trust policy of the Admin- 
 istration." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt's attitude toward his nomination 
 for the Presidency and his remarks on that 
 subject were as unconventional as many of his 
 other acts. In May, 1903, when the party in 
 Ohio was divided on the question of indorsing 
 him, and Senator Hanna was urging that the 
 indorsement could as well be given the next 
 year, Mr. Roosevelt's secretary issued this state- 
 ment : 
 
 " In speaking of the sudden political develop- 
 ments in Ohio the President this afternoon said: 
 ' I have not asked any man for his support. I 
 have had nothing whatever to do with raising 
 the issue of my indorsement. Sooner or later 
 it was bound to arise, and inasmuch as it has 
 now arisen, of course those who favor my ad- 
 ministration and my nomination will indorse, and 
 those who do not, oppose.' " 
 
 He was not ashamed of his ambitions, neither 
 did he hesitate to express a high opinion of the 
 dignity of public service. The last sentences 
 from an address delivered to the students of the 
 University of California bear on this subject. 
 He was talking about the service that Leonard 
 Wood, William H. Taft, the graduates of the 
 Naval and Military academies, and others had 
 done.
 
 MO ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " Taft and Wood and their fellows," said he, 
 " are spending, or have spent, the best years 
 of their prime in doing a work which means 
 to them a pecuniary loss at the best, a bare 
 livelihood while they are doing it, and are doing 
 it gladly because they realize the truth that the 
 highest privilege that can be given to any man 
 is the privilege of serving his country, his fellow- 
 Americans." 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 PRESIDENT BY THE CALL OF THE NATION 
 
 PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S first term was due to 
 the tragic accident of McKinley's death, and 
 not to any expression of the people's wish for 
 himself. He felt this situation keenly, and faith- 
 ful as he was in carrying out the policies of his 
 chosen predecessor, as he had promised, he felt 
 the urge of his own conceptions of the coun- 
 try's needs and the ways to meet them. Natu- 
 rally he desired a renomination on his own 
 merits, that he might know the Nation's opinion 
 of his course, and receive if possible a com- 
 mission to serve the people in his own way. 
 
 When his party nominated him for the Presi- 
 dency in the summer of 1904 all precedents were 
 broken. No previous President who had entered 
 the high office through the Vice-Presidency after 
 the death of the President was ever before nom- 
 inated to succeed himself. Indeed, Mr. Roose- 
 velt's first participation in a national conven- 
 tion was marked by his earnest efforts to pre-
 
 CALLED BY THE NATION 141 
 
 vent such a President from receiving the nomina- 
 tion. But when he became a candidate no one 
 was named in opposition to him in the con- 
 vention, and he was the unanimous choice of 
 the delegates. 
 
 He took no public part in the campaign for 
 his election, till toward its close, when charges 
 affecting his personal honor were made. Then 
 he issued a long statement, in the course of 
 which he declared that the charges that he or his 
 campaign committee were blackmailing corpora- 
 tions and were promising " to take care of " the 
 corporations which contributed to the fund to 
 secure his election were " unqualifiedly and 
 atrociously false," and concluded: "If elected 
 I shall go into the Presidency unhampered by 
 any pledge, promise, or understanding of any 
 kind, sort, or description, save my promise, made 
 openly to the American people, that so far as 
 in my power lies I shall see to it that every man 
 has a square deal, no less and no more." 
 
 Several weeks before election, says George 
 William Douglas, a prominent Republican leader 
 who believed that he would win, implored him 
 not to commit himself against the acceptance 
 of a third term until the arguments in its favor 
 could be presented. Mr. Roosevelt, turning to 
 Attorney-General Moody, who was present, re- 
 marked : 
 
 " I cannot with propriety make any public 
 statement now, before I am elected for a second 
 term, but at the very earliest moment I shall 
 smash that idea with all the energy I can com- 
 mand."
 
 142 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Secretary Moody indorsed this plan, and Mr. 
 Roosevelt did not wait longer than was necessary 
 to " smash the idea " that he was a candidate 
 for renomination in 1908, for at half -past ten 
 o'clock on the night of the election, when the 
 result was no longer in doubt, he issued this 
 statement : 
 
 " I am deeply sensible of the honor done me 
 by the American people in thus expressing their 
 confidence in what I have done and have tried 
 to do. I appreciate to the full the solemn re- 
 sponsibility this confidence imposes upon me, and 
 I shall do all that in my power lies not to for- 
 feit it. On the 4th of March next I shall have 
 served three and a half years, and this three 
 and a half years constitute my first term. The 
 wise custom which limits the President to two 
 terms regards the substance and not the form, 
 and under no circumstances will I be a candi- 
 date for, or accept, another nomination." When 
 this statement was recalled during the campaign 
 of 1912, controversy raged hot between those 
 who claimed that he was violating his pledge of 
 1904 and those who insisted that he had been 
 true to it when he resisted the pressure brought 
 upon him to accept a renomination in 1908. It 
 seemed to be Mr. Roosevelt's intention to pledge 
 himself against such a renomination, while in the 
 White House, rather than against any nomina- 
 tion from private life in future years. He 
 wished his administration to be free from suspi- 
 cion of political activity in his behalf. 
 
 He received the largest popular majority ever 
 given to any candidate, and even carried Mis-
 
 CALLED BY THE NATION 143 
 
 souri, which had been Democratic for more than 
 thirty years. He was pleased, as well he might 
 be, though he was not surprised. They say 
 that he was one of the calmest persons in the 
 White House on the evening of the election 
 while the returns were coming in. 
 
 A little more than two weeks after the elec- 
 tion he visited the Louisiana Purchase Expo- 
 sition in St. Louis, making several brief speeches 
 on the way. A large crowd gathered to greet 
 him as he passed through Indianapolis. He 
 thanked them for their presence and said he 
 appreciated it deeply. Then an enthusiastic man 
 in the crowd, desiring to attract attention to 
 the large Roosevelt majority in Ohio, called out: 
 
 " What is the matter with Ohio ? " 
 
 " Not a thing," said the President, " and I 
 want to tell you that there were a lot of other 
 good ones." Then with a beaming smile he 
 leaned over the rail on the car platform and in- 
 quired, "What is the matter with Missouri?" 
 
 And the crowd yelled its appreciation of the 
 situation. When he reached St. Louis a dinner 
 in his honor was given by the officers of the 
 Fair, at which he said : 
 
 " I was lately reading a speech of Lincoln 
 after his re-election. I cannot quote it verbatim, 
 but he says, ' As long as I have been in this 
 office I have never intentionally planted a thorn 
 in any man's bosom. I am gratified that my 
 countrymen have seen fit to continue me in of- 
 fice, but it does not satisfy me that any one has 
 suffered by the result.' I feel that I should 
 approach my duties in that spirit. A man should
 
 144 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 have no sense of elation in view of the infinite 
 responsibility and of the weight of duty he owes 
 to his fellow-citizens. He should realize that 
 whether there is a difference before election, the 
 President is President of all the people, of every 
 section, socially and industrially no West, or 
 North, or East, or South and he is bound 
 ' with malice toward none and charity to all ' 
 to strive to conduct himself toward his duties 
 as they arise so that the result may be for the 
 good of the common country." 
 
 No detailed account of the public measures 
 and achievements of President Roosevelt's ad- 
 ministration can properly be given here, al- 
 though some reference to the foreign relations 
 of the United States during that time is pe- 
 culiarly timely. The prevailing conception of a 
 " Fighting Roosevelt " has almost caused the 
 other side of his character to be forgotten. His 
 record as a conciliator and maker of peace was 
 far more important and considerable during his 
 seven and a half years as President than hfe 
 acts of belligerency. The New York Tribune 
 has so well summarized the major events of his 
 dealings with foreign nations, largely in the 
 course of his second term, after the signing of 
 peace between Japan and Russia, that this sum- 
 mary is quoted here: 
 
 When he came into the Presidency he fell heir 
 to the ancient controversy over the rights of 
 'American fishermen in Canadian and Newfound- 
 land waters, dating almost from the treaty of 
 1818. Mr. Roosevelt induced England to sub- 
 mit the difficulty to The Hague.
 
 CALLED BY THE NATION 145 
 
 Determined, if possible, to end the historic 
 strife among the countries of Central America, 
 he invited representatives of the five republics 
 to the peace conference in Washington, in 1907, 
 which resulted in a joint arbitral tribunal which 
 has done something, at least, for peace in that 
 part of the world. 
 
 At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War 
 the United States directed to all the great pow- 
 ers a note by which it sought to commit them 
 to the preservation of the administrative entity 
 of China. Most of the powers responded cor- 
 dially, and thus were established the friendly re- 
 lations with China which went far to offset the 
 sensitiveness resulting from the exclusion of 
 Chinese .laborers from the United States. In 
 1908 Mr. Roosevelt created another demand 
 on the gratitude of China by remitting some- 
 thing over $10,000,000 indemnity due on account 
 of the Boxer outbreak. Later he induced Japan 
 to subscribe to the note guaranteeing the in- 
 tegrity of China. 
 
 The history of the relations of the United 
 States and Japan during the Roosevelt Admin- 
 istration furnishes a striking illustration of his 
 firm but conciliatory methods. First he won the 
 gratitude and confidence of that country by the 
 settlement of the war with Russia. That paved 
 the way for the settlement of the difficult and 
 delicate problem of the rapidly increasing in- 
 flux of Japanese labor to this country. The 
 action of the San Francisco school board in 
 excluding Japanese pupils from the city schools 
 menaced the friendly relations between the two
 
 146 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 countries, and Mr. Roosevelt was called upon 
 to exercise the utmost diplomacy to avert serious 
 friction. He induced the San Francisco au- 
 thorities to rescind the order and then took diplo- 
 matic steps to reduce the volume of Japanese 
 immigration. By this means giant strides were 
 made toward the successful solution of the prob- 
 lem. 
 
 President Roosevelt inherited relations with 
 Germany which were marred by misunderstand- 
 ing and distrust growing out of the Manila Bay 
 incident, the precipitate purchase by Germany 
 of the Caroline and Ladrone islands and the 
 unpleasant ending of the joint control of Samoa. 
 Germany, dissatisfied with the tariff regulations 
 of this country, contemplated placing a prac- 
 tically prohibitive duty on imports from the 
 United States, and there was a serious lack of 
 cordiality between the two nations. The first 
 step taken by the Roosevelt administration was 
 the invitation extended to Prince Henry, brother 
 of the Emperor, to visit the United States. It 
 was promptly accepted and the cordial reception 
 of the royal sailor proved deeply gratifying to 
 the German people. Then the President's eld- 
 est daughter, now Mrs. Longworth, accepted an 
 invitation to name the Emperor's yacht, and 
 another step in the restoration of cordial rela- 
 tions was recorded. Finally the President so 
 altered the administration of the tariff law as in 
 large part to avert friction which had hitherto 
 existed. 
 
 The settlement of the Alaskan boundary and 
 the Newfoundland fisheries questions, which had
 
 CALLED BY THE NATION 147 
 
 so long vexed the diplomats of both Great Brit- 
 ain and the United States, was successfully ac- 
 complished, and other negotiations with Great 
 Britain of only secondary importance were car- 
 ried to a satisfactory conclusion. Conflicts be- 
 tween the fishermen and the authorities of the 
 respective countries were rendered almost im- 
 possible by a treaty providing for the demarca- 
 tion of the boundaries of the United States and 
 Canada, while the same convention provides also 
 for the marking of land boundaries, thus elimi- 
 nating friction growing out of doubt as to the 
 exact location of the boundary lines. Problems 
 concerning the rights of the citizens of Canada 
 and the United States to the use of the waters 
 of Niagara for power purposes were settled by 
 several protocols, and all similar questions af- 
 fecting boundary waters were disposed of in a 
 treaty signed by Secretary Root. When Mr. 
 Roosevelt's term expired, every question at issue 
 with Great Britain had been settled by treaty 
 except the satisfaction of certain pecuniary 
 claims, a treaty dealing with which had already 
 been drafted. 
 
 When, in 1906, conflict threatened between 
 Germany and France over the government of 
 Morocco, a joint conference of powers signatory 
 to the treaty of Morocco was called to meet 
 at Algeciras, and President Roosevelt sent dele- 
 gates, who played an important part in the ne- 
 gotiations, their disinterested position enabling 
 them to go far in the settlement of difficulties 
 presented to the conference. There was much 
 protest from Democratic members of the Senate
 
 148 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 at the course of the President, but the treaty 
 ratifying the part played by the United States 
 in this international problem was approved by 
 the Senate when it ratified, on December 12, 
 1906, the Algeciras treaty. 
 
 Almost throughout President Roosevelt's ad- 
 ministration, the course of Venezuela, conducted 
 by the dictator Castro, proved an occasion of 
 nigh intolerable irritation ; but although it finally 
 became necessary to break off all diplomatic rela- 
 tions with that republic, the course of the Ad- 
 ministration was tolerant to the last degree. 
 With surprising forbearance, the United States 
 endured treatment which from a more responsi- 
 ble power, must have been resented as insult- 
 ing, and rested content in the conviction that 
 Castro's methods would ultimately destroy his 
 dictatorship. 
 
 The Roosevelt administration brought about 
 greatly increased cordiality in the relations be- 
 tween this country and all the republics of South 
 America. In 1907 the Secretary of State, Elihu 
 Root, made a trip around South America, visit- 
 ing the capitals of each state and explaining the 
 good wishes and unselfish purposes of this coun- 
 try. Remarkable success attended the trip, and 
 the results were far-reaching in their promotion 
 of a clearer understanding and a greater faith in 
 the disinterested friendship of the United States. 
 
 Of far reaching results upon the world was 
 the Roosevelt inception and perfection, during 
 his second term, of a plan to join the Atlantic 
 and Pacific by means of the Panama Canal. 
 In 1906 the Spooner bill was passed, thereby giv-
 
 CALLED BY THE NATION 149 
 
 ing the President the authority to buy the old 
 French Panama Canal Company, lay out a water 
 route across the isthmus, reorganize a canal com- 
 mission and begin to build. The work meant 
 not only a battle against mountainous engineer- 
 ing problems but notable medical sanitary prob- 
 lems that till then had defied the world. All of 
 these difficulties were met triumphantly, and the 
 Panama Canal is a monument that will not per- 
 ish. 
 
 Only two quasi-belligerent acts are to be re- 
 corded of the Roosevelt administration. An 
 American citizen, one Ion Perdicaris, having been 
 taken captive by the bandit Raisuli in Morocco in 
 1904, the President, as previously has been men- 
 tioned, cabled the American representative to se- 
 cure " Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead." Perdi- 
 caris was promptly delivered to the American au- 
 thorities, and respect for this country was greatly 
 increased in Northern Africa. In the same year, 
 the evasive tactics of Turkey having exhausted 
 the patience of the Department of State, a fleet 
 was sent to Smyrna. The presence of the fleet 
 accomplished every purpose. 
 
 In no respect did Roosevelt accomplish more 
 striking results in carrying out the McKinley 
 policies to which he had pledged himself, says 
 the New York Tribune, than in the case of Cuba. 
 He found Cuba still under the military dictator- 
 ship rendered necessary by the war with Spain. 
 By the end of May, 1902, eight months after 
 Mr. Roosevelt took the oath of office, a national 
 election had been held, and Estrada Palma in- 
 augurated as the first President of Cuba. By
 
 ISO ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 September, 1906, revolution and anarchy threat- 
 ened to engulf the new republic. William H. 
 Taft, then Secretary of War, was sent to the 
 island, and President Balma resigned. A new 
 provisional government, with Charles E. Magoon 
 as its head, was set up. In 1908 another na- 
 tional election was held, and on January 28, 1909, 
 Jose Miguel Gomez was inaugurated as the sec- 
 ond president of the republic. 
 
 Another feature of the McKinley policies to 
 which Mr. Roosevelt stood pledged was the ne- 
 gotiation of a reciprocity treaty with Cuba. All 
 the powers of protected interests were exerted to 
 defeat him, but in 1903 he accomplished the 
 seemingly impossible. As a result of that treaty, 
 Cuban exports to the United States grew from 
 $63,000,000 in 1903 to $203,164,414 in 1915, and 
 imports to Cuba increased from $22,000,000 in 
 the former year to approximately $104,723,100 
 in the latter. 
 
 In the administration of the Phillippine Islands 
 there was not only a notable increase of pros- 
 perity, but the policy of extending to the Filipinos 
 a share of self-government as fast as they were 
 capable of exercising it was consistently pur- 
 sued, and in 1907 the first Philippine Assembly 
 was called to order by Secretary Taft. The 
 trade of the archipelago more than doubled dur- 
 ing the Roosevelt administration, agricultural 
 prosperity was restored, and peace and content- 
 ment established throughout the islands. 
 
 Probably no more fair nor justly appreciative 
 estimate of Mr. Roosevelt's services as Presi- 
 dent has been written than that which his friend
 
 CALLED BY THE NATION 151 
 
 Lawrence F. Abbott prepared for the new " Ency- 
 clopaedia Britannica." It is more satisfactory to 
 quote such a statement than to attempt to give 
 in a single chapter a detailed record of the seven 
 and a half years' work of the great President: 
 
 " Mr. Roosevelt entered the Presidency defi- 
 nitely committed to two principles which pro- 
 foundly affected his course as Chief Executive 
 of the United States. He had a well wrought 
 out belief in centralized authority in govern- 
 ment and a passionate hatred of political and 
 commercial corruption. He believed the United 
 States to be a unified republic, a sovereign na- 
 tion, and not a federation of independent States 
 united only for mutual benefit and protection. 
 He not only hated corruption per se, but he 
 clearly saw that as efficiency has a greater power 
 for evil in a centralized government. He un- 1 
 derstood that political materialism, selfishness 
 and corruption in Federal administration afford 
 the strongest possible argument for those who 
 advocate strengthening the independent power of 
 the separate States at the expense of nationalism. 
 At the very outset of his administration he there- 
 fore set himself to work, not only to improve 
 the personnel of the Government service, but 
 by exhortations in his messages and public 
 speeches to arouse a sense of civic responsibility 
 both among office holders and among all the 
 citizens. 
 
 " His official messages to Congress, probably 
 more frequent, certainly much longer, than those 
 of any of his predecessors, were quite as often 
 treatises on the moral principles of government
 
 152 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 as they were recommendations of specific legis- 
 lative or administrative policies. The effect of 
 his exhortations, as well as his personal charac- 
 ter and public acts, upon the standard and spirit 
 of official life in the United States was a pro- 
 nounced one in attracting to the Federal service 
 a group of men who took up their work of 
 public office with the same spirit of enthusiasm 
 and self-sacrifice that actuates the military vol- 
 unteer in time of war. No American Presi- 
 dent has done so much to discredit and destroy 
 the old Jacksonian theory of party government 
 that ' to the victors belong the spoils ' and to 
 create confidence in the practical success as well 
 as the moral desirability of a system of appoint- 
 ments to office which rests upon efficiency and 
 merit only. Mr. Roosevelt not only attacked 
 dishonesty in public affairs but in private business 
 as well, asserting that malefactors of great 
 wealth endeavor to control legislation so as to 
 increase the profits of monopolies or trusts, and 
 that to prevent such control it is necessary to ex- 
 tend the powers of the Federal Government. 
 
 " In carrying out this policy of government 
 regulations and supervision of corporations he 
 became involved in a great struggle with the 
 powerful financial interests whose profits were 
 threatened, and with those legislators who sin- 
 cerely believed that government should solely 
 concern itself with protecting life and property, 
 and should leave questions of individual and 
 social relations in trade and finance to be settled 
 by the operation of so-called natural economic 
 laws. In the struggle, although he was bitterly
 
 CALLED BY THE NATION 153 
 
 accused of violating the written Constitution, of 
 arresting and destroying business prosperity and 
 of attempting a radical departure from the ac- 
 cepted social system of the country, he was re- 
 markably successful. By his speeches and mes- 
 sages and by his frank use of one of the greatest 
 of modern social engines the newspaper press 
 he created a public opinion which heartily sup- 
 ported him. Under his affective influence laws 
 were framed which were not merely in them- 
 selves measures of stringent regulation of busi- 
 ness and the accumulation of wealth, but which 
 established precedents that as time goes on will 
 inevitably make the doctrine of Federal control 
 permanent and of wider application. The 
 struggle against some of the most powerful 
 financial and political influences of the time not 
 unnaturally gave rise to the idea that his work 
 as President was destructive perhaps the nec- 
 essary destructive work of the reformer but 
 not essentially constructive. Even those friendly 
 to him sometimes felt it necessary to defend 
 his political course by saying that he was com- 
 pelled to raze the old buildings and prepare 
 the ground on which his successors might build 
 new and better structures." Consideration of 
 his constructive achievements, the writer holds, 
 makes the " destructive " theory untenable. 
 
 It has been said that one of the greatest monu- 
 ments to Theodore Roosevelt's efforts for re- 
 form is the Dolliver-Hepburn railroad act. He 
 began demonstrating the need of such legisla- 
 tion in 1901. He announced his opinion in his 
 message of December, 1903, that " the power
 
 154 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 of the Interstate Commerce Commission should 
 be thoroughgoing, so that it could exercise 
 complete supervision and control over the issue 
 of securities as well as over the raising and 
 lowering of freight rates." 
 
 The Dolliver-Hepburn measure occupied most 
 of the Congressional session of 1905-6. The 
 bill became a law on June 29, 1906. While 
 it was vigorously opposed by railroad interests 
 and others, most of these opponents later gave 
 approval to the measure, the effect of which 
 was thus described: 
 
 " It has ended rate wars, steadied traffic con- 
 ditions, put a stop to unregulated and injurious 
 competition ; has largely quieted the popular out- 
 cry against railway management, and has put 
 securities on a sounder basis than ever be- 
 fore." 
 
 The achievements attributed to the Roosevelt 
 Administration of seven years and the policies 
 recommended by the strenuous President during 
 that time are many. These, as arranged by his 
 friends to illuminate his candidacy for the Presi- 
 dency as leader of the Progressive Party in 
 1912, are: 
 
 1. Dolliver-Hepburn railroad act. 
 
 2. Extension of forest reserve. 
 
 3. National irrigation act. 
 
 4. Improvement of waterways and reserva- 
 tion of water-power sites. 
 
 5. Employers' liability act. 
 
 6. Safety appliance act. 
 
 7. Regulation of railroad employees' hours 
 of labor.
 
 CALLED BY THE NATION 155 
 
 8. Establishment of Department of Com- 
 merce and Labor. 
 
 9. Pure food and drugs act. 
 
 10. Federal meat inspection. 
 
 11. Navy doubled in tonnage and greatly in- 
 creased in efficiency. 
 
 12. Battleship fleet sent around the world. 
 
 13. State militia brought into coordination 
 with the army. 
 
 14. Canal zone acquired and work of excava- 
 tion pushed with increased energy. 
 
 15. Development of civil self-government in 
 insular possessions. 
 
 1 6. Second intervention in Cuba; Cuba re- 
 stored to the Cubans. 
 
 17. Finances of Santo Domingo adjusted. 
 
 1 8. Alaska boundary dispute settled. 
 
 19. Reorganization of the consular service. 
 
 20. Settlement of the coal strike of 1902. 
 
 21. The Government upheld in the Northern 
 Securities decision. 
 
 22. Conviction of post office grafters and pub- 
 lic land thieves. 
 
 23. Investigation of the sugar trust customs 
 frauds and resulting prosecutions. 
 
 24. Suits begun against the Standard Oil and 
 Tobacco companies and other corporations for 
 violation of the Sherman anti-trust act. 
 
 25. Corporations forbidden to contribute to 
 political campaign funds. 
 
 26. The door of China kept open to Ameri- 
 can commerce. 
 
 27. The settlement of the Russo-Japanese 
 War by the treaty of Portsmouth.
 
 156 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 28. Diplomatic entanglements created by the 
 Pacific coast prejudice against Japanese immi- 
 gration avoided. 
 
 29. Twenty-four treaties of general arbitra- 
 tion negotiated. 
 
 30. Interest bearing debt reduced by more than 
 $90,000,000. 
 
 31. Annual conference of Governors of States 
 inaugurated. 
 
 32. Movement for conservation of natural re- 
 sources inaugurated. 
 
 33. Movement for the improvement of con- 
 ditions of country life inaugurated. 
 
 The above considered as the achievements of 
 the Roosevelt Administration of seven years, the 
 following have been cited as the policies recom- 
 mended by him as President, some of which 
 were carried out in the administration of his 
 successor : 
 
 1. Reform of the banking and currency sys- 
 tem. 
 
 2. Inheritance tax. 
 
 3. Income tax. 
 
 4. Passage of a new employer's liability act 
 to meet objections raised by the Supreme Court 
 
 5. Postal savings banks. 
 
 6. Parcel post. 
 
 7. Revision of the Sherman anti-trust act. 
 
 8. Legislation to prevent overcapitalization, 
 stock watering and manipulations by common 
 carriers. 
 
 9. Legislation compelling incorporation under 
 Federal laws of corporations engaged in inter- 
 state commerce.
 
 CALLED BY THE NATION 157 
 
 In reviewing the Roosevelt movement for the 
 Conservation of National Resources the same 
 writer for the " Encyclopaedia Britannica " says : 
 
 "If Mr. Roosevelt did not invent this term 
 he literally created as well as led the movement 
 which made conservation in 1910 the foremost 
 political and social question in the United States. 
 The old theory was that the general prosperity 
 of the country depends upon the development 
 which can best be achieved by private capital, 
 acting under the natural incentive of financial 
 profits. Upon this theory public land was either 
 given away or sold for a trifle by the nation 
 to individual holders. 
 
 " While it is true that the building of railways, 
 the opening of mines, the growth of the lumber 
 industry and the settlement of frontier lands 
 by hardy pioneers were rapidly promoted by this 
 policy, it also resulted naturally in the accumu- 
 lation of great wealth in the hands of a com- 
 paratively few men who were controlling lumber, 
 coal, oil and railway transportation in a way 
 that was believed to be a menace to the public 
 welfare. Nor was the concentration of wealth 
 the only danger of this policy; it led to the 
 destruction of forests, the exhaustion of farm- 
 ing soils and the wasteful mining of coal and 
 minerals, since the desire for quick profits, even 
 when they entail risk to permanency of capital, 
 is always a powerful human motive. 
 
 " Mr. Roosevelt not only framed legislation 
 to regulate this concentration of wealth and 
 to preserve forests, water power, mines and 
 arable soil, but organized departments in his ad-
 
 158 ROOSEVELT'S 'LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 ministration for carrying his legislation into ef- 
 fect. His official acts and the influence of his 
 speeches and messages led to the adoption by 
 both citizens and Government of a new theory 
 regarding natural resources. It is that the Gov- 
 ernment, acting for the people, who are the real 
 owners of all public property, shall permanently 
 retain the fee in public lands, leaving their prod- 
 ucts to be developed by private capital under 
 leases which are limited in their duration and 
 which give the Government complete power to 
 regulate the industrial operations of the leases." 
 
 This same authority finds that the greatest 
 single achievement of Mr. Roosevelt's presidency 
 was the taking over by the United States of the 
 project to build the Panama Canal, adding: 
 " The project itself is nearly four centuries 
 old. For a century Great Britain and the United 
 States had been sometimes in friendly, some- 
 times in acrimonious dispute as to how this was 
 to be accomplished. The French undertook the 
 work and failed. Mr. Roosevelt recognized the 
 new republic of Panama, and obtained from it 
 for the United States, in return for a commer- 
 cial and military protection advantageous to Pan- 
 ama, the right to build a canal and control it in 
 perpetuity. 
 
 " His critics said that his course in this mat- 
 ter was unconstitutional, although the question 
 of constitutionality has never been raised before 
 any national or international tribunal. The fact 
 remains that the construction of the Panama 
 Canal was undertaken to the practical satisfac- 
 tion of the civilized world. But for Mr. Roose-
 
 CALLED BY THE NATION 159 
 
 velt's vigorous official action and his character- 
 istic ability to inspire associates with enthusi- 
 asm the canal would still be a subject of diplo- 
 matic discussion instead of a physical actuality." 
 Again emphasizing his statesmanship in deal- 
 ing with colonial problems, the " Britannica " 
 writer says, " Strictly speaking, the United 
 States has no colonial policy, for the Philippine 
 Islands and Porto Rico can scarcely be called 
 colonies. It has, however, a policy of territorial 
 expansion. Although this policy was entered 
 upon at the conclusion of the Spanish war under 
 the presidency of Mr. McKinley, it has been 
 very largely shaped by Mr. Roosevelt. He de- 
 termined that Cuba should not be taken over by 
 the United States, as all Europe expected it 
 would be and an influential section of his own 
 party hoped it would be, but should be given 
 every opportunity to govern itself as an inde- 
 pendent republic ; by assuming supervision of the 
 finances of Santo Domingo he put an end to 
 controversies in that unstable republic, which 
 threatened to disturb the peace o_f Europe, and 
 he personally inspired the body of administra- 
 tive officials in the Philippines, in Porto Rico 
 and (during the American occupancy) in Cuba, 
 who for efficiency and unselfish devotion to duty 
 compare favorably with any similar body in the 
 world. In numerous speeches and addresses he 
 expressed his belief in a strong colonial govern- 
 ment, but a government administered for the 
 benefit of the people under its control and not 
 for the profit of the people at home. In this 
 respect, for the seven years of his administra-
 
 160 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 tion at Washington, he developed a policy of 
 statesmanship quite new in the history of the 
 United States." 
 
 Resisting all arguments and persuasions from 
 politicians and people to accept another nomina- 
 tion for the Presidency, Mr. Roosevelt left the 
 White House March 4, 1909, after having de- 
 liberately put forward his best friend and prin- 
 cipal advisor, William Howard Taft, as his suc- 
 cessor and throwing all of his vast influence 
 toward Mr. Taft's success. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 EXPLORER AND GOOD SPORTSMAN 
 
 A LOVER of wild life, at home in the wilder- 
 ness, whether on foot or on horseback, Mr. 
 Roosevelt took high rank as a sportsman. He 
 was declared by all who knew him to be a " true 
 sportsman " in every respect, a conscientious ob- 
 server of the rules of the game, quick on the 
 trigger, no mean match in a fight with gloves 
 or bare knuckles. 
 
 After the election of President Taft, some- 
 thing was needed as an outlet for his abounding 
 energy. Big game shooting was in his mind, and 
 talking it over with his famous " Tennis Cabi- 
 net," all good sportsmen, says the New York 
 Sun, he decided that his yearning for outdoor 
 adventure would find its heartiest expression in 
 Africa. So with his son Kermit and a modest 
 expedition, he set sail for Africa on March 23,
 
 EXPLORER AND SPORTSMAN 161 
 
 1909, aiming at the acquisition of flora and fauna 
 trophies of a new country, as well as desiring 
 the thrills of elephant and buffalo hunting. The 
 Sun proceeds : 
 
 The expedition was in the wilderness until the 
 middle of the following March, during which 
 time it was almost completely cut off from com- 
 munication with the world. One result was a 
 collection, which scientists have said was of un- 
 usual value to students of natural history. His 
 experiences the hunter naturalist described in his 
 "African Game Trails," published by Charles 
 Scribner's Sons. 
 
 One of the experiences he had long been an- 
 ticipating was the shooting of buffalo. The 
 former President hunted buffalo to his heart's 
 content on Heatley's Ranch, which comprised 
 some 20,000 acres between the Rewero and 
 Kamiti rivers and was seventeen miles long and 
 four miles wide. The Kamiti was described as 
 a queer little stream, running through a dense, 
 broad swamp of tall papyrus, the home of a 
 buffalo herd numbering one hundred individuals, 
 and was all but impenetrable. 
 
 " There is no doubt," he wrote, " that under 
 certain circumstances buffalo, in addition to 
 showing themselves exceedingly dangerous op- 
 ponents when wounded by hunters, become 
 truculent and inclined to take the offensive them- 
 selves. There are places in East Africa where, 
 as regards at least certain herds, this seems to 
 be the case; and in Uganda the buffalo have 
 caused such loss of life and such damage to the 
 native plantations that they are now ranked as
 
 162 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 vermin and not as game, and their killing is 
 encouraged in every possible way." 
 
 Continuing with his description of the hunt in 
 Heatley's swamp, the narrator goes on: 
 
 " Cautiously threading our way along the edge 
 of the swamp we got within 150 yards of the 
 buffalo before we were perceived. There were 
 four bulls grazing close by the edge of the 
 swamp, their black bodies glistening in the early 
 sun-rays, their massive horns showing white and 
 the cow-herons perched on their backs. They 
 stared suddenly at us with outstretched heads 
 from under their great frontlets of horn. 
 
 " The biggest of the four stood a little out 
 from the other three, and at him I fired, the 
 bullet telling with a snack on the tough hide 
 and going through the lungs. We had been 
 afraid they would at once turn into the papyrus, 
 but instead of this they started straight across 
 our front directly for the open country. 
 
 " This was a piece of huge good luck. Ker- 
 mit put his first barrel into the second bull and 
 I my second barrel into one of the others, after 
 which it became impossible to say which bullet 
 struck which animal, as the firing became gen- 
 eral. They ran a quarter of a mile into the 
 open, and then the big bull I had first shot, and 
 which had no other bullet in him, dropped dead, 
 while the other three, all of which were wounded, 
 halted beside him. 
 
 " We walked toward them rather expecting a 
 charge, but when we were still over two hun- 
 dred yards away they started back for the swamp 
 and we began firing. The distance being long,
 
 EXPLORER AND SPORTSMAN 163 
 
 I used my Winchester. Aiming well before one 
 bull he dropped to the shot as if poleaxed, fall- 
 ing straight on his back with his legs kicking, 
 but in a moment he was up again and after the 
 others. Later I found that the bullet, a full 
 metal patch, had struck him in the head but did 
 not penetrate the brain, and merely stunned him 
 for the moment. 
 
 "All the time we kept running diagonally to 
 their line of flight. They were all three badly 
 wounded, and when they reached the tall, rank 
 grass, high as a man's head, which fringed the 
 papyrus swamp, the two foremost lay down while 
 the last one, the one I had floored with the Win- 
 chester, turned, and with nose outstretched be- 
 gan to come toward us. He was badly crippled, 
 however, and with a soft-nosed bullet from my 
 heavy Holland I knocked him down, this time 
 for good. The other two then rose, and though 
 each was again hit they reached the swamp, one 
 of them to our right, the other to the left, where 
 the papyrus came out in a point. 
 
 "We decided to go after the latter and, ad- 
 vancing very cautiously toward the edge of the 
 swamp, put in the three big dogs. A moment 
 afterward they gave tongue within the papyrus. 
 
 " Heatley now mounted his trained shooting 
 pony and rode toward the place, while we cov- 
 ered him with our rifles, his plan being to run 
 right across our front if the bull charged. The 
 bull was past charging, lying just within the 
 reeds, but he was still able to do damage, for 
 in another minute one of the dogs came out to 
 us and ran straight back to the farmhouse,
 
 164 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 where we found him dead on our return. He 
 had been caught by the buffalo's horns when 
 he went in too close. 
 
 " Heatley, a daring fellow, with great confi- 
 dence in both his horse and his rifle, pushed for- 
 ward as we came up and saw the bull lying on 
 the ground while the other two dogs bit and wor- 
 ried it and he put a bullet through its head." 
 
 Mr. R. J. Cuninghame, the famous African 
 hunter, who was in charge of this expedition, 
 became an enthusiastic admirer of Colonel 
 Roosevelt. He told the London correspondent 
 of the New York Times that the Colonel was 
 excellent company, never made difficulties, never 
 complained of petty annoyances, and was full 
 of anecdotes and good stories. The interview 
 with Mr. Cuninghame continues : 
 
 " When we started he ordered me to put him 
 on the steps of the palace at Khartum at four 
 o'clock on the afternoon of a certain day, and 
 I did it but it was necessary to put in three 
 weeks of the hardest kind of marching from 
 Uganda to the Nile. It was terribly hot and 
 rough going, and the mosquitoes were awful ; 
 but the Colonel knew it had to be done, and 
 he never complained. 
 
 " He obeyed my orders implicitly," said Cun- 
 inghame. " He might question them afterward 
 but never at the time. Sometimes he did not 
 understand them, but he was always prompt in 
 observing them." 
 
 Cuninghame was very emphatic in insisting 
 upon the scientific character of the expedition.
 
 EXPLORER AND SPORTSMAN 165 
 
 " We brought back," he said, " about two 
 thousand animals and most unjustified criticism 
 has been based on that. The Colonel has been 
 called a game butcher. It was absolutely false. 
 He went out with the definite purpose of getting 
 a collection of East African fauna for American 
 natural history museums and he kept that always 
 in view." 
 
 " Was he a first-rate shot ? " Cuninghame was 
 asked. 
 
 " I will call him a good one," was the reply ; 
 " that is, you could always rely on his hitting 
 his animal and, if he did not put a shot in the 
 right place, of hitting him again and again until 
 he had dropped him. A good many men won't 
 do even that, you know. 
 
 " He had one very near squeak. He was de- 
 termined to get an elephant and a tusker at that. 
 I told him what that meant and how much risk 
 there was, but he said he was willing to face it. 
 That was the Colonel all over. Tell him the 
 risks and he would size them up quietly. If 
 he decided they were worth while that was all 
 there was to it. He just went ahead and took 
 them without saying another word. 
 
 " Well, we found an elephant in a forest on 
 Kenia Mountain. We had been hunting for 
 three days, and it was really hard work for a 
 man of the Colonel's bulk in that heat and at 
 that altitude, 11,000 feet. At last, through a 
 thick bush, I caught just a glimpse of elephant 
 hide and a tusk, about thirty-five feet away, just 
 enough to tell me it was a fine specimen. I
 
 166 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 pointed it out to the Colonel, and he fired with 
 complete coolness and got the elephant in the ear 
 and dropped him. 
 
 " As the shot went off the forest all round 
 roared aloud with trumpetings. We were in the 
 midst of a herd of cows and young bulls, and 
 one of the latter thrust his head through the 
 bushes right over the Colonel's head. I was 
 right behind him, and fired at once and bowled it 
 over. Then I rushed up to the Colonel and said, 
 ' Are you all right, Sir ? ' But I could see he 
 was before I spoke. 
 
 " He hadn't turned a hair. At any moment 
 the cows might have blundered through the bush 
 over us, but he never thought of that. He went 
 up to the old chap he had killed and gave it the 
 coup de grace, and then let himself loose. I 
 never saw a man so boyishly jubilant, waving 
 his hat and dancing about. He had himself 
 photographed with the elephant, and was abso- 
 lutely delighted. But half an hour later, when 
 we were back in camp and the elephant had 
 been handed over to the scientists, he sat down 
 in a chair and started to read Balzac. 
 
 " That was typical. While the Colonel was 
 on a job he was altogether wrapped up in it. 
 As soon as it was over and some one else had 
 taken charge he was busy about something else. 
 So, after all his fatigue and excitement, in the 
 midst of the camp, with the noise of negro car- 
 riers all round him, he gave himself up to Bal- 
 zac. 
 
 " I never knew a man with such never-relaxing 
 energy. He was keen day after day. The hard-
 
 EXPLORER AND SPORTSMAN 167 
 
 est thing he had to do, he told me, was to write 
 his book. Yes, it was the famous dollar-a- 
 word book. He told me another publisher of- 
 fered him two dollars, but after weighing it all up 
 he thought it was a better bargain to be pub- 
 lished by Scribners at only a dollar a word than 
 by the other man. But it was real hard work 
 for him to sit down at the end of each day's 
 march and grind it out in that heat." 
 
 Then Cuninghame asked to be allowed to 
 give his testimony as to the strict temperance 
 of Roosevelt. 
 
 " He had a libel suit about it, didn't he?" he 
 asked. " I'd like to say what I know. The ex- 
 pedition was strictly dry isn't that the word? 
 Of course, we had a little champagne, brandy, 
 and rye whiskey as medical stores, and there 
 was one special bottle of brandy of the very 
 finest brand labeled ' Colonel's ' which was en- 
 trusted to my care. Well, he never touched a 
 drop of anything except, perhaps, at a formal 
 banquet, where he had a glass of sherry to sip 
 a toast to the King. 
 
 " But at last he had a touch of fever and the 
 surgeon ordered him a dose of his own brandy. 
 It was measured out like medicine, perhaps two 
 ounces to three of water. He drank it and at 
 once spat it out. He explained that as soon as 
 spirits entered his throat his muscles always au- 
 tomatically contracted and rejected them. 
 
 " The surgeon insisted, and threatened to in- 
 ject morphine in his throat and deaden every- 
 thing unless he tried again. At length he in- 
 duced the Colonel to take a spoonful of salad-
 
 168 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 oil first, and under its mollifying influence he 
 got one dose of brandy down and it was as mild 
 as milk. You know that was all he took of the 
 bottle on the trip, and when we got to Khartum 
 I had the bottle measured before I handed 
 it over to prove that only two doses were 
 gone. 
 
 " Yet, he was in no way fanatical about drink- 
 ing. He had no use for a man who took more 
 than he could carry, but he had no objection 
 to a man taking a drink." 
 
 On one occasion Colonel Roosevelt proved 
 how well he could rise to an emergency. The 
 expedition was on the Kongo when forest-fires 
 broke out. Cuninghame was away in the bush 
 and the Colonel at once took command. There 
 were a thousand negro carriers to handle, but 
 he gave the necessary orders, started back-fires, 
 and collected the baggage so that when Cuning- 
 hame returned he could suggest nothing and 
 asked the Colonel to carry on and complete the 
 job. 
 
 " He was a big man," said the hunter in con- 
 clusion. " He impressed every one and domi- 
 nated every one by sheer force of his person- 
 ality." 
 
 Though the expedition traversed lands already 
 visited by some of the great naturalist explorers 
 of the world, Roosevelt made discoveries and 
 recorded many facts not before known as to 
 the life history of beasts and birds in equatorial 
 East Africa, says the Evening Sun, New York. 
 He was careful to note the seasons at which 
 the young of different antelopes and other large
 
 EXPLORER AND SPORTSMAN 169 
 
 game appear. He wrote new information of 
 the chita hunting cat, a little known and little 
 studied carnivore in its wild state both in Africa 
 and Asia. He brought out, as no earlier traveler 
 had done, the extent to which the wild game 
 is persecuted and infested with ticks. 
 
 He informed the scientific world, according to 
 able critics of his writings, of new facts about 
 the ordinary rhinoceros and its peculiar habits, 
 and emphasized the square-lipped, white rhinoc- 
 eros as to its gentler disposition and its associa- 
 tion with the white egrets which, in accompany- 
 ing it for protection from the ticks, whiten its 
 broad back with guano. He got particulars re- 
 garding the lion's method of killing most of the 
 larger antelopes and zebra by springing to their 
 backs and biting through the vertebrae of the 
 neck. He made observations of baboons, hy- 
 enas, elephants, white rhinoceroses, water birds, 
 Grevy's zebra, white-bellied hogs, the hyraxes 
 and the forest and mountain rats, interesting to 
 naturalists in all countries and pronounced by 
 capable scientists to be in many cases absolutely 
 novel. 
 
 To Theodore Roosevelt the hunt was the most 
 magnificent, real life drama of latter day exist- 
 ence; in the chase he returned to the primordial 
 thrills unknown to the sedentary, shopworn high- 
 ways of urban life. After twenty-five years of 
 experience more replete with the stress and 
 storm, the adulation and the excitement of the 
 highest public office within the gift of the people 
 he wrote in his foreword to " African Game 
 Trails," at Khartum, on March 15, 1910, the
 
 170 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 following sentences, showing the unaltered love 
 of the open: 
 
 " There are no words that can tell the hidden 
 spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mys- 
 tery, its melancholy and its charm. There is de- 
 light in the hardy life of the open, in long rides, 
 rifle in hand, in the thrill of the fight with dan- 
 gerous game. Apart from this, yet mingled 
 with it, is the strong attraction of the silent 
 places, of the large tropic moons, and the splen- 
 dor of the new stars ; where the wanderer sees 
 the awful glory of sunrise and sunset in the wild 
 waste spaces of the earth, unworn of man and 
 changed only by the slow changes of the ages 
 through time everlasting." 
 
 Following the African expedition he spent the 
 spring and early summer months of 1910 in 
 traveling through Egypt, Continental Europe 
 and England, accepting many invitations to make 
 public addresses in those countries. He received 
 popular and official ovations suggestive of royal 
 distinction. He received honorary degrees from 
 the universities of Cairo, Christiania, Berlin, 
 Cambridge and Oxford. 
 
 The demonstrations of the European coun- 
 tries, the appearance of an American before 
 learned bodies of foreign countries whom he ad- 
 dressed frequently in their own languages, his 
 advice to the young Egyptians and his Guild- 
 hall speech in England, awakened a severe analy- 
 sis of Roosevelt not so much as a statesman, for 
 his administrative achievements were reason- 
 ably well known, but as a scholar, reader, stu- 
 dent and author.
 
 EXPLORER 'AND SPORTSMAN 171 
 
 His knowledge of general linguistic lore was 
 masterly, and he was a scholar of the first rank 
 in the classics. The savants of the Sorbonne 
 heard him address them in as flawless French as 
 they themselves could employ, and he spoke Ger- 
 man with all the fluency of a highly educated na- 
 tive. His knowledge of Spanish made inter- 
 preters superfluous on his South American 
 travels, and he was equally familiar with Italian 
 and other tongues. 
 
 How the Colonel, in his crowded years, had 
 ever found time to equip himself thus thoroughly 
 in this direction was always a matter of wonder- 
 ment to his friends. 
 
 The aristocratic lineage of the man in com- 
 bination with his service as President and his pal- 
 pable power under all circumstances was " such 
 as to appeal to the nations which to a greater ex- 
 tent than America are ruled by governing 
 classes." In Germany he was proclaimed as 
 " Bismarckian," in Italy he was " Garibaldian," 
 in France he was the " typical Gaul," and in Eng- 
 land he was compared to " Gladstone " ; and in 
 most countries he was said to be utterly un- 
 American, and in something of disdain for the 
 rest of America he was called our first " gentle- 
 man statesman." 
 
 There were points of resemblance and points 
 of sharp contrast between Roosevelt and Glad- 
 stone. Roosevelt had awakened strong opposi- 
 tion because of the policies he believed were 
 essential to the rule of the people. Gladstone 
 was said to be inconsistent because he favored 
 such tremendous changes in England to the in-
 
 172 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 terest of the fuller rights of the people. Roose- 
 velt had probably molded public opinion to a 
 greater extent than any man before him. Of 
 Gladstone Morley writes : " In every one of his 
 achievements of high mark he expressly formed 
 or endeavored to form and create the public 
 opinion upon which he knew in the last resort 
 he must depend." Both Gladstone and Roose- 
 velt possessed powerful physiques developed by 
 athletic exercise. Both had great power in ad- 
 vocating their policies before audiences favorable 
 or hostile. Both believed that morality was 
 the basis of all reform. Both were authors of 
 books on living questions and contributed to 
 magazines and newspapers much that influenced 
 public opinion. 
 
 In 1913, Mr. Roosevelt was invited to go to 
 Argentina to lecture on problems of government 
 in a democracy. He accepted the invitation, 
 planning at the same time to make a trip into 
 Brazil and explore the jungles and rivers of the 
 great Amazon Valley. He sailed October 4th 
 with his son Kermit and a party of friends and 
 was gone seven and a half months. It proved to 
 be the most dangerous and important of all his 
 journeys for exploration and study of natural 
 history. 
 
 Late in the year, with several Brazilian guides 
 and army officers, his party plunged into the 
 jungles, following the Paraguay River to its head 
 waters and then striking into utterly unexplored 
 tountry. He discovered the " River of Doubt," 
 so named by him, which provoked a scientific 
 controversy before its existence was finally es-
 
 EXPLORER AND SPORTSMAN i?3 
 
 tablished. Later the stream was renamed by the 
 Brazilian government " Rio Teodoro," in honor 
 of its discoverer. 
 
 The river was found to be a thousand miles 
 long and flowed from a spot 13 south latitude and 
 59 west longtitude, through many doublings and 
 twistings, into the River Madeira. In volume 
 it is similar to the Rhone, the Elbe, or the Hud- 
 son. Roosevelt's party followed it for the 
 greater part of its length, passing through 
 stretches of country where the feet of white men 
 had never trodden before. After exploring its 
 source, Roosevelt said of it : 
 
 " The upper part of its course was utterly un- 
 known to anybody except the wild men on its 
 bank, while the lower part was known to a few 
 rubber men only. The river takes its rise in the 
 high uplands of the western part of the State of 
 Matto Grosso, just north of the I3th parallel of 
 south latitude and between longitude 59 and 60 
 west of Greenwich." 
 
 During the journey the Colonel and his fel- 
 low naturalists collected more than 2,100 birds 
 and mammals, many new to science. 
 
 The expedition passed through the most ter- 
 rible hardships. For a long time they were on 
 reduced rations, and many of their number, the 
 Colonel among them, came down with fever. 
 His constant thought, all through his illness, was 
 for his companions. " This looks like the last 
 for me, doctor," said the ex-president to Doctor 
 Cajaziera. " If I'm to go, it's all right. You 
 see that the others don't stop for me." And 
 again he said : " I've the shortest span of life
 
 174 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 ahead of any in the party. If any one is to die 
 here, I must be the one. The others must look 
 out for themselves. You are all strong and can 
 make it." But he pulled through. At another 
 time he was thrown out of his canoe against pro- 
 jecting rocks, and his right leg was cut to the 
 bone. This attack of jungle fever, it is believed, 
 sapped his hitherto splendid constitution so that 
 he never fully regained his former vigor. He 
 returned to the United States May 19, 1914, and 
 the people at home never knew how narrow had 
 been his escape from death. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY 
 
 WHETHER or not any agreement existed be- 
 tween Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Taft, when the 
 former turned over the presidency to the latter, 
 as to the course Mr. Taft should follow gener- 
 ally in domestic and foreign policies no person 
 surely knows or knew, remarked the Sun, except 
 the late Colonel Roosevelt and the living Ex- 
 president Taft. 
 
 It is certain, however, that disappointment and 
 discontent grew apace among the 'Stanch sup- 
 porters of the Roosevelt policies within a com- 
 paratively brief time after the new administra- 
 tion began, and reports did not fail to reach 
 the explorer in the African wilderness. Some 
 of his friends went across the ocean to meet him 
 as soon as he emerged from the dark continent,
 
 THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY 175 
 
 and they poured their compliments into his ears. 
 
 He returned to the United States in a frame 
 of mind, politically, which must be imagined, for 
 he avoided comment on the National Administra- 
 tion and joined the staff of The Outlook as con- 
 tributing editor and wrote essays on politics, 
 economics and social matters until he threw him- 
 self with characteristic energy into the campaign 
 in behalf of his old friend and associate in Gov- 
 ernment, Henry L. Stimson, the Republican 
 candidate for governor. He beat the Republican 
 Old Guard in the convention fight at Syracuse, 
 carrying everything before his electric energy, 
 but he could not elect Stimson, the State turning 
 to the Democratic Party that year. 
 
 During the latter part of 1910 and the early 
 months of 1911, Mr. Roosevelt made an exten- 
 sive tour of the country, lecturing on what he 
 termed " The New Nationalism." In these lec- 
 tures he outlined the program of legislative and 
 judicial reforms that later became the basis for 
 the platform of the Progressive party. 
 
 The presidential campaign of 1912 was so sen- 
 sational, and contained so many complicating 
 circumstances that accounts of it vary widely. 
 A peculiarly fair and intimate study of the 
 conditions leading up to it was written by 
 Mr. Roosevelt's close friend Ex-Congressman 
 Charles G. Washburn and included in his book, 
 " Theodore Roosevelt, the Logic of His Career," 
 published in 1916 by Houghton-Mifflin Company. 
 By Mr. Washburn's permission that illuminative 
 study of Mr. Roosevelt's 1912 candidacy is here 
 reproduced :
 
 i;6 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Properly to understand the situation from my 
 point of view, we must go back to the election of 
 1904, of which Roosevelt said in his address be- 
 fore the Cambridge (England) Union, in 
 1910: 
 
 " During my first term of office as President 
 of the United States, I said : ' Now, I do not wish 
 there to be any misunderstanding. I like my 
 job, and I want to keep it for four years longer.' 
 I don't think any President ever enjoyed himself 
 more than I did. Moreover, I don't think any 
 Ex- President ever enjoyed himself more. I 
 have enjoyed my life and my work because 
 I thoroughly believe that success the real suc- 
 cess does not depend upon the position you 
 hold, but upon how you carry yourself in that 
 position." 
 
 There is no doubt in the mind of any one, I 
 think, that the president did like his job and 
 wanted to be elected in 1904, and he was by a 
 majority staggering in its size. There is no 
 doubt whatever that he liked the job equally 
 well when he finished his term in 1909, and I 
 have never heard any doubt expressed that he 
 could have carried the nomination in 1908, for a 
 second " elective term," as some liked to ex- 
 press it, had he desired it or even said that he 
 would accept it. He was not weary of the office 
 in 1908, nor was he unduly oppressed and 
 weighed down, as many men have been, by its 
 responsibilities. If he ever hnd an overpower- 
 ing ambition to continue to be President, he must 
 have had it then; and had he possessed the lust 
 for power that has been credited to him by some
 
 THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY 177 
 
 of his critics, it would have led him then to ac- 
 cept a nomination which his party was ready 
 to thrust upon him. What a personal triumph 
 it would have been from the point of view of 
 the ambitious man to hold the office for practi- 
 cally three consecutive terms, something that no 
 president had ever done, and yet Roosevelt 
 turned away from it. On the evening of the 
 election in 1904, when his election was assured, 
 he said : 
 
 " The wise custom which limits the President 
 to two terms regards the substance and not the 
 form, and under no circumstances will I be a 
 candidate for or accept another nomination." 
 
 And he repeated the statement in December, 
 1907, and devoted himself, with all his energy, 
 to aiding in the nomination of Mr. Taft. Not 
 only that, but every precaution was taken to pre- 
 vent the stampeding to Roosevelt of the 1908 
 Convention, of which there was always danger. 
 His trusted personal and political friend, Sena- 
 tor Henry Cabot Lodge, was chairman of the con- 
 vention, occupying that position for two pur- 
 poses to make impossible the nomination of 
 Roosevelt, to make certain the nomination of 
 Taft. In his speech Senator Lodge said : 
 
 " That man is no friend of Theodore Roose- 
 velt and does not cherish his name and fame who, 
 now, from any motive, seeks to urge him as a 
 candidate for the great office which he has finally 
 declined. The President has refused what his 
 countrymen would have gladly given him. He 
 says what he means and means what he says,
 
 i;8 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 and his party and country will respect his wishes, 
 as they honor his high character and his great 
 public services." 
 
 There is no evidence of which I ever heard 
 that Roosevelt on his European trip gave a 
 thought to the nomination in 1912. Upon his re- 
 turn in May, 1910, at a public dinner given for 
 him in New York, he said : 
 
 " I am ready and eager to do my part, so far 
 as I am able, in helping solve problems which 
 must be solved if we, in this the greatest demo- 
 cratic republic upon which the sun has ever 
 shone, are to see its destinies rise to the high 
 level of our hopes and its opportunities." 
 
 I think the suggestion here that he was " ready 
 and eager to do his part " gave some anxiety to 
 his friends, who were more jealous than he of 
 his great fame. This anxiety was increased two 
 months later when at Harvard Commencement, 
 as president of the Alumni Association, Roose- 
 velt, at the request of Governor Hughes, of New 
 York sent the following telegram to Mr. Gris- 
 com, Chairman of the Republican State Commit- 
 tee: 
 
 "During the last week, great numbers of Re- 
 publicans and independent voters from all over 
 the State (New York) have written me urging 
 the passage of Direct Primary legislation. I 
 have seen Governor Hughes and have learned 
 your views from your representative. It seems
 
 THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY 179 
 
 to me that the Cobb Bill, with the amendments 
 proposed by you, meets the needs of the situation. 
 I believe that the people demand it. I most 
 earnestly hope that it will be enacted into law." 
 
 Roosevelt was again in politics, to the regret, I 
 think, of many of his friends, and to his own sur- 
 prise, I firmly believe. This was his explana- 
 tion of it at the time. In introducing Governor 
 Hughes at the Alumni luncheon, Roosevelt said : 
 
 " Our Governor has a very persuasive away 
 with him. I had intended to keep absolutely 
 clear from any kind of public or political ques- 
 tion after coming home, and I could carry out 
 my resolution all right until I met the Governor 
 this morning, and he then explained to me that I 
 had come back to live in New York now ; that I 
 had to help him out, and after a very brief con- 
 versation, I put up my hands and agreed to help 
 him." 
 
 In October of that year, Roosevelt was Chair- 
 man of the New York Republican State Conven- 
 tion, defeating James S. Sherman, then Vice- 
 President of the United States. Mr. Stimson 
 was nominated for governor as a Roosevelt 
 candidate and was defeated by 100,000 votes. In 
 commenting on the election, Roosevelt said at a 
 later period, when he had become a candidate for 
 the Republican nomination for President : 
 
 " In that contest, as in this, I was exceedingly 
 reluctant to be drawn into the contest. In that 
 contest, as in this, I acted only from a sense of
 
 i8o ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 duty to the people as a whole, and in that con- 
 test I was assailed with precisely the same argu- 
 ments by the great majority of those who are 
 now assailing me. If I had considered only my 
 own personal interests and personal preferences, 
 I could, of course, have kept out of the 1910 
 campaign, have let the machine remain in con- 
 trol at Saratoga, and have seen the State go 
 Democratic by 300,000 majority, as under those 
 circumstances it certainly would have gone. I 
 went in because I conscientiously felt that it was 
 my duty to take part in the fight for honest 
 government, for genuine self-government by the 
 people, without regard to the consequences to 
 myself, and I am in this fight on precisely the 
 same basis and for precisely the same reasons." 
 
 As the convention of 1912 drew near, there 
 was much speculation as to whether Roosevelt 
 would be a candidate or not. Many people re- 
 garded his statement which I have quoted as a 
 bar to his doing so. It was obviously open to 
 the construction that he would never under any 
 circumstances at any time be a candidate. As to 
 what it was intended to express, Mr. Loeb, who 
 was Roosevelt's secretary at the time, has told me 
 that when the statement was drafted, it was sug- 
 gested that it be limited in express terms to the 
 election of 1908, but that was disapproved for 
 the reason that a declaration that Roosevelt 
 would not run in 1908 would be accepted as 
 tantamount to a statement that he would run in 
 1912, which Roosevelt then had no intention of 
 doing, nor had he any intention of saying any-
 
 THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY 181 
 
 thing that would not leave him free after 1908. 
 A reporter present asked Roosevelt if this ap- 
 plied to 1912. He replied: 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, that is something I don't 
 intend to speak about. You accept my statement 
 just as I have made it." 
 
 A prominent newspaper man recently said to 
 me: 
 
 " At that time none of the correspondents 
 dreamed of interpreting his refusal to be a candi- 
 date as applying to any other year than 1908. It 
 was made to set at rest the rumors that he would 
 try to succeed himself at the end of the term to 
 which he had just been elected, and none of us 
 interpreted it in any other way. Not until he 
 began to be talked of as a candidate in 1912 did 
 anybody try to make it appear that his 1904 state- 
 ment was intended to cover all the rest of his life 
 so as to bar him forever from running." 
 
 I regard the episode as unfortunate, but as in 
 no way reflecting upon Roosevelt's good faith. 
 
 I had a long talk with Roosevelt in November, 
 1911. I spoke to him of the convention and of 
 his possible candidacy. He said, in substance, 
 that he did not want to be a candidate that 
 he did not want the office again, and that he be- 
 lieved that it would be a great risk for him to 
 take it, and that he had no idea that conditions 
 would arise that would make it necessary. If, 
 however, such conditions should arise and it
 
 i82 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 should become in his opinion a duty, he would 
 not decline to be drafted. As late as December, 
 1911, he wrote to influential men of the party 
 in Washington urging them to do everything they 
 could to stop any mention of his name in con- 
 nection with the office. I talked with him again 
 in January, 1912, and again he said he did not 
 want the nomination, he doubted if any Re- 
 publican could be elected, and that he person- 
 ally had everything to lose and nothing to gain 
 if he should enter the contest, but again he said 
 that if there should be an uprising of the peo- 
 ple, which he did not anticipate, he might con- 
 sider it. When I asked him why he did not say 
 that under no circumstances would he accept 
 the office if it were tendered him, and be it re- 
 membered that I was in favor of Mr. Taft's 
 nomination, he said, in substance, " I had to 
 eat my words once in connection with the Vice- 
 Presidency, and I don't want to run any chance 
 of having to do it again." 
 
 During all this time the supporters of all the 
 candidates had been hard at work to secure dele- 
 gates, but nothing was done by Roosevelt, nor 
 did he want anything done. He stated over and 
 over again that he did not want anything done 
 and wanted nothing left undone that would pre- 
 vent anything being done. 
 
 Meantime, as he has told me, Republican gov- 
 ernors of several States were writing him and 
 seeing him, urging that he be a candidate. He 
 told them that he was not convinced that there 
 was any popular demand for his candidacy. 
 Gradually, however, through all kinds of inter-
 
 THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY 183 
 
 views, through all kinds of articles in the papers, 
 through all kinds of letters and other communi- 
 cations, he became convinced, by a sort of 
 cumulative process, that two-thirds of the rank 
 and file of the Republican party wished him to 
 run; and further, that unless he made the fight 
 for the principles in which he believed with all his 
 heart and soul, there would be no fight at all 
 made for them. He was in this state of mind 
 when, on February 10, 1912, at a meeting in 
 Chicago, the Republican governors of seven 
 States, West Virginia, Nebraska, New Hamp- 
 shire, Wyoming, Michigan, Kansas, and Mis- 
 souri, asked Roosevelt in the following letter to 
 become a candidate for the presidency : 
 
 " We, the undersigned Republican governors, 
 assembled for the purpose of considering what 
 will best insure the continuation of the Republi- 
 can party as a useful agency of good govern- 
 ment, declare it our belief, after a careful in- 
 vestigation of the facts, that a large majority of 
 the Republican voters of the country favor your 
 nomination, and a large majority of the people 
 favor your election, as the next President of the 
 United States. 
 
 " We believe that your candidacy will insure 
 success in the next campaign. We believe that 
 you represent, as no other man represents, those 
 principles and policies upon which we must ap- 
 peal for a majority of the votes of the Ameri- 
 can people, and which, in our opinion, are neces- 
 sary for the happiness and prosperity of the 
 country.
 
 i&4 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " We believe that, in view of this public de- 
 mand, you should soon declare whether, if the 
 nomination for the Presidency come to you un- 
 solicited and unsought, you will accept it. 
 
 " In submitting this request we are not con- 
 sidering your personal interests. We do not re- 
 gard it as proper to consider either the interests 
 or the preference of any man as regards the 
 nomination for the Presidency. We are ex- 
 pressing our sincere belief and best judgment as 
 to what is demanded of you in the interests of 
 the people as a whole. And we feel that you 
 would be unresponsive to a plain public duty if 
 you should decline to accept the nomination, com- 
 ing as the voluntary expression of the wishes of 
 a majority of the Republican voters of the United 
 States, through the action of their delegates in 
 the next National Convention." 
 
 With the knowledge that he would be a candi- 
 date, Roosevelt made, on February 21, 1912, his 
 Columbus speech on " A Charter of Democracy," 
 in which, among other things, he advocated the 
 recall of judicial decisions. This speech alien- 
 ated hundreds of thousands of Republican votes. 
 He did not need to make it to secure the votes 
 of radicals those were his already. He must 
 have known, as well as any one, what the result 
 would be. And then, when he had left nothing 
 undone and had done everything to make his 
 nomination in a Republican Convention impos- 
 sible, he replied, under date of February 24, 
 1912, to the letter of the seven governors, as fol- 
 lows :
 
 THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY 185 
 
 " I deeply appreciate your letter, and I realize 
 to the full the heavy responsibility it puts upon 
 me, expressing as it does the carefully consid- 
 ered convictions of the men elected by popular 
 vote to stand as the heads of government in their 
 several States. 
 
 " I absolutely agree with you that this matter 
 is not one to be decided with any reference to the 
 personal preferences or interests of any man, 
 but purely from the standpoints of the interests 
 of the people as a whole. I will accept the nomi- 
 nation for President if it is tendered to me, and 
 I will adhere to this decision until the conven- 
 tion has expressed its preference. One of the 
 chief principles for which I have stood and for 
 which I now stand, and which I have always en- 
 deavored and always shall endeavor to reduce to 
 action, is the genuine rule of the people ; and 
 therefore I hope that so far as possible the peo- 
 ple may be given the chance, through direct 
 primaries, to express their preference as to who 
 shall be the nominee of the Republican Presi- 
 dential Convention." 
 
 It is my conviction that Roosevelt entered this 
 campaign without any desire to gratify a per- 
 sonal ambition, but as the leader of a cause in 
 which he believed and without any thought as to 
 how his personal fortunes would be affected. 
 Recently he wrote me : 
 
 "You know that 1912 really represented 
 merely the goal of thought for which I had al- 
 ways been heading. From my standpoint it was
 
 186 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 merely the effort to apply the principles of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln to the conditions of the twentieth 
 century." 
 
 His political creed is contained in the Carnegie 
 Hall Address of March 20, 1912, in which he 
 said toward the close : 
 
 " In order to succeed we need leaders of in- 
 spired idealism, leaders to whom are granted 
 great visions, who dream greatly and strive to 
 make their dreams come true ; who can kindle the 
 people with the fire from their own burning 
 souls. The leader for the time being, whoever 
 he may be, is but an instrument, to be used until 
 broken and then to be cast aside; and if he is 
 worth his salt he will care no more when he is 
 broken than a soldier cares when he is sent 
 where his life is forfeit in order that the victory 
 may be won. In the long fight for righteousness 
 the watchword for all of us is, spend and be 
 spent. It is of little matter whether any one 
 man fails or succeeds ; but the cause shall not 
 fail, for it is the cause of mankind." 
 
 This expressed his state of mind. Many of 
 his friends would have preferred to have him 
 preserve the great fame that was his, undimmed 
 by any conflict in the political arena that might 
 well lead to reverses. He chose for himself the 
 other course. " In the long fight for righteous- 
 ness, the watchword for all of us is, spend and 
 be spent. It is of little matter whether any one
 
 THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY 187 
 
 man fails or succeeds, but the cause shall not 
 fail, for it is the cause of mankind." 
 
 The campaign itself constitutes, said the New 
 York Tribune, " the most sensational chapter in 
 the history of the Republican Party." Mr. 
 Roosevelt, after having obtained a very large ma- 
 jority of the vote in the primaries in his contest 
 against Mr. Taft, was nevertheless denied the 
 regular nomination because of the action of the 
 Republican National Committee in unseating 
 Roosevelt delegates and qualifying Taft dele- 
 gates. 
 
 ;,.On a night never to be forgotten Mr. Roose- 
 velt's partisans, obtaining consent from their 
 leader at the Hotel Blackstone, arose in a body, 
 left the convention hall, entered a hall of their 
 own, formed the Progressive party and named 
 the Colonel as their standard bearer with Hiram 
 Johnson of California as their candidate for 
 vice-president. 
 
 A national organization was hurriedly formed, 
 and every State, country and town formed the 
 best organization possible on short notice. A 
 regular convention was called for August 5, 1912. 
 The delegates, who appeared to be as earnest as 
 religious zealots in their plan to win victory at 
 the polls, confirmed the action of June 19, and 
 formally nominated Roosevelt as their candidate, 
 with Governor Hiram Johnson, of California, as 
 his running mate. 
 
 Roosevelt plunged into the three-cornered cam- 
 paign against Wilson and Taft with all the vigor
 
 i88 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 that had characterized his earlier campaigns. An 
 explosive utterance in which he said that he felt 
 " like a Bull Moose " gave a nickname to the 
 new party. Roosevelt toured the country, direct- 
 ing most of his batteries against President Taft 
 and the standpat element in both parties, which 
 he attacked with entire impartiality. 
 
 Suddenly his speech-making tour was cut 
 short by a sensational attack on his life. He had 
 reached Milwaukee in his swing through the 
 country, and was just seating himself in an 
 automobile for the drive to the auditorium, 
 where he was to deliver an important address, 
 when Schrank sent the bullet into his chest at 
 short range. 
 
 On the instant there was a movement to deal 
 summarily with Schrank, but Colonel Roosevelt 
 was cool, and himself restrained the crowd until 
 Schrank was taken properly into custody. 
 
 The bullet, having passed through the candi- 
 date's heavy overcoat and his other clothing, fifty 
 pages of manuscript and his spectacle case, had 
 penetrated only two inches into the right breast. 
 He was able to proceed to the auditorium, and 
 against the advice of friends and physicians 
 made a speech lasting fifty-three minutes. 
 
 This feat, which drew the applause of the 
 world and caused all Americans, irrespective of 
 their political beliefs, to glory in such an in- 
 domitable will and such fortitude, seemed to pro- 
 duce no ill effects. The candidate went to his 
 home at Oyster Bay within a week after being 
 taken to a hospital in Chicago, and there con- 
 tinued his campaign by statements and messages
 
 THE PROGRESSIVE PARTY 189 
 
 to his followers through prominent Progressive 
 political leaders. 
 
 As all far-seeing men anticipated, he was de- 
 feated, the impossibility of overcoming a soli- 
 tary Democracy by the divided efforts of its 
 antagonist party being clearly visioned ; but 
 nevertheless Colonel Roosevelt made a wonder- 
 ful race against the victor, Woodrow Wilson, and 
 his Republican rival, Mr. Taft. He received 
 more than 4,000,000 votes and proved absolutely 
 that he had a hold upon a vast section of the 
 American people that nothing could break. 
 
 Again, in 1916, an unmistakable call came from 
 all parts of the country that Mr. Roosevelt 
 should run for the presidency. He would have 
 taken the nomination if Progressives and Re- 
 publicans could join in making it. He wanted 
 to unite the factions and end party strife. He 
 felt that the Nation sorely needed a strong Re- 
 publican party, able to win, and capable of as- 
 suming the great tasks and responsibilities of 
 the war. 
 
 But the sentiment of regular Republican 
 leaders was unalterably opposed to his selec- 
 tion. They could not forget 1912. They went 
 to Chicago with delegations that nothing could 
 sway or stampede from a coldly resolved upon 
 course. At the same time the Progressive party 
 met in Chicago with one candidate Roosevelt, 
 though it delayed naming him until it could see 
 what the Republicans would do. They were 
 eventful, thrilling days, though the outcome was 
 disappointment for Roosevelt and the host who 
 demanded his nomination.
 
 IQO ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 The Republicans named Charles E. Hughes, 
 taking him from the bench of the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, after it had declined to 
 listen to Colonel Roosevelt's suggestion to nomi- 
 nate either Senator Henry Cabot Lodge or Gen- 
 eral Leonard Wood. At Colonel Roosevelt's 
 own insistence, which virtually dissolved the 
 Progressive party then and there, his name was 
 eliminated by them and they named a candidate 
 for vice-president only. 
 
 Mr. Wilson was reflected, though by the nar- 
 rowest margin and largely on the score of his 
 persistent promise to keep the country out of the 
 European war that had been raging for two 
 years. 
 
 m* 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE VOICE THAT ROUSED THE NATION'S SOUL 
 
 THREE months after Theodore Roosevelt's 
 return from Brazil, the great horror which the 
 world had thought impossible suddenly became a 
 reality, and the principal nations of Europe were 
 plunged in war. Such a thing had been declared 
 to be " unthinkable." Organizations, endow- 
 ments, philanthropists, and writers had been 
 more than ever active in working for the ideal of 
 " world peace," while plans of frightfulness and 
 conquest were being brought to completion in the 
 secret chambers of the Huns. 
 
 Roosevelt was quick to see the menace to 
 America and to urge immediate preparation to 
 meet it, but again the chorus of peace believers
 
 ROUSING THE NATION'S SOUL 191 
 
 protested that although the " unthinkable " had 
 really come to pass in Europe, it was still un- 
 thinkable and impossible in America. We were 
 perfectly safe and had nothing to do with the 
 quarrels of Europe. 
 
 But the great awakener of the Nation's soul 
 would not be stilled. Jealous guardianship of 
 the honor of the United States was Colonel 
 Roosevelt's watchword, declared the New York 
 Tribune, from the outbreak, in August, 1914, of 
 the world war. Patriotism was the motto spelled 
 by his speeches and preparedness was demanded 
 with an earnestness into which he threw every 
 energy of mind and body. The Sun, New York, 
 recalls the fact that except for a few weeks at 
 the outset of the great conflict, when he held 
 himself in check because of the President's pro- 
 nouncement for perfect neutrality, he was never 
 at a loss as to the real meaning of the conflict, as 
 to the brutal ambition of the Central Powers, as 
 to the peril not only to Europe but to America 
 herself if the Germans should win. 
 
 He arose in all of the energy and might of his 
 intellect and called upon America to awake to a 
 realization of her peril, The Sun continues. He 
 burned with anger at the injustice of the invasion 
 of Belgium, at the enormities practiced there and 
 in France or wherever the German foot trod. 
 He spoke in blasting anger against the U-boat 
 warfare that destroyed American ships and lives 
 as nonchalantly as it destroyed the ships and 
 lives of the then belligerent powers. He had no 
 patience with President Wilson's slow-going, 
 tolerant attitude toward the war.
 
 192 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 There were times that he assailed the Presi- 
 dent and the Administration bitterly, when he 
 called for proper preparation against the looming 
 peril, when he called for universal military serv- 
 ice and a great navy, when he demanded that we 
 do something more than pretend a neutrality that 
 more than nine-tenths of the country abominated. 
 
 He was busy with the trial at Syracuse the 
 day the Lusitania was sunk on May 7, 1915, and 
 that night he dictated to the writer of The Sun 
 the statement that rang through America as to 
 what America's plain duty had become. He 
 would have sent Von BernstorfT out of the coun- 
 try, seized the German merchant marine and got 
 ready for the stern business of protecting Amer- 
 ican honor. 
 
 All of these things eventuated, but it can never 
 be forgotten that Roosevelt sensed thus early the 
 morality and the practicability of their immedi- 
 ate operation. 
 
 When war came he at once gave proof, says 
 the New York Tribune, that his eternal slogan 
 of patriotism was no mere catch phrase. All 
 four of his sons immediately began training to 
 go into action against the Germans. Their 
 father was also eager to fight. 
 
 He wanted to recruit a volunteer army for 
 service in France, to be sent over before the 
 draft army could be gotten into shape. The 
 idea struck a tremendously popular chord in this 
 country. It was estimated that 200,000 men vol- 
 unteered to go with the Colonel. 
 
 The more popular the Colonel's plan became 
 over the country the more unpopular it became
 
 ROUSING THE NATION'S SOUL 193 
 
 in some Washington circles, and particularly at 
 the White House. President Wilson was une- 
 quivocally opposed to the Colonel's plan from 
 the start. 
 
 Colonel Roosevelt and his friends fought to 
 the last ditch for this volunteer army for France. 
 They argued that France needed help immedi- 
 ately, and promised to start one division toward 
 France within four months. They agreed to ac- 
 cept no volunteers subject to the draft. They 
 even promised the army would be financed at the 
 start armed and equipped from private 
 funds. And the War Department was assured 
 that the Colonel did not want to lead the army ; 
 that he would be satisfied to be the junior briga- 
 dier-general in command of one of the brigades. 
 Congress, in passing the draft law, included in 
 the law a provision which left the way open 
 for the Colonel to raise his army, provided the 
 Administration would consent. 
 
 But President Wilson declined to avail him- 
 self of this provision, and the Colonel stayed at 
 home. Colonel Roosevelt thereupon urged those 
 who had volunteered to go with him to enlist in 
 the regular army. 
 
 As soon as this country entered the war Col- 
 onel Roosevelt began to lay stress on the impera- 
 tive necessity of rushing American troops to 
 France. He advocated immediate passage of a 
 conscription bill and denounced plans to hold the 
 entire American forces here until they had been 
 trained. Realizing the terrific gain in morale 
 which their presence would give to troops of the 
 Allies, he urged that at least one complete Ameri-
 
 194 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 can division be sent to the front at the earliest 
 moment, that its numbers be kept full and that 
 other divisions be placed side by side with it 
 when possible to send them over. 
 
 " As a matter of fact," he said, " half their 
 training should be given our troops on the other 
 side of the water." 
 
 At the same time he made a strong appeal to 
 all Republicans to support the Administration in 
 pushing the war to a successful conclusion. He 
 never ceased, both in his speeches and in his 
 magazine articles, to warn the country to mobi- 
 lize all its resources men, food and munitions 
 and never ceased to point out any action by 
 the Administration which he thought might im- 
 pair American effectiveness. 
 
 Up to the conclusion of the war he gave 
 strenuous opposition to any peace plan which 
 would allow German militarism again to en- 
 danger the world. 
 
 Of nothing was he prouder than of the spirit 
 shown by his four sons when they responded to 
 their country's call. On the very day he re- 
 ceived news of the death of his son, Quentin, 
 killed in an air battle with a German aviator in 
 France, Colonel Roosevelt sent a letter to the 
 soldiers in France saying he " would give any- 
 thing to be over with you." 
 
 " I send my heartiest greeting to you men at 
 the front," he wrote. " You have made all of 
 us who stay behind lift our heads high with pride 
 by what you are doing. It is you men, and only 
 you men, who are doing the one vital work for 
 the American people to-day. All good Ameri-
 
 ROUSING THE NATION'S SOUL 195 
 
 cans at this time owe homage to the fighting 
 men at the fighting front. What you are doing 
 is vital for the honor and interest, for the future 
 welfare and for the very existence of our repub- 
 lic, and you are also battling for the very ex- 
 istence of every well-behaved, civilized nation big 
 or little. I congratulate you on the great good 
 fortune that is yours in that you now have the 
 chance to endure the hardship and peril for that 
 great ideal and to render to our country the 
 greatest of all services. I would give anything 
 to be over with you." 
 
 In 1917, Colonel Roosevelt requested the 
 House of Representatives to return the $40,000 
 Nobel Peace prize voted him after the Ports- 
 mouth treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War. 
 He never had touched this money, but had given 
 it to the House of Representatives to found an 
 industrial fund. This, however, never had been 
 done. He asked the return of the money that it 
 might be devoted to war work. 
 
 In one of his last addresses he said " Pacifism 
 and unpreparedness never kept a nation out of 
 war. They invite war and insure that if war 
 comes it shall be costly, long drawn out and 
 bloody." 
 
 Though Colonel Roosevelt was not allowed to 
 go to war himself with a division of volunteers 
 which he had recruited among his admirers, his 
 four sons, one of whom gave his life, and a son- 
 in-law, Dr. Richard Derby, represented him. 
 Two of his sons were wounded ; all distinguished 
 themselves.
 
 ip6 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Quentin was killed in an air battle on the 
 western front. His machine was shot down by 
 a German aviator, experienced and skilled, with 
 a record of thirty-two planes downed to his 
 credit. Young Roosevelt, though skilled, was 
 inexperienced, his adversary said after he and 
 brother officers had buried and marked the grave 
 of Quentin. The victor paid tribute to him in 
 saying that he had fought courageously and gal- 
 lantly. Colonel Roosevelt wished that his son's 
 body remain in the soil that he had sought to 
 free. " Let the tree lie where it falls," he said 
 when asked if Quentin's body would be brought 
 home. 
 
 Archie and Theodore, Jr., were cited for 
 bravery in action and Kermit distinguished him- 
 self while righting with the British forces in 
 Mesopotamia. At his own request, when the 
 United States entered the war, Kermit was trans- 
 ferred to our army. 
 
 In the fighting before Toul, Archie was 
 wounded. He so distinguished himself that 
 General Pershing personally recommended him 
 for promotion to a captaincy, which he subse- 
 quently got, and he was cited for gallantry in 
 action, too. He was a second lieutenant when 
 he went into action. While leading his men he 
 was hit by shrapnel that injured both a leg and 
 an arm. He was taken to a Paris hospital, and 
 while there learned that he had been awarded the 
 French War Cross. 
 
 Theodore, Jr., was wounded while he and his 
 detachment were wiping out machine-gun nests 
 near Plerisy, in the Soissons sector, in July.
 
 ROUSING THE NATION'S SOUL 197 
 
 Shrapnel was imbedded in Major Roosevelt's 
 knee but he would not allow himself to be moved 
 until the nests were cleaned out. He was taken 
 to a hospital back of the lines and then trans- 
 ferred to a Paris hospital, where an operation 
 was performed. He afterward was promoted to 
 lieutenant-colonel and was cited for gallantry. 
 His wife, one of the few who managed to get to 
 their husbands fighting in France, reached him 
 there. She was engaged in war work. During 
 the same month, July, Quentin was killed. 
 
 When the Americans started preparing for the 
 war, Kermit and his wife had just returned 
 from Argentina, where he had gone to help estab- 
 lish a branch of the National City Bank. He 
 immediately enlisted in the officers' training 
 camp at Plattsburg. While there he was of- 
 fered a commission with the British forces. He 
 accepted and later was cited in British dispatches, 
 but when the American army crossed the ocean 
 he had himself transferred to fight under his 
 own flag.' 
 
 Archie abandoned his business in a carpet fac- 
 tory in Connecticut, where Theodore, Jr., had 
 started his career several years previously, and 
 also went to Plattsburg. Archie won a second 
 lieutenancy. Both Archie and Theodore, Jr., 
 were among the first to go to France. Theodore, 
 Jr., was prospering in the oil well business when 
 he abandoned it for his country. 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt, who was refused any 
 personal participation in the great war, was called 
 by former Justice of the Supreme Court, Charles 
 E. Hughes, "the greatest hero of the war."
 
 198 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 The following tributes to his noble share in 
 America's greatest task are just a few from the 
 thousands which were uttered after his death. 
 They are quoted here as a necessary part of the 
 record of Mr. Roosevelt's greatest service to his 
 country. 
 
 Ex-Justice Charles E. Hughes, speaking before 
 the Republican Club, New York : 
 
 " The greatest desire of his life was denied the 
 Colonel when he was prevented from going to 
 the front and actually taking part in the strug- 
 gle," said Mr. Hughes. He continued : 
 
 " We can but faintly imagine the measure of 
 his disappointment, but we may conjecture that 
 it had no small share in hastening the final break- 
 down. His country at war, and Roosevelt at 
 home ! That was the crudest blow that fate 
 could deal him. 
 
 " But if he could not fight for liberty and hu- 
 manity on the western front, he could fight with 
 pen and voice at home. There was not a mo- 
 ment lost. With increasing vigor he demanded 
 adequate forces, adequate equipment, speed and 
 efficiency. His lash knew no mercy, but it was 
 a necessary lash. As it was, we were just in 
 time. How late we should have been had it not 
 been for Roosevelt, God only knows ! 
 
 " But who can doubt the value of the service 
 of that insistent demand in making it possible 
 that we should arrive at the front in force in 
 time to make the last great German drive a 
 failure? He quickened the national conscious- 
 ness, he developed the sense of unity and when 
 the country awoke he was the natural leader of
 
 ROUSING THE NATION'S SOUL 199 
 
 an aroused America. His priceless service at 
 home made all the world his debtor. 
 
 " His soul revolted at the wrongs of Belgium 
 and he poured out his scorn upon the neutrality 
 which ignored the call of humanity and sacri- 
 ficed the self-respect of the American republic. 
 When the Lusitania was sunk in May, 1915, and 
 Colonel Roosevelt demanded action with imme- 
 diate decision and vigor, he was right, and had 
 his voice prevailed and had the country earlier 
 shaken off its lethargy, millions of lives and 
 countless treasure might have been spared. 
 
 " Of inestimable value to his country had been 
 his service in office, but now a private citizen 
 he was to perform an even greater service. 
 To a hesitant Administration and to a people 
 lulled into a false security and lending ear to 
 an unworthy pacifism, he preached the gospel of 
 preparedness. Throughout the country jour- 
 neyed this courageous apostle of right thinking, 
 having no credentials but those of his own con- 
 science and patriotism, and by his pitiless in- 
 vective he literally compelled action. Back of all 
 that was done was the pressure of the demand of 
 Roosevelt." 
 
 Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, in his eulogy, at 
 the National Memorial Service of the United 
 States Government in Washington, said: 
 
 ' He would have had us protest and take action 
 at the very beginning, in 1914, when Belgium 
 was invaded. He would have had us go to war 
 when the murders of the Lusitania were perpe- 
 trated. He tried to stir the soul and rouse the 
 spirit of the American people, and despite every
 
 200 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 obstacle he did awaken them, so that when the 
 hour came, in April, 1917, a large proportion of 
 the American people were even then ready in 
 spirit and in hope. 
 
 " How telling his work has been was proved 
 by the confession of his country's enemies, for 
 when he died the only discordant note, the only 
 harsh words, came from the German press. 
 Germany knew whose voice it was that had more 
 powerfully than any other called Americans to 
 the battle in behalf of freedom and civiliza- 
 tion." 
 
 Because he was not permitted to go to Eu- 
 rope at the head of a body of -soldiers, said Mr. 
 Lodge, Colonel Roosevelt was denied the reward 
 which he would have ranked above all others, 
 the great prize of death in battle. He con- 
 tinued : 
 
 " But he was a patriot in every fiber of his 
 being, and personal disappointment in no man- 
 ner slackened or cooled his zeal. Everything 
 that he could do to forward the war, to quicken 
 preparation, to stimulate patriotism, to urge on 
 efficient action, was done. Day and night, in 
 season and out of season, he never ceased his 
 labors. Although prevented from going to 
 France himself, he gave to the great conflict that 
 which was far dearer to him than his own 
 life. I cannot say that he sent his four sons, 
 because they all went at once, as every one knew 
 that their father's sons would go. Two have 
 been badly wounded; one was killed. He met 
 the blow with the most splendid and unflinching 
 courage."
 
 ROUSING THE NATION'S SOUL 201 
 
 Rev. William T. Manning, Rector of Trinity 
 Church, New York, speaking under the auspices 
 of the American Defense Society : 
 
 " The name of Theodore will stand forever as- 
 sociated with the entrance of America into the 
 world war. 
 
 " It was his voice far more than any other 
 which roused the soul of our country and 
 brought us to ourselves before it was too late. 
 It was his fearless witness which compelled our 
 people to see the truth and to meet their re- 
 sponsibility. 
 
 " In the day when America stood neutral be- 
 fore the greatest moral crisis in history, when the 
 pacifist spirit was dominant, when the soul of our 
 nation seemed to be dulled and deadened, when 
 men in highest place were saying that this was 
 Europe's war, that its issues did not concern us, 
 that the war spirit among us was being fomented 
 by the munition makers, Theodore Roosevelt's 
 voice sounded the call to honor and to duty. 
 His strong championship of right urged us to the 
 course which, after two and a half years of hesi- 
 tation, we took at last. 
 
 " It was he who led in the demand that there 
 should be no terms with Germany but uncondi- 
 tional surrender. 
 
 " And when the fighting was ended, it was his 
 voice which was again lifted up for a just and 
 righteous settlement and against a soft and im- 
 moral peace. 
 
 " No one of open mind will question the great 
 part played by Theodore Roosevelt in the world 
 battle for righteousness and freedom. His un-
 
 202 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 matched service during this period will stand 
 clear in the pages of history. 
 
 " It was his fervent desire to have part in the 
 struggle at the front. This opportunity was de- 
 nied him, but he gave that which was dearer to 
 him than his own life. He sent four sons into 
 the fighting line, all to prove themselves worthy 
 of him and of their country one of them never 
 to return. 
 
 " His unceasing labors during the war and the 
 shock of his son Quentin's death no doubt hast- 
 ened his end. His loss to the country is an 
 irreparable one." 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE LAST SCENES OF THE GREAT ADVENTURE 
 
 No man ever enjoyed life more keenly nor 
 gave more to it and got more from it than Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt. Many times he testified to his 
 relish of the strenuous efforts and battles in 
 which he engaged. He wanted to live because 
 he wanted to work, but he always faced the pos- 
 sibilities of death with a fearless heart and a 
 cheerful spirit. His narrow escape at the time 
 of a trolley crash with his automobile in 
 1902, when one of his companions was killed, so 
 unnerved a member of Congress who was in the 
 party, that when they had retired from the crowd 
 and were alone, he exclaimed, fervently, " Thank 
 God, you escaped ! " The President replied 
 simply, " I thank God that I escaped death. I
 
 LAST SCENES 203 
 
 want to live and go on with my work, but I do 
 not think I fear death. I know that I do not 
 fear death as much as I do that I may make some 
 mistake affecting the welfare of this country." 
 
 In comparison with the utmost service to his 
 country, dangers, buffetings, reproaches, fighting, 
 and death itself were as nothing, and he might 
 have said, with Paul, " None of these things 
 move me, neither count I my life dear unto my- 
 self, so that I might finish my course with joy." 
 He desired, with all his soul, to give his personal 
 service to his country on the fighting line in 
 France. If his request that he be permitted to 
 raise a volunteer division had been granted, he 
 would have loyally placed himself under the di- 
 rection of some West Point superior, and played 
 his subordinate part faithfully and well. In 
 private conversation in Brooklyn, soon after this 
 country entered the war, he expressed the belief 
 that one of the best things that could happen to 
 the United States, in stirring the war spirit, 
 would be to have " an ex-President shot at the 
 front, in France." 
 
 " This was not said merely to make an im- 
 pression on the listener," says the Brooklyn 
 Eagle whose editor tells the incident, " or to 
 convey the idea that if he got to the front he in- 
 tended to plunge headlong into danger to court a 
 hero's death. He was eager to fight for his 
 country, and he was ready to make any personal 
 sacrifice, no matter how great, if it should stimu- 
 late her in the venture upon which he had em- 
 barked. He would have given himself, as he 
 had given his sons, not merely yielding to the
 
 204 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 pressure of circumstances, but eagerly, joyfully, 
 because he believed that no man, physically able, 
 could serve his ideals so well behind the lines as 
 in the forefront of battle. His one great regret, 
 as he himself expressed it, was that he had 
 not been allowed to take his place beside his 
 boys." 
 
 His life was not laid on the altar of service in 
 France; but he spent himself, and was spent, in 
 unceasing service at home to rouse the Nation to 
 the fullest recognition of its high duty, and the 
 utmost exertion of its great power to win a com- 
 plete victory. 
 
 His last book, "The Great Adventure," was 
 published by Scribners in November, 1918, just 
 as the victory was won. His " Foreword " was 
 signed and dated November 6th, five days before 
 the Armistice, and exactly two months before 
 his own final promotion. This book is startlingly 
 appropriate as his last published volume. The 
 first chapter, " The Great Adventure " reads al- 
 most like a conscious farewell. A few of its 
 sentences are quoted as a fitting epitaph to the 
 noble-hearted author of them: 
 
 " Only those are fit to live who do not fear to 
 die ; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from 
 the joy of life and the duty of life. Both life 
 and death are parts of the same Great Adventure. 
 Never yet was worthy adventure worthily car- 
 ried through by the man who put his personal 
 safety first. Never yet was a country worth liv- 
 ing in unless its sons and daughters were of that 
 stern stuff which bade them die for it at need; 
 and never yet was a country worth dying for
 
 LAST SCENES 205 
 
 unless its sons and daughters thought of life not 
 as something concerned only with the selfish 
 evanescence of the individual, but as a link in the 
 great chain of creation and causation, so that 
 each person is seen in his true relations as an 
 essential part of the whole, whose life must be 
 made to serve the larger and continuing life of 
 the whole. 
 
 " With all my heart I believe in the joy of liv- 
 ing; but those who achieve it do not seek it as 
 an end in itself, but as a seized and prized inci- 
 dent of hard work well done and danger never 
 wantonly courted, but never shirked when duty 
 commands that they be faced. 
 
 " Woe to those who invite a sterile death ; a 
 death not for them only, but for the race; the 
 death which is insured by a life of sterile selfish- 
 ness. 
 
 " But honor, highest honor, to those who fear- 
 lessly face death for a good cause ; no life is so 
 honorable or so fruitful as such a death. Unless 
 men are willing to fight and die for great ideals, 
 including love of country, ideals will vanish, and 
 the world will become one huge sty of material- 
 ism. And unless the women of ideals bring 
 forth the men who are ready thus to live and die, 
 the world of the future will be filled by the spawn 
 of the unfit. 
 
 " In America to-day all our people are sum- 
 moned to service and sacrifice. Pride is the por- 
 tion only of those who know bitter sorrow or 
 the foreboding of bitter sorrow. But all of us 
 who give service, and stand ready for sacrifice, 
 are the torch bearers. We run with the torches
 
 206 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 until we fall, content if we can then pass them 
 to the hands of other runners." 
 
 For even so vigorous a constitution as the one 
 Theodore Roosevelt -had built up by persistent 
 training and care since boyhood, the terrible ex- 
 periences in the Brazilian jungles were too severe 
 a strain. At fifty-five he had not the same re- 
 serve vitality and power of resistance to fever 
 and blood poisoning as he had had in earlier 
 journeys into the wilderness. After his return 
 he never fully regained his health, although he 
 fought constantly against encroachments of the 
 old jungle disease, and persisted valiantly in his 
 public work and his writing. Much of his time 
 was interrupted by periods of illness and special 
 treatments at Roosevelt Hospital. The public 
 never knew until the struggle was over how seri- 
 ous some of these attacks of illness were. The 
 New York Tribune chronicler told the following 
 story of those eventful days, revealing many 
 startling details which had been carefully kept 
 from the newspapers until then : 
 
 Quentin's death was much more of a blow 
 to him than most of even his intimate friends 
 realized, though it could not be said that he 
 had ever thought all of his sons would return 
 to him. 
 
 " I pray God," he once said to the writer, 
 " that He will, in his mercy, send them back to me 
 safe and sound, but in my heart I know it is al- 
 most too much for me to hope for. I know what 
 modern war is, and I know my boys. I know 
 they will do their part. That means danger.
 
 LAST SCENES 207 
 
 " It is not a pleasant thought for a father who 
 knows what modern war is, and the fearful 
 things a high explosive shell will do, to think 
 of his boys being exposed to them, to think per- 
 haps that at the moment they may be lying muti- 
 lated in No Man's Land. 
 
 " No, it is not pleasant, and yet there are curs 
 [this was at the time a Southwestern editor had 
 asserted the Roosevelt boys, through influence, 
 had secured safe berths] who dare say that my 
 boys, every one of them in combat corps, had 
 shirked their duty with the aid of my supposed 
 influence ! " 
 
 Again, as he was recovering from the very 
 serious illness of early last winter in Roosevelt 
 Hospital, a caller, congratulating him on his re- 
 covery, said his friends had been worried. 
 
 " Well," said he, " I was not worried about my- 
 self. I was not thinking of myself. I was 
 thinking of my four boys. I tell you I am al- 
 mighty proud of my boys, and," after a momen- 
 tary pause, " just as proud of my two fine girls." 
 
 This illness, which developed in February, was, 
 in the opinion of medical friends, the beginning 
 of the end with Colonel Roosevelt. It began 
 with a rectal abscess, which was first operated 
 upon without an anesthetic at Sagamore Hill. 
 It left a painful wound, in spite of which the 
 Colonel insisted on motoring forty miles into 
 town to his office, then in the quarters of The 
 Metropolitan Magazine. There he met several 
 friends and later went to the Harvard Club, 
 where he had several engagements. He kept 
 these, though trouble with the wound caused him
 
 2o8 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 to leave for the Hotel Langdon, where he had 
 arranged to see his then attending physician, 
 Doctor Martin, before returning to the club for a 
 dinner of the Vigilantes. 
 
 This dinner was to be in the nature of a fare- 
 well to Major John Purroy Mitchel, who was to 
 leave in a few days for a California flying-field, 
 and to discuss ways and means of combating 
 German propaganda. After it, Colonel Roose- 
 velt was to spend the night at the Langdon and 
 leave early the next day for Boston to speak for 
 the Red Cross. He had been urged to cancel this 
 latter engagement, but refused on the ground 
 that he could fill it, that it was war-work, and 
 that it must be done. 
 
 While waiting at the Langdon for Doctor 
 Martin, the Colonel began dictating to his Secre- 
 tary, but suddenly started to collapse. He 
 pulled himself together and staggered to a bed- 
 room, where he lay down. - In a few minutes, 
 Doctor Martin arrived, found a high fever, and 
 after installing nurses, induced the Colonel to 
 cancel the engagements he had insisted on filling. 
 
 He had rather a restless night, and the next 
 day there was a consultation of physicians. At 
 this the Colonel was advised to go to Roosevelt 
 Hospital, where under complete anesthesia, it 
 would be possible to examine the deep-seated ab- 
 scess that had been lanced two days before. 
 This, they said, would enable them to find out 
 exactly what was wrong, and they could at the 
 same time clean up a large abscess which had de- 
 veloped in his left ear and a smaller or embryo 
 abscess in the right ear.
 
 LAST SCENES 209 
 
 "Is there anything that can be done?" the 
 Colonel is quoted as asking, " that will clear up 
 this entire matter of Brazilian fever? Since I 
 came back I have had it recur in one way or an- 
 other. If it is possible to clear it up for all time, 
 I wish it done." 
 
 The physicians assured him that this was what 
 they had in mind, and he agreed to their plan, 
 stipulating, however, that he should go to Roose- 
 velt Hospital in his own motor and not in any 
 ambulance. This was agreed to, and that after- 
 noon at four o'clock he went on the operating- 
 table. 
 
 He was there two hours, the doctors' bulletin 
 announcing that they had found the large ab- 
 scess was draining into a large fistula. Unat- 
 tended to, they said, this might have had the re- 
 sult of poisoning the entire system. The opera- 
 tion, they declared, had been a success. The 
 work on the ears was thought so unimportant it 
 was not mentioned. 
 
 Next day, however, mastoiditis had developed 
 in the left ear, and experts were hurriedly called 
 into consultation. A condition that made them 
 fear to operate or not to operate was found, 
 but it was finally decided to stake all on wait- 
 ing a while before operating. The account pro- 
 ceeds : 
 
 That night the bulletin frankly said the Col- 
 onel's condition was critical. Only the family 
 and a very few intimates knew that it was dan- 
 gerous. 
 
 All that night a specialist on the ear slept in 
 the hospital and others were awaiting call, while
 
 210 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 the operating-room and a staff of nurses were 
 ready for any emergency. 
 
 By noon the next day, however, the danger had 
 passed. As one of the physicians expressed it : 
 " This is one of those cases where nature, left 
 to herself, makes a successful stand at the very 
 last ditch. An almost infinitesimal amount of 
 progress and the inflammation would have com- 
 pelled us to operate whether we wanted to or 
 not." 
 
 From this sickness Colonel Roosevelt made a 
 good recovery, though he was in the hospital a 
 little more than a month. When he left the 
 only noticeable effect was that the destruction of 
 a canal in the left ear, which serves as a physical 
 balance, had made his gait unsteady and, as he 
 put it, compelled him to learn to walk again. 
 
 At this time the doctors advised that he take a 
 long rest at his Oyster Bay home and refrain 
 from any traveling or other hard work. The 
 Colonel tried to follow this, but he felt that he 
 should go to Maine to deliver the chief address at 
 the Republican State Convention. To this the 
 doctors agreed, with the proviso that he be very 
 careful until then, and then not overdo. So, in 
 the closing week of March he went to Portland 
 and there delivered what he held was one of the 
 most important speeches of his career. 
 
 It was what politicians call a " keynote " 
 speech, and in it he offered a program on which 
 all factions of the party might get together. 
 The response of the country to it was good, and, 
 in the Colonel's opinion, amply repaid the effort. 
 To his way of thinking, it was of paramount na-
 
 LAST SCENES 211 
 
 tional importance that the party heal its schisms 
 and get together for the common good. 
 
 The Colonel did very little after that in the 
 way of public speaking until late in May, when, 
 at the request of the National Security League, 
 he made a tour through the Middle West. 
 Those sections were selected where pro-Ger- 
 manism and pacifism had been strong. It was, 
 in a word, an invasion of what was considered 
 the enemy's country, though the Colonel had 
 maintained that the trouble was bad leadership 
 and that the issues had not been presented 
 squarely to the people, who, he was positive, at 
 heart were all right. 
 
 The first of these trips, made in May, which 
 included such places as Milwaukee, where there 
 is a large German population, was without espe- 
 cial incident. In each, especially Milwaukee, the 
 Colonel gave the crowds " the best that is in me," 
 and in each the response seemed to justify his 
 faith. 
 
 The second of these trips, in June, was marred 
 by an attack of erysipelas, which developed in 
 Chicago twenty-four hours after he left New 
 York. Against the advice of eminent Chicago 
 physicians, he insisted on keeping his appoint- 
 ments; and, traveling with Dr. George H. Cole- 
 man, of Chicago, in attendance, he spoke in 
 Omaha, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Blooming- 
 ton, Indiana, returning to New York apparently 
 little the worse for the attack. Within a week 
 he was reported free of the disease. 
 
 The Colonel then agreed to take things easier 
 during the height of summer, but he made an
 
 212 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 exception to his rule of no speeches for a while 
 in order to speak to Passaic's large foreign-born 
 population on July 4. Again on Labor Day he 
 spoke at Newburg, N. Y., at the launching of a 
 vessel in the shipyard of which his young friend 
 Thomas C. Desmond was the directing genius. 
 By this time he was apparently fully recovered. 
 
 Within the month the Colonel received the 
 bitterest blow of his life the death of his son, 
 Quentin. The first hint of this affliction came in 
 a censored dispatch telling a New York news- 
 paper to watch Oyster Bay " for news of ." 
 
 This was submitted to Colonel Roosevelt, who 
 decided by the following process of elimination 
 that Quentin had at least been injured. 
 
 " It can not be Ted and it can not be Archie," 
 said he, " for both are recovering from wounds. 
 It is not Kermit, for he is not in the danger zone 
 at just this moment. So it must be Quentin. 
 However, we must say nothing of this to his 
 mother to-night." 
 
 The next day the censor released the news that 
 Quentin was dead. The Colonel, hard hit, in a 
 public statement expressed the pleasure of Mrs. 
 Roosevelt and himself that the boy had had his 
 chance to do his bit. On the following day, 
 with the characteristic Roosevelt explanation 
 that it was a matter of duty, he went to the Re- 
 publican State Convention in Saratoga to try 
 and heal party differences. 
 
 If, however, the Colonel did not show his grief, 
 it was not because he did not feel grief. 
 His closest intimates said he grieved in solitude 
 while maintaining a smiling face in public.
 
 LAST SCENES 213 
 
 When he spoke of the boys, more especially to 
 the soldiers who visited him from a nearby camp 
 on Saturday, it never was with regret for Quen- 
 tin, only pleasure that his boys had done well. 
 His grief was sacred to himself. 
 
 The Colonel's last public appearance of impor- 
 tance was in the closing days of the State cam- 
 paign, when, at a meeting in Carnegie Hall, in 
 the interest of Governor Whitman, he made an- 
 swer to President Wilson's appeal for a Demo- 
 cratic Congress. He seldom was in better voice, 
 and those who heard him that night said it was 
 " the same old Roosevelt." 
 
 A few days later he made his last public ap- 
 pearance at a meeting in honor of a negro hospi- 
 tal unit. After this he developed symptoms of 
 rheumatism, and on November n, the day the 
 armistice was signed, sciatica having developed, 
 he went to Roosevelt Hospital, in New York City, 
 partly for treatment, but most of all to be near 
 his physician, Doctor Richard. 
 
 There the diagnosis that a defective tooth was 
 responsible for the trouble was substantiated, 
 and, after it had been extracted, the sciatica 
 cleared up. Then came inflammatory rheuma- 
 tism, which, however, so yielded to treatment 
 that he was fit to return home on Christmas day 
 to play Santa Claus for little Richard Derby and 
 the children of Theodore, Jr. 
 
 All of the Roosevelt children in this country 
 were at home that day. For the event Mrs. 
 Longworth came from Washington, Mrs. Derby 
 was on hand with her babies, and Captain Archie, 
 home disabled, with the Colonel and Mrs. Roose-
 
 214 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 velt and Mrs. Archie, made up the family party. 
 
 It was the first Christmas in years when a 
 young roast pig raised on the place had not been 
 the piece de resistance. 
 
 Because of doubt as to when the Colonel 
 would come home the slaying of the porker had 
 been delayed too late, and a turkey was roasted 
 instead. It also was the first Christmas in many 
 years that the Colonel had not played Santa to 
 the children of the Cove school, where his own 
 children received their primary education. 
 
 After the holiday the children scattered, Mrs. 
 Derby, who left home for the South on January 
 3, being the first to go away. This left Mrs. 
 Roosevelt and the Colonel alone in the big house, 
 there being no apparent reason why the children 
 should longer remain. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt was active to his last waking 
 moment, with work for his beloved country. 
 On Saturday he dictated the message which was 
 read at a meeting of the American Defense So- 
 ciety at the Hippodrome on Sunday night. In' 
 this message he phrased afresh the thoughts that 
 had been burning in his mind of late. 
 
 " There can be no divided allegiance here. 
 Any man who says he is an American, but some- 
 thing else also, isn't an American at all. We 
 have room but for one flag, the American flag, 
 and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes 
 all wars against liberty and civilization, just as 
 much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation 
 to which we are hostile. 
 
 " We have room for but one language here, 
 and that is the American language, for we in-
 
 HIS LAST MESSAGE 
 
 " IV e hare toom for but one flag, the American flag av hare root 
 for but one loyally, and that is lovaltv to the American people." Fron 
 a statement by" Theodore Roosevelt read the night before his death at i 
 meeting of the American Defense Society. 
 
 Pancoast in Philadelphia Nortli '
 
 LOVER OF HOME AND CHILDREN 215 
 
 tend to see that the crucible turns our people 
 out as Americans, of American nationality, and 
 not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house, and 
 we have room but for one soul loyalty, and that 
 is loyalty to the American people." 
 
 Sunday night he had been reading and writ- 
 ing until about twelve o'clock when he retired 
 and fell asleep. He did not wake again, but at 
 about 4:15 o'clock he ceased breathing and 
 passed into the larger life which he had so richly 
 earned. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A LOVER OF HOME AND CHILDREN 
 
 BETWEEN the real Roosevelt and the one 
 whom the man in the street thought he knew 
 so well, there was, in many respects, a wide dif- 
 ference. 
 
 The popular idea of him, writes John J. 
 Leary, Jr., in the New York Tribune, was largely 
 that of the reckless Rough Rider, hot-headed 
 and impetuous and quick on the trigger. But 
 " the real Roosevelt, the Roosevelt, his intimates 
 and those not quite in the inner circles of his 
 friendship knew, was a cautious, clear-headed, 
 far-sighted thinker, slow on the trigger, consid- 
 erate of the rights and feelings of others, 
 intensely loyal to his ideals and hrs friends, and 
 the ideal family man who, in later years, at 
 least, would have preferred the quiet of his 
 Oyster Bay home and the comfortable ways of
 
 216 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 ' a grandfather with literary tastes ' to the tur- 
 moil of public life and all that public life in- 
 volved." He made this very plain one day in 
 conversation with Henry L. Stodclard, editor of 
 the Evening Mail, who thus tells of the incident : 
 
 " Once we talked about the White House. It 
 was during the 1912 campaign. We were sit- 
 ting on the porch at Sagamore Hill. ' This is 
 the only spot on earth for me,' he said. ' I am 
 never satisfied away from here.' I spoke about 
 the W T hite House. 
 
 " ' Oh,' he said, * you don't live there. You 
 are merely Exhibit A to the country. I've had 
 seven years of it and I know. I admit that once 
 I felt differently. When I was Civil Service 
 Commissioner down in Washington, I used to 
 walk by the White House, and my heart would 
 beat a little faster as the thought came to me 
 that possibly (he emphasized 'possibly' with 
 the strident note so familiar to those who ever 
 heard him speak) ' possibly,' he repeated, ' I 
 would some day occupy it as President. 
 
 " ' Well, I did occupy it as President, and 
 now I can pass by without a thrill. It has no 
 lure for me. I am in this fight not because I 
 want to be in the White House, but, as you well 
 know, because no one else would undertake it. 
 Going back to the White House has nothing but 
 peril to my place in history. I made that place 
 during the seven years I was there, and I may 
 unmake it by going back. I certainly do not 
 expect to be able to improve it. No, I do not 
 want the title of President again. In fact, I 
 have never had much respect for titles. I don't
 
 LOVER OF HOME AND CHILDREN 217 
 
 believe in them. I want to know a man's deeds, 
 not his title.' " 
 
 Writing of Mr. Roosevelt's life on Sagamore 
 Hill, Dr. Leary continues in the Tribune: 
 
 The absence of style " dog," the Colonel's 
 western friends call it was the key-note of 
 life on Sagamore Hill. Everything there was 
 plain, but substantial, and fare ample and tasty, 
 but plainly and severely American. No French 
 chef ever spoiled the corn bread or the country 
 sausage that might be served at breakfast or 
 the roast that graced the heavier meal of the 
 day. 
 
 This meal, dinner, was always an event in 
 the Roosevelt home. Whether there was one 
 guest or a dozen, and all the children and their 
 playmates, or whether, as was very often the 
 case in late years, there were only the Colonel 
 and Mrs. Roosevelt, a ringing of the gong at 
 six o'clock or thereabouts was the signal for 
 the Colonel to retire to bathe and shave and 
 don his evening clothes. This habit of always 
 dressing for dinner when at home (and abroad 
 when that was possible) and of appearing on 
 Sundays in immaculate morning clothes was 
 his only concession to dress. On other days 
 and at other hours, a rough tweed suit, knicker- 
 bockers, heavy woolen stockings, and hobnailed 
 boots or riding clothes of khaki and an old Stet- 
 son hat, at Sagamore Hill, made up his costume. 
 
 At Sagamore Hill it was the Colonel's habit 
 to arise early and, after a light breakfast and 
 a glance at the morning paper and at the mail 
 Charley Lee might have brought from the vil-
 
 2i8 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 lage post-office, he would go for a walk about 
 the estate, a hard canter over the splendid roads 
 of the vicinity, or spend perhaps an hour in a 
 rowboat or at chopping wood. Then he would 
 settle down to a session devoted to the affairs 
 of the estate the Colonel had a considerable 
 farm at Sagamore Hill or to his literary work. 
 This would keep him busy until lunch, a simple 
 affair, and then, like as not, the reception of visi- 
 tors from here, there, everywhere. 
 
 The visitor might be a prelate of the Roman 
 Church the late Archbishop John Ireland, of 
 St. Paul, was always welcome at Oyster Bay 
 a diplomat, or a noble of high rank from abroad, 
 a prize-fighter John L. Sullivan was proud of 
 the Roosevelt friendship, and the Colonel was 
 fond of the big gladiator " Big Tim " Sulli- 
 van from the Bowery, or some scion of an old 
 Knickerbocker family in for a purely social 
 chat. 
 
 These, as a rule, the Colonel received in what 
 he called the North Room, a big wing he had 
 added to the rambling structure which crowns 
 Sagamore Hill, but which the newspaper men 
 who knew it called the trophy room from the 
 fact that it was stored with trophies of the chase 
 and the Colonel's travels about the world. 
 Sometimes the Colonel would tell the history of 
 this bronze or that picture, or explain to the 
 small boy of the party where the animal whose 
 skin he might be standing upon was killed. In 
 his room there were many objects of priceless 
 value, but the one thing dearest to the Roose- 
 velt heart was a massive piece of silver, the gift
 
 LOVER OF HOME AND CHILDREN 219 
 
 to Mrs. Roosevelt by the men of the battleship 
 Louisiana. Next to the Remington bronze of 
 the Bronco Buster, the present to the Colonel 
 from his regiment, which sat in the library, he 
 valued this piece of silver bronze above all his 
 other possessions. 
 
 It was in this North Room that Colonel Roose- 
 velt held most of the conferences with visitors 
 who came to discuss politics, or other matters of 
 public importance, and where, after dinner, visi- 
 tors from this or other lands would most often 
 be entertained, for it was a comfortable room 
 and it was not the Colonel's habit to " make 
 company" of anybody. 
 
 In these conferences or after-dinner discus- 
 sions Colonel Roosevelt was ever the very frank, 
 outspoken citizen, or, if the other man or men 
 in the conference had anything to tell, a very 
 good listener. Listening well was not the least 
 of his accomplishments, and, contrary to the 
 belief of many, he welcomed difference of 
 opinion. The man who could and would point 
 out weaknesses or supposed weaknesses in any 
 position the Colonel had or was about to take 
 was the most valued, and if the spacious old 
 fireplace could talk it would tell of many a 
 Roosevelt speech or letter modified or torn up, 
 because one of these candid friends had shown 
 a better way or a clearer term of expression. 
 
 Many of the documents here discussed never 
 saw the light of day. Others did not become 
 public until weeks or months afterward, and 
 when the time seemed opportune or demanded 
 some statement.
 
 220 ROOSEVELT'S LITE AND MEANING 
 
 This habit of preparation of things long in 
 advance, plus the almost uncanny ability before 
 mentioned to see ahead, was largely responsi- 
 ble for much of the Colonel's reputation for 
 being " quick on the trigger." 
 
 Always a man of contrasts, a dashing fighter, 
 a lover of the strenuous life, Mr. Roosevelt 
 had withal the gift of gentleness which goes 
 with a sympathetic understanding of the heart 
 of a little child. He was a companion and an 
 intimate in all the experiences of his own chil- 
 dren. As soon as his children became old 
 enough to read and understand writing the 
 Colonel formed the plan of writing them letters 
 on all manner of subjects such as might appeal 
 to them and instruct them. The letters are full 
 of good advice and rugged Americanism, and a 
 volume of them is about to be published. They 
 are such as will unquestionably prove to the lik- 
 ing of American children everywhere. They 
 are filled with expressions of affection, of in- 
 structive expositions of many subjects, includ- 
 ing many things about birds and animals and 
 even of drawings which Colonel Roosevelt him- 
 self made. He accompanied his letters often 
 with quaint drawings and sketches made by him- 
 self in order to illustrate that which he was try- 
 ing to teach the children. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt's glorification of fatherhood 
 and motherhood was one of many instances of 
 his grasp of the elemental virtues and of his 
 courage in urging the importance of what men 
 sometimes overlook because it is so common. 
 He was never ashamed to show his fondness
 
 LOVER OF HOME AND CHILDREN 221 
 
 for children, and was always touched when they 
 responded. Mr. Eggleston, whose description 
 of the President's meeting with visitors at the 
 White House has already been quoted, tells also 
 of his treatment of children: 
 
 " There was a glisten as of tears in his eyes 
 when I told him the other evening that a stal- 
 wart boy had recently said to me: 
 
 " ' Anyhow, Mr. Roosevelt always stands for 
 us boys when we want to do things.' 
 
 " I had seen him receive a boy a few days be- 
 fore," Mr. Eggleston continues. "The boy, a 
 fine lad with a head that meant something, had 
 come with his father to be ' presented.' The 
 father was received cordially. The boy was al- 
 most embraced. The President took him by the 
 shoulders in caressing fashion and talked with 
 him as any good-natured senior in a school 
 might do with a new scholar who pleased his 
 fancy. The boy had looked abashed and terri- 
 fied before his presentation. When it was over 
 he seemed to me to be the happiest boy in the 
 world with the exception, perhaps, of Mr. 
 Roosevelt." 
 
 Two little girls were going to Oyster Bay to 
 visit their grandmother for a second time while 
 Mr. Roosevelt was at his home there in the sum- 
 mer of 1903. When asked if they had seen the 
 President, one of them responded: 
 
 " Of course I have. He goes by our house 
 almost every day. He always waves his hand 
 and takes off his hat to me." 
 
 " To you ! " exclaimed the other child. " He 
 takes off his hat to all of us."
 
 222 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " Well, he may do that, but he smiles at me. 
 I know he does, because we are acquainted. I 
 was on the fence one day, alone, and he went 
 by on horseback. He leaned over and said, 
 ' How do you do, little girl ? What is your 
 name ? ' ' Ethel, sir,' I said. And after that he 
 always smiles at me, because he knows me." 
 
 One day he was sitting in his library at home, 
 talking over public affairs with a friend, when 
 a lot of boys entered the room. 
 
 " Uncle Teddy," said one, respectfully, " it's 
 after four." 
 
 " So it is," responded Mr. Roosevelt, looking 
 at the clock. " Why didn't you call me sooner ? 
 One of you boys get my rifle." 
 
 Then he turned to his guest and added, " I 
 must ask you to excuse me. We'll talk this out 
 some other time. I promised the boys I'd go 
 shooting with them after four o'clock, and I 
 never keep boys waiting. It's a hard trial for a 
 boy to wait." 
 
 Then he walked off down the lawn with a 
 crowd of boys surrounding him, all talking at 
 the same time and appealing constantly to 
 " Uncle Teddy." 
 
 A wholesome woman who had called to see 
 him in Washington in connection with public 
 business, said, as she was leaving, that his con- 
 ception of family life was beautiful, and added 
 that she thought his children must be a great 
 pleasure to him. 
 
 " Pleasure ! " he said with a smile ; " you 
 would be surprised and perhaps shocked if you 
 could see the President of the United States
 
 LOVER OF HOME AND CHILDREN 223 
 
 engaged in a pillow fight with his children. But 
 those fights are the joy of my life." 
 
 During the special session of Congress in No- 
 vember, 1903, it became necessary to appoint a 
 Federal Judge in one of the Western States. 
 The President believes that it is right to con- 
 sult the Congressmen from the State in which 
 an appointment is to be made. The Congress- 
 men from this State had not been able to agree 
 on a man for the vacancy. The supporters of 
 one candidate had charged thzit the candidate of 
 another group was guilty, among other things, of 
 playing poker with many lawyers and winning 
 their money. It was said that such a man could 
 not be trusted to make an impartial judge when 
 these lawyers were practicing before him. The 
 President, however, would not rule this man 
 from consideration just then, and insisted that 
 the Congressmen should agree among them- 
 selves. 
 
 One afternoon, while they were in caucus to- 
 gether, one of the Republican leaders of the 
 State went to the White House and talked to 
 the President about the case. In the course of 
 the interview he told Mr. Roosevelt how dis- 
 tressed the candidate's family was over the 
 charges against him, and exhibited a letter which 
 the man, who was in Washington looking after 
 his own interests, had received from his young 
 daughter at home. The letter read: 
 
 DEAR PAPA: Why don't you go to the Presi- 
 dent and tell him about it? If he sees your face 
 he will never believe those nasty charges.
 
 224 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt took a rose from among 
 the flowers on his table and handed it to his 
 caller. 
 
 " I wish," said he, " that you would send that 
 flower to that daughter and tell her I like a 
 young girl who has that kind of faith in her 
 father." 
 
 At this moment a messenger from the Depart- 
 ment of Justice came in and presented a paper 
 to the President. It was a note from Attorney- 
 General Knox, stating that at the President's 
 command he had investigated the charges against 
 the man and found them untrue. The Presi- 
 dent showed the note to the State leader and 
 then, sitting down, wrote out the candidate's 
 nomination and sent it at once to the Senate. 
 
 The combination of a loyal daughter defend- 
 ing her father against unjust charges made an 
 appeal not to be resisted. On another occasion 
 executive action was prompted by an appeal to 
 prevent the separation of the members of an 
 immigrant family. This was in the case of two 
 Syrian children whose father came to this coun- 
 try in 1902. He left his wife and family be- 
 hind, planning to send for them later. He set- 
 tled in Worcester, Massachusetts, and declared 
 his intension of becoming a citizen. Within a 
 year he had saved enough money to bring his 
 family to the United States. They sold their 
 small belongings in Turkey and started for 
 America. When they arrived in New York they 
 were met by the husband and father, and the 
 family reunion was joyous. They were all to 
 live together in the land of freedom and could
 
 LOVER OF HOME AND CHILDREN 225 
 
 hardly wait till the inspection officers had ad- 
 mitted them. 
 
 Then came the tragedy. The children could 
 not pass the medical examination. While on 
 board they had contracted some disease of the 
 eyelids, said to be contagious, and they must go 
 back on the steamer which brought them. The 
 mother might remain here. Indeed, she would 
 have to, as there was not money enough left to 
 pay her way back to her own country. And if 
 she went back she would have no place to go to. 
 There are many such tragedies at the immigra- 
 tion office. The inspectors are used to them and 
 their indifference made the thing seem harder to 
 bear. 
 
 " Is it nothing to you that I have spent my all 
 to bring my family here, where there is oppor- 
 tunity for every man, and now find that for rea- 
 sons beyond our control my innocent young chil- 
 dren must be torn from their mother ? " is what 
 the man said, in effect, wondering at the heart- 
 lessness of the letter of the regulations. 
 
 But he hastened to get assistance. Through a 
 friend he interested Mr. Rockwood Hoar, of 
 Worcester, son of Senator Hoar. Mr. Hoar as- 
 sured the immigration authorities that a bond 
 would be given to guarantee that the children 
 would not become public charges. When the au- 
 thorities refused to accept any bond, he per- 
 suaded his father to use his influence. The Sen- 
 ator, in his turn, urged that the children be ad- 
 mitted, telling the officers that their father was 
 an industrious man, fully capable of taking care 
 of his family. He received word, in reply, that
 
 226 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 the terms of the law were explicit and that the 
 children with the diseased eyes would be sent 
 back on the following Thursday, when the 
 steamer that brought them sailed. Exceptions 
 had been made in the past in favor of special 
 cases and trouble had always followed. The 
 Senator then telegraphed a statement of the case 
 to the officers in Washington, but they replied 
 that nothing could be done; it was contrary to 
 public policy to make an exception in favor of 
 any one. He then telegraphed to Senator Lodge, 
 who was in Washington, and Mr. Lodge made an 
 unsuccessful appeal at the Treasury Department. 
 This was on Tuesday. Mr. Hoar telegraphed to 
 the President on Wednesday morning, explaining 
 the situation and saying that if an exception were 
 ever allowable, it ought to be made in this case ; 
 and that the naturalization laws, which gave to 
 the minor children of naturalized citizens the 
 same rights as their parents, ought not to be nulli- 
 fied by the immigration laws, or the execution of 
 those laws. In less than half an hour after the 
 receipt of the dispatch, a message left the White 
 House ordering the New York immigration offi- 
 cers to admit the children at once. 
 
 The President believed that whatever might be 
 the terms of the law, its provisions did not ex- 
 tend to such cases, and acted accordingly. There 
 has seldom been a finer example of the genu- 
 ineness of American democracy. The highest 
 executive power in the land reached down to 
 put into the mother's arms the suffering child, 
 barred out by the officers who had decided to en- 
 force the letter rather than the spirit of the law.
 
 LOVER OF HOME AND CHILDREN 227 
 
 It was the appeal of the child to the elemental 
 man. 
 
 When the President was in Worcester a few 
 months later, he asked about the children, and 
 they were taken to him at Senator Hoar's house, 
 where, the ailment of their eyes entirely cured, 
 they looked the gratitude which their tongues, un- 
 trained in English, could not speak. 
 
 The President frequently showed an interest 
 in the families of the men he met. When the 
 train reached Nebraska on one of his tours of the 
 country, Governor John H. Mickey joined the 
 party to escort it across the commonwealth. The 
 President was delighted to meet him and asked 
 many questions, ending with : 
 
 " How many children have you, Governor ? " 
 
 " Nine," the Governor replied. 
 
 " You are a mighty good man," said the Presi- 
 dent with evident delight. " You are a better 
 man than I am. I have had only six." 
 
 His love of children was all-inclusive, and chil- 
 dren everywhere loved him in return. All those 
 who were too little to know how to admire him 
 just loved him on sight. The older ones did 
 both. There was the little invalid in Portland, 
 Oregon, carried to the curb on a stretcher to see 
 him go by, when he was passing through in 1902. 
 He noticed her, stopped the carriage, jumped out 
 and kissed her. 
 
 There was the day in February, 1911, when, 
 walking back to the office of The Outlook after 
 luncheon, he found a lost nine-year-old, newly 
 arrived with his parents via Ellis Island, crying in 
 the streets, and dried the child's eyes and took him
 
 228 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 to the East Twenty-third Street police station, 
 where he turned him over to the matron, and 
 then swapped old memories with the bluecoats 
 behind the desk, one or two of whom had been 
 on the force when he was Commissioner. 
 
 And then there are the countless stories of his 
 own, the Roosevelt children, in and out of the 
 White House and at Sagamore Hill, and latterly 
 there are the photographs of him holding the 
 grandbabies. Of these stories, a favorite in its 
 day was about his little boating and sleeping out 
 in blankets expedition to a remote sand beach on 
 the Sound, his companions being Kermit, Archie 
 and their cousin Philip. The date was August 9, 
 1902. The President and the three kiddies 
 quietly stole off to the bay, eluding all eyes but 
 Secretary Loeb's, and that was the evening when 
 the Pacific cables rumpus broke like a bombshell, 
 and telegrams and emissaries and magnates and 
 reporters poured in in vain upon the Roosevelt 
 home. Mr. Loeb could not say where the Presi- 
 dent was. He seemed embarrassed by it. The 
 four simple livers returned in the morning after a 
 bully time, and the business of a President on 
 vacation was resumed. Subsequently such sleep- 
 ing-out excursions were a feature of every sum- 
 mer. 
 
 And there was the autumn day in 1917 when 
 he sat for two hours at the elbow of Justice 
 Hoyt in Children's Court, and heard the cases, 
 and acted as unofficial consulting Justice, and 
 once, leaning over, whispered to a youngster, 
 " It's all right this time, sonny. You're all right. 
 But remember, don't do it again, or he'll send you
 
 Copyright by Underwood and Underwood 
 
 COluNF.L AND MRS. ROOSEVELT WITH THEIR DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW 
 AND GRANDCHILDREN
 
 LOVER OF HOME AND CHILDREN 229 
 
 away ! He'll send you away ! " And again, 
 after hearing how some other juvenile malefactor 
 of little wealth had made full restitution to the 
 pushcart man or somebody, the Roosevelt fist 
 thumped the arm of the chair, with " That's a 
 fine boy ! That kind make first rate citizens ! " 
 
 One day, on the occasion of a reception in the 
 White House to a party of distinguished visitors 
 from the west, a gentleman and his wife entered, 
 and with them their little golden-haired daugh- 
 ter, four years old. Mr. Roosevelt was con- 
 versing with some official in his office to the right 
 of the reception room, with the door as he 
 ever kept it wide open. 
 
 " There's our President," whispered the man, 
 pointing through the door. 
 
 " Is he my President too ? " lisped the baby 
 girl. 
 
 " He is," said the man. 
 
 " Oo-o ! " said the little one. 
 
 And out marched Mr. Roosevelt. 
 
 He walked straight to where the party of 
 three were standing and shook hands with the 
 father and mother. 
 
 " Are you really my President, too ? " re- 
 peated the little girl. 
 
 " Why, of course I am, dear ! " said Mr. 
 Roosevelt. " Just wait till I show you." 
 
 The President bolted back into his office. A 
 moment later he emerged again. In one hand 
 he held a beautiful long-stemmed American 
 beauty rose, in the other was a pen-knife with 
 which he was whittling off the thorns from the 
 stalk.
 
 230 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " We mustn't let it hurt the patty-paws," he 
 smiled beamingly as he handed the flower to the 
 little one. 
 
 " I congratulate you, Mr. W , and you, 
 
 madame, on having such a charming little 
 daughter, and I thank you for bringing her to 
 see me." 
 
 Then he shook hands again heartily and 
 passed on to his other waiting guests. That 
 rose now rests in a picture frame of a young 
 woman. 
 
 At the time of the Barnes libel suit, Mr. 
 Roosevelt was visiting the home of Chancellor 
 Day of Syracuse University. During his visit 
 he kept up his horseback exercise, riding about 
 the residence streets on a mount which a local 
 admirer had loaned. One afternoon a promi- 
 nent Syracusan looked up from his newspaper 
 on the front porch and called to his wife up- 
 stairs : " There goes Theodore Roosevelt on 
 horseback." 
 
 At the moment the six-year-old son of the 
 house was in the bathtub and in nothing else. 
 He heard his father, rushed scampering and 
 spattering downstairs, out the front door and 
 right down the walk to the middle of the street, 
 hoping for a glimpse of his great idol. That 
 night at a reception the father told the Colonel 
 of it. 
 
 " By George ! By George ! " and he 
 chuckled. " You bring that boy to me I 
 want to see him ! " He was brought, duly clad, 
 and was mounted for half an hour on the Roose- 
 velt knee, and told stories about Injuns and
 
 BIRD LOVER AND NATURALIST 231 
 
 lions and giraffes and grizzlies and My Grand- 
 children and when taken home, in a trance state, 
 and measured, was found to have grown an 
 inch! 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 A BIRD LOVER AND NATURALIST 
 
 THE versatility of Mr. Roosevelt was a con- 
 stant surprise to his fellow countrymen. 
 
 Into whatever path of thought or activity he 
 turned he was soon recognized as a master. 
 His aptitude for science, fluency in languages, 
 love of sport, fondness for exercise were as 
 strongly marked as his quickness at repartee 
 and power for delivering a thundering rebuke. 
 Recalling his skill as a naturalist, the New 
 York Sun says : 
 
 " John Burroughs, the naturalist, in 1907 de- 
 clared that he did not know a man with a 
 keener and more comprehensive interest in wild 
 life, an interest both scientific and human. 
 Speaking of the President's trip to the Yellow- 
 stone Park in April, 1903, Burroughs said he 
 was struck with the extent of his natural his- 
 tory knowledge and his trained powers of ob- 
 servation. On that occasion the naturalist was 
 able to help the President identify only one bird. 
 All the others the President recognized as 
 quickly as Burroughs himself." 
 
 It was while the President's party was bear- 
 hunting in the Yellowstone that he remarked: 
 " I heard a Bullock's oriole a little while ago."
 
 232 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " You may have heard one," was the polite 
 objection of a man familiar with the country, 
 "but I doubt it. Those birds won't come for 
 two weeks yet." 
 
 " I caught two bird notes which could not be 
 those of any bird except an oriole," the Presi- 
 dent insisted. 
 
 " You may have the song twisted," observed 
 a friend. 
 
 As the members of the party were seated at 
 supper in the cabin that evening Roosevelt sud- 
 denly laid down his knife and fork exclaiming, 
 " Look ! Look ! " 
 
 On a shrub before the window was a Bul- 
 lock's oriole. Nothing that ' happened on the 
 whole trip seemed to please the President so 
 much as that verification of his bird knowledge. 
 
 Burroughs, following a visit to the President 
 at Sagamore Hill, in 1907, wrote that the one 
 passion of Roosevelt's life seemed to be natural 
 history, for a new warbler that had appeared 
 in the woods " seemed an event that threw the 
 affairs of state and the Presidential succession 
 into the background. He told a political visitor 
 at that time that it would be impossible for him 
 to discuss politics then as he wanted to talk 
 and hunt birds, and for the purpose he took his 
 visitors with him. 
 
 " Fancy," suggests Burroughs, " a President 
 of the United States stalking rapidly across 
 bushy fields to the woods eager as a boy and 
 filled with the one idea of showing to his visitors 
 the black-throated green warbler ! " 
 
 On this walk the party passed a large and
 
 BIRD LOVER AND NATURALIST 233 
 
 wide-spreading oak. The naturalist pointed to 
 it and observed that it was a remarkable ex- 
 ample of the noble tree. 
 
 " Yes, and you see by the branching of that 
 oak," said the President, " that when it grew up 
 this wood was an open field, and maybe under 
 the plow ; it is only in fields that oaks take that 
 form." 
 
 "That is true," agreed the naturalist, "but 
 for the minute when I first observed the tree 
 my mind didn't take in that fact." 
 
 A few days before the visit of the naturalist 
 the Roosevelt children had discovered a bird's 
 nest on the ground a few yards in front of the 
 house. The President had concluded it was 
 the nest of the grasshopper sparrow, as he had 
 seen that bird about his home. With the nat- 
 uralist he went down to investigate and found 
 two brownish mottled eggs in the nest. After a 
 quick glance he observed, " It isn't the nest of the 
 grasshopper sparrow after all; those are the 
 eggs of the song sparrow, though the nest 
 seems to be more like that of the vesper spar- 
 row. If I am not mistaken, the eggs of the 
 grasshopper sparrow are much lighter in color 
 almost white, with brown specks." 
 
 " Right again," said Burroughs, smiling, " for 
 the moment though, I had forgotten how the 
 eggs of the little sparrow differ from those of 
 the song sparrow." And, writing a comment 
 upon his visit, the naturalist took occasion to 
 remark that the President's bird lore and wood 
 lore seemed as delightfully fresh as if just 
 learned.
 
 234 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 The President's naturalist friend once asked 
 him if he had ever heard that " rare piece of 
 bird music the flight song of the oven bird." 
 
 " Yes," was the reply, " we frequently hear 
 it of an evening, while we are sitting on the 
 porch, right down there at the corner of the 
 woods." 
 
 The flight song of the oven-bird was unknown, 
 according to Burroughs, to the older ornitholo- 
 gists, and as patient and tireless watchers as 
 Thoreau never identified it. The President, 
 however, caught it readily from his porch at 
 Sagamore Hill. 
 
 " Do you see anything wrong with the head 
 of that pronghorn ? " asked Roosevelt as he 
 handed Burroughs a copy of his " Ranch Life 
 and the Hunting Trail." 
 
 It was a picture of a hunter bringing in an 
 animal on the saddle behind him. Burroughs 
 saw nothing wrong with the picture. The 
 President took the naturalist into one of his 
 rooms where the mounted head of a prong- 
 horn hung over the mantel and pointed out that 
 the eye was " close under the root of the horn," 
 whereas the artist, Remington, had placed the 
 eye in the picture two inches too low. 
 
 Roosevelt's interest in birds and natural his- 
 tory of course dated from his boyhood. Early 
 in his teens he published a list of the birds in 
 Franklin County, New York. He kept a bird 
 journal at the age of fourteen, when he was in 
 Egypt, and on that tour with his father up the 
 Nile to Luxor his success as a naturalist was 
 foreshadowed, for he made a collection of
 
 BIRD LOVER AND NATURALIST 235 
 
 Egyptian birds found in the Nile Valley which 
 is now in the Smithsonian Museum, in Wash- 
 ington, D. C. 
 
 A thin pamphlet entitled " The Birds of 
 Oyster Bay," and long out of print, was prob- 
 ably Roosevelt's first venture into literature. 
 
 When he went to Harvard Burroughs ex- 
 presses the conviction it was his ambition to 
 be a naturalist, but there he became convinced 
 that all the out-of-door worlds of natural his- 
 tory had been conquered and that the only 
 worlds remaining were to be conquered through 
 the laboratory, the microscope, and the scalpel. 
 
 In his natural history studies, as in all his 
 other undertakings, Colonel Roosevelt was most 
 painstaking and accurate and on more than one 
 occasion he emerged triumphant from a dis- 
 pute with some professional natural historian 
 over some rare specimen. 
 
 Scientists generally acknowledged the Colonel 
 an authority in this field. Carl Akeley, head of 
 the elephant-hunting expedition in Africa for 
 the American Museum of Natural History, and 
 now connected with the Elephant Hall of the 
 Museum, paid tribute to this phase of Colonel 
 Roosevelt's accomplishments. Mr. Akeley, while 
 hunting elephants in the African wilds, en- 
 countered the Roosevelt expedition there and 
 hunted with the party for some days. 
 
 " Colonel Roosevelt was an amateur naturalist, 
 and yet he was a naturalist of splendid training," 
 said Mr. Akeley. " He had the keen eye and 
 mind of the ideal naturalist and he was further 
 aided by a phenomenal memory such as few
 
 236 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 men possess. He found infinite joy in study- 
 ing wild animal life in its native haunts and 
 the least of his pleasure in killing it. His great- 
 est pleasures lay in seeing and learning, thereby 
 proving him an ideal naturalist. 
 
 As a nature lover at all times, the President 
 seems to have stood the test of being able to 
 see little things as well as big things, and of 
 seeing without effort and premeditation. Yet 
 a degree of patience was required for the ac- 
 cumulation of his knowledge in these fields. 
 The warblers, both in color and in song, are 
 bewildering to the experienced ornithologist. 
 Nevertheless, Burroughs says, the President had 
 mastered every one of them. 
 
 He wrote Burroughs one day that he had just 
 come in from walking with Mrs. Roosevelt 
 about the White House grounds looking up the 
 arriving warblers. 
 
 " Most of the warblers," he said, " were up in 
 the tops of the trees, and I could not get a 
 glimpse of them, but there was one with chest- 
 nut cheeks, with bright yellow behind the 
 cheeks, and a yellow breast thickly streaked with 
 black, which has puzzled me. I saw the black 
 burrian, the summer yellow bird and the black- 
 throated green." 
 
 But he did not let his yellow-breasted visitor 
 go away without learning his name. A few 
 days later he wrote, " I have identified the war- 
 bler. It is the Cape May." 
 
 After Mr. Roosevelt's death John Burroughs 
 paid the following tribute to his friend's skill 
 and knowledge as a naturalist:
 
 BIRD LOVER AND NATURALIST 237 
 
 " Colonel Roosevelt was a born naturalist. He 
 made a collection of birds in Egypt when he 
 was a mere lad. He knew our native birds quite 
 as well as I, even the shy, elusive wood war- 
 blers, and as for the animal life of the globe, he 
 knew it as few men do. 
 
 " During the last term of his Presidency, he 
 asked me to go with him one May day down to 
 a retreat he had in the woods of Virginia, called 
 Pine Knot and help him name his birds. We 
 spent three days there and identified over eighty 
 species of birds and fowl. He taught me two 
 new birds, Bewick's wren, and one of the rare 
 warblers, and I taught him two, the swamp spar- 
 row and one other, just what, I now forget. He 
 had heard and seen Lincoln's sparrow in an old 
 weedy field, and on Sunday after church, he 
 took me there and we waited around for an 
 hour, but the sparrow did not appear. Had he 
 found this bird again, he would have been one 
 bird ahead of me. 
 
 " I asked him if he had seen the little gray 
 gnat-catcher in that vicinity. "Yes," he said, 
 " I saw one yesterday." He took me to the place, 
 a little run with some old plum trees on its 
 bank, and instantly said : ' There it is now.' 
 And sure enough there was the tiny bird in a 
 field nearby. We found the male and female 
 blue grosbeaks. 
 
 " Roosevelt was death on nature- fakers as 
 he called those writers who falsified nature, and 
 he dealt them some crushing blows. It was al- 
 most impossible to deceive him on subjects of 
 natural history."
 
 238 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 And Vilhjalmur Stefansson, President of the 
 Explorer's Club, added this important testimony : 
 
 " It is to be supposed that there were some 
 fields on which Colonel Roosevelt was ill in- 
 formed, but none of these came to my attention 
 nor, so far as I know, to the attention of any of 
 my many friends in the fields of scientific explor- 
 ation. Many would say that Frank Chapman, 
 Curator of Birds at the American Museum, is 
 the greatest authority on birds in America, yet 
 when I asked him what he thought of Colonel 
 Roosevelt as an ornithologist, Chapman replied, 
 ' The Colonel knows more about birds than I 
 do,' and similar things were continually being 
 said of him by specialists in other fields of 
 knowledge." 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE AUTHOR AND MAN OF INTELLECT 
 
 THE intellectual breadth and development 
 of Mr. Roosevelt was one of the greatest mar- 
 vels noted by those who met him during his 
 European tour, just as it always was a matter 
 of comment among his friends at home. Wal- 
 ter Wellman described, in the American Review 
 of Reviews, at that time, something of the 
 impression created among Europeans by 
 Mr. Roosevelt's surprising versatility : " Every- 
 where he insisted upon meeting all sorts of peo- 
 ple and visiting all sorts of places, and from the 
 White Nile to the Danube men were surprised
 
 AUTHOR AND 'MAN OF INTELLECT 239 
 
 at his geniality, his good fellowship, his humor, 
 his energy, his frankness, his curiosity or desire 
 for knowledge, which found vent in the asking 
 of myriads of questions, and in his remarkable 
 versatility, his familiarity with history, arche- 
 ology, architecture, politics, and persons from 
 his knowledge of Arabic literature to his ac- 
 quaintance with the antiquities of Egypt and 
 Rome. This versatility did not surprise his 
 American comrades, who knew of his marvelous 
 faculty for reading photographically and retain- 
 ing in the memory, but it amazed the foreigners. 
 And when he had occasion to speak at universi- 
 ties, schools, banquets, whether he spoke with- 
 out or with preparation, his hearers, whether 
 English, Egyptian, Italian, or Austrian, almost 
 to a man looked upon him as one of the greatest 
 orators they had ever heard." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt told most informally in a let- 
 ter from Khartum to The Outlook the titles of 
 some of the books he had taken with him to 
 read on various trips. Although he said " I 
 cannot, of course, begin to remember all the 
 books I have at different times taken out with 
 me," and " I take with me on any trip, or on all 
 trips put together, but a very small proportion of 
 the books that I like, and I like very many and 
 very different kinds of books," even the frag- 
 mentary list he mentioned in this letter is be- 
 wildering to an average man. Among them are 
 " Memoirs of Marbot," ^Eschylus, Sophocles, 
 Aristotle, the Odyssey, volumes of Gibbon and 
 Parkman. Lounsbury's Chaucer, Theocritus, 
 Lea's " History of the Inquisition," Lord Ac-
 
 240 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 ton's Essays and Ridgeway's " Prehistoric 
 Greece," Ferrero's " History of Rome," De La 
 Gorce's " History of the Second Republic and 
 Second Empire," Euripides, Murray's "History 
 of the Greek Epic," Mahaffy's Essays on Hellen- 
 istic Greece, Polybius Arrian, Schiller, Koerner, 
 Heine, Morris' translations of various Norse 
 sagas, including the " Heimskringla," and so on 
 through the classics, ancient and modern history, 
 philosophy, and transient fiction. 
 
 A foreign ambassador exclaimed to President 
 Roosevelt one time at Oyster Bay, says Henry 
 Beach Needham: "When did you ever find 
 time to get that information ? " and the Presi- 
 dent answered with a smile : " I have a store 
 of rather useless information. The getting of 
 it has been a relaxation. For instance, when I 
 have been hard at work on some big state ques- 
 tion, I liked nothing better than to study out 
 the dismemberment of the empire of Alexander 
 the Great." All through life Roosevelt has been 
 steadily adding to that " store." 
 
 He laid strong hands upon knowledge and 
 opportunities wherever they came in his way, 
 and many times he went out of his way to find 
 them. During the years he was in public life he 
 addressed hundreds of political, business, labor, 
 ethical and social assemblages on almost every 
 conceivable topic, but always he was ready with 
 a message that went straight to the spot. Some- 
 where in his " store " he always found just the 
 thing which the occasion required. 
 
 Long before his public career began, Mr. 
 Roosevelt conceived the belief that he was to be
 
 AUTHOR AND MAN OF INTELLECT 241 
 
 a writer. Even after he had served several 
 terms in the New York Legislature, and had 
 worked zealously as Civil Service Commissioner 
 in Washington, he still held to the idea that 
 authorship was to be his real life work. 
 
 He had inherited fortune enough so that it 
 was not necessary for him to work for a mere 
 subsistence, but he was not content to be idle. 
 His energies had to be employed in some way, 
 and the pursuit of literature appealed to him. 
 Later, as his family grew, he confessed to friends 
 that it had now become necessary for him to 
 write if he was to give his children the education 
 which he desired for them. The income from 
 his inheritance was not large enough of itself. 
 
 It is surprising that in the midst of his stren- 
 uous busy life, all through the years, he found 
 time, or made time, to write so many important 
 books. The New York Times, commenting on 
 this phase of his work, said, " Few men deserv- 
 ing so well as Theodore Roosevelt to be char- 
 acterized as men of action have written as much 
 as he, and still fewer of them have written as 
 well with as much both of lucidity and ele- 
 gance, as much of fervor and of obvious pleas- 
 ure in the sedentary art. His writings, too, were 
 in amazingly numerous fields for one constantly 
 engaged in doing the things that provide ma- 
 terial for others to write about. And, just as it 
 was hard to tell what were his vocations and 
 what his avocations, so it was not easy to de- 
 cide whether it was as a historian, a statesman, 
 or a naturalist that Roosevelt the writer found 
 his most congenial and grateful domain.
 
 242 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 "Probably there will be no final verdict on 
 that question, but several, each reached through 
 the personal taste or preference of the judge. 
 Yet it is at least the safest, or least dangerous, 
 prophecy to say that of all the Colonel's many 
 books, his innumerable magazine and newspaper 
 articles, those devoted to what used to be called 
 natural history to his observations of, and ad- 
 ventures among, animals, birds, and fishes 
 most nearly approached to perfection in style and 
 content, will live longest, and have in the future 
 the most numerous and most appreciative 
 readers." 
 
 His first book was a naval history of the 
 War of 1812, which was published when he was 
 twenty-four years old, and had been out of col- 
 lege only two years. The reason the subject at- 
 tracted him was characteristic. The histories 
 which he had read were one-sided. They gave 
 too much credit to the American Navy and too 
 little to the British. The facts were not fairly 
 presented. He thought that, in justice to both 
 sides, a more accurate account of the war with a 
 more impartial estimate of the military signifi- 
 cance of the victories ought to be prepared. He 
 did this work so successfully that the critics of 
 greatest authority commended him, declaring 
 that " the impartiality of the author's judgment 
 and the thoroughness with which the evidence 
 is sifted are remarkable and worthy of high 
 praise." When an English publisher prepared a 
 history of the British Navy, Mr. Roosevelt was 
 asked to write the history of its exploits in this 
 war. He made himself an authority on the
 
 AUTHOR AND 'MAN OF INTELLECT 243 
 
 subject at an age when young men are author- 
 ities only on tennis, baseball, polo, golf, or, pos- 
 sibly, bridge whist. 
 
 His next book grew out of his ranching ex- 
 periences, and was published in 1885, three 
 years after the first. It was called " Hunting 
 Trips of a Ranchman : Sketches of Sport on 
 the Northern Cattle Plains, together with Per- 
 sonal Experiences of Life on a Cattle Ranch." 
 It was profusely illustrated, and first published 
 in an edition limited to five hundred copies and 
 sold by subscription for fifteen dollars. In honor 
 of the author's ranch town, it was called the 
 " Medora Edition." 
 
 His literary and historical reputation was suf- 
 ficiently established by this time for the pub- 
 lishers of a series of biographies of American 
 statesmen to ask him to write the lives of 
 Thomas Hart Benton and Gouverneur Morris. 
 These were published in separate volumes, in 
 1886 and 1887. And in 1887 there also ap- 
 peared with his name on the title-page a volume 
 of " Essays on Practical Politics." Another vol- 
 ume based on his western experiences came out 
 the next year, with the title " Ranch Life and the 
 Hunting Trail." It is devoted to a description 
 of life on the plains as it was lived in the early 
 eighties of the last century. That life is fast 
 disappearing with the fencing of the ranges and 
 the growing density of population. Mr. Roose- 
 velt's book will be increasingly interesting, not 
 only as a record of experiences of one of the 
 Presidents, but also an account of conditions 
 that once existed in the West.
 
 244 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 In 1889 the fi rst two volumes of " Winning of 
 the West " appeared, his historical work of 
 greatest dignity and value. The third volume 
 was published in 1894. It deals with the period 
 from 1784 to 1790, and describes the founding 
 of the trans-Allegheny commonwealths. What 
 happened in the period covered by the volume, 
 Mr. Roosevelt briefly summarizes in the preface. 
 " It was during those seven years," he writes, 
 " that the Constitution was adopted and actually 
 went into effect an event, if possible, even more 
 momentous for the West than for the East. 
 The time was one of vital importance to the 
 whole nation; alike to the people of the inland 
 frontier and to those of the seaboard. The 
 course of events during those years determined 
 whether we should become a mighty nation or a 
 mere snarl of weak and quarrelsome little com- 
 monwealths, with a history as bloody and mean- 
 ingless as that of the Spanish-American states." 
 
 It should be noted here by the student of Mr. 
 Roosevelt's intellectual and political growth, that 
 for many years he had been occupied with the 
 study of the development and expansion of the 
 United States, from the point of view of the 
 historian, modified by the experience of practi- 
 cal political life. It was not as a mere tyro that 
 he entered upon the management of the execu- 
 tive affairs of the government in accordance with 
 the national policy that had grown up during a 
 century. If fate had intended him for the Presi- 
 dency, he could have had no better training in 
 Americanism, properly so called, than he secured 
 through his studies for this book. The fourth
 
 AUTHOR AND MAN OF INTELLECT 245 
 
 volume of it was published in 1896, and in 1898 
 he was planning to complete the fifth volume if 
 he should not be elected Governor of New York. 
 
 His historical studies were not confined to the 
 incorporation of the great West into the nation. 
 He wrote a " History of New York City," pub- 
 lished in 1891, in which he says: " It has been 
 my aim less to collect new facts than to draw 
 from the immense storehouse of facts already 
 collected those which were of real importance 
 in New York history, and to show their true 
 meaning and their relations to one another; to 
 sketch the workings of the town's life, social, 
 commercial, and political, at successive periods, 
 with their sharp transformations and contrasts, 
 and to trace the causes which gradually changed 
 the little Dutch trading hamlet into a huge Amer- 
 ican city." 
 
 These historical subjects are peculiarly Amer- 
 ican, involving either the absorption of vast ter- 
 ritory into the national domain or the building 
 of a great city from the many and diverse peo- 
 ples that have sought freedom of opportunity 
 to live their life in their own way on these 
 shores. 
 
 His history of New York was followed in 
 1893 by "The Wilderness Hunter: an Account 
 of the Big Game of the United States, and Its 
 Chase with Horse, Hound and Rifle." This is 
 a hunting history, illustrated with pictures of the 
 animals killed by Mr. Roosevelt himself, besides 
 much interesting hunting lore. He collaborated 
 with G. B. Grinnell in writing three hunting 
 books for the Boone and Crockett Club, namely,
 
 246 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " American Big Game Hunting," " Hunting in 
 Many Lands," and " Trail and Camp Fire." He 
 also collaborated with Henry Cabot Lodge in the 
 preparation of a volume of " Hero Tales from 
 American History." 
 
 In 1897, ten years after his first volume of 
 political essays, he published another collection 
 under the title " American Ideals ; and Other Es- 
 says, Social and Political." The subjects of the 
 various chapters show pretty well the range of 
 his interests. Here they are : " True Amer- 
 icanism," " The Manly Virtues and Practical 
 Politics," "The College Graduate and Public 
 Life," " Phases of State Legislation," " Machine 
 Politics in New York City," " Six Years of 
 Civil Service Reform," " Administering the 
 New York Police Force," " The Vice-Presidency 
 and the Campaign of 1896," " How Not to Help 
 Our Poorer Brother," " The Monroe Doctrine," 
 " Washington's Forgotten Maxims," " National 
 Life and Character," " Social Evolution," and 
 " The Law of Civilization and Decay." 
 
 He told the story of the raising of the regi- 
 ment of Rough Riders and of its career in Cuba 
 and afterward, in a volume published in 1899. 
 As the regiment itself was unique, this history 
 is unrivaled for the frankness with which the 
 story is told, and for the skill of the writer in 
 selecting from a large mass of materials that 
 which would give the proper impression of what 
 was done, and at the same time preserve the 
 human interest in a military campaign. 
 
 In the following year he published a " Life of 
 Oliver Cromwell," which is deeply interesting,
 
 AUTHOR AND MAN OF INTELLECT 247 
 
 for it presents the picture of one man of action 
 through the eyes of another man of action, who 
 is also at the same time a trained writer and 
 student of history. His third volume of essays, 
 " The Strenuous Life," appeared in 1900 also. 
 And in 1902, " The Deer Family," another hunt- 
 ing book, was issued, with his name as collabor- 
 ator with others on the title page. " Outdoor 
 Pastimes of an American Hunter" (1905), was 
 followed by " Good Hunting " 1907, and " Afri- 
 can Game Trails" (1909), many scenes of 
 which were written in camp just after the hunt- 
 ing excursions described. This volume, which 
 has since become well known, was described by a 
 writer for the National Geographic Society as an 
 " unusual contribution to science, geography, 
 literature and adventure. Naturalists will prize 
 the accurate descriptions of the huge beasts by a 
 hunter naturalist. He is the first naturalist of 
 much experience with American big game to 
 study all the large species of Africa, so that his 
 comparisons and observations form a particularly 
 valuable contribution to knowledge." 
 
 Other works produced during the last ten 
 years of his life are " True Americanism,'* 
 " African and European Addresses," " Thfe New 
 Nationalism" (1910), " Realieable Ideals," 
 " Conservation of Womanhood and Childhood " 
 (1912), "History as Literature and Other Es- 
 says," " Theodore Roosevelt, an Autobiography " 
 (1913), "Life Histories of African Game Ani- 
 mals" (1914), "America and the World War" 
 (1915), "A Book-Lover's Holidays in the 
 Open" (1916), "Fear God and Take Your
 
 248 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Own Part" (1916), "The Foes of Our Own 
 Household" (1917), and "The Great Adven- 
 ture " (1918). 
 
 Almost any other man might well have rested 
 his fame for an abundant life work on these 
 books dealing with so many varied subjects, and 
 reaching often so exalted a plane of morals and 
 patriotism ; yet, speaking at a dinner one time, of 
 the Periodical Publishers' Association in Wash- 
 ington, he took a retrospective look at his lit- 
 erary career, as though it were ended, for he 
 said, " In the days of my youth I was a literary 
 man." 
 
 A pleasant picture of him on this occasion 
 was presented by Mr. Walter Wellman in the 
 Chicago Record-Herald. He wrote : 
 
 " Probably President Roosevelt never spent 
 a happier two hours than last night, when he 
 was the guest of honor of the Periodical Pub- 
 lishers. The President had agreed to stay at 
 the dinner from 9:45 to II o'clock, but he liked 
 the show so well he remained till midnight and 
 then held a reception, greeting every one present. 
 Mr. Roosevelt made a speech to the publishers, 
 the authors and artists and their other guests, and 
 was enthusiastically applauded. It was not the 
 best speech the President has ever made, but it 
 was good enough, and it pleased the people who 
 heard it. Mr. Roosevelt is not an orator, and 
 makes no pretensions in that direction, but there 
 is something very fascinating about his earnest- 
 ness, and he captivated the men of the periodical 
 press, as he has captivated many audiences be- 
 fore. Many were pleased at the manner in
 
 AUTHOR AND MAN OF INTELLECT 249 
 
 which Mr. Roosevelt threw himsdf into the 
 spirit of the occasion. The wit and the humor 
 of the addresses had no more appreciative lis- 
 tener than the President of the United States. 
 He expressed his pleasure by characteristic 
 shakes of the head, strenuous gestures, broad 
 smiles, and congratulations waved across the 
 banquet hall. It was a common remark among 
 the eminent authors, artists, and publishers as- 
 sembled that it is a fine thing to have a President 
 who is so human, so warm in his sympathies, so 
 keen and discriminating in his understanding of 
 all human endeavor." 
 
 In all Mr. Roosevelt's writings, says The Sun, 
 New York, there was a certain metallic concise- 
 ness of style and effect. This was particularly 
 noticeable in his long messages to Congress. But 
 the " effect of plain statements often repeated 
 and enlivened by striking phrases here and there 
 which came about by accident or design was never 
 absent in his many messages and speeches." It 
 was in describing experiences out of doors or in 
 referring to wild animal or bird life that he gave 
 his best evidences of a keenly emotional nature. 
 Yet, during his leadership of the Progressives 
 in 1912, his public speaking took on an emo- 
 tional character of such a nature that some of 
 his speeches will hardly be found to be surpassed 
 for sheer eloquence in the history of American 
 oratory. The peroration of his Carnegie Hall 
 address, for instance, stands unique, surcharged 
 by all the circumstances attending it and through 
 its literary form with emotion electric in its na- 
 ture and effect.
 
 250 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 His gift of phrase-making was an essential 
 part of his picturesque Americanism. His 
 phrases frequently became an integral part of 
 the common speech, and few of those accepted 
 have as yet become obsolete. Without effort ap- 
 parently he made famous the " strenuous life," 
 the "larger good," "the square deal," "the 
 predatory rich," " mollycoddles and weaklings," 
 " undesirable citizens," " beaten to a frazzle," 
 " civic righteousness," " deliberate and infamous 
 mendacity," and the " hat in the ring," " the big 
 stick," " parlor Bolshevists," " rosewater re- 
 formers," " out-patients of Bedlam," " race sui- 
 cide," " nature faker," " muckraker," " male- 
 factor of great wealth," " weasel words," " pussy- 
 footers," " hyphenated Americans," " bush-league 
 czars," " as clean as a hound's tooth," " an elderly 
 fuddy-duddy with sweetbread brains," and many 
 others. 
 
 The sentence in which the " strenuous life " 
 was first used by Roosevelt he spoke in a speech 
 at the Hamilton Club in Chicago in 1899, and 
 it embodies the expression of his strenuous moral 
 philosophy : " I wish to preach, not the doctrine 
 of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous 
 life of toil and effort, of labor and strife ; to 
 preach that highest form of success which comes, 
 not to the man who desires mere easy peace, 
 but to the man who does not shrink from 
 danger, from hardships, or from bitter toil, and 
 who out of these wins the splendid ultimate 
 triumph." 
 
 In the matter of form his care was to be force- 
 ful, and except in some important speeches and
 
 AUTHOR AND MAN OF INTELLECT 251 
 
 written appeals to the people or his party, his 
 composition was matter of fact, though unex- 
 celled in forceful directness. He was versed in 
 the world's literature. Trevelyan speaks of Mac- 
 aulay's " omnivorous and insatiable appetite for 
 books," and it was this sort of desire for books 
 that was Roosevelt's at all times, whether in the 
 White House, on his campaigns, in the West, in 
 Africa, or in the hospital in Chicago recovering 
 from the bullet wound by Schrank. In the thick 
 of the campaign of 1904 he reread all of Mac- 
 aulay's " History of England," all of Rhodes' 
 " History of the United States," and Dickens' 
 " Martin Chuzzlewit" 
 
 He had by nature and practice the faculty of 
 extremely rapid reading. He read a book or 
 magazine whenever it was convenient at home or 
 on his journeys. In the matter of his reading 
 and writing he was described as a " man of let- 
 ters in love with life." Commentators have said 
 that he read little after leaving college with the 
 intention of training himself in literary forms, 
 but attained his intellectual attitude and literary 
 style by wide reading, concentrated thinking, and 
 constant practice. 
 
 The public of Europe and America was in- 
 terested at the time in the books Roosevelt 
 took with him to Africa, known as the " Pigskin 
 Library " because of the binding, which fitted 
 them for use under all circumstances and kept 
 them looking outwardly like well used " saddle 
 surfaces " when they became stained with blood 
 and sweat. The original list of the " Pigskin 
 Library " follows : 

 
 252 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Bible 
 
 Apocrypha 
 
 Borrow Bible in Spain 
 
 Zincali 
 
 Lavengro 
 
 Wild Wales 
 
 The Romany Rye 
 Shakespeare 
 
 Spencer Faerie Queen 
 
 Marlowe 
 
 Mahan Sea Power 
 
 Macaulay History 
 
 Essays 
 
 Poems 
 Homer llliad 
 
 Odyssey 
 
 Chanson de Roland 
 Nibelungenlied 
 
 Carlyle Frederick the Great 
 
 Shelley Poems 
 
 Bacon Essays 
 
 Lowell Literary Essays 
 
 Biglow Papers 
 
 Emerson Poems 
 
 Longfellow 
 Tennyson 
 
 Poe Tales 
 
 Keats Poems 
 
 Milton Paradise Lost (Book i and 2) 
 
 Dante Inferno (Carlyle's translation) 
 
 Holmes Autocrat 
 
 Over the Teacups 
 Bret Harte Poems 
 
 Tales of the Argonauts 
 
 Luck of Roaring Camp 
 
 Browning Selections 
 
 Crothers Gentle Reader 
 
 Pardoner's Wallet 
 Mark Twain Huckleberry Finn 
 
 Tom Sawyer 
 Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 253 
 
 Euripides (Murray's 
 translation) Hippolytus 
 
 Bacchae 
 The Federalist 
 
 Gregorovius Rome 
 
 Scott Legend of Montrose 
 
 Guy Mannering 
 
 Waverley 
 
 Rob Roy 
 
 Antiquary 
 Cooper Pilot 
 
 Two Admirals 
 Froissart 
 Percy's Reliques 
 Thackeray Vanity Fair 
 
 Pendennis 
 Dickens Mutual Friend 
 
 Pickwick 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE MAN OF VIGOR AND ACTION 
 
 THE outstanding characteristic of Mr. Roose- 
 velt's life, the one thing most commented upon, 
 and pictured in cartoons was his ever abound- 
 ing vitality and strenuous activity. In previous 
 chapters of this book the story has been told of 
 how by a deliberate purpose and plan he grew 
 from a delicate, almost feeble boy, whose condi- 
 tion was cause for anxiety, into an athlete of 
 surpassing vigor and endurance, full and firm of 
 muscle, steady of nerve, with blood pure and 
 rich, and boundless exuberance of spirit. His 
 chest was expanded until his capacious lungs were 
 qualified to feed his blood with oxygen ; and >his
 
 254 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 vigorous heart drove the rich, vitalized fluid 
 through his big neck into his active brain. The 
 tireless, purposeful expression of all this dynamic 
 vitality of body and spirit became known to the 
 world as " the strenuous life." 
 
 He went into the African jungle after nearly 
 thirty years of strenuous public service. The 
 professors said he would succumb to fever or 
 the sleeping sickness. Some of his native es- 
 corts went down, but he came back " rejuven- 
 ated." Henry Beach Needham wrote to Collier's 
 of the returning hunter's superb health, " his re- 
 sistless youth . . . like a fighter trained to the 
 minute . . . appallingly healthy and effusively 
 strenuous." 
 
 " As President, physical culture was," writes 
 Allen Day in Putnam's, " as serious with Mr. 
 Roosevelt as the gravest questions of State. . . . 
 He said himself that it would be utterly impos- 
 sible for him to keep up the high pressure of 
 the life he led did he not clear his brains and 
 brace his nerves by strengthening his body and 
 constantly enriching his blood. So it was that 
 every moment to be spared he devoted to recrea- 
 tion, the sort that strengthens the body and clears 
 the mind (clubs, dumb bells, singlesticks, tennis, 
 riding most of all riding). While it gave him 
 keen pleasure, he discovered, also, the reason why 
 it was absolutely necessary. This building up 
 of the body and the clearing of the mind create 
 a strange condition strange to those who have 
 allowed themselves to become so enfeebled that 
 they have never experienced it. You might call it 
 exhilaration, but it is more than that. It's a feel-
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 255 
 
 ing of power which is possessed only by a man 
 who keeps up his physique to the highest stand- 
 ard a power that masters one and fills him 
 with determination. He was eager to work, or to 
 fight as necessary. He rejoiced in obstacles to 
 overcome. He could accomplish tenfold more 
 than if he had not keyed up his system to his 
 highest point." 
 
 How this physical vigor constantly displayed 
 it.elf in his daily life was remarked by many 
 observers close to him. A notable instance of 
 his apparent tirelessness was described by Mr. 
 George Gary Eggleston, who called on him at the 
 White House in the spring of 1902. 
 
 "My personal visit was made on the evening of 
 the day on which he returned from his comet- 
 like trip in the Carolinas," says Mr. Eggleston in 
 the New York Herald. "He had got back to 
 Washington in the morning after five days of 
 soul-wearying travel, still more wearying speech- 
 making and function-holding, and the ceaseless 
 strain of social and every other sort of exciting 
 experience. Almost any other man would have 
 gone to bed and put business aside for one day 
 at least. Mr. Roosevelt had gone to his desk, 
 instead, to clear off the work accumulation of 
 nearly a week. He had then held an important 
 Cabinet meeting, received many official and 
 other callers who had vexing business matters to 
 discuss, made several appointments to office, and 
 attended to a multitude of other trying affairs. 
 Yet, when I desired to withdraw on the ground 
 that he must be well-nigh exhausted, he cheerily 
 answered :
 
 256 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " ' Oh, no, I'm not at all tired. In fact, I never 
 make much of weariness. Light a cigar, I want to 
 talk with you about a historical point which you 
 criticized some years ago in one of my books.' 
 
 " Fortunately I was sitting at the time in a well- 
 armed easy-chair," Mr. Eggleston continues, 
 " otherwise I think I might have fallen. Think 
 of this busy man, ceaselessly engaged with stren- 
 uous public affairs, still remembering that poor 
 little criticism of mine, years after it was writ- 
 ten ! The criticism concerned a minute detail 
 of very small consequence in any case, yet so 
 earnest and sincere is this man, and so ' stren- 
 uous ' in all that he does, that he remembered the 
 point perfectly, and mentioned it only because he 
 was interested to explain to me how he had been 
 led into the insignificant little error. It seemed 
 to me that in this incident more than one ad- 
 mirable quality of the President's mind and 
 character were revealed in a very enlightening 
 way." 
 
 An earlier record of the way he employed his 
 time was made by a man who accompanied him 
 on his tour of the country, as a candidate for 
 the Vice-Presidency in 1900. It is the schedule 
 of a day's occupation, and for variety of inter- 
 est it would be difficult to find it equaled in the 
 lives of any other two men. Here it is: 
 
 7 A. M. Breakfast. 
 7:30 A. M. A speech. 
 
 8 A. M. Reading a historical work. 
 
 9 A. M. A speech. 
 
 10 A. M. Dictating letters. 
 
 11 A.M. Discussing Montana mines. 
 
 \
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 257 
 
 II 130 A. M. A speech. 
 
 12 M. Reading an ornithological work. 
 
 12:30 P. M. A speech. 
 
 i P. M. Lunch. 
 
 1 130 P. M. A speech. 
 
 2 130 P. M. Reading Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 3 P. M. Answering telegrams. 
 
 3 45 P. M. A speech. 
 
 4 P. M. Meeting the press. 
 4:30 P. M. Reading. 
 
 5 P. M. A speech. 
 
 6 P. M. Reading. 
 
 7 P. M. Supper. 
 
 8 to 10 P. M. Speaking. 
 
 11 P.M. Reading alone in his car. 
 
 12 P. M. To bed. 
 
 He was practicing then what he always 
 preached. One version of his gospel of life haa 
 been given by Major W. H. H. Llewellyn, of 
 Las Cruces, New Mexico, who commanded a 
 company in the regiment of Rough Riders. The 
 Major said one day after his old commander had 
 become President: 
 
 " The Colonel (he will always be Colonel to 
 the Rough Riders) was talking the other day with 
 one of his old boys who had come out into our 
 country to do business, and he said to him 
 
 " ' Get action ; do things ; be sane ; don't fritter 
 away your time ; create, act, take a place wher- 
 ever you are and be somebody ; get action.' 
 
 " That's the Colonel all over," continued the 
 Major. " It's the story of his own life. It's 
 the advice he gave us all when we parted with 
 him at Montauk Point. Do you remember that
 
 258 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 evening in the camp when the regiment stood 
 in front of him, and the parting came? I can 
 hear him say now as he did then: 
 
 " ' Remember when you go out into the world 
 to-morrow, for nine days you will be regarded 
 as heroes, and then you will have to take your 
 places as ordinary citizens. You will be judged 
 then for what you are, what you do as men, not 
 as to what you have been. Don't get gay.' " 
 
 The Major paused a moment, and then con- 
 cluded, reflectively : " I've seen young fellows 
 in our clubs sit three hours discussing the char- 
 acter of the work in a polo pony's hoof. That 
 kind of action the Colonel hates." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt was happy where things were 
 happening. He remarked once that he liked to 
 be where something was going on, and that he 
 generally managed to make something happen 
 where he was. Danger arouses in him a keen 
 sense of enjoyment, as was illustrated in a small 
 way in Victor, Colorado, during the campaign of 
 1900. A mob tried to prevent him from speak- 
 ing there. One man hit him in the breast with 
 a piece of scantling six feet long from which 
 an insulting banner had been torn. Another 
 man tried to strike him in the face, but was 
 prevented by a miner. The same observer who 
 recorded the routine of a day's work on the tour 
 said afterward : 
 
 " When the storm of the mob swept up to him 
 I stood on the lower step of the Pullman sleeper 
 with George W. Ogden. Ogden exclaimed : 
 
 " ' See the Colonel's face ! ' ' 
 
 " ' I looked. Rocks were flying over him and
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 259 
 
 the scantling waved savagely. And he ? He was 
 smiling and his eyes were dancing; and he was 
 coming ahead to safety as composedly as though 
 he were approaching the entrance to his own 
 home among friends. 
 
 When it was all over he exclaimed enthusias- 
 tically : 
 
 ' ' This is magnificent. Why, it's the best fun 
 I've had since I started. I wouldn't have missed 
 it for anything.' " 
 
 His interest in athletics never diminished. In 
 his youth he played football, and when he re- 
 ceived the team of the Carlisle Indian School at 
 the White House on the morning after the 
 Thanksgiving Day game in 1902, he proved that 
 his interest in the sport still survived. He had 
 read the account of the game in the morning 
 papers and was full of it all day, talking foot- 
 ball at the Cabinet meeting and with nearly every 
 one he saw. When Mr. W. G. Thompson, who 
 had charge of the Indians, introduced them to 
 him, he knew all about them. Johnson, the cap- 
 tain, was presented first. 
 
 " Delighted," exclaimed the President, grasp- 
 ing his hand. " You play quarterback. The 
 mass play of your team was splendid. I am de- 
 lighted." 
 
 Parker came next and was greeted in a similar 
 way, according to the account of the Washington 
 correspondents. 
 
 " Your play was brilliant. You made three 
 touchdowns, didn't you? How in the world did 
 you do it?" 
 
 And so it went along the line. The President
 
 260 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 talked football with every man in the party. 
 Sometimes he would call back one of them to 
 discuss a point in the game. Nearly every man 
 was asked to what tribe he belonged. One said 
 he was a Kaw. 
 
 " Yes, Congressman Curtis belongs to that 
 tribe," the President remarked. " I'm glad to 
 meet a fellow-tribesman of his." 
 
 " You're a football player, that's self-evident," 
 he remarked as he looked at one of the boys who 
 had been bruised in the game. To another bat- 
 tered player he said, " I see without asking that 
 you played yesterday, and it didn't improve your 
 beauty." 
 
 The stolid Indian smiled cheerfully at this 
 and passed on. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt made every one of them feel 
 at his ease. He knew the big chiefs in some of 
 the tribes represented, and when he mentioned 
 their names the players addressed were greatly 
 pleased. Most of the Indians had adopted the 
 names of white men, and the President asked 
 these what they were called by their own people. 
 
 " No need to ask you, Mr. Tomahawk," said 
 he, beaming on the right guard. " I know what 
 yours means." 
 
 There was one player whose Indian name was 
 Bear. When the word was spoken the Presi- 
 dent cried : 
 
 " Delighted," and grasped the boy's hand 
 warmly. " I'm well acquainted with the bear 
 family. I met some of them in Mississippi, and 
 I know Baer of the Reading Coal Company. He 
 is harder to catch than any of them. You are
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 261 
 
 built like a football player. I'm glad you are 
 not one of the bears I chased in Mississippi. 
 They would make good football players, too." 
 
 At the end of the line was the only player who 
 was not an Indian. He was Exendine, a full- 
 blooded Eskimo. When Mr. Thompson pre- 
 sented him, the President reached out and 
 crushed the youth's chubby hand in his own and 
 said: 
 
 " Delighted to meet you. I congratulate you 
 on coming to this country to get an education. 
 So you are an Eskimo ? I don't suppose the coal 
 famine worries you a bit." 
 
 He was unfeignedly interested in these young 
 men, not only because they were Indians, but 
 because they were developing vigorous bodies. 
 Virility always appealed to him. It certainly is 
 a novel doctrine that mere animal vigor is 
 good thing in itself, as well as for the poten- 
 tialities that lie in it. If it were preached more 
 there would be fewer dyspeptics and fewer hypo- 
 chondriacs and fewer men with brains awry be- 
 cause they receive too little nourishment from 
 the body. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt's own virility kept his nerves 
 steady, so that he did not succumb to physical 
 suffering, as appeared at the time of the accident 
 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on September 2, 
 1902, when the carriage in which he was riding 
 was demolished by an electric car, its occupants 
 thrown out, and Craig, the special Secret Service 
 officer traveling with him, killed. Dr. Lung, who 
 reached the President first, found him on his 
 knees, raising himself uncertainly from the grass,
 
 262 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 thirty feet from the smashed carriage. The doc- 
 tor threw his arms about him and lifted him to 
 his feet. 
 
 " Where do you feel pain ? " the doctor asked, 
 at the same time patting the President's sides 
 gently, searching for broken ribs. 
 
 The President broke away from him roughly. 
 
 " I'm all right," he said. " Some of the others 
 are badly hurt ; look after them." 
 
 The President's face was badly bruised in this 
 accident, and the bone of one of his legs so 
 seriously injured that two operations had to be 
 performed on it later one in Indianapolis and 
 one in Washington and he had to cut short a 
 Western trip on account of it. But he did not 
 think of himself. His physicians had to do that 
 for him. 
 
 On one occasion, not long after he had built 
 his house on Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, he gave 
 a hunt breakfast to the Meadowbrook Hunt 
 Club, and after it was over set out with his fel- 
 low-huntsmen for a ten-mile " drag." 
 
 Less than an hour later a friend who was in- 
 specting the new stables saw Mr. Roosevelt ride 
 up. He noticed that his host had liberal quan- 
 tities of court-plaster on his face, that he showed 
 some blood, that he had his right hand tucked 
 between the two buttons of his waistcoat, and 
 that when he dismounted he did so cautiously. 
 
 The friend began to think that he had had a bad 
 fall, but Mr. Roosevelt was so cool and played so 
 unconcernedly with one of his children that was 
 being wheeled by the nurse near the stables that 
 the man decided that he was only scratched.
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 263 
 
 And that was what he himself said when asked 
 about the matter. 
 
 " Only a scratch just a little scratch." 
 
 In a few minutes Mr. Roosevelt went into the 
 house and his guest dismissed the incident from 
 his mind. A quarter of an hour later the man 
 was standing in front of the house where a horse, 
 covered with lather, tore up the driveway. Its 
 rider, a well-known Long Island doctor, pulled up 
 at the steps and inquired : 
 
 "How's Mr. Roosevelt? Has he come 
 home ? " 
 
 " What's the matter, Doctor ? " the guest asked. 
 " Yes, he is home, but as far as I can see he has 
 only got about a yard of court-plaster on his face. 
 He can't be hurt very much, for he has been 
 playing with his baby since he came back." 
 
 The doctor looked astonished, and exclaimed 
 as he hurried into the house : 
 
 " Why, man, he broke his arm when his horse 
 went down ! " 
 
 A few days later the same friend met Mr. 
 Roosevelt with his arm in a sling on Fifth Ave- 
 nue in New York. 
 
 " Sorry you didn't tell me the other day that 
 your arm was broken," he said. " Perhaps I 
 could have helped you." 
 
 " Pooh ! Pooh ! " Mr. Roosevelt replied. " It 
 was merely a scratch," and turned the conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt was known to take more physi- 
 cal exercise than any other public man in Wash- 
 ington. He outwalked his friends and outrode 
 them, too. One of his favorite amusements was
 
 264 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 riding, and he liked to get a friend to go with 
 him. He sat close to his horse in the Western 
 style and made fun of his acquaintances who 
 adopted the English fashion of riding. When 
 Prince Henry of Prussia visited Washington, 
 the President took him riding through the 
 country roads about the capital in a driving rain- 
 storm. Most of the party turned back when 
 the rain became heavy, but the Prince and the 
 President kept on, each seeming to enjoy the 
 battle with the elements. Indeed, he seemed to 
 delight in testing the willingness of his friends 
 to expose themselves to the weather. Not long 
 after Mr. Robert Bacon, his classmate in Harv- 
 ard, was made First Assistant Secretary of 
 State, Mr. Roosevelt initiated him into the 
 strenuosities of life in Washington under his 
 own administration. He invited Mr. Gifford 
 Pinchot, of the Forestry Bureau, and Mr. Bacon 
 to take a walk with him one afternoon at the 
 close of a busy and tiring day. It was raining 
 hard and he advised them to put on old clothes. 
 Instead of following the advice they arrived at 
 the White House dressed as usual. Mr. Roose- 
 velt met them in a badly worn suit with a slouch 
 hat and heavy shoes. 
 
 The three started out in the rain. Their walk 
 took them to the open country, where they came 
 to a considerable body of water. They wished 
 to cross to the other side, but there was no 
 bridge within a mile. The President told Mr. 
 Bacon that he could go to the bridge and cross 
 and meet them on the other side, as he and Mr. 
 Pinchot would wade over. Mr. Bacon objected
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 265 
 
 and declared that if the others waded he would 
 too. 
 
 " Bully," shouted the President. " Come on, 
 then ! " and he plunged into the water, that 
 proved to be so much deeper than he anticipated 
 that he had to swim for some distance, Bacon 
 and Pinchot following after. 
 
 He had no more hesitation than a healthy boy 
 in doing things that appealed to him. This made 
 it easy for him when hunting to take game into 
 camp, when less adventurous hunters would have 
 been unwilling, if not unable, to do what he did. 
 While at the Keystone Ranch in Colorado, for 
 instance, on a hunting trip, he and his guide 
 held at bay a large lion in a crevice on the pre- 
 cipitous side of a rock ledge which extended from 
 the point of the crevice sheer down fifty feet. 
 Mr. Roosevelt shot at the lion, and the beast dis- 
 appeared under a perpendicular wall of rock. A 
 large slab of stone projected over the rim of the 
 ledge, and if one of the men could hang head 
 first over this slab he could see the lion and might 
 be able to shoot it. 
 
 " The question which confronted us," said the 
 guide in telling of the incident, " was how to 
 hang over the rock. Finally Colonel Roosevelt 
 looked at me intently and said, ' Goff, we must 
 have that lion if he is there. I'll tell you what 
 I'll do. I will take my gun and crawl over that 
 rock. You hold me by the feet and let me 
 slide down far enough to see him. If I can see 
 him I will get him.' This plan was carried out, 
 and he killed the lion, hanging head downward, 
 while I held him by the feet.''
 
 266 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 But of all the pictures of Mr. Roosevelt, either 
 verbal or photographic, the one which gives the 
 best and most vivid impression of the vigorous 
 human animal rejoicing in his vitality is that one 
 which shows him mounted on a hunter taking a 
 fence. Horse and rider are instinct with life, 
 and while you look at them they seem to leap out 
 of the paper and dash down the road with the 
 drum-beat of the hoofs ringing in your ears as 
 they disappear from view. 
 
 Mr. John Morley's characterization of him, 
 after spending a day or so at the White House, 
 puts in words what the photograph represents. 
 
 " I have seen two tremendous works of na- 
 ture," the British statesman said ; " one is Niag- 
 ara Falls, and the other is the President of the 
 United States." 
 
 The office of the presidency makes severe de- 
 mands upon the strength of its occupants. Most 
 of them have had little time or energy left for 
 anything else. There are few things, however, in 
 which Theodore Roosevelt did not interest him- 
 self. He might well use for his motto the 
 famous saying of Terence, " Homo sum 
 humani nihil a me alienum puto " I am a man 
 interested in all that concerns my fellow-men. 
 It is necessary to review his extra-Presidential 
 activities for only a few months to discover how 
 far his sympathies extended. 
 
 In the summer of 1905 he traveled from his 
 home at Oyster Bay to Coney Island, on New 
 York Bay, for the sole purpose of visiting a 
 hospital for the treatment of children of the poor 
 suffering from tuberculosis of the bones. When
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 267 
 
 he saw what benefit the children derived from 
 the sea air he made an appeal to the public for 
 the support of the institution. In August, 1905, 
 he accepted the honorary vice-presidency of the 
 Public Schools Athletic League, organized to 
 secure systematic athletic drill for the boys. In 
 a letter addressed to General George W. Win- 
 gate, the president of the League, he said the or- 
 ganization " is performing a service of the ut- 
 most importance, not merely from the standpoint 
 of the physical, but also from the standpoint of 
 the ethical needs of these school-children." He 
 wrote further : " I am also particularly pleased 
 that you are about to organize a woman's auxil- 
 iary branch, for the girls need exercise quite 
 as much as the boys." 
 
 From athletics in the schools in August his at- 
 tention was transferred in the autumn to foot- 
 ball in the colleges. In October he invited rep- 
 resentatives of the athletic interests of Harvard, 
 Princeton, and Yale Universities to meet him at 
 the White House to consider reforming the 
 abuses in the game, and in November he had Dr. 
 J. W. White of the University of Pennsylvania 
 as his guest when he discussed the same subject. 
 Doctor White reported, after his conference, that 
 the President had clear and positive views on the 
 kind of reforms needed. They included the 
 abolition of brutality and foul play, with such 
 power given to the umpire as would permit him 
 to order from the field not only individual 
 players, but whole teams when detected in bru- 
 tality or in violation of the rules of fairness; 
 and he urged that the responsible heads of col-
 
 268 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 leges whose teams play together should have a 
 " gentleman's agreement " to secure the enforce- 
 ment of the spirit as well as the letter of the 
 rules intended to make an honorable defeat more 
 glorious than an unfairly won victory. 
 
 The fixed purpose of his boyhood and young 
 manhood had never been yielded. " Theodore 
 Roosevelt lived the kind of life he wanted the 
 life he deliberately, passionately wanted, and lived 
 it despite the urging of those who loved him 
 and studied him and were anxious lest he wear 
 out the physical mechanism that was day after 
 day spurred to intense action by an ever-active 
 brain. Such," says H. C. McMillen, writing for 
 the Evening Post, New York, " is the sorrow- 
 ful conclusion of William Muldoon, wrestler, 
 boxer, trainer, and director of a hygienic insti- 
 tute where Cabinet and other Government of- 
 ficials and big business men have been restored to 
 health after hard work had worn them down. 
 Mr. Muldoon boxed and wrestled and fenced with 
 Colonel Roosevelt, and they were warm personal 
 friends for the years of a generation." Mr. Mc- 
 Millen's interview with Mr. Muldoon continues: 
 "It was Colonel Roosevelt's untiring brain that 
 drove his body drove it through long hours 
 of official duties, drove it through days and 
 weeks and months of campaigning, speechmak- 
 ing, conferences, and handshaking, drove it 
 through days of travel and nights in a Pullman 
 berth, and drove it on long hikes in Africa, and 
 on grilling tours through the Brazil jungle and 
 down cataracts of unknown rivers. 
 
 " The Colonel went upon that last trip to South
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 269 
 
 America against the advice of his friends. It 
 was there he really lost his health. A man's 
 body is simply the house which contains his spirit, 
 and his spirit, by which I mean his mind, his in- 
 tellect, must have consideration for the house 
 that shelters it. If you have a comfortable, 
 well-made house, with ' foundations deep-walled 
 and warm/ you will not abuse it, be indifferent 
 to the vicissitudes of weather and time. 
 
 " The Colonel's spirit never spared the house 
 that contained it. That is why I am sorry that 
 he has gone as he did go. I loved the Colonel 
 and I love America, and I know that Theodore 
 Roosevelt was entitled to twenty years' more of 
 life twenty years in which the country would 
 need him as it has not needed him before, and 
 twenty years in which he could serve America 
 as he never served her. If he had died at 
 eighty years, instead of at sixty, I would accept 
 that as fulfillment of the inevitable, the just rule 
 of life. But he died twenty years too young, be- 
 fore his work was finished, and he died because 
 he simply had to live at the fullest, while he lived. 
 His spirit was tireless, unflinching, and it wore 
 out the house it inhabited. 
 
 " After he left the White House, Colonel 
 Roosevelt did little boxing, and wrestling. He 
 continued tennis, but since March, 1909, his con- 
 tests in sports were by no means as active as 
 when he was President. On his Oyster Bay 
 estate he played tennis with visitors, chopped 
 trees, and cut wood in scientifically re-foresting 
 his lands, and he rowed about the bay a great 
 deal. But the bouts on the mat, and the boxing
 
 270 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 and single-stick work in which he delighted while 
 in the White House were pretty well given up. 
 
 " He liked to box with ' Mike ' Donovan, 
 trainer at the New York Athletic Club, as well as 
 with myself. Donovan died a short time ago. 
 The Colonel's eyesight was not of the best. He 
 was near-sighted, and he wanted to see his op- 
 ponent, wanted to see his eyes wanted to catch 
 that brightening that anticipates the delivery of a 
 blow. It is almost impossible for some boxers 
 so to control their eye expression that they will 
 not betray their intention to strike, or by a slight 
 intensification of the glance, or a quick glance to 
 that part of an opponent's body where the next 
 hit is to be landed, betray the blow they intended 
 to deliver. Colonel Roosevelt wanted to see his 
 opponent's face, and he liked to ' mix in ' when 
 boxing. 
 
 " Hard and heavy give and take was the Col- 
 onel's method, and his opponents, if they were 
 wise, stood off, used their heads instead of their 
 hands, were quick on their feet, and forced the 
 Colonel to adapt his plan of fighting to theirs. 
 It was all the same to the Colonel. His objective 
 was the contest, not the result. He wanted the 
 straining of muscle and sinew, the urge of the 
 fighting, the joy of the landed blow, and he en- 
 joyed not less the sting of the gloved fist against 
 his skin and flesh. 
 
 " General Leonard Wood, Gifford Pinchot, 
 James A. Garfield, Ambassador Jusserand, and 
 several fine strapping young army and navy of- 
 ficers were in and about the White House when 
 Roosevelt was President, and when official duties
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 271 
 
 were finished for the day, the joys and exhilara- 
 tions of Olympia were supreme. General Wood 
 and the President, in the days when the former 
 was an army surgeon with the rank of captain 
 and when Theodore Roosevelt was Assistant 
 Secretary of the Navy, used to take long walks, 
 or walk off to the chosen spot and there kick a 
 football around for the physical rejuvenation 
 necessary after the debilitating Washington of- 
 ficial life. In the White House they strove 
 against each other with single-sticks, and if it 
 ever had been the fortune of Leonard Wood 
 to cross swords in mortal combat with an an- 
 tagonist, that training of hand and eye and wrist 
 and leg that he got fencing with the President 
 would surely have won him victory, I do be- 
 lieve. 
 
 " Those contests and sports in the White 
 House, on the tennis courts, and in beautiful 
 Rock Creek Park and the surrounding Wash- 
 ington, kept Theodore Roosevelt strong and 
 active and alert. He rested at night, and his 
 body kept up with the strain his spirit imposed 
 upon it. 
 
 " It was the trials of his wanderings in Africa 
 and South America, and the strain of his 1912 
 campaign following his acceptance of the Pro- 
 gressive nomination for the Presidency, his ef- 
 forts in 1914, when he toured New York State 
 in a motor car in behalf of the Progressive nomi- 
 nee for Governor, and his mighty battling to 
 arouse America to war with Germany that tested 
 his physical mechanism beyond its limit. He 
 was not impersonal and objective; he was per-
 
 272 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 sonal and intense. For so many months he felt 
 that the country, his country, was not in the right 
 movement, not in the right mood, and his impo- 
 tence was more exhausting than the severest 
 strain of official duties. 
 
 " Some of us would say, ' Colonel, why do you 
 worry? The country would not see eye and eye 
 with you in 1912, and the delegates of your party 
 would not accept your judgment in 1916. You 
 have done all you could. It is no longer up to 
 you. Be content.' But the Colonel lived his no- 
 tions of right and justice and wisdom, and when 
 they were outraged he was outraged spiritually, 
 and that reacted upon him physically. In hours 
 of unhappiness and depression for his country 
 his spirit drove his body, just as in his joys of 
 contests. 
 
 " Rest and repose are the great upbuilders, the 
 great medicines, of the mind, the nervous sys- 
 tem, and the physical body. Theodore Roose- 
 velt lived the life he wanted, but he did not live 
 always as his truest friends wanted. His family 
 desired, and his friends in sports and physical 
 contests desired, that he give his body and his 
 nerves more repose. That was always my urging 
 to him. Not that sports and contests wore him 
 down they counteracted finely the effects of 
 too long hours at his desk,, or in important con- 
 ferences. But the nervous system and flesh and 
 blood rebuild and repair themselves while the 
 individual rests, and the Colonel's spirit would 
 not allow him to rest. 
 
 " This need for rest, for relaxation, the com- 
 plete relaxation of utter ' letting down,' an en-
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 273 
 
 tire separation at intervals from duties and 
 friends and interests, is what I want to empha- 
 size. That need for our busy, conscientious 
 American men, is imperative. That is why, 
 though I hesitate at this time to tell of Colonel 
 Roosevelt's sports and contests, I feel that Amer- 
 ican men of great spirit or great intellect, with 
 minds like Theodore Roosevelt's, that go out to 
 every imaginable subject, men who are so neces- 
 sary to guide their countrymen, should know that 
 the lesson that lies in his death at the early age of 
 sixty years is that his spirit drove his body too 
 hard. 
 
 " The hours that Colonel Roosevelt spent on 
 horseback were as happy as any in his life. He 
 was the man who appreciated the ' feel ' of a fine 
 nag between his knees. General Bell, then Chief 
 of Staff, and Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of 
 War, were among his riding companions. A 
 steep cliff or a ford that promised an upset and a 
 plunge in icy waters never deterred those riders. 
 I guess that some easy-going army men did 
 not like the President's order that every army 
 officer must ride ninety miles in three days, or 
 walk thirty, as a once-a-year official physical test, 
 simply to demonstrate the ' ready for active serv- 
 ice ' quality. But that order was prompted by 
 the President's conviction that a certain minimum 
 of physical capacity was something that the 
 country had a right to demand of its army of- 
 ficers, and that the existence of that capacity 
 could best be shown by the actual riding or walk- 
 ing test." 
 
 " Theodore Roosevelt was the one American
 
 274 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 President distinctly an athlete," continues Mr. 
 McMillen. " Traditions of George Washington 
 represent him as a man of great personal strength, 
 and that he was a huntsman used to the rigors 
 of outdoor life is dwelt upon by his biographers. 
 The legend of his throwing a dollar across the 
 Potomac has served not only to illustrate the 
 prowess of his good right arm, but has enabled 
 a million of his fellow countrymen to crack a 
 joke by remarking that ' Of course a dollar went 
 farther in those days.' 
 
 " Grover Cleveland was a hunter and fisher- 
 man, but he shot over moorland and reedy shore 
 with a shotgun, while Colonel Roosevelt hunted 
 big game with a rifle. 
 
 " The fact that Colonel Roosevelt while box- 
 ing with a young artillery officer had one of his 
 eye-balls so seriously injured that he never re- 
 covered the sight in that eye, did not become 
 known until years after his service in the White 
 House had closed, and the army officer was serv- 
 ing in France. It was just like the good sport 
 Roosevelt to keep the mishap and its conse- 
 quences a secret until a complication which neces- 
 sitated his going to Roosevelt Hospital for treat- 
 ment helped to make public the fact of that 
 chance blow of several years before. 
 
 " Another story that leaked out years after 
 the Olympian contests in the White House has 
 it that General Wood suffered a broadsword 
 crack over the head, administered by his friend 
 and adversary, Theodore Roosevelt, and that a 
 fracture resulted that necessitated trepanning. 
 
 " According to Muldoon, the Roosevelt sons
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 275 
 
 are physically what their father was at their age, 
 rather slighter than the average man, but with 
 great mental and nervous energy. In the days 
 of his earlier manhood, Theodore Roosevelt 
 wanted to fill out his slight frame, to put on 
 flesh, but there came a time when he felt that 
 he weighed too much, and he exercised strenu- 
 ously in order to cut down his weight." 
 
 There was enough of the romantic and the 
 mysterious about the Japanese method of wres- 
 tling, jiu-jitsu, to fascinate Colonel Roosevelt, and 
 a Japanese teacher of the science gave lessons to 
 the President in the White House. Here is an 
 extract from the diary of John Hay, Secretary 
 of State, indicating that anecdotes from Olympia 
 were carried to the cabinet councils: 
 
 " April 26. At the Cabinet meeting this 
 morning the President talked of his Japanese 
 wrestler, who is giving him lessons in jiu-jitsu. 
 He says the muscles of his throat are so pow- 
 erfully developed by training that it is impos- 
 sible for any ordinary man to strangle him. 
 If the President succeeds once in a while 
 in getting the better of him he says, 'Good! 
 Lovely ! ' " 
 
 " One of the army officers who put on the 
 gloves with the President was Lieutenant For- 
 tescue, a distant relative of the Roosevelt family. 
 One morning the young lieutenant was insistent 
 in badgering the Colonel for a bout. The lat- 
 ter at first refused, but finally agreed to go four 
 rounds. According to Joseph Grant, Detective 
 Sergeant of the Washington Police Department, 
 detailed to the White House to "guard" the
 
 276 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 President, it was just about the fastest bout he 
 ever saw. 
 
 " The Colonel began to knock Lieutenant For- 
 tescue right and left in the second round," said 
 the detective. " His right and left got to the 
 army officer's jaw time after time, and the bout 
 was stopped in the third round to prevent the 
 army man from getting a knockout. Then the 
 Colonel turned to me and said : ' I think I can 
 do the same to you : Put on the gloves.' 
 
 " I drew them on reluctantly, and I put up the 
 fight of my life. The best I could do was to pre- 
 vent a decision and get a draw." 
 
 Brief reference was made in Chapter II of this 
 book to the fact that work was the ideal and the 
 impelling motive of Mr. Roosevelt's life. He 
 was always a worker. He never had an idle 
 moment. Even during the periods of his life at 
 Sagamore Hill no part of his time was unoccu- 
 pied. The morning hours were given to exer- 
 cise, pulling at the oar of a boat, laying the ax to 
 a tree with vigorous blows, or riding horseback 
 through the familiar paths around Oyster Bay. 
 Then would come a reading period, for books 
 which would give him information rather than 
 for newspapers. He gave little time to news- 
 papers. Everything he did was done thoroughly, 
 and with his whole heart. So important a char- 
 acteristic of Mr. Roosevelt's life was this passion 
 for work and accomplishment that a clear un- 
 derstanding of it is helpful in explaining the great 
 success of his career. Many of the tributes paid 
 to his memory have emphasized this as one of his 
 greatest glories, and one of the most profitable
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 277 
 
 qualities for his fellow citizens to emulate. It 
 is worth while to quote from two of these 
 tributes : 
 
 Mr. Thomas Bragg, writing for the Evening 
 Mail, New York, describes him as a " doer with 
 all his might " and continues : 
 
 " There was no half-way business with Roose- 
 velt, no half-heartedness; whatever he undertook 
 he went into it with his whole heart and soul, 
 with every ounce of his magnificent energy and 
 unconquerable earnestness. 
 
 " It was said of a certain tempestuous person- 
 age of the last century that had fate made him 
 a chimney sweep he would have been prepared to 
 sweep out Vesuvius ! 
 
 " It was with the same virile and irresistible 
 spirit that Roosevelt went about the performance 
 of the tasks that destiny called upon him to 
 perform. 
 
 " The old adage has it that it is better to 
 ' wear out than to rust out,' but there was never 
 any need of sounding this in the ears of Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt. Never was there, from the time 
 he could walk until he laid himself down for his 
 last sleep, a moment when there was any danger 
 of this man's dying from the rust of disuse. 
 
 " While he lived he was thoroughly, grandly 
 alive alive and busy with the work that the 
 great Taskmaster had given him to do. 
 
 " In his life there were no idle hours, no lost 
 or wasted days, no squandered opportunities for 
 useful activity. 
 
 " Day by day, as the days came along, his life 
 was packed full of work hard work, honest
 
 278 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 work, work into which he put the very best that 
 there was in him. 
 
 " The energy of the man was phenomenal, and 
 quite as wonderful was the zest with which he 
 performed his labors. It was a joy for Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt to be busy. As the powerful 
 swimmer welcomes the great waves, so Roose- 
 velt welcomed the opportunities for work. He 
 rejoiced in them, like the ' strong man prepared 
 to enter into the race.' " 
 
 The editor of The Globe, New York, noticing 
 that in the pulpits of the country, chief emphasis 
 was placed on Mr. Roosevelt's service to this 
 country as preacher as promulgator and cham- 
 pion of moral ideals, declared that " it was as a 
 doer of the word rather than as its preacher that 
 our dead leader and friend wished to be re- 
 garded as worthy." The editor then continues : 
 
 " Few men ever gave birth to a greater volume 
 of speech, but few ever had more contempt for 
 mere exhortation. He regarded as valueless and 
 even vicious preachments not backed by deeds. 
 He did not minimize St. Paul, but he held 
 rather with St. James. 
 
 " He translated professions into acts. His re- 
 forming spirit did not chill when he took an oath 
 of office. He did not merely urge the rightful- 
 ness and necessity of public control of public 
 utilities, but he was the chief force in securing 
 the passage of the Ford and Hepburn bills. He 
 did not shrink from the responsibility of defin- 
 ing, and was willing to take the risks necessarily 
 incident to practical experiment. He did not 
 consider his duty as done when he had expressed
 
 THE MAN OF ACTION 279 
 
 resounding generalizations. He put a principle 
 to the test of use. 
 
 " Imperishable material monuments will for- 
 ever be associated with the name of Roosevelt. 
 There is the Panama Canal, which would not now 
 be if he had not made definite decisions. There 
 is the great Roosevelt dam, symbol of the work 
 of Roosevelt for the vast irrigation projects 
 which have made deserts blossom. He drove 
 through the conservation measures which gave 
 offense to so many selfish interests. The forests 
 that now protect the river sources of the West 
 represent Roosevelt in action. 
 
 " When it became necessary to save the Re- 
 publican party from the abyss toward which un- 
 wise leaders in the madness of personal ani- 
 mosity were seeking to drag it, he did not hesi- 
 tate to bolt, although he well knew there was little 
 chance of carrying the election. The list of 
 things actually done is a long one, and the easy 
 way was always not to be insistent. 
 
 " The best thing about the lost leader of Amer- 
 ica was not his brilliant mind, or his moral per- 
 ceptions, or the driving power of his will, but his 
 character as evidenced by his acts. He was an 
 embodiment of applied integrity, and it is as 
 such that his example will be of chief value to 
 the future. The bottom principle guiding him 
 may be followed by every man or woman no mat- 
 ter in what walk of life." 
 
 The Roosevelt gospel of constant and strenu- 
 ous endeavor gains great force, therefore, from 
 the living example behind it. He preached to 
 others only what he practiced himself, and it is
 
 280 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 impossible to read these words of his without 
 feeling the impelling force of the dauntless spirit 
 expressing itself in them : 
 
 " I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble 
 ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the 
 life of toil and effort, of labor and strife ; to 
 preach that highest form of success which 
 comes, not to the man who desires mere easy 
 peace, but to the man who does not shrink from 
 danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil and 
 who out of these wins the splendid ultimate 
 triumph. 
 
 " Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife, 
 resolute to do our duty well and manfully ; reso- 
 lute to uphold righteousness by deed and by 
 word; resolute to be both honest and brave, to 
 serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. 
 Above all, let us shrink from no strife, moral or 
 physical, within or without the nation, provided 
 we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is 
 only through strife, through hard and dangerous 
 endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal 
 of true national greatness. 
 
 " Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win 
 glorious triumphs, even though checkered by fail- 
 ure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who 
 neither enjoy much or suffer much because they 
 live in the gray twilight that knows not victory 
 or defeat."
 
 Copyright by Brou'n Brothers 
 
 THE FAMOUS ROOSEVELT SMILE
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 281 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC, ABOUNDING IN FEL- 
 LOWSHIP 
 
 " THIS Government stands for manhood first 
 and for business only as an adjunct of man- 
 hood," was one of the keynotes of Roosevelt's 
 American policy. Another was this : " There is 
 just one safe motto for Americans to act upon 
 that is the motto of all men up ; not some men 
 down." The first interest in Roosevelt's great, 
 full-blooded heart was man. LThe first aim in all 
 his work and study was to get close to man and 
 help him. The rich man and the poor man, the 
 powerful and the ignorant, the white and the 
 black interested him, and he measured^ their work 
 by their conduct, not by their station. " His in- 
 terest in, knowledge of, and sympathy with all 
 forms and manifestations of human life, either 
 past Or of the present time," wrote Lawrence F. 
 Abbott to The Outlook from Rome, " is so com- 
 prehensive and genuine that naturally men and 
 things somehow or other seem to gravitate to- 
 ward him and group themselves around them." 
 
 In Egypt, among the ancient monuments and 
 striking attractions which occupy the average 
 tourist, the thing that most absorbed Mr. Roose- 
 velt was the human life of Egypt to-day, and its 
 relation to past and future civilization. Always 
 he was anxious to rub against real men stripped 
 of all external dignities and conventionalities. It 
 was the one trait in particular which, in Egypt,
 
 282 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 caused " the most hospitable and cordial friend- 
 ship and sincere respect to be showered upon Mr. 
 Roosevelt by everybody, from the Khedive down 
 to the humblest cab driver," and in his own land 
 gave him so intimate a place in the understand- 
 ing and the love of all the people. 
 
 The most thoroughly human qualities were 
 conspicuous in Roosevelt at every point of con- 
 tact. ''His acts ai\d his words were all spon- 
 taneous and natural. The man was in the fore- 
 ground, and office or function in the background. 
 i. His faults were just enough to accent his genu- 
 ineness and draw him closer to the rest of u-s. 
 We can admire and respect the high qualities of 
 any man, but the nearer perfect he becomes the 
 farther he is removed from us. It is the mis- 
 takes, the hasty temper, the lapse from dignity, 
 the touch of vanity, the impulsive indiscretion 
 that puts him for the moment within the reach 
 of our own sympathy and understanding. We 
 seem to feel that he is one of us. We can love 
 him then. I have known one of the keenest ad- 
 mirers of Mr. Roosevelt actually to chuckle with 
 delight on reading of some " break " made by 
 him, through which the human asserted itself over 
 the ideal. 
 
 But note this : Never in all the years of his 
 public life were Roosevelt's bitterest enemies able 
 to point to a single vicious, impure, or dishonest 
 act. His faults were all from the hot red blood 
 of a pure-souled man. 
 
 Mr. George William Douglas wrote concern- 
 ing him that it was the human side of the man 
 which made him believe that good government
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 283 
 
 is more than a matter of enforcement of abstract 
 theories. It must in some way make human fel- 
 lowship an easier and a less restricted enjoy- 
 ment. There is the case of Peter Kelley, for 
 instance. Kelley was a young Brooklyn lawyer 
 who was sent to the New York Legislature by the 
 Democrats in 1883, when Mr. Roosevelt was 
 serving in that body. Kelley attached himself to 
 Roosevelt, and the two worked together for those 
 things in which both believed. The Brooklyn 
 Democratic organization was not pleased with 
 Kelley's independence and he was not renomi- 
 nated. He had given so much attention to his 
 legislative duties that his law practice suffered 
 and he could not get it back again. As time went 
 on he fell ill, and his landlord threatened to 
 evict him for non-payment of rent. Mr. Roose- 
 velt heard of the matter, and sent a check for 
 several hundred dollars to Kelley, with a mes- 
 sage telling him to consider it as a loan to be 
 repaid at his convenience. Kelley accepted it 
 in the spirit in which it was offered. 
 
 Then Mr. Roosevelt was asked to speak at a 
 meeting in Brooklyn, held some time after the 
 mayoralty election in 1887. He said as he arose, 
 " You wish me to talk about civic reform and 
 good citizenship. I suppose." 
 
 Some voices were heard saying " Yes," and 
 " That is what we came for." 
 
 " Then," said he, " I will tell you about one of 
 your own neighbors, my friend, Peter Kelley. 
 He is a Democrat, while I am a Republican, but 
 honesty in public service knows no party lines. 
 The first duty of decent citizenship is to stand
 
 284 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 by a good man when you have found him ; that is 
 the only way you can keep popular government 
 respectable, and the people of Brooklyn have not 
 stood by Peter Kelley." 
 
 Then he told the story of Kelley's record in the 
 Legislature and of the treatment which he had 
 received from his party at home, and aroused so 
 much admiration and sympathy for the man that 
 it began to look as if he would have clients 
 enough in the future. And Alfred C. Chapin, 
 who had just been elected mayor, offered to ap- 
 point Kelley to a city office. Mr. Roosevelt's 
 appeal to the humanity of his audience came too 
 late, as Kelley died that night. 
 
 Probably one of the finest illustrations of Mr. 
 Roosevelt's admiration for the splendid human 
 traits in the men with whom he has been associ- 
 ated is found in the tribute which he paid to 
 Leonard Wood, William H. Taft, and Elihu Root 
 in his speech at the Harvard Commencement din- 
 ner, June 25, 1902. He reviewed briefly their 
 work in the War Department, in the Philippines 
 and in Cuba, and concluded : " These three men 
 have done that service. I can do nothing for 
 them. I can show my appreciation of them in 
 no way save the wholly insufficient one of stand- 
 ing up for them and for their works, and that I 
 will do." 
 
 Dr. Edward Everett Hale appreciated the sig- 
 nificance of the address, for that same day, at a 
 reunion of the members of the Alpha Delta Phi 
 fraternity, he said, after Mr. Roosevelt had pre- 
 sented a gold medal to him in behalf of his fel- 
 low-fraternity men :
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 285 
 
 " Some of you heard the President's speech. 
 
 " To those who were not there, I say you 
 should have been there, because it is a speech not 
 to be remembered for a lifetime, but for cen- 
 turies, by one who gave every moment he had to 
 extol the work of three of his great lieutenants 
 that they might have the fair honor which they 
 deserve. I do not know that there is anything 
 like it in literature, where a chief has stood so 
 loyally by three men who stood so loyally by him 
 and the country as well." 
 
 When he attended his class reunion at Harv- 
 ard in 1905, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of 
 his graduation, he manifested the same disposi- 
 tion to say a good word for others. It was at the 
 meeting of the alumni, presided over by Bishop 
 Lawrence, of Massachusetts, president of the as- 
 sociation, that he said : 
 
 " I speak on behalf of the younger men here 
 present when I say that we shall count ourselves 
 more than happy if we can in any way approach 
 the service of the older men in Harvard to the 
 Union. In Bishop Lawrence's very touching in- 
 troduction of me he spoke of the effort I am mak- 
 ing for peace. [The President's intervention in 
 the war between Russia and Japan, which was 
 later followed by a cessation of hostilities and a 
 treaty of peace.] Of course I am for peace. 
 Of course every President who is fit to be Presi- 
 dent is for peace. But I am for one thing be- 
 fore peace I am for righteousness first, and 
 for peace, because normal peace is the instru- 
 ment for obtaining righteousness. I am speak- 
 ing now on behalf of the class of '80, and as
 
 286 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 nobody else has blown our horn for us I am go- 
 ing to blow it just a little. We have followed 
 the example so admirably set by the class of '79 
 in seeking to show in practical fashion our desire 
 to do something for the University. Acting 
 largely under the lead of Mr. Robert Bacon, we 
 have raised Gentlemen, I am going to ask you 
 to give nine cheers for Robert Bacon." The 
 President led the cheering and continued : " We 
 have raised a fund to be used without conditions 
 at all for the benefit of the university, but we 
 hope it will be used in increasing the salaries of 
 those employed to teach in Harvard University. 
 We ought to raise salaries for the sake of giv- 
 ing a more adequate reward to the men. But 
 even if they would go on working at improperly 
 low salaries, we ought to give them decent ones 
 for the sake of our own self-respect." 
 
 It is this sort of whole-souled plea for others 
 that was partly responsible for the great affection 
 in which the country ever held him, an affection 
 so great that even the children shared it and 
 spoke of him familiarly. A school-teacher in 
 Syracuse disclosed this mental attitude when 
 she asked a little girl in class to name the head of 
 the government. 
 
 " Mr. Roosevelt," she replied. 
 
 " That is right, but what is his official title ? " 
 
 " Teddy ! " was the instant response, made with 
 great assurance. 
 
 Even the small boys who were taken to Wash- 
 ington by their fathers to see the President got 
 impatient in the waiting-room and asked: 
 
 " When are we going to see Teddy ?" and
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 287 
 
 again, " Is this where Teddy Roosevelt works ? " 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt's interest in the old home of 
 his mother in Roswell, Georgia, and in the old 
 family servants, manifested during his visit 
 there in 1905, has been well described by Mr. 
 Ralph Smith, who says that as the President's 
 carriage passed through Roswell on the way to 
 the homestead on the hill an old man shouted: 
 
 " There's Teddy, Martha's son ! " 
 
 The President himself made a low bow and 
 waved his hand in the direction of the old man. 
 At the homestead " Mom " Grace and " Daddy " 
 Williams, old servants of the Bullocks, had gath- 
 ered with the Wing family and their relations. 
 When the President and his party reached the 
 house the people assembled were introduced by 
 Senator Clay to the President and Mrs. Roose- 
 velt. It was not long before the President's 
 attention was drawn to an old negro woman, 
 stooped under the weight of years, her skin black 
 and wrinkled. 
 
 " This is Auntie Grace," said one of the ladies, 
 who had noticed Mr. Roosevelt's evident inter- 
 est. 
 
 " Mom Grace, you mean, don't you ? " asked 
 he. " I always heard her called ' Mom ' Grace, 
 not Auntie Grace." 
 
 "Yes, sah," said the old woman; " dis am 
 ' Mom Grace/ Miss Mittie's nuss, and you was 
 Miss Mittie's son ? " she asked. 
 
 " Yes, Mom Grace, I am Miss Mittie's son, and 
 I am certainly very happy to see you," and the 
 President cordially grasped the old woman's 
 hand.
 
 288 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " I sho' 'member Miss Mittie, just like it was 
 yestiddy," she said, " and I sho' is happy to see 
 you, too." 
 
 " Where is Daddy Williams ? " the President 
 asked, referring to a servant who had been raised 
 as a slave by the family. 
 
 The old man was brought forward and was 
 greeted heartily. The President then turned to 
 Mrs. E. H. Wood and asked about the " beauti- 
 ful bed of violets that my mother used to talk 
 about." It was shown to him with many flowers 
 in blossom. Then he desired to see the old well 
 that was used as a cold-storage vault. He went 
 through the house from top to bottom and ex- 
 plored the back yard, talking all the time of the 
 many things which his mother had told him of 
 the place. Finally he stood for his photograph 
 on the front porch. Before the group was posed 
 he said : 
 
 " Where are Mom Grace and Daddy Williams ? 
 They must be in this picture." 
 
 And Theodore Roosevelt, son of Martha Bul- 
 lock, stood before the Southern homestead beside 
 his mother's old black nurse and another family 
 servant, an intensely human man yielding to the 
 natural impulses of interest in all that per- 
 tained to the life of his family in the generation 
 before him. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt's keenest interest was always 
 in the man who was fighting his way up in the 
 world, says Henry L. Stoddard, who is authority 
 for the following: 
 
 " Roosevelt was accused of insincerity in meet- 
 ing Tom, Dick and Harry, but those who knew
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 289 
 
 and understood the man knew well that insin- 
 cerity was not in his make-up. He was, if any- 
 thing, too sincere for his own good. He really 
 liked to do something for the fellow at the bot- 
 tom of the ladder. 
 
 " I could quote many instances. I recall one 
 in particular that happened while I was with him 
 in Trinidad two years ago. The cruiser 
 Tennessee arrived at the port just as we were 
 leaving. Several of the officers came ashore, and 
 as soon as they learned that Colonel Roosevelt 
 was on the wharf they hustled over to greet him. 
 
 " While he was talking with them, I noticed 
 that the sailors who had rowed the officers over 
 were trying vainly to get the Colonel's attention. 
 They did not dare offend their superiors, but they 
 did want a word and a nod from ' Teddy.' 
 
 " I could see that it would mean much to them, 
 thousands of miles from home, to get a word 
 from their former President. At the right mo- 
 ment I told him that some of the sailor lads were 
 eager to greet him. 
 
 " Good-by to the officer ! The Colonel was off 
 at once to the side of the wharf ; the boys gave a 
 cheer, and then a round of cheers. Then several 
 of them pulled out cameras and asked leave to 
 kodak him. It was the event of their lives, no 
 doubt, and as we turned away the Colonel re- 
 marked, ' By Jove ! I wouldn't have missed that 
 for a good deal. I enjoyed it as much as the 
 boys. We're both far away from home.' " 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt never regarded himself as better 
 than anybody else, and never asked that rules be 
 suspended in his behalf. Years ago, while he
 
 2QO ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 was still a very young man, he visited the Yel- 
 lowstone Park. His seat mate on the stage that 
 carried the party from the railroad to the park 
 says: 
 
 " When we reached the government station, at 
 the entrance to the National Park, an official 
 asked that all hunting arms be passed to him 
 in order that he might seal them. Mr. Roose- 
 velt promptly turned his guns over to the official ; 
 but the man instantly recognized the traveler and 
 offered them back. The recognition was mutual. 
 
 " ' Your guns are all right, Mr. Roosevelt,' 
 said the government official in a low tone. 
 
 ' ' No ; they have no seals upon them,' was the 
 prompt reply. 
 
 " ' I can trust you,' answered the inspector. 
 
 " ' Not on your life,' answered the visitor. 
 ' Seal 'em up ! No special privileges for me, 
 just because we have met before, old man.' 
 
 " And Mr. Roosevelt's guns were sealed like 
 the others." 
 
 It would have been easy for Mr. Roosevelt to 
 fall in with the theories and practices of the 
 people who believe in government by the few on 
 the ground that the many cannot be trusted to 
 decide what is good for them. But the notion of 
 imposing government from above on anybody 
 save the criminal, seems never to have occurred 
 to him as a just or a righteous thing. He told 
 a New York audience in 1890 that he had more 
 confidence in the virile vicious than in the inef- 
 ficient and degenerate " higher society." He 
 only elaborated this idea when he said on an- 
 other occasion:
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 291 
 
 "For myself, I'd work as quickly beside Pat 
 Dugan as with the last descendants of the 
 Patroon. It literally makes no difference to me, 
 so long as the work is good and the man is in 
 earnest. I would have the young men work. 
 I'd try to develop and work out an ideal of mine, 
 the theory of the duty of the leisure classes to the 
 community. I have tried to do it by example, 
 and it is what I have preached first and fore- 
 most, to be American, heart and soul, and to go 
 with any person, heedless of anything but that 
 man's personal qualifications." 
 
 It was always the man that counted with him. 
 " The rank is but the guinea's stamp." And 
 when he found a man he was always loyal to him. 
 All those who had anything to do with him know 
 this. He showed it in Bangor, Maine, when he 
 was there in the summer of 1902. At a suitable 
 pause in the proceedings of the meeting which 
 he was addressing he went to the edge of the plat- 
 form and called out: 
 
 " If ' Old Bill ' Sewall is in town I want him to 
 join me at luncheon, for I feel like a man who 
 has lost a partner in a crowd." 
 
 It was William Wingate Sewall, of Island 
 Falls, that -he wanted, the man who went West 
 with him when he bought his ranch in Dakota 
 Territory. There was a scurrying hunt for 
 Sewall, and when he was found he shared the 
 honors of the day with the President. 
 
 " I knew that if the President knew I was 
 around," said he in the evening, when the excite- 
 ment 'had subsided somewhat, " he'd have me 
 right with him, but I didn't think it would be
 
 292 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 anything like this. I have known him for 
 twenty-three years ever since he was a college 
 boy. We didn't talk much about politics to- 
 day. We had other things to talk about." 
 
 According to General Charles F. Manderson, 
 former United States Senator from Nebraska, 
 Mr. Roosevelt's democratic manner had a some- 
 what startling effect on a prominent Englishman 
 who saw him when he was Governor of New 
 York. 
 
 " I was in Buffalo, attending a meeting of the 
 American Bar Association," said General Man- 
 derson, who was its president. " Among the dis- 
 tinguished guests present from abroad was Sir 
 William Kennedy, of London, eminent in the pro- 
 fession, and one of the justices of the High Court 
 of Justice of Great Britain and president of the 
 International Law Association. 
 
 " One night while seated in the parlor of our 
 hotel the attention of the English lawyers who 
 were present was attracted by considerable 
 hilarity in an adjoining room. Later on the door 
 opened and in walked Governor Roosevelt. He 
 greeted me in his usual breezy fashion, and in 
 explanation of his presence in town stated that 
 he had been addressing some of the agricultural 
 societies of the State and had come to Buffalo 
 to dine and spend the evening with a number of 
 his personal and political friends. He spoke to 
 me of having lately attended a reunion of Rough 
 Riders, and greatly amused and interested me 
 and the group of foreign gentlemen, all of them 
 lawyers, seated near, with a vivid and picturesque 
 description of his army life in Cuba; of the life
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 293 
 
 on the plains in which he had figured, with tales 
 of bucking bronchos and cavorting steers with 
 heads aloft and tails over their backs in wild 
 stampede. He also gave interesting bits of hunt- 
 ing scenes, and wound up with some unique 
 views of men and things interesting to him in his 
 brief but strenuous existence. 
 
 " I took advantage of a pause in the conversa- 
 tion," General Manderson continues, " to intro- 
 duce the foreign gentlemen present After Mr. 
 Roosevelt had taken his departure, Sir William 
 Kennedy broke out with, ' But, I say, Senator, 
 that is a very remarkable man, you know, a very 
 remarkable man. And you say he is Governor 
 of New York. That is very surprising, you 
 know. I really can't say that I ever before met 
 exactly such a man. And he seems to be a 
 fighter. I rather like that in him. And you say 
 he is a writer of high repute, too? Well, by 
 Jove, he is the queerest combination I have ever 
 met.' 
 
 " During the summer of 1901, while I was in 
 London, I again met Sir William. Mr. Roose- 
 velt's impressive individuality still dominated his 
 mind, for after indulging in some preliminary 
 conversation he remarked: "By the way, I see 
 that your friend, Roosevelt, whom we met in 
 Buffalo, is Vice-President. That is very astonish- 
 ing, very astonishing, indeed. I was much in- 
 terested in him at the time and have watched his 
 course and have read some of his writings. He 
 seems to write as well as he fights, and is very 
 young to have had such an eventful career.' 
 
 " I told him to watch the future and not be
 
 294 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 astonished at what could be achieved by young 
 men in this young country of ours. I then in- 
 creased his amazement by telling him the story of 
 Roosevelt's nomination as Vice-President, and 
 how it was forced upon him. When he heard 
 that his great desire was to be re-elected as Gov- 
 ernor of New York, that he might carry out cer- 
 tain reforms, the amazement of this intelligent 
 and appreciative jurist increased. 
 
 " Sir William Kennedy was in this country 
 again in the summer of 1904," General Mander- 
 son concluded, " and I met him at the Congress 
 of Lawyers in St. Louis. He had ceased to be 
 amazed, and his astonishment had given way to 
 the satisfaction that all prominent Englishmen 
 seemed to feel over the advancement of this typi- 
 cal American." 
 
 The human and humane things seemed to be 
 easy for him, even though at times it meant tak- 
 ing note of trivial matters. One day while Gov- 
 ernor he was walking from the Capitol in Albany, 
 accompanied by a friend, when he noticed two 
 sturdy but tired horses striving to haul a load up 
 the ice-covered street. 
 
 One of the horses slipped. Mr. Roosevelt 
 stopped at once, and with the absorbed expres- 
 sion on his face which he wears when deeply 
 interested, watched the horse get up on his feet. 
 The animal stumbled again and fell. 
 
 " Stop a moment," Mr. Roosevelt said to the 
 driver. " Drive sideways." 
 
 The man did not recognize the Governor and 
 was about to curse him for interfering when 
 Mr. Roosevelt caught his eye. Then the man
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 295 
 
 zigzagged his horses up the hill past the ice with 
 never a word. 
 
 The grim look on the Governor's face disap- 
 peared as quickly as it came, and the next mo- 
 ment he had lifted his hat to a little child who 
 had saluted him in military fashion. 
 
 With equal sympathy he relieved the embar- 
 rassment of a new page who was overawed by his 
 boyish idea of the greatness of the head of the 
 State government. The boy had to deliver a 
 message to the Governor and he entered the ex- 
 ecutive chamber with his heart in his throat and 
 his knees trembling from embarrassment. When 
 he reappeared from the room after delivering the 
 note he was smiling blissfully, and as he met 
 another page he exclaimed enthusiastically: 
 
 " Say, ain't Teddy a peach ! " 
 
 Neither as Governor of his own State, nor yet 
 as President, did he for one moment forget that 
 he was " just folks." He did chafe, however, 
 under the awesome manner with which he was 
 sometimes approached. In referring to this sub- 
 ject in conversation with a friend at dinner, he 
 said: 
 
 " I am losing all my manners. The ladies 
 won't sit down where I am unless I sit down 
 first." 
 
 When a woman from Jacksonville, Florida, 
 was presented to him in his office, she announced : 
 
 " Mr. President, I have come all this way just 
 to see you. I have never seen a live President 
 before." 
 
 " Well, well," was the reply, while the woman 
 looked shocked, " I hope you don't feel disap-
 
 29 6 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 pointed, now that you have seen one. Lots of 
 people in these parts go all the way to Jackson- 
 ville to see a live alligator." 
 
 He surprised a painter who was at work on the 
 White House just as he astonished the woman 
 from Jacksonville. He went out of the house 
 one day to see how the men were getting on with 
 their work. One of them was swinging his 
 brush in a leisurely fashion and Mr. Roosevelt 
 stopped near him to see how slowly the man 
 could work. Pretty soon he demanded: 
 
 " How much do you get a day? " 
 
 " Three and a quarter," the painter replied. 
 
 " That's big pay for such pleasant work," re- 
 joined the President. " When I was a boy I 
 used to think that I would like to be a painter. 
 It always appealed to me because you can see 
 something accomplished with each stroke of the 
 brush." 
 
 By this time Mr. Roosevelt was close beside 
 the man, who asked him if he did not want to 
 try his hand at painting now, and offered his 
 brush. Much to his surprise, the President took 
 it and for a time covered the wall with paint at 
 a rapid rate. He went over fully ten square 
 feet of surface before he surrendered the brush. 
 Then he nodded, as much as to say, " That is the 
 way you ought to work," and walked over to a 
 gang of men who were shoveling dirt into a 
 wagon. 
 
 One of his South Dakota friends went to 
 Washington to renew his acquaintance with Mr. 
 Roosevelt soon after he became President. 
 While he was there he attended a musicale at the
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 297 
 
 White House. At the close of the program 
 classical music only had been played some one 
 asked the man banteringly how he had liked the 
 entertainment. 
 
 " I am afraid," he replied dryly, as many an- 
 other man would have done, " I'm afraid it was 
 a spell too far up the gulch for me." 
 
 The President, who heard the pertinent criti- 
 cism, laughed heartily, turned to the man's wife 
 and saved the situation by remarking: 
 
 " You'd better take care of the captain's pistol. 
 I know that out in his country they shoot the 
 fiddler when he doesn't play the tunes they 
 want." 
 
 In the autumn of 1903 a committee of labor 
 men from Montana went to Washington to talk 
 about the labor situation in that State. Before 
 entering on the discussion of their business the 
 President entertained them at luncheon, with 
 Secretary Cortelyou, of the Department of Labor 
 and Commerce ; Carroll D. Wright, Labor Com- 
 missioner; Representative Dixon of Montana, 
 and Wayne McVeagh, as the other guests. He 
 told the labor men he was " as glad to welcome 
 them as he would be to receive seven of the 
 richest and most influential men in the coun- 
 try," and then led the conversation around to 
 life in the West, with which his guests were 
 familiar, and still further appealed to them by 
 stories of his own experience. 
 
 " The best meal I have ever eaten," said he, 
 among other things, " or at least, the one that 
 tasted best, I got in Butte, and it cost me just 
 twenty-five cents.
 
 2Q8 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " In 1885, Jack Willis, a cowboy friend of 
 mine, and I landed in Butte. Our remittances 
 had been delayed and we had just half a dollar 
 between us. We were so hungry we could hardly 
 see, and we were much afraid that our fifty 
 cents would not go far toward satisfying our 
 appetites. 
 
 " Finally we found a twenty-five-cent restau- 
 rant not a Chinese restaurant, either and 
 the meal we got there made us happy and con- 
 tent. The next day our money reached us and 
 we were all right. But ever since then I have 
 had a warm place in my heart for Butte." 
 
 His human sympathy made it possible for him 
 to get enjoyment out of many novel situations. 
 The Kansas City newspapers have preserved an 
 instance of his geniality, shown at the time of his 
 visit to that city in 1903. As the parade in his 
 honor was passing along Walnut Street a cow- 
 boy stepped over the rope that was holding back 
 the spectators he was tall enough to step over 
 it easily and, taking off his sombrero with a 
 courtly flourish, as the President appeared, he 
 yelled: 
 
 " Hello, Ted ! " 
 
 The President looked around suddenly, a broad 
 smile spread over his features, and he slowly and 
 distinctly winked his left eye at the man in the 
 street. 
 
 When the police succeeded in getting the cow- 
 boy back behind the rope, where he belonged and 
 where he was among his friends, he exclaimed 
 enthusiastically : 
 
 "Did you see him recognize me? Why, me
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 299 
 
 and Ted used to ride the range together in Wy- 
 oming. We're old pals. Did you see him wink 
 t'other eye ? He knows me all right." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt never confessed whether he 
 knew the man, or only knew what would please 
 him. 
 
 As President, he always tried to gratify the 
 desire of the people to see him. On his tours 
 of the country he recognized the propriety of the 
 curiosity of the people to look on a " live Presi- 
 dent," even though he did smile when they con- 
 fessed that curiosity in Washington. 
 
 " I had the honor to be the guest of the Presi- 
 dent during his journey through the Eighth Con- 
 gressional District of Iowa," said Colonel Hep- 
 burn, the representative of that district, in dis- 
 cussing this subject. " The schedule provided 
 for five stops, at which times the President made 
 some remarks to the vast crowds of people who 
 had gathered to see the Chief Executive. We 
 passed through, perhaps, twenty towns where no 
 stops were made, but the President insisted that 
 the train should slow up at every station, and no 
 matter what he happened to be engaged in doing 
 at the time, he instantly ran to the rear platform 
 and bowed, and in some instances waved his hat 
 or handkerchief to the masses of people who had 
 expected to get only a glimpse of a flying train 
 bearing the President of the United States. 
 
 " It was raining at one of the points where a 
 stop was made," Colonel Hepburn continued, 
 " and the President was to take a short drive 
 and inspect the town. The committee on re- 
 ception had provided a covered carriage, but the
 
 300 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 President insisted that the top should be lowered 
 even though it exposed him to the storm. As the 
 top was dropped, he remarked : 
 
 " ' These thousands of people have assembled 
 this bad day to see their President; if they can 
 stand to walk in the rain, I guess I can stand it to 
 ride a few minutes in the rain.' " 
 
 At the town of Diagonal, the President was 
 making a speech. An old crippled soldier hob- 
 bled along and tried to find a seat without suc- 
 cess. The President stopped: 
 
 " ' I cannot proceed until that old soldier is 
 provided with a place to sit.' 
 
 " At one point the President looked out of the 
 window of the car and a few rods ahead saw a 
 farmer in his working clothes with bared head, 
 standing alongside the track that ran through his 
 cornfield. Realizing that the farmer intended to 
 show his respect for the President of the United 
 States as he was borne by on the rushing train, 
 Mr. Roosevelt, without stopping to excuse him- 
 self to the men he was talking with, seized his 
 hat, dashed to the rear platform, swung it in the 
 air and bowed." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt's approachableness impressed it- 
 self upon all who had anything to do with him, 
 whether it was the members of the Diplomatic 
 Corps or whether it was his own countrymen of 
 whatever station. 
 
 " ' Mr. Roosevelt is by all odds the most demo- 
 cratic President we have had since the days of 
 Jefferson.' 
 
 " These words," said Mr. Eggleston in the in- 
 teresting account of his visit to the President re-
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 301 
 
 referred to in a previous chapter, " were spoken 
 to me in Washington the other day by a gentle- 
 woman who has lived long, traveled much, and 
 observed closely, and who, by reason of her high 
 social position, has had the entree of the White 
 House for thirty years or more. 
 
 " I quoted the utterance to Mr. Roosevelt soon 
 afterward," Mr. Eggleston continues, " when I 
 had the pleasure of passing an hour or two with 
 him in the private residential part of the Execu- 
 tive Mansion. His answer was quick, as his an- 
 swers are apt to be when anything interests 
 him. 
 
 " ' I am democratic,' he said, with emphasis 
 on the verb, ' if the word democratic is used in 
 its legitimate sense. But I have no patience with 
 the vulgarly ostentatious avoidance of ostentation 
 which sometimes calls itself " democratic." I 
 have no sympathy with the thought that in order 
 to be democratic one must put aside respect for 
 the gentle decencies of life and make a boor or a 
 clown of himself. I believe thoroughly in the 
 simplicities and the honesties of life and in the 
 fellowship of all honest and sincere men. But 
 it doesn't appeal to me when a man refuses to 
 wear the customary garb of gentlemen lest aris- 
 tocratic pretensions be attributed to him.' 
 
 " You do not think, then," Mr. Eggleston inter- 
 jected, " that one need go to a public dinner with- 
 out cuffs in order to demonstrate his democ- 
 racy ? " 
 
 " The President laughed, and his laugh was 
 sufficient answer to my question," said Mr. 
 Eggleston. " But presently he added :
 
 302 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 '' ' It is my endeavor to make of the White 
 House during my term, not a second-rate palace, 
 like that of some insignficant prince, but the home 
 of a self-respecting American citizen who has 
 been called for a time to serve his countrymen in 
 executive office. There seems to be a world of 
 difference between democracy and demagogy. 
 The one is based upon an honest and sincere re- 
 spect for one's fellow-men, the other involves the 
 sacrifice of self-respect in an appeal to vulgarity 
 and prejudice.' 
 
 " As Mr. Roosevelt earnestly said this," com- 
 mented Mr. Eggleston, " I could not avoid re- 
 calling that passage in the novel called ' Democ- 
 racy,' in which it is recorded that a certain sena- 
 tor of the cuffless sort gravely doubted the 
 prudence of taking a daily bath lest the practice 
 be regarded by his constituents as ' savoring of 
 aristocracy.' " 
 
 Mr. Eggleston also recorded the impression 
 which he received of the President's appreciation 
 of the dignity of the great office that he occu- 
 pied. " He is, first of all, a gentleman, with all 
 a gentleman's self-respect. He is, secondly, an 
 American citizen, so strongly imbued with a 
 sense of the dignity of American citizenship that 
 he makes his respectful bow to it whenever he 
 meets it. He is, thirdly, the chosen representa- 
 tive of eighty million people, selected from their 
 number by their willing suffrages to occupy the 
 highest office within their gift. He maintains 
 all of dignity that his high office demands of 
 him. He has all the winning and easy courtesy 
 for those who approach him that any gentleman
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 303 
 
 shows to the stranger within his gates. And 
 with due respect to those imperative obliga- 
 tions, he has all that any American citizen can 
 have of frank and generous recognition of other 
 citizenship than his own. When he comes out 
 of his sanctum, as I saw him do a little while ago, 
 to greet the miscellaneous throng of persons who 
 daily call, with no other purpose than the idle 
 one of shaking hands, he does so precisely as he 
 might enter his drawing-room at Oyster Bay to 
 converse with assembled guests. There is no 
 formality or air of state in his demeanor ; but 
 there is equally nothing of assumed familiarity. 
 He does not sit or stand, as former Presidents 
 have done, to have his guests ' presented/ He 
 simply moves about among them, as one does in 
 his parlor, greeting each pleasantly, saying what- 
 ever there is to be said of friendliness or cour- 
 tesy, and if one previously known to him hap- 
 pens to be in the assemblage, grasping his hand 
 with special cordiality and making pleasant refer- 
 ence to some previous occasion of meeting. In 
 brief, President Roosevelt receives his morning 
 callers in the White House precisely as Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt, citizen, always received his call- 
 ers in his own home. And he sends them away 
 at last, happy and with the feeling that there 
 has been nothing of arrogance in his reception of 
 them, and especially nothing of condescension. 
 This robustly healthy American citizen who is 
 our chief executive has no sympathy with the 
 insolence either of arrogance or of condescen- 
 sion." 
 
 How true this last statement is was well illus- 

 
 304 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 trated when, as Civil Service Commissioner, Mr. 
 Roosevelt kept President Harrison waiting while 
 he showed an errand boy the shortest route from 
 the Treasury Building to the Capitol. 
 
 He went about his business as any other self- 
 respecting citizen, making himself inconspicuous 
 rather than thrusting himself forward. When 
 he was president of the Police Commission in 
 New York, he attended the Bourke Cockran 
 meeting in Madison Square Garden in the au- 
 tumn of 1896. As he entered the hall, the peo- 
 ple began to crane their necks and look at him, 
 and " There's Roosevelt," was heard from many 
 voices as he walked along. Men stopped him 
 to grasp his hand, and he would respond briefly 
 and hasten along, evidently anxious to escape 
 the crowd. When he reached the box he went 
 to the back of it and got behind the gentlemen 
 who were with him, apparently desiring to hide 
 himself from the curious eyes that seemed to 
 follow his every move. 
 
 In Washington he also strove to make him- 
 self inconspicuous, and succeeded in walking 
 about the city many times without attracting spe- 
 cial attention. For instance, one December Sun- 
 day afternoon when Connecticut Avenue was full 
 of dignitaries he walked through the street with- 
 out being recognized. He wore a faded brown 
 coat, which was tightly buttoned about his chest 
 to keep out the biting wind. An old weather- 
 beaten hat was pulled down on his head, the 
 brim half concealing his face. His shoes were 
 heavy and covered with mud. His companion 
 was a short man, fashionably clad, with a silk
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 305 
 
 hat on his head. The two men were earnestly 
 talking, and one giving only a casual glance at 
 the couple might have thought that the larger, 
 roughly dressed man was asking the other for a 
 quarter to pay for a night's lodging. The con- 
 versation continued till the pair came in sight of 
 the White House, where a little black newsboy 
 caught sight of them. His face lit up with a 
 smile of recognition. 
 
 " Hello ! " he was heard to say to himself. 
 "Marse Teddy!" 
 
 The boy was about the only person who had 
 discovered the President in the unconventional 
 attire that he had put on for a long walk in the 
 country with his Attorney-General. 
 
 He was fond of the theater ; but he used it for 
 relaxation and saw the light comedies and comic 
 operas which could be enjoyed with little mental 
 exertion. When he was present at such a per- 
 formance in the early winter of 1905 a little 
 Boston terrier belonging to one of the young 
 women in the chorus found its way to the stage, 
 attracted thither by the lights. The dog got in 
 front of the line of dancing and singing young 
 women, looked about, stretched, and yawned. 
 Everybody laughed, including Mr. Roosevelt. 
 The dog heard the President's laugh and strolled 
 over toward the side of the stage, sat down and 
 looked at the man. Mr. Roosevelt smiled back 
 at the dog. In a second or two he gathered him- 
 self for a jump and leaped over the side of the 
 box into the President's lap and settled down 
 contentedly. Mr. Roosevelt fondled the animal 
 a moment and then lifted him back to the stage
 
 306 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 to the accompaniment of wild and enthusiastic 
 applause, and the performance, which had been 
 interrupted by the incident, was resumed ; but the 
 audience for a time thought more of the instinc- 
 tive confidence with which the dog had appealed 
 to the President's interest than of the play on 
 the stage. 
 
 That laugh and smile of Theodore Roosevelt 
 were famous and magnetic. The Evening Sun, 
 New York, once said, " His smile has almost lit- 
 erally beamed around the world." 
 
 The Roosevelt smile meant an almost boyish 
 interest in things and disclosed his strong, finely 
 chiseled teeth, which were always caricatured 
 to look very large and out of proportion. 
 
 That smile was always the precursor of friend- 
 ship, and no man in public life ever drew more 
 talented men around him than did Theodore 
 Roosevelt. His power and magnetism were such 
 that a majority of men were dominated by his 
 ideas and were anxious to serve him in almost 
 any capacity. 
 
 But his friendships were not confined to politi- 
 cal life. Boys and girls, presidents, kings, pugi- 
 lists, big game hunters, churchmen, soldiers, 
 sailors, diplomats, engineers, ranchmen, Texas 
 rangers, bankers, politicians, railroad magnates, 
 all were friends of the former President at one 
 time or another, and all who were worthy of his 
 friendship enjoyed the warmth and fullness of 
 his generous smile. 
 
 But his laugh ! The New York Herald tried 
 to do justice to it as follows : 
 
 "Theodore Roosevelt possessed one trait,
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 307 
 
 known only to his intimates and unnoticed save 
 by a few of those, that was a sure index of his 
 character. He had a magnificent laugh. Only 
 those who have studied human nature closely 
 know how truthfully laughter reflects character. 
 He who laughs from above his collar button does 
 it with some purpose ; usually to conciliate a per- 
 son on whom he has predatory designs. He 
 whose laughter is so loud and frequent as to 
 leave permanent indentations on his cheeks is 
 one whom the wise mistrust and shun. 
 
 " No dry, nanny-goat chuckle ever wrinkled 
 the face of Roosevelt. He did not need to force 
 laughter to his lips. He gave way to it because 
 he had a genuine sense of humor, easily and 
 naturally, and it came not from his throat but 
 from his diaphragm, as does that of all honest 
 men." 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt was bitterly hated, writes 
 x Mr. Charles Willis Thompson in the New York 
 Times, but " the people who hated him hadn't 
 met him. He was accused of insincerity, but 
 never by people who knew him. He was accused 
 of optimism by people who didn't know him. 
 There were many who believed his course was 
 always dictated by a desire to obtain votes, but 
 such people were not acquainted with him." 
 
 Newspaper reporters always declared that to 
 know Roosevelt was to love him. Even the rep- 
 resentatives of strong anti-Roosevelt organs 
 were swayed by his captivating personality/^] 
 There was a mystic magic in his rip-roaringT^ 
 manly nature that won all hearts to him, and as 
 his companion on many campaigns, Mr. Thomp-
 
 308 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 son tells incidents in proof of the Colonel's sin- 
 cerity, bravery, and loyalty: 
 
 He was called, by some people, a poseur, but 
 he was a poseur in the same sense that Tom 
 Sawyer was. That is, dramatic scenery appealed 
 to what Mark Twain called " the circus side of 
 my nature." The people who didn't know him 
 and who hated him were, when of the male sex, 
 persons of a feminine cast, to whom the rip-roar- 
 ing masculinity of Roosevelt was a continuing 1 
 shock. Very few women hated him. If that 
 seems a paradox, it isn't. Well, a personality 
 that is so rip-roaring masculine simply has to 
 have a circus side to it. 
 
 There is a picture before my eyes of a scene 
 out at a lonely jerkwater station in Arizona. 
 The Colonel's special train had stopped there so 
 that a few of the Rough Riders could come to it 
 from their ranches and shake hands with their 
 old commander. It was at the height of a great 
 campaign, and the itinerary had been planned in 
 Washington ; but no matter, the train had got 
 to stop there. The Rough Riders rode, some of 
 them forty miles, to shake hands with him, and 
 they were all waiting on the plank in front of 
 the hut that served as a station when the special 
 puffed itself to a stop. Aside from the station 
 agent and the Rough Riders there was not an- 
 other human being in sight, nor the faintest hint 
 of a town or village in the clear, sun-dried Ari- 
 zona landscape. 
 
 The moving-picture man whom the Colonel 
 had christened " Movie," and also " Dare Devil 
 Dick," his name being Richard J. Cummins
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 309 
 
 saw a great opportunity and yelled to the Colonel. 
 The Colonel promptly took off his enormous 
 black hat, arranged the astonished Rough Riders 
 in appropriate attitude, and then, with his arm 
 around an Arizona shoulder, began talking. 
 " Throw a little ginger in, Colonel," shouted 
 " Movie," and the Colonel began throwing in all 
 his appropriate gestures, while " Movie " stood 
 there grinding the crank. The picture must 
 have indicated to those who saw it subsequently 
 that the Colonel was recalling the brave days of 
 '98 to his fellow veterans, but this is what he 
 was saying: 
 
 " Barnes, Penrose, and Smoot do you re- 
 member that charge up San Juan ? an initiative 
 and referendum recall of judicial decisions 
 Jack Greenway, one of the best in the regiment 
 Bob Evans took the fleet into the Pacific " 
 
 All this to the most furious gesticulation, any 
 nonsense that came into his head, talked at the 
 rate of sixty miles a minute. The Rough Riders 
 had nothing to do but pretend to look impressed, 
 and did it badly, the more so as we reporters 
 were laughing ourselves sick behind the camera. 
 
 " That'll be a corker, Colonel," said ' Movie ' 
 stopping the crank; and the Colonel, released 
 from duty, joined the rest of us in our roars of 
 laughter. ' By George ! ' he said, mopping his 
 brow, ' I haven't had so much fun in a week. If 
 that is posing, make the most of it.' " 
 
 He was not a vote-hunter, except as every man 
 in politics must be. He never compromised a 
 conviction for a vote. He always made it a 
 point to denounce to his face anything he did not
 
 310 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 approve of. If, for instance, he had been a free- 
 trader he would not have denounced protection 
 until he could denounce it in Pittsburg. In that 
 sense he was less of a demagogue than any other 
 man I ever met in politics. 
 
 On his swing around the country in 1912 he 
 never said more than a perfunctory word against 
 the Democratic party until he got into the South, 
 its home, where it is not only wicked but anti- 
 social to speak against the Democratic party. 
 His most blazing denunciations of pacifism in his 
 great tour in 1916 were reserved for Henry 
 Ford's home, Detroit, where, whatever may be the 
 case in other parts of Michigan, the population 
 is excessively pro-Ford. 
 
 It was the same on his trip abroad not that 
 that has anything to do with vote getting; it 
 was in France that he denounced race suicide and 
 in England that he assailed England's Egyptian 
 policy. Always -he picked out sin's home town 
 to lambaste sin. These are not the methods of a 
 mere vote-getter. In fact, his going into the 
 South at all in 1912 was quixotism; he knew he 
 could not get an electoral vote there, and the 
 whole Progressive campaign depended on his 
 voice reaching as many vulnerable spots as could 
 be found. Yet he side-tracked himself into the 
 South, for he dreamed that he could break up 
 the one-party system there and relieve the South 
 of an incubus; not in one campaign, of course, 
 " but," he said, " I have drawn the furrow, and 
 it won't be necessary to go over that furrow 
 again." 
 
 When the convention of 1916 was drawing
 
 HUMAN AND DEMOCRATIC 3" 
 
 near, I asked him if he thought he had a chance 
 of the nomination. " Not the least in the world," 
 he said. " If I had, I killed it by my tour of the 
 West advocating preparedness and Americanism. 
 Those issues will be taken up ; but when it comes 
 to making nominations, a convention will always 
 pass over the pioneer, because he has made too 
 many enemies by his pioneering. I've been the 
 pioneer ; I have forced those issues to the front ; 
 and the convention will adopt them and then 
 nominate somebody else who is safer. It's the 
 invariable rule in politics." And, of course, he 
 knew that invariable rule when he made his tour j 
 but it didn't stop him; or weigh with him for an 
 instant. 
 
 No man could meet Roosevelt and go on hat- 
 ing him ; that is, of course, unless he met him in a 
 fight. At the Barnes-Roosevelt libel trial in 
 Syracuse I came across James J. Montague, a 
 hardened reporter on a highly anti-Roosevelt 
 newspaper, walking up and down and cursing. I 
 asked him what moved him to these expletives. 
 " Roosevelt, damn him," said Montague ; " I 
 can't keep hating him if I get anywhere within 
 twenty feet of him, and I'm always accidentally 
 doing it. He's spoiling my story." 
 
 The Colonel never won over any antagonist by 
 blandishment. He was often said to have 
 " used " the reporters, especially the Washington 
 correspondents. Well, if he used them it was 
 by an old magic with no black art in it. He 
 never flattered or palavered or went out of his 
 way. I knew him very well for many years, and 
 he was always the same to everybody. I saw the
 
 312 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 magic in his actions; it was the magic that can 
 only be conjured by a large, joyous, and gen- 
 erous soul with real manliness at the back of it. 
 And something else, which I can best express 
 by saying that no man who knew Roosevelt would 
 have been willing to let the Colonel know that 
 he had done something mean or dirty. 
 
 But no man could use that magic as Roose- 
 velt could, says Mr. Thompson in conclusion. 
 Men loved to be put under that spell ; and there 
 will be many sore hearts for the lack of it now. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE HERO OF MANY A GOOD STORY 
 
 PROBABLY the most picturesque man in pub- 
 lic life in the last half-century, remarks the Chi- 
 cago Daily News, Theodore Roosevelt figured 
 largely in anecdotes of adventure and otherwise, 
 wherever men gathered to swap stories. Many 
 of the stories associated with his name may be 
 groundless, but scores of them are undoubtedly 
 founded on fact. It is around men of his posi- 
 tive, virile, aggressive personality that traditions 
 group themselves. From many sources, includ- 
 ing personal friends of Mr. Roosevelt as well as 
 newspapers and magazines, the anecdotes in this 
 chapter have been gathered. Not only are they 
 entertaining in themselves, but they shed many 
 side lights on the character of this great Amer- 
 ican.
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 313 
 
 A friendship of close intimacy existed be- 
 tween Mr. Roosevelt and the famous African 
 hunter and pathbreaker, Frederick Courtenay 
 Selous, D. S. O., Captain of the 25th Royal 
 Fusiliers, who was killed in action January 4th, 
 1917. When President Roosevelt planned his 
 long hunting trip in Africa in 1908, he wrote to 
 Selous asking his expert advice and help. The 
 assistance he thus received was a very large fac- 
 tor in the success of the trip. 
 
 For several years an interesting correspond- 
 ence was maintained between these two kindred 
 spirits, and the letters were of the real heart-to- 
 heart character which make charming reading. 
 Many of them have just been published in the 
 life of Selous, by J. G. Milais, F. Z. S., (Long- 
 mans, Green and Co.). Here is one extract 
 from a letter written by Mr. Roosevelt in reply 
 to one from Mr. Selous expressing concern when 
 the President was attacked and wounded by the 
 would-be assassin in Milwaukee in 1912 : 
 
 " My dear Selous, I could not help being a little 
 amused by your statement that my ' magnificent 
 behavior, splendid pluck and great constitutional 
 strength have made a great impression.' Come, 
 come, old elephant-hunter and lion-hunter! 
 Down at the bottom of your heart you must have 
 a better perspective of my behavior after being 
 shot. Modern civilization, indeed, I suppose all 
 civilization is rather soft; and I suppose the 
 average political orator, or indeed the average 
 sedentary broker or banker or business-man or 
 professional man, especially if elderly, is much 
 overcome by being shot or meeting with some
 
 314 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 other similar accident, and feels very sorry for 
 himself and thinks he has met with an unpar- 
 alleled misfortune; but the average soldier or 
 sailor in a campaign or battle, even the average 
 miner or deep-sea fisherman or fireman or police- 
 man, and of course the average hunter of danger- 
 ous game, would treat both my accident and my 
 behavior after the accident as entirely matter of 
 course. It was nothing like as nerve-shattering 
 as your experience with the elephant that nearly 
 got you, or as your experience with more than 
 one lion and more than one buffalo. The injury 
 itself was not as serious as your injury the time 
 that old four-bore gun was loaded twice over 
 by mistake ; and as other injuries you received 
 in the hunting-field." 
 
 " Mr. Roosevelt's creed? " wrote Jacob Riis, his 
 close friend for years in police work in New 
 York. " Find it in a speech he made to the Bible 
 Society a year ago. ' If we read the book aright,' 
 he said, ' we read a book that teaches us to go 
 forth and do the work of the Lord in the world 
 as we find it; to try to make things better in 
 the world, even if only a little better, because we 
 have lived in it. That kind of work can not be 
 done except by a man who is neither a weakling 
 nor a coward ; by a man who, in the fullest sense 
 of the word, is a true Christian, like Greatheart, 
 Bunyan's hero." 
 
 " Better faithful than famous," used to be 
 one of his characteristic sayings, wrote Jacob 
 Riis in his life of the former President. " It 
 has been his rule all his life. A classmate of 
 Roosevelt told me recently of being present at
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 315 
 
 a Harvard reunion when a professor told of ask- 
 ing a graduate what would be his work in life. 
 
 " ' Oh,' he said, ' really, you know, nothing 
 seems to me much worth while.' Roosevelt got 
 up and said to the professor: 
 
 " ' That fellow ought to have been knocked on 
 the head. I would take my chances with a 
 blackmailing policeman sooner than with him.' " 
 
 Newspaper men tell countless stories of Roose- 
 velt's courtesy and approachability. No matter 
 how busily engaged in his various offices, he was 
 always visible to reporters sent to get his views 
 on current topics, and representatives of enemy 
 journals were treated as affably as friends. This 
 admirable trait did not leave him in the White 
 House. During his Presidency, the New York 
 Sun chronicles, Roosevelt was democratic in his 
 relations with not only men who had ideas to 
 give him, but with those who were of service 
 to him in living the strenuous life. For in- 
 stance : 
 
 Mike Donovan at the White House boxed with 
 him, and a jiu-jitsu artist taught the President 
 the secrets of that science. In explaining why 
 he had, " as a practical man of high ideals, who 
 had always endeavored to put his ideals in prac- 
 tice," conferred with Mr. Harriman, the rail- 
 road magnate, and Mr. Archbold, of the Stand- 
 ard Oil Company, the former President made 
 these assertions: 
 
 " I have always acted, and shall always act, 
 upon the theory that if, while in public office, 
 there is any man from whom I think I can gain 
 anything of value to the Government, I will send
 
 3i6 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 for him and talk it over with him, no matter 
 how widely I differ from him on other points. 
 
 " I actually sent for, while I was President, 
 trust magnates, labor leaders, Socialists, John L. 
 Sullivan, ' Battling Nelson,' Dr. Lyman Abbott. 
 I could go on indefinitely with a list of people 
 whom at various times I have seen or sent for. 
 And if I am elected President again I shall con- 
 tinue exactly the same course of conduct, with- 
 out the deviation of a hair's breadth. And if 
 ever I find that my virtue is so frail that it won't 
 stand being brought into contact with either trust 
 magnates, or a Socialist, or a labor leader, I will 
 get out of public life." 
 
 Many of the reverend senators and statesmen 
 in Washington were shocked, says the New York 
 Herald, by the way in which such successors of 
 " Leatherstocking " as Jack Abernathy and Bill 
 Sewall came up to the White House and got the 
 President's ear for hours at a time. Often, also, 
 they were taken quite by surprise by the Presi- 
 dent's quick sense of humor and keen repartee. 
 Before Senator Hoar had come to know Mr. 
 Roosevelt as he afterwards did he went to the 
 White House to remonstrate with him for ap- 
 pointing Ben Daniels Marshal of Arizona. Mr. 
 Hoar was one of the most dignified and sedate 
 men in the Senate a New England Brahmin. 
 
 " Mr. President," said Mr. Hoar in horrified 
 accents, " do you know anything about the char- 
 acter of this man Daniels whom you have ap- 
 pointed to be Marshal of Arizona ? "
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 317 
 
 " Why, yes, I think so," said Mr. Roosevelt ; 
 " he was a member of my regiment." 
 
 " Do you know," said Mr. Hoar, impressively, 
 " that he has killed three men? " 
 
 The President was scandalized. "You don't 
 mean it," he said. 
 
 " It is a fact," said Mr. Hoar, with deadly de- 
 termination. 
 
 The President was thoroughly indignant. He 
 pounded his fist on the table. " When I get hold 
 of Daniels," he said, " I will read him the riot 
 act. He told me he'd only killed two." 
 
 The whole family was devoted to out-of-door 
 life. The White House stables contained ex- 
 cellent riding horses. There was a horse or pony 
 for every member of the family. There were 
 two mounts for the President, one being Rusty, 
 a bay heavyweight hunter, on which the Presi- 
 dent frequently jumped fences in the country to 
 remind him of the time when he once rode to 
 hounds on Long Island. 
 
 Because of the President's example, there was 
 probably more good, healthful exercise taken in 
 Washington during his Administration than has 
 been known there before and since. Americans 
 are not generally credited with being anemic, but 
 the official and social duties of the capital never 
 before were so crowded in between sets of ten- 
 nis, riding, and boxing set-tos. 
 
 His walking contests the President held not 
 only with his boys and other members of his 
 family, but with Cabinet officers and foreign 
 diplomats. Capitals of Europe were sometimes 
 highly entertained by accounts of their repre-
 
 318 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 sentatives following the President, who had in- 
 vited them for afternoon walks, across fences, 
 ditches, and through mud ankle deep. Pouring 
 rain never prevented the President from his 
 walk with members of the foreign embassy, and 
 he was always delighted with credit given him 
 for inaugurating the strenuous life in Washing- 
 ton. 
 
 The President took a dignitary out with him 
 for a stroll one afternoon, and in the course of 
 the walk sighted a steep and rocky knoll, toward 
 which he directed his course. He turned to his 
 companion and observed as they began making 
 the ascent, " We must get up to the top here," 
 and after much panting and laboring the feat 
 was accomplished. 
 
 " And now, Mr. President," asked the official, 
 " may I ask why we are up here? " 
 
 " Why, I came up here," returned Roosevelt, 
 laughing, " to see if you could make it." 
 
 On another occasion, says the Washington 
 correspondent of the New York Tribune, the 
 President was out driving through Rock Creek 
 Park with a member of the diplomatic corps, the 
 representative of a powerful nation. Halfway 
 through the park, the Colonel invited his guest 
 to accompany him in a walk. He directed the 
 White House coachman to meet them at a point 
 further on, and, striking out in cross-country 
 fashion, he set the pace. On and on he plunged 
 through the woods, the panting diplomat trying 
 to keep pace. Suddenly the two, with the secret 
 service men behind, came upon a twenty-foot 
 stream. The horrified ambassador saw the Presi-
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 319 
 
 dent stride straight on into the stream, waist-high, 
 and go on to the opposite bank. For a moment 
 the once-dignified, but now perspiring diplomat 
 hesitated, and then grimly followed the Presi- 
 dent's example. 
 
 When Theodore Roosevelt was governor of 
 New York, says J. W. Welch, who tells the 
 story, a newspaper reporter called on him, at 
 Oyster Bay, to secure an interview on a subject 
 that verged close to the political territory on 
 which no interviewer was allowed to tread. The 
 reporter seriously doubted the success of his mis- 
 sion, and his doubts were strengthened by the 
 stories of the man who drove him from the rail- 
 road station to Mr. Roosevelt's house, stories 
 of the abrupt and emphatic way that the governor 
 had of declining to parley with visitors on sub- 
 jects that he had tabooed. 
 
 " He most always steams out to the porch to 
 see 'em," remarked the driver, " but before they 
 have had a chance to say six words he had 
 grabbed their hands in good-by shakes. Yes, he 
 shakes 'em right back into my wagon, and we 
 are well out of the grounds before they catch 
 their breath again." 
 
 This being Mr. Roosevelt's method, it seemed 
 advisable to the reporter to keep the burning 
 question in his mind well in the background dur- 
 ing the shock of the first contact. The governor 
 rushed out to the porch, just as the driver said 
 he would, and his strong right arm was already 
 exerting an influence back toward the carriage 
 when the question which had been decided upon
 
 320 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 as a diplomatic approach arrested his attention. 
 
 " Mr. Roosevelt, I would like very much to 
 get a brief statement from you as to the im- 
 portance of the young men of the country giving 
 more attention to politics and the affairs of state. 
 If they should, wouldn't conditions be im- 
 proved." 
 
 The motion of the handshake was suddenly 
 shifted from the direction of the wagon toward 
 the library. When they were inside Mr. Roose- 
 velt talked warmly on the duties of an American 
 citizen and the importance of strenuousness in 
 young men. " If I have a hard task to per- 
 form," he said, " I gather an impetus from its 
 difficulties. There is very little merit or satis- 
 faction in doing easy "things." 
 
 " The interviewer of public men sometimes 
 has great obstacles to surmount," remarked the 
 reporter, casually. 
 
 " I know he has, I know he has," replied Mr. 
 Roosevelt, earnestly ; " but if I were in his posi- 
 tion, I would plunge in and surmount them 
 somehow." 
 
 " All right, Mr. Roosevelt, I am going to apply 
 your advice right here. I am going to plunge 
 in. My managing editor expects me to get an 
 expression of opinion from you on the mat- 
 ter. I am very anxious to get it. Now I have 
 plunged in. I wonder if your advice is good." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt laughed heartily, and then said, 
 in his most abrupt manner: 
 
 "Take down what I say, and see that not 
 a word or punctuation mark is different when 
 it is put in print."
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 321 
 
 Arthur W. Dunn has told some of the inci- 
 dents which give the humorous side of Roose- 
 velt's daily life in the White House. Here are 
 a few of them : 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest man 
 that ever held the office of President, and it was 
 on account of his youth that many people felt 
 that they should be generous with him in the 
 matter of advice. During the early months of 
 his administration every person who called on 
 him told him what he should do and filled him 
 full of suggestions. 
 
 " How do you like being President ? " asked 
 an old acquaintance, after Mr. Roosevelt had 
 been in the White House about a year. 
 
 " It would be first rate if it did not carry with 
 it the necessity of listening to advice as to how 
 the Government should be conducted," he replied. 
 " So far during my term, I have received noth- 
 ing but advice, mostly bad." 
 
 One of the grave and dignified senators 
 came out of the White House one day and 
 remarked : 
 
 " That youngster doesn't always do what I 
 want, or do things as I do them, but I can't help 
 liking him." 
 
 " Did you see the President ? " asked one lady 
 of another who had just stated that she had 
 been to the White House. 
 
 " I certainly did," was the reply, " and I was 
 such a fool ! " 
 
 " In what way ? " 
 
 "Why, I wanted to tell him a number of 
 things, and especially to speak about my brother,
 
 322 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 whom he knows very well, but I didn't say a 
 word." 
 
 " What was the matter? " 
 
 " Why, as soon as he shook hands and smiled, 
 I saw that row of teeth and became fascinated 
 with them. So I stared and stared and never 
 said a word. He must have thought I was an 
 idiot, because he didn't know that I have a great 
 admiration for nice teeth in a man." 
 
 While he was Vice-President, Mr. Roosevelt 
 joined a Masonic Lodge at Oyster Bay, and 
 after he became President quite a pressure was 
 brought upon him to continue taking degrees, 
 and become one of the higher devotees of the 
 order. 
 
 " Don't you think," he asked a body of Ma- 
 sons who had waited upon him, " that with the 
 various matters now pending it would be better 
 for me not to add goat-riding to my other 
 duties ? " 
 
 One busy day a clergyman called at the 
 White House and expressed a wish to see the 
 President. The doorkeeper, to whom he ad- 
 dressed himself, took his name and asked him 
 to sit down and wait. In the reception room 
 were perhaps fifty other citizens awaiting the 
 termination of various errands ; while probably 
 as many more, of higher degree, were cultivat- 
 ing patience in an inner room. After pac- 
 ing thoughtfully to and fro for a few minutes, 
 the clergyman again made known his request, 
 and, upon receiving a repetition, in substance, 
 of the previous reply, resumed his walk. In
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 323 
 
 a few moments he returned to the doorkeeper. 
 
 " See here ! " he said. " At home I have a 
 very large congregation, any member of which 
 can reach me any minute of the day or night 
 without being kept waiting. In addition to my 
 own flock, as I have lived in the community many 
 years, nearly the entire population is accustomed 
 to turn to me for advice and help. I am accessi- 
 ble to them all, at all times. Now it seems 
 strange to me that the President can't see me 
 without all this delay." 
 
 " How many does your congregation num- 
 ber?" asked the doorkeeper. 
 
 " Well, my own congregation is about six hun- 
 dred. But, counting all of those with whom I 
 have to deal, I should say it is not less than five 
 thousand. I never keep any of them waiting, 
 sir." 
 
 " Five thousand ! " said the doorkeeper. 
 " Huh ! How large a congregation do you think 
 the President of the United States has ? He has 
 eighty millions, sir. Eighty millions! Do you 
 suppose he can see every one of them, whenever 
 they come ? " 
 
 A New York business man who was once a 
 ranchman in the West tells this story about Presi- 
 dent Roosevelt: 
 
 " Several cowboys, of whom I was one, were 
 camping near the trail, out on the plains of 
 North Dakota, one day in the early eighties, 
 when we saw a man coming along on horseback. 
 We did not know him, but from his new and 
 elaborate trappings, we at once decided that he 
 was a tenderfoot. This being the case, we felt
 
 324 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 that it would be appropriate and interesting to 
 give him a cowboy reception. 
 
 " Partly hidden among the bushes, we waited 
 his coming. Suddenly, when he was almost 
 among us on the trail, we sprang to our feet and 
 gave vent to wild and blood-curdling yells, at 
 the same time emptying our six-shooters. The 
 bullets flew all around the young man on the 
 horse. Being rather careless as to where we 
 shot, in those days, it was a wonder that at least 
 the horse was not hit. The ordinary tenderfoot 
 would have ridden for his life out of range. But 
 this one sat straight as an arrow and never 
 changed his half-amused expression during the 
 fusillade of yells and bullets. More than this, 
 he held his horse down to a walk, and, when 
 he had got a few paces beyond us, he turned 
 in his saddle and made us a low, sarcastic bow. 
 We had no idea who he was, but we at once 
 decided that this particular tenderfoot was all 
 right. The next day, at a round-up, I saw him 
 in the corral roping calves, a dangerous pas- 
 time for any but an old hand. 
 
 " ' Who's that chap with the get-up of a stage 
 cowboy, but the nerve of a real article? ' I asked. 
 
 " ' Why,' somebody answered, ' that's young 
 Roosevelt, a New York swell, fresh from col- 
 lege.' 
 
 " ' Well,' I replied, ' even with them things 
 against him, I reckon he's about as good as any- 
 body in the outfit.' " 
 
 At Oyster Bay, Long Island, near which vil- 
 lage was the Roosevelt summer home, there lives
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 325 
 
 a venerable hackman, Jacob White, who for 
 many years basked in the warm friendship of the 
 President. Long before the latter was known 
 to fame, he and Jacob White were companions. 
 Old Jacob tells stories of the summers when he 
 used to see Theodore and the boys running down 
 through the meadows to the swimming hole, en- 
 cumbered with no superfluous raiment; of the 
 times when he would meet them on the road 
 coming home from nutting and would give them 
 all a lift in his wagon, except when he had a load. 
 On these occasions he would have to switch them 
 off. Jacob delights to talk of the President and 
 of the pilgrims he has driven up Sagamore Hill. 
 
 " I druv up a couple o' big politicians awhile 
 ago," he once remarked reminiscently. " They 
 hed an appointment with the President, of course, 
 and from their talk as we went up I see they were 
 calculatin' on spendin' about two hours with him. 
 This bein' the case, I took the team down to the 
 stable after I had unloaded the politicians on the 
 porch, so's I could loosen up their harness and 
 water 'em. 
 
 " Well, sir, in about fifteen minutes them states- 
 men come posting out again, the President fol- 
 lowin'. They all looked around fur me, and then 
 spied me down by the stable. My fares stood 
 there waitin' fur me to come back, but the chief 
 of this big country come steaming down just to 
 shake this here hand and say, ' How are ye, Ja- 
 cob ? ' On the way back to the station one o' the 
 politicians says to me: 'Jacob, it would be 
 worth a deal to us to have your pull with this 
 administration.'
 
 326 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " Another time I had a crowd o' sightseers in 
 my wagon. They kept sayin' they only wisht 
 they could see the President, and botherin' me 
 with questions as to whether I thought they 
 would or not. I told 'em 't warn't likely, but all 
 of a sudden a man on horseback come galloping 
 along the road. 'Twas him. He slowed up 
 when he came 'longside us, and, salutin', calls 
 out, ' Good morninV It set them people all in a 
 flutter, and they began to figure out who he was 
 bowin' to. One man begun to give the rest the 
 impression that it was him. I stood this fur 
 about a minute, and then spoke up an' says : 
 ' The President was greetin' me. I'm about his 
 best friend hereabouts.' This quieted 'em, and 
 'twarn't no lie, nuther." 
 
 Early one morning a woman of advanced age 
 sat on the stairway leading to President Roose- 
 velt's summer executive offices at Oyster Bay. 
 It is here William Loeb, his secretary, and other 
 assistants attended to the routine work of the 
 administration. The President himself never ap- 
 peared in the little building on the main street 
 in Oyster Bay, but the old woman thought he 
 did, and was waiting for him. She was the 
 widow of an officer who had won honor in the 
 Civil War, and she had journeyed to the Presi- 
 dent's home town to consult him about a mat- 
 ter connected with her pension. 
 
 For hours she waited patiently on the stairs. 
 When some one finally told her that she would 
 never see the President there, she was very much 
 discouraged. She continued to sit on the stairs,
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 327 
 
 saying that she must see him, and perhaps he 
 would " just run in for a minute." The Presi- 
 dent himself in the course of the day, heard of 
 this patient pilgrim to Oyster Bay, and he tele- 
 phoned down from Sagamore Hill to send her up 
 to the house. 
 
 He helped her out of the hack himself, remark- 
 ing, " Madam, I am honored and delighted to 
 meet you. I have heard of your husband. He 
 was a hero, but I want to tell you what I think 
 of heroes. I don't believe a man can be one 
 unless he has a good wife." 
 
 The pension matter was arranged to the old 
 lady's satisfaction. 
 
 I can't forbear mentioning Mr. Roosevelt's 
 souvenirs, said Robert Lee Dunn, the photog- 
 rapher. They represent his democracy far bet- 
 ter than reams of reminiscences could. Mr. Mc- 
 Kinley once had three carloads of such tokens 
 hitched onto his special train but Mr. Roosevelt 
 must altogether have at least three train loads. 
 He cannot stop to pat a dog on the head with- 
 out that animal being immediately crated up by 
 its fond owner and shipped to " T. R. Wash- 
 ington, D. C." Horses and saddles enough to fit 
 out a brigade, chairs, badges, turkeys, guinea 
 pigs, snakes from a traveling sideshow, canes, 
 vases everything that the generosity of the 
 American nation can conceive has been given to 
 him at one time or another. 
 
 He used to get flowers and bouquets by the 
 bushel generally presented by some of the young 
 ladies of the town; and these offerings would
 
 328 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 finally pile up to such an extent that the porter 
 would be compelled to open the car window and 
 throw them out to make way for those of the 
 next town. An amusing incident in this connec- 
 tion occurred at a little Kansas town. 
 
 The Presidential train was just pulling out of 
 the depot, when through the crowd came a bare- 
 foot boy, runing with all his might and carrying 
 a bouquet in his hand. He yelled. Roosevelt 
 saw him ; so did the whole populace. " Well," 
 said the President, " I can't run away like this 
 and insult the boy," so he pulled the bellrope and 
 brought the train to a stop. 
 
 The youngster came up breathlessly and de- 
 livered the roses. Roosevelt smiled and handed 
 him a dollar, and the incident was closed. Later, 
 as the train was speeding on its way, his " dee- 
 lighted " smile was a bit troubled, and he called 
 in the porter. 
 
 " Jerry," he said, " it seems to me these flowers 
 are rather withered, aren't they ? That boy must 
 have had a hard time getting through the crowd." 
 
 " Well, they ought to be withered," was the 
 answer. " That there bouquet has been on the 
 train for three days, and I just threw it out of 
 the window back at that town." There is a 
 boy somewhere in Kansas who will be a captain 
 of industry one of these days. 
 
 " I have a suspicion," said " Buffalo Jones," 
 chief game warden of Yellowstone Park, " that 
 last year the natural beauties of the park fur- 
 nished the inspiration for the working out of 
 some knotty problems of state. It was in the
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 329 
 
 spring that President Roosevelt visited us. The 
 fishing being pretty good then, he would start 
 out almost every morning with his rod and line, 
 and be gone all day. We wanted to accompany 
 him, of course, but he gave us to understand that 
 he preferred to be alone. Toward the end of his 
 visit he ceased to take the fishing tackle with him 
 on his solitary tramps. I have an idea that the 
 fishing was merely a pretext to get out alone 
 amid the noble calm and impressiveness of the 
 big woods and hills to revolve momentous mat- 
 ters in his mind. 
 
 " We arranged several mountain lion hunts 
 for him, but he always declined to shoot the lion 
 when we had treed it, although he knew that 
 these beasts were playing havoc with the sheep 
 and elk and that the Park would be well rid of 
 them. The first time I asked him to shoot he 
 said that he wished to abide by the law which 
 forbids the killing of animals in the Park except 
 by the superintendent or the scouts. 
 
 " In spite of the fact that the President was 
 surrounded by big game, and is an ardent sports- 
 man, the only shooting he did while with us was 
 at a target. One morning we were practicing 
 pistol shooting, and the President was using a 
 weapon of a make which was being urged by the 
 manufacturers for adoption by the government. 
 While making one of his shots a piece of cotton 
 from the cartridge flew back and struck his 
 cheek, bringing blood. 
 
 " ' Well ! ' he exclaimed, with great emphasis, 
 as he clapped his handkerchief to the wound, 
 ' that condemns this make of pistol.'
 
 330 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " When he was installed in his tent, upon his 
 arrival at the park, we had a soldier pacing up 
 and down before the door. 
 
 " ' What's that man doing out there ? ' de- 
 manded the President. 
 
 " ' He's the sentry/ I answered. 
 
 " ' Oh, go and tell him to sit down/ replied 
 Mr. Roosevelt ; ' I came out here to rest, and it 
 makes me tired to see a man walking without 
 getting anywhere.' " 
 
 At the Civil Service Commission in Washing- 
 ton, where it will be remembered President 
 Roosevelt began his public career as one of the 
 commissioners, an incident is related, which 
 shows one side of the President's character. It 
 came to his knowledge that one of the clerks had 
 lost his temper and used profanity over the tele- 
 phone. He sent for the offender at once. Sus- 
 pecting the purpose of the message, the clerk re- 
 turned an evasive answer, and did not appear. In 
 his emphatic way, Mr. Roosevelt directed the 
 messenger to bring the clerk to him. The mes- 
 senger, a huge Virginian, went back with the 
 words: 
 
 " Mr. Roosevelt says you got to come down, 
 and if you won't come any other way, I'll tote 
 you down." 
 
 This time the order was, of course, obeyed. 
 The President closed the door of the office when 
 the culprit entered, and no one ever knew what 
 passed between them; but it was noticed that the 
 clerk came forth from the interview in tears, and
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 331 
 
 there was no further complaint about the impro- 
 priety of his language. 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt was a tireless reader of books, 
 and on his long railroad trips usually carried half 
 a dozen volumes. But the side-pocket of his 
 traveling-coat always held one stoutly bound, 
 well-thumbed book a copy of " Plutarch's 
 Lives." On campaign tours and pleasure jaunts 
 he took a daily half-hour dose of Plutarch. 
 
 " I've read this little volume close to a thou- 
 sand times," he said one day, " but it is ever 
 new." 
 
 This poem by Hamlin Garland was one of his 
 favorites : 
 
 " O wild woods and rivers and untrod sweeps of sod, 
 I exult that I know you, 
 I have felt you and worshiped you, 
 I can not be robbed of the memory 
 Of horse and plain, 
 Of bird and flower 
 Nor the song of the illimitable West Wind." 
 
 Soon after the Roosevelts took up their resi- 
 dence at the White House a society woman asked 
 one of the younger boys if he did not dislike the 
 " common boys " he met at the public school. 
 The boy looked at her in wonderment for a mo- 
 ment and then replied: 
 
 " My papa says there are only tall boys and 
 short boys and good boys and bad boys, and that's 
 all the kind of boys there are." 
 
 " Theodore Roosevelt is a humorist," wrote
 
 332 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Homer Davenport in the Philadelphia Public 
 Ledger, October 23, 1910. " In the multitude of 
 his strenuousness this, the most human of his ac- 
 complishments, has apparently been overlooked. 
 There is a similarity between his humor and 
 Mark Twain's. If Colonel Roosevelt were on 
 the vaudeville stage he would be a competitor of 
 Harry Lauder. At Denver, at the stock-growers' 
 banquet during his recent Western trip, Colonel 
 Roosevelt was at his best. He made three 
 speeches that day and was eating his sixth meal, 
 yet he was in the best of fettle. You couldn't 
 pick a hallful that could sit with faces straight 
 through his story of the blue roan cow. He can 
 make a joke as fascinating as he can the story 
 of a sunset on the plains of Egypt." 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt, as Assistant Secretary of 
 the Navy, was instrumental in the selection of 
 Dewey to take charge of the Pacific squadron 
 during the Spanish-American War. San Fran- 
 cisco and a few other cities objected. They did 
 not know Dewey. A delegation was sent to 
 Washington to kick against the appointment. 
 The delegation was finally turned over to Roose- 
 velt. He listened patiently to their objections 
 and said : 
 
 " Gentlemen, I can't agree with you. We have 
 looked up his record. We have looked him 
 straight in the eyes. He is a fighter. We'll not 
 change now. Pleased to have met you. Good- 
 day, gentlemen." 
 
 While a strict disciplinarian in his home, Mr.
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 333 
 
 Roosevelt mingled comradeship with exercise of 
 authority in a manner that made a successful 
 father. It is said of him that he postponed con- 
 sideration of important affairs of state to " play 
 bear " with his children, and that he was known to 
 excuse himself to a company of friends who were 
 spending the evening at his home while he went 
 upstairs to spank one of the children who had dis- 
 regarded repeated admonitions to make less 
 noise. He was a chum of all the members of his 
 household. He repeatedly expressed disapproval 
 of the " goody-goody boy." He said on one oc- 
 casion : 
 
 " I do not want any one to believe that my little 
 ones are brought up to be cowards in this house. 
 If they are struck they are not taught to turn the 
 other cheek. I haven't any use for weaklings. 
 I commend gentleness and manliness. I want 
 my boys to be strong and gentle. For all my chil- 
 dren I pray they may be healthy and natural." 
 
 The New York Tribune is authority for this 
 little glimpse into the home life and training of 
 the Roosevelt boys : Being boys, they were in- 
 variably hanging around the kitchen and getting 
 in the way of Annie O'Rourke who was cook of 
 the household and monarch of all she surveyed. 
 When they became too obstreperous, she 
 promptly boxed their ears, and the President and 
 Mrs. Roosevelt never interfered. On the other 
 hand, when the gardener, in desperation over the 
 depredations of the Roosevelt boys, complained 
 to the President, he quietly told him to throw 
 brick-bats at them.
 
 334 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 " I am not joking," he is reported to have as- 
 sured the amazed gardener. " Treat 'em rough, 
 if they won't behave." 
 
 Chauncey M. Depew has told how Mr. Roose- 
 velt first went into politics : " With his talents 
 he could have gone into big business and made 
 a fortune. But, left a small income from a trust 
 fund, he preferred to fight the people's battles, 
 even though it meant that all his life long he 
 would have to depend upon his earning power to 
 maintain his family. 
 
 " My first acquaintance with him came about 
 forty years ago. A Republican district leader 
 came to me and said : ' We are up against it in my 
 district. A small part of the voters are " high- 
 brows " living along Fifth Avenue; but the 
 greater part are in the section controlled by 
 Tammany. We need the votes, but especially the 
 contributions of the " highbrows." What do you 
 think of young Roosevelt ? ' 
 
 " I had heard of him and was enthusiastic. 
 Well, we arranged a dinner at Delmonico's. 
 Three hundred of the ' highbrows ' were pres- 
 ent. Roosevelt, then only twenty-two and not 
 as eloquent as he afterward became, read a speech 
 for an hour. He told what was the matter with 
 the city, what was the matter with the state, and 
 what was the matter with the nation. More- 
 over, he said he could remedy the whole situa- 
 tion. He was elected to the Assembly. I shall 
 never forget that speech of his. He lived up to 
 it consistently all through life."
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 335 
 
 An inside story of the nomination of Mr. 
 Roosevelt for Governor of New York is told, 
 also, by Mr. Depew : 
 
 " The political situation in New York State 
 was critical for the party in power. The people 
 had voted nine millions of dollars to improve 
 canals. Governor Black ordered an investiga- 
 tion which resulted in finding that one million 
 of it had either been lost or stolen. The canals 
 have always been politically perilous to the party 
 in power in the State of New York. Thomas C. 
 Platt was our state leader and asked me to a 
 consultation as to a candidate for Governor. He 
 said, ' Ben Odell has advised me to select Roose- 
 velt, who is in camp on Long Island, but as 
 Police Commissioner, Civil Service Commis- 
 sioner, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy he 
 has always been uncontrollable either by the party 
 organization or his superiors and I am afraid he 
 might be most dangerous to our organization/ 
 
 " I told him in my judgment Roosevelt was the 
 only man we could elect, and I added : ' Of 
 course, I shall make speeches as always and will 
 expect the heckler to ask questions. He is bound 
 to say, ' Your eulogy of the grand old party is 
 all right, but how about the million of dollars 
 stolen from the canal fund ? ' Then the speaker 
 has to explain that it was only a million, and that 
 will be fatal, but if you nominate Roosevelt I can 
 say to my friend, the heckler, ' I am very glad you 
 asked that question. We have nominated for 
 Governor the greatest thief catcher there is in the 
 world. As Police Commissioner he cleaned up
 
 336 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 New York and in the Cuban War he has cleaned 
 up that island. He is the one man who will find 
 out what became of the money, and if it was 
 stolen will punish the thieves and obtain restitu- 
 tion. The band will play ' The Star-Spangled 
 Banner/ " 
 
 " Mr. Platt said : ' That settles it ; he will be 
 nominated.' " 
 
 More than once the Kaiser caught a Tatar 
 when he approached Mr. Roosevelt. Hermann 
 Hagedorn, speaking at a memorial service in New 
 York told how in the Summer of 1914, a month 
 after the war had started, the Kaiser sent a 
 special messenger to Colonel Roosevelt with a 
 message in which the Kaiser renewed his pro- 
 fessions of friendship and said he recalled with 
 pleasure the visit of Colonel Roosevelt to Berlin. 
 Mr. Hagedorn said that Colonel Roosevelt's re- 
 ply was : " Tell his Majesty that I thank him for 
 his expression of good will. Also tell him that I 
 recall with pleasure my visit to Berlin, just as I 
 recall with great pleasure my subsequent visit 
 to the King and Queen of the Belgians." 
 
 Another encounter with the Kaiser took place 
 in England after Mr. Roosevelt's return from 
 Africa. Mr. James M. Beck tells of it. It ap- 
 pears that the Kaiser and the Colonel were pres- 
 ent at a great Court function in London, and as 
 they were leaving Buckingham Palace the Kaiser 
 turned to Mr. Roosevelt and said : " Colonel, I 
 want to see you before you leave London. Come 
 to-morrow at two o'clock and I can give you
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 33? 
 
 forty-five minutes." " Very good, your Maj- 
 esty," replied Roosevelt. " I shall be there at 
 two, but unfortunately I cannot spare more than 
 twenty minutes." 
 
 Dr. James M. Ludlow was pastor of the 
 Church of St. Nicholas, in New York, forty-six 
 years ago when the Roosevelt family went there 
 to worship, and he has told how Theodore Roose- 
 velt, the boy, interested him then by his quick- 
 minded attention and his power of observation. 
 So conspicuous was this faculty that when some 
 one asked Doctor Ludlow in what part of the 
 body the mind was located, he replied : " In 
 Theodore Roosevelt it is right back of the eye- 
 balls. One Sunday," he said, " I imagined that 
 Theodore was paying more attention to the 
 flowers that stood upon this altar than to 
 the sermon. He was intense for knowledge, 
 and I think he was botanizing those flowers 
 more carefully than he was analyzing the 
 sermon." 
 
 But his mind did not fail to take in the mess- 
 ages of the preacher, for Doctor Ludlow told of 
 the result : " I remember well when Theodore 
 came to me as a sixteen-year-old boy. It was in 
 my study forty-four years ago. ' Doctor, I'm 
 thoroughly convinced that your doctrines are 
 true and I feel that I ought to say so,' he said to 
 me. ' May I come to church ? ' he asked. And 
 it was here that I knew the boy and he was a 
 boy to the end. His was a loving, boyish heart, 
 swelling with tenderness for humanity. And it 
 is his message of boyhood that I would give you.
 
 338 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Simply, it was this: If you believe a thing is 
 good or true, say so. If you see a duty, do it." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt was not slow to resent an in- 
 jury, but he was very quick to forget and forgive 
 on the slightest sign of repentance. Elijah W. 
 Halford tells in The Christian Advocate an illus- 
 tration of this quality : 
 
 " A very prominent Republican Congressman 
 was in my room one day after he had made a 
 bitter attack in the House upon civil service re- 
 form, repeating many of the cheap current 
 charges and criticisms upon the work of the com- 
 mission, and particularly singling out Mr. Roose- 
 velt for sarcastic comment. While he was talk- 
 ing with me the Commissioner came in. They 
 did not speak to each other, and I was tactless 
 enough to introduce them ; when almost immedi- 
 ately the fireworks began, and in a minute or two 
 the lie passed. I got between the two, and the 
 Congressman at once left the room. Mr. Roose- 
 velt apologized to me, and said he realized that 
 any man who struck another in the President's 
 house could not remain his appointee, and he had 
 determined if blows were exchanged at once to 
 write out his resignation. 
 
 " The sequel to this story, as related, is that 
 some years afterward, in the same room, Presi- 
 dent McKinley and the Congressman were having 
 a friendly chat. Mr. Roosevelt entered, and 
 seeing who was present, sat down in a corner 
 chair, awaiting his departure. The Congressman 
 had observed who came in. Without apparent 
 change in manner, but in a voice distinctly heard
 
 ANECDOTE AND ADVENTURE 339 
 
 he said : ' McKinley, you remember a fellow 
 named Roosevelt, who was Harrison's Civil Serv- 
 ice Commissioner. He was the most impracti- 
 cable ass ever. I notice you have an Assistant 
 Secretary of the Navy a person with the same 
 name, but it can't be the same man, for your man 
 is about the most efficient officer I have ever 
 known.' Mr. Roosevelt sprang to his feet, 
 walked across the room, extending his hand to his 
 old-time enemy, saying " Put it there, it's all 
 right hereafter." They shook hands heartily, and 
 from that day remained the best of friends." 
 
 Although prevented from giving personal serv- 
 ice overseas during the great war, to the last, 
 says a correspondent of the Evening Mail, the 
 heart of Theodore Roosevelt was with the sol- 
 diers at the front. News reached Washington, 
 in private letters soon after Mr. Roosevelt's 
 death, of how the former President gave some 
 of the American soldiers guarding the Rhine the 
 kind of Christmas eve they longed for, but ap- 
 parently had no hope of getting. 
 
 The day before Christmas, Colonel Theodore 
 Roosevelt, Jr., summoned Captain George Corn- 
 ish, of the headquarters company. " Captain," 
 he said, " I have a letter from my father, and he 
 wants all the boys to have a jolly Christmas eve. 
 He has sent the necessary money for that pur- 
 pose, and has asked me to hand it to you with 
 the hope that the company will accept it and 
 have an American holiday." 
 
 The company accepted it and made the welkin 
 ring that night along the Rhine. Nor will any
 
 340 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 man or officer of that company on any Christmas 
 eve hereafter, no matter how long he lives, fail to 
 pay homage to the memory of Theodore Roose- 
 velt, who " never forgot the boys at the front." 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE MORAL LEADER AND STALWART 
 AMERICAN 
 
 IN a private conversation, in 1908, Theodore 
 Roosevelt said, " My problems are moral prob- 
 lems, and my teaching has been plainly morality." 
 The newspapers and cartoonists who, at that time, 
 were so fond of ringing the changes on the 
 phrase " my politics," saw for the most part only 
 some of the outward expressions of the underly- 
 ing principles. With Mr. Roosevelt it was al- 
 ways the principles first and the policies after- 
 ward. 
 
 His concrete accomplishments as President 
 were many and some of them were of epoch- 
 making importance. The peace between Japan 
 and Russia, the acquisition of the Panama Canal 
 and putting the work on a basis which gives as- 
 surance of successful completion, the movement 
 for conservation of natural resources, the estab- 
 lishment of the United States in the first rank of 
 powers, the settlement of the anthracite strike, 
 the improvement of our relation with the Latin- 
 American countries are just a few of President 
 Roosevelt's conspicuous accomplishments, but all 
 of them are of less real importance than his one
 
 THE MORAL LEADER 341 
 
 great work, the awakening of the public con- 
 science, or, as the London World puts it, " the 
 moral regeneration of the American people." 
 This sedate weekly British paper continues, edi- 
 torially : " Thanks to Mr. Roosevelt, men do not 
 do the things they did. They do not even think 
 the thoughts of a decade ago. He has broadened 
 the social conscience of the people. The rela- 
 tions between capital and labor and such ques- 
 tions as employers' liability and the employment 
 of women and children are regarded from a 
 vastly more enlightened and sensitive standpoint 
 than when he first entered the White House. 
 The tone of public life has been correspondingly 
 raised." 
 
 His preaching of individual and civic righteous- 
 ness began long ago as a private citizen and con- 
 tinued with increasing force and effectiveness 
 throughout his public life, during which he was 
 the militant leader in a crusade. " He convinced 
 the community that many things which used to be 
 looked upon as a trifle dubious in strict morals, 
 but on the whole legitimate enough because ' that 
 was the way of business,' cannot be exempted 
 from judgment by moral standards." 
 
 Andrew .Carnegie saw that the beneficient re- 
 sult of Roosevelt's teaching " has been to de- 
 velop in the average man of affairs a keener sense 
 of personal and official responsibility than ever 
 existed before. The chief officers and directors 
 of great organizations have been awakened to 
 higher and stricter views of their duty as being 
 trustees for the general public, and no longer as 
 mere business men intent upon adding to their
 
 34* ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 fortunes as their prime and legitimate aim." In 
 support of this definite and striking statement, 
 Mr. Carnegie quoted as one of the greatest pos- 
 sible tributes to Roosevelt's moral leadership the 
 following acknowledgment made by Judge Gary, 
 at that time head of the United States Steel 
 Corporation : " I know that the reiteration of the 
 oft-stated principles of the President of the 
 United States has increased my feeling of re- 
 sponsibility toward the stockholders I repre- 
 sent, toward our competitors, toward business 
 men, and toward the public, and that our rela- 
 tions have been improved." 
 
 Shortly after this remarkable acknowledg- 
 ment was uttered the United States Steel Cor- 
 poration surprised and delighted its multitude of 
 stockholders and won the praise of many former 
 critics by establishing its common stock on a 5 
 per cent dividend basis. 
 
 Even the New York Times, which was one of 
 Mr. Roosevelt's most hostile critics during his 
 struggle to set " big business " straight, and a 
 persistent antagonist in all his later political cam- 
 paigns, looking back over his work after death 
 had taken him away, saw the good he had accom- 
 plished and acknowledged it in thesre words : 
 
 " His enduring works, and by their enduring 
 works history judges men, his vital achievements, 
 were the reformation in business morality 
 brought about chiefly by his storming assaults 
 upon rooted evils, and his powerful and effective 
 appeals for preparedness, and a true understand- 
 ing of what the war meant, in the year preceding 
 our call to arms. By his labors in these two
 
 THE MORAL LEADER 343 
 
 fields, to speak of no others, he profoundly in- 
 fluenced the thought and character of his fellow 
 men, and he put the stamp of his genius upon the 
 history of his country. He made history, he 
 changed its currents. 
 
 " It is not merely that Mr. Roosevelt changed 
 the laws a man of smaller influence or a na- 
 tional legislator under no moral conviction might 
 have done that his great achievement was that 
 he changed the mental attitude of the people and 
 brought ' big business ' itself to repentance and 
 to the ways of righteousness." 
 
 The plain, straightforward principles of even- 
 handed justice for all men regardless of posi- 
 tion, wealth, or creed; of law and order and re- 
 spect for governmental authority ; of pure, sturdy 
 honesty in business and public affairs, as in pri- 
 vate life; of energy and diligence applied in 
 worthy work ; of the habit of putting into every- 
 thing that is worth doing at all the very best 
 effort and ability, such principles as these were 
 made familiar for many years in Roosevelt's 
 teachings and in his own life. His speeches, his 
 books, his letters, his example are the possession 
 of the entire people. 
 
 The most stirring and compact statement which 
 he made, perhaps, is the address on " Citizenship 
 in a Republic," delivered April 23, 1910, at the 
 Sorbonne University in Paris. In this address 
 Mr. Roosevelt pleaded strongly and eloquently 
 for those personal " qualities which make for 
 efficiency " and also for those " which direct the 
 efficiency into channels for the public good." He 
 pleaded for the moral sense; for the gifts of
 
 344 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 sympathy with plain people and of devotion to 
 great ideals; for " the great solid qualities self- 
 restraint, self-mastery, common sense, the power 
 of accepting individual responsibility and yet of 
 acting in conjunction with others, courage and 
 resolution the qualities of a masterful peo- 
 ple." He demanded also " the commonplace, 
 every-day qualities and virtues the will and 
 the power to work, to fight at need, and to have 
 plenty of healthy children." He declared that 
 " the homely virtues of the household, the ordi- 
 nary workaday virtues which make the woman a 
 good housewife and house mother, which make 
 the man a hard worker, a good husband and 
 father, a good soldier at need, stand at the bot- 
 tom of character," and " in the last analysis free 
 institutions rest upon the character of citizen- 
 ship." 
 
 A loftier note was sounded in the assertion 
 that " there is little use for the being whose tepid 
 soul knows nothing of the great and generous 
 emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the 
 lofty enthusiasm of the men who quell the storm 
 and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they 
 succeed ; well also, though not so well, if they 
 fail, given only that they have nobly ventured 
 and have put forth all their heart and strength. 
 ... It is not the critic who counts, not the man 
 who points out how the strong man stumbles or 
 where the doer of deeds could have done better. 
 The credit belongs to the man who is actually in 
 the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat 
 and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and 
 comes short again and again, because there is no
 
 THE MORAL LEADER 345 
 
 effort without error and shortcoming, but who 
 does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows 
 the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who 
 spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best 
 knows in the end the triumph of high achieve- 
 ment, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least 
 fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall 
 never be with those cold and timid souls who 
 know neither victory nor defeat." 
 
 At another time, putting the same vigorous 
 truth in other words, he declared that, 
 
 " In the unending strife for civic betterment 
 small is the use of those people who mean well 
 but who mean well feebly. The man who counts 
 is the man who is decent and who makes himself 
 felt as a force for decency, for cleanliness, for 
 civic righteousness. He must have several quali- 
 ties; first and foremost, of course, he must be 
 honest, he must have the root of right thinking in 
 him. That is not enough. In the next place he 
 must have courage ; the timid man counts but 
 little in the rough business of trying to do well 
 the world's work. And finally, in addition to 
 being honest and brave, he must have common 
 sense. If he does not have it, no matter what 
 other qualities he may have, he will find him- 
 self at the mercy of those who, without pos- 
 sessing his desire to do right, know only too well 
 how to make the wrong effective." 
 
 With the memory of Roosevelt's many ringing 
 appeals for preparedness and his tireless efforts, 
 during four years, to stir the war spirit of Amer- 
 icans and to spur on the government to greater 
 efforts in pushing the war, it is hard to think of
 
 346 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Colonel Roosevelt as an apostle of peace, yet he 
 must be so regarded, notwithstanding his militant 
 career and his strenuous proclivities. He hated 
 war, even while he was urging it. But his hatred 
 of war and his love of peace were both relative 
 and subordinate to his greater passion for right- 
 eousness. 
 
 Before the Nobel Prize Committee, at Chris- 
 tiania, Norway, he outlined plans for " great 
 advance in the cause of international peace." 
 Surely this strong and militant leader of men, 
 this master of irresistible forces, this intrepid 
 warrior and hunter who feared no enemy, man 
 or beast, this human " dreadnought," standing 
 forth before the world as an apostle of peace, was 
 an impressive spectacle. Eight years previ- 
 ously, in an address at a banquet of the cham- 
 ber of commerce of New York City, he said: 
 " The voice of the weakling or the craven counts 
 for nothing when he clamors for peace, but the 
 voice of the just man armed is potent." That 
 was why he wanted his country to be armed. 
 Yet here, again, he applied the same final test as 
 in all other matters of personal or national con- 
 duct: " War is a dreadful thing, and unjust war 
 is a crime against humanity. But it is such a 
 crime because it is unjust, not because it is war. 
 The choice must ever be in favor of righteous- 
 ness, and this whether the alternative be peace 
 or whether the alternative be war. The question 
 must not be merely: Is it to be peace or war? 
 The question must be: Is the right to prevail? 
 Are the great laws of righteousness once more 
 to be fulfilled ? And the answer from a strong,
 
 ' THE MORAL LEADER 347 
 
 virile people must be ' yes ' whatever the cost." 
 
 When, a few years later, the stern challenge 
 of a wanton and unjust war came to America, 
 the same question demanded an answer : " Is the 
 right to prevail? " It was the voice of Theodore 
 Roosevelt, almost alone for two and a half years, 
 which rang out from end to end of the Nation 
 pleading and demanding that the answer from 
 this " strong virile people be ' yes ' whatever the 
 cost." 
 
 In one of his latest books " Fear God and 
 Take Your Own Part," published in 1916 by 
 George H. Doran Company, he put this challenge 
 squarely before America in the following words : 
 
 " Fear God ; and take your own part ! Fear 
 God, in the true sense of the word, means love 
 God, respect God, honor God; and all of this 
 can only be done by loving our neighbor, treat- 
 ing him justly and mercifully, and in all ways en- 
 deavoring to protect him from injustice and 
 cruelty ; thus obeying, as far as our human frailty 
 will permit, the great and immutable law of 
 righteousness. 
 
 " We fear God when we do justice to and de- 
 mand justice for the men within our own bor- 
 ders. We are false to the teachings of righteous- 
 ness if we do not do such justice and demand 
 such justice. We must do it to the weak, and we 
 must do it to the strong. We do not fear God 
 if we show mean envy and hatred of those who 
 are better off than we are; and still less do we 
 fear God if we show a base arrogance towards 
 and selfish lack of consideration for those who 
 are less well off. We must apply the same stand-
 
 348 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 ard of conduct alike to man and to woman, to 
 rich man and to poor man, to employer and em- 
 ploye. 
 
 " But in addition to fearing God, it is necessary 
 that we should be able and ready to take our 
 own part. The man who cannot take his own 
 part is a nuisance in the community, a source of 
 weakness, an encouragement to wrong doers and 
 an added burden to the men who wish to do 
 what is right. If he cannot take his own part, 
 then somebody else has to take it for him; and 
 this means that his weakness and cowardice and 
 inefficiency place an added burden on some other 
 man and make that other man's strength by just 
 so much of less avail to the community as a 
 whole. No man can take the part of any one 
 else unless he is able to take his own part. This 
 is just as true of nations as of men. A na- 
 tion that cannot take its own part is at times al- 
 most as fertile a source of mischief in the world 
 at large as is a nation which does wrong to others, 
 for its very existence puts a premium on such 
 wrongdoing. 
 
 " Unless we are thorough-going Americans and 
 unless our patriotism is part of the very fiber of 
 our being, we can neither serve God nor take our 
 own part. Whatever may be the case in an in- 
 finitely remote future, at present no people can 
 render any service to humanity unless as a peo- 
 ple they feel an intense sense of national cohesion 
 and solidarity. The man who loves other na- 
 tions as much as he does his own, stands on a par 
 -with the man who loves other women as much as 
 he does his own wife. The United States can
 
 THE MORAL LEADER 349 
 
 accomplish little for mankind, save in so far as 
 within its borders it develops an intense spirit 
 of Americanism. 
 
 " Let this nation fear God and take its own 
 part. Let it scorn to do wrong to great or small. 
 Let it exercise patience and charity toward all 
 other peoples, and yet at whatever cost unflinch- 
 ingly stand for the right when the right is men- 
 aced by the might which backs wrong. Let it 
 furthermore remember that the only way in which 
 successfully to oppose wrong which is backed by 
 night is to put over against it right which is 
 oacked by might. 
 
 " We are the citizens of a mighty Republic con- 
 secrated to the service of God above, through 
 the service of man on this earth. We are the 
 heirs of a great heritage bequeathed to us by 
 statesmen who saw with the eyes of the seer and 
 the prophet. We must not prove false to the 
 memories of the nation's past. We must not 
 prove false to the fathers from whose loins we 
 sprang, and to their fathers, the stern men who 
 dared greatly and risked all things that freedom 
 should hold aloft an undimmed torch in this wide 
 land. They held their worldly well-being as 
 dust in the balance when weighed against their 
 sense of high duty, their fealty to lofty ideals. 
 Let us show ourselves worthy to be their sons. 
 Let us care, as is right, for the things of the 
 body ; but let us show that we care even more 
 for the things of the soul. Stout of heart, and 
 pledged to the valor of righteousness, let us stand 
 four-square to the winds of destiny, from what- 
 ever corner of the world they blow. Let us keef,
 
 350 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 untarnished, unstained, the honor of the flag our 
 fathers bore aloft in the teeth of the wildest 
 storm, the flag that shall float above the solid files 
 of a united people, a people sworn to the great 
 cause of liberty and of justice, for themselves, 
 and for all the sons and daughters of men." 
 
 How strongly Theodore Roosevelt's stalwart 
 Americanism was impressed upon the thought 
 and temper of the people was strikingly evi- 
 denced by the thousands of editorial and per- 
 sonal tributes which dwelt on that one theme 
 after his death. One word was repeated from 
 sea to sea, said The Literary Digest in its sum- 
 mary of these tributes. It was the simple but 
 eloquent word " American." Colonel Roosevelt 
 himself recognized and was proud of the way in 
 which so many American racial stocks had grown 
 " into the tree of his sturdy individuality," the 
 Troy Times notes ; and the Chicago Daily News 
 puts it very aptly when it attributes to him " the 
 culture of the East, the breezmess and independ- 
 ence of the great West, and the chivalry and 
 warmth of the South." The tributes brought by 
 his death from political friend and foe, from old 
 neighbors of Oyster Bay, and the rulers of every 
 civilized land, showed that if public opinion were 
 to write his epitaph it would be " Theodore 
 Roosevelt, American." His intense American- 
 ism, the Utica Observer declares, " was the great 
 guiding, moving, pulsating, overwhelming prin- 
 ciple of his life." The Kansas City Star, whose 
 contributing editor he was at the time of his 
 death, called him " the embodiment of our na- 
 tion." At the height of his career, says the Bos-
 
 THE MORAL LEADER 35 1 
 
 ton Globe, " he personified America." He was 
 " more typically American than any other man 
 who ever lived in America," according to the In- 
 dianapolis Times. In every corner of the earth, 
 declared the New York Evening World, the name 
 of Roosevelt was " known and admired as stand- 
 ing for all that is most forceful, compelling, and 
 at the same time fascinating in the American 
 character." That he was " the greatest Ameri- 
 can of his day " was asserted by scores of editors 
 and public men as soon as the news of his death 
 was learned, and not only the greatest, but " the 
 most typical," " the most representative " Amer- 
 ican. The Louisville Journal-Courier calls him 
 " the great composite American of his day and 
 generation." Then in his mental qualities he was 
 essentially American, it seems to the Philadelphia 
 Public Ledger ; " his restless energy, his keen 
 zest of living, his courage, his audacity, his demo- 
 cratic habits, his ready sympathy for every class, 
 the mixture in him of the practical and the ideal 
 all these things were characteristic of the soil 
 from which he sprang." England and France 
 looked upon Colonel Roosevelt as summing up 
 in his own personality the best characteristics of 
 the American people. It seems to the Man- 
 chester (England) Guardian that in Theodore 
 Roosevelt was " expressed what the Americans 
 regard as the Western spirit and the epoch in 
 which the West came into his own . . . He 
 brought into the world of politics something of 
 the air of the great prairies." 
 
 It seems significant to the New York Times, 
 in view of the emphasis upon Colonel Roosevelt's
 
 352 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 Americanism, that his last public message to his 
 fellow countrymen should have reiterated his 
 doctrine of " absolute undivided Americanism." 
 A statement which was read at a meeting held by 
 the American Defense Society, the night before 
 the Colonel died, declared against efforts to segre- 
 gate immigrants and keep them separated from 
 the rest of America, and hence prevent them 
 from doing their full part as Americans. The 
 Colonel said in part: 
 
 "There can be no divided allegiance here. 
 Any man who says he is an American, but some- 
 thing else also, isn't an American at all. We 
 have room for but one flag, and this excludes 
 the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against 
 liberty and civilization, just as much as it ex- 
 cludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we 
 were hostile. We have room for but one lan- 
 guage here, and that is the English language, for 
 we intend to see that the crucible turns our peo- 
 ple out as Americans, of American nationality, 
 and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding-house ; 
 and we have room for but one soul-loyalty, and 
 that is loyalty to the American people." 
 
 It was by holding up the torch of Americanism 
 in such messages as this during the last three 
 years that Colonel Roosevelt did his greatest 
 service to his country, in the opinion of the New 
 York Evening Sun, Syracuse Post-Standard, 
 Washington Herald, and Providence Journal. 
 The latter holds that " he was never more cher- 
 ished by the people of the United States than in 
 these closing days, never more confidently looked 
 to for wise counsel." The Washington Herald
 
 THE MORAL LEADER 353 
 
 avers that our war-machine only began to func- 
 tion effectively after the Colonel had proclaimed 
 its weaknesses. The Philadelphia North Ameri- 
 can, which has been a thoroughgoing Roosevelt 
 paper from the early days of his career, declares 
 that America's service and triumph in the Great 
 War " were the product of the will, the passion- 
 ate conviction, and the devoted services of Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt, private citizen, more than of any 
 other force." The North American recalls these 
 circumstances in proof of its apparently extrava- 
 gant statement : 
 
 " For many months his was the only potent 
 voice raised in this country in behalf of violated 
 law and humanity. Against the current of a 
 misdirected public opinion, in the face of traduc- 
 ing criticism and an official enmity that was little 
 short of malignant, he championed the imperiled 
 cause of democracy and preached a flaming cru- 
 sade of America's duty. Despite adverse teach- 
 ings backed by authority during two years and a 
 half, the truths that he proclaimed found steadily 
 growing response. It was his stimulating leader- 
 ship that awoke the conscience and rallied the 
 spirit of the American people, until they literally 
 forced the abandonment of a vacillating, self- 
 seeking policy, and turned the mighty energies 
 of the nation into the channel of honor and obli- 
 gation." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt's great public service, the New 
 York World is convinced, was rendered when, as 
 President, " he set out to demonstrate that the 
 Government of the United States was more 
 powerful than any aggregation of capital or than
 
 354 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 all the aggregations of capital that were united 
 by a common interest to exploit the country." 
 The World, probably the most consistent and bit- 
 ter political foe Mr. Roosevelt had among Ameri- 
 can newspapers, continues : 
 
 " The United States was probably never nearer 
 to a social revolution than it was when Mr. 
 Roosevelt came to the Presidency. While it is 
 true that he never succeeded in solving the trust 
 problem in either his first or his second term, by 
 his procedure in the Northern Securities case he 
 succeeded in demonstrating that the country had 
 laws under which the multiplication of trusts 
 could be curbed, that the highest court of the na- 
 tion would sustain these laws, and that the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States was not at the 
 mercy of Wall Street and organized capital. 
 This having been demonstrated, the trust ques- 
 tion came to answer itself under the steady pres- 
 sure of public opinion." 
 
 It was during the Roosevelt Administration, 
 declares another Democratic paper, the Rich- 
 mond Times-Dispatch, that " there was laid the 
 solid foundation for the structure of social and 
 economic progress whose towering height is now 
 a beacon to all other nations." As President, 
 declares the Boston Christian Science Monitor, 
 " Mr. Roosevelt literally tore out by the roots 
 the tradition that money-getting was the chief 
 end of the American citizen and that the way in 
 which money was obtained was a condition sec- 
 ondary to the possession of it." Whatever 
 shocks Roosevelt gave capital more than a dec- 
 ade ago, there can now. says 'such a representa-
 
 THE MORAL LEADER 355 
 
 tive of financial interests as the Boston News 
 Bureau, " be a frank acknowledgment that the 
 very intensity of those blasts whatever the 
 concrete wisdom of policy attempted in correction 
 served to aid the sooner coming of a higher 
 corporate code than once prevailed." The New 
 York Times, which is far from being a radical 
 newspaper, admits that when Mr. Roosevelt came 
 into power many possessors of great wealth used 
 their power without regard for the interests of 
 the people, and " were too much given to the 
 practice of influencing legislation for the fur- 
 therance of their own plans." President Roose- 
 velt's great achievement was that " he changed 
 the mental attitude of the people and brought 
 ' big business ' itself to repentance and to the 
 ways of righteousness." President Roosevelt 
 led the country " into the consideration of human 
 right and interests," is the way the Philadelphia 
 Press puts it. Colonel Roosevelt, declares the 
 New York Tribune, laid the foundation "of the 
 new order of larger Democracy " ; the common 
 virtues which he preached so strenuously of fair- 
 ness, honesty, sincerity " were the ones which 
 were most sadly lacking in our political prac- 
 tice." His finest achievement, says the New 
 York Sun, was that " he did change the attitude 
 of government toward property " and " gave 
 the Republic a new ideal of the duties and re- 
 sponsibilities of citizenship." 
 
 But no event in Mr. Roosevelt's career ex- 
 plains the secret of his hold on his fellow men. 
 What was the secret of this? asks the Boston 
 Herald, and it answers : " He was a man's man,
 
 356 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 a hero's hero, and an American's American." 
 The most important part of his equipment, says 
 the Rochester Post-Express, was his " normal 
 force and dauntlessness." Seldom in the history 
 of the world, says the New York Evening 
 World, has been seen a " more marvelous indi- 
 vidual embodiment of mental, moral, and physi- 
 cal force," which was so inspiring that " few 
 when under the spell asked more than to feel 
 the stimulating dynamic effects of it." Dr. 
 Frank Crane declares in one of his syndicated 
 newspaper articles that " No man has ever been 
 more a part of every man in the United States 
 than Theodore Roosevelt." His chief charac- 
 teristic was courage, according to Doctor Crane, 
 and since that quality is " a little spark of God " 
 we respect it. Because Roosevelt had it he has 
 " very near to the American heart." Finally, 
 says this writer, " he was a friend conceived of 
 as a friend in a passionate and personal way as 
 no other statesman of American history except 
 Lincoln." 
 
 On the Sunday following Mr. Roosevelt's 
 death there was scarcely a church in all New 
 York, says The Times, in which the pastor did 
 not take occasion to pay tribute to Theodore 
 Roosevelt and to point out the spiritual lessons 
 of his life. Only a brief quotation from one of 
 these, Rev. Dr. William T. Manning, of old 
 Trinity Church, can be given here: 
 
 " The outstanding note of his life was his love 
 of right and his fearless courage in upholding it. 
 He never hesitated to take his open stand or 
 flinched from saying what he believed needed to
 
 INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION 357 
 
 be said. He sometimes aroused strong and even 
 fierce opposition, but in the end he was admired, 
 loved and trusted even by most of those who dis- 
 agreed with him. 
 
 " To our human eyes it seems as though he 
 could not be spared, but his work was finished 
 and it was done faithfully and well. May God 
 give him peace and blessing in the other life 
 where he now is, and may God give to many of 
 our men and women the strong moral purpose, 
 the deep love of country, and the fearless cour- 
 age to uphold the right which he gave to Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt." 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE MEANING OF ROOSEVELT 
 
 " MR. ROOSEVELT has had his day," declared a 
 college professor, Harry .Thurston Peck, in The 
 Forum, October, 1908. The President was just 
 completing his seven and a half years in the 
 White House, after resisting strong pressure to 
 accept a renomination, and this writer was pro- 
 nouncing a serene farewell to him as a public 
 character, with some mild speculation as to 
 " How will he accept that transformation which 
 in the United States converts the chief of a great 
 nation into a simple citizen?" 
 
 And then the professor, relishing his theme, 
 yielded to the pressure of his own prophetic spirit 
 and foretold the fading future of the " simple 
 citizen " whom he was consigning to impotence
 
 358 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 and oblivion: "At noon on the 4th of March, 
 1909, Theodore Roosevelt's wish will no longer 
 be law to a hundred thousand officeholders. His 
 denunciations and his eulogies will be listened 
 to with only scant attention. His word, which 
 now sets battle fleets in motion, summons inter- 
 national congresses . . . will after that fateful 
 day not move so much as a tugboat or a revenue 
 cutter. He will sink to a subordinate position 
 after having been, perhaps, the most-talked of 
 human being in the world. It will be a strange 
 thing for him to learn the lesson that the power 
 which he exercises is the power of an office and 
 not the power of an individual man." 
 
 When was any forecast more specifically and 
 overwhelmingly controverted by the facts?- The 
 ten years following the professor's prophecy were 
 perhaps the greatest years in Mr. Roosevelt's 
 life, and saw the exercise of his greatest influ- 
 ence in the affairs of his country. His voice 
 roused the soul of the Nation, forced a reluctant 
 and dilatory government to action, called mil- 
 lions of men and women to service and sacrifice 
 for the safety and honor of America. And all 
 this time he was only " a simple citizen." But it 
 was not necessary to wait ten years, or even five 
 years, to see the sensational reversal of the pro- 
 fessor's prophecy. Less than two years after it 
 was written, the " simple citizen," who had been 
 away for the most of that time in the jungles of 
 Africa, returned to civilization, and the -press of 
 the day described his " oblivion " and the " scant 
 attention " which his words received. The Cleve- 
 land Plain Dealer, for example, said: "Here is
 
 INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION 359 
 
 an astonishing phenomenon. A private citizen is 
 seen to be of more interest to the world than any 
 ruler of any great nation. His mere opinion on 
 present American affairs is held of more impor- 
 tance than anything that may happen in America." 
 And in the American Magazine, Ray Stannard 
 Baker was writing, even before Mr. Roosevelt 
 emerged from the jungle: " Five thousand miles 
 distant, in the heart of Africa, without knowledge 
 of what is going on here at home, without having 
 uttered so much as a word of advice (or com- 
 mand!) for over a year, Roosevelt is to-day the 
 predominant factor in American politics." Still 
 again, Walter Wellman, writing from Europe to 
 the American Review of Reviews the result of 
 his own close personal observation, said " We 
 are even prepared to believe that which is told 
 us by so many of the diplomatists, officials, 
 journalists, officers and other men of information 
 we meet and converse with namely, that 
 Theodore Roosevelt is not only the foremost citi- 
 zen of our own country, but the most famous of 
 living men. They tell us, and seemingly with 
 candor and truth, that not the King of England, 
 nor the Czar of Russia, nor the Emperor of Ger- 
 many, nor any other sovereign or personage 
 could attract half the attention that is showered 
 upon this private citizen of the United States." 
 Finally, with the most specific conclusion, the 
 Paris Temps, after noting that Mr. Roosevelt's 
 reception in France and elsewhere in Europe was 
 really unparalleled in history, said : " We are ac- 
 customed to formal visits of kings and presi- 
 dents, but Roosevelt is no longer president. It
 
 360 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 is the man, therefore, not the office, which is be- 
 ing honored" Even when receptions and wel- 
 comings are over the one thing of real impor- 
 tance was unchanged. As Andrew Carnegie 
 said : " Strip him of all external dignities and 
 there still remains the Man, in full possession of 
 marvelous powers, high ideals, sleepless activity, 
 and boundless popularity." 
 
 Clearly, then, if we want to discover the mean- 
 ing of Roosevelt, it is not " the power of an of- 
 fice " which we want to study, but " the power of 
 an individual man." Position, wealth, environ- 
 ment, circumstances all external matters are 
 of secondary interest. The man's the thing we 
 want to know. What was he? What does his 
 personal life, his individual qualities mean for 
 the rest of us. Was he a mystery or a miracle? 
 Was he merely a spectacle, or was he a phe- 
 nomenon? Had he any exclusive copyright or 
 patent on his personal qualities? Were his 
 popularity, his power, his fame achieved through 
 magic, or bestowed by special favor of the gods? 
 Did he reach his eminence by a road which no 
 other man could travel? The rest of us plain 
 lAmerican men, some two score millions or more, 
 would like to know, just confidentially among 
 ourselves, we who have seen this man Roosevelt 
 filling the world with his individual personality, 
 whether he was inherently different from the rest 
 of us, whether he owned some intrinsic possession 
 which we do not or cannot have. 
 
 In the effort to provide the material from the 
 study of which the answers to these questions
 
 INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION 361 
 
 may be found, this book has been made. Most 
 of the material it contains has been gathered from 
 the personal writings of many men who knew 
 Mr. Roosevelt in his public and private life, in 
 his hunting and exploring trips in the wilderness, 
 and in varied activities in which his tireless 
 energy found employment. It has been far more 
 difficult to select and include than to reject and 
 omit, because of the overwhelming abundance of 
 material. Yet enough is given here to justify 
 the statement that the more closely we study the 
 personality and the career of Roosevelt the more 
 clearly we see that no essential qualities nor ad- 
 vantages belonging of necessity to himself alone 
 have been responsible for his great success. 
 Every boy, every man can possess himself of pre- 
 cisely the same advantages. It is a matter simply 
 of positive choice, resolute purpose, and per- 
 sistent following of the course mapped out. He 
 recognized this fact when he said : " To tell the 
 truth, I like to believe that, by what I have ac- 
 complished without great gifts, I may be a source 
 of encouragement to American boys." And 
 after he had gone from us, even his most hostile 
 political foes acknowledged that his belief in that 
 particular had been fully justified, as when The 
 Evening World, New York, said : " To help it to 
 the kind of strong, adventurous American man- 
 hood that has indeed made the Nation truly great 
 as never before among nations, American youth 
 has had no more forceful teacher and example 
 than Theodore Roosevelt." 
 
 At another time Mr. Roosevelt explained in
 
 362 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 the following very simple manner something of 
 the secret of his success, disclaiming any par- 
 ticular endowment of genius: 
 
 " It has always seemed to me that in life there 
 are two ways of achieving success, or, for that 
 matter, of achieving what is commonly called 
 greatness. One is to do that which can be done 
 by the man of exceptional and extraordinary 
 abilities. Of course this means that only one 
 man can do it, and it is a very rare kind of suc- 
 cess or greatness. The other is to do that which 
 many men could do, but which, as a matter of 
 fact, none of them actually does. This is the 
 ordinary kind of greatness. 
 
 " Nobody but one of the world's rare geniuses 
 could have written the Gettysburg speech, or the 
 second inaugural, or met as Lincoln did the awful 
 crises of the Civil War. But most of us can do 
 the ordinary things which, however, most of us 
 do not do. Any hardy, healthy man, fond of 
 outdoor life, but not in the least an athlete, could 
 lead the life I have led if he chose and by 
 ' choosing ' I of course mean choosing to exer- 
 cise requisite industry, judgment and foresight, 
 none of a very marked type." 
 
 It must be evident that the Roosevelt who 
 filled the world with his influence and his own 
 countrymen with a love and allegiance almost un- 
 paralleled, was the result, not so much of special 
 endowment as of the working out of definite 
 processes, as sure and inevitable as a problem in 
 mathematics or a formula in chemistry. The 
 same processes are for all who will use them, and 
 they may be depended upon to produce other
 
 INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION 363 
 
 such results in matured and masterful manhood. 
 
 Physically, Roosevelt began with a distinct 
 handicap which most boys do not suffer, yet he 
 overcame it and became an athlete, whose 
 " superb health and resistless youth " after the 
 age of fifty was the subject of comment. He did 
 it by the most natural and systematic process 
 of exercise and recreation, not the easy-going 
 recreation of an idler with plenty of time for 
 holidays, but the earnest, purposeful recreation 
 of the busy man of pressing affairs who must 
 make every minute count. If Roosevelt could 
 build up his body, clear his brain, and enrich 
 his blood by exercise, who of us shall say we 
 are " too busy " for such vital recreation? 
 
 Intellectually there never was anything 
 phenomenal in Roosevelt's equipment. He was 
 no infant prodigy. He became a persistent, al- 
 most omnivorous, reader and student, and his 
 appetite for knowledge grew by feeding. His 
 memory and power of assimilation grew strong 
 by training and exercise just as his body did. 
 He chose to accumulate a store of knowledge 
 from books, from nature, from men. The same 
 libraries of printed and living information are 
 free to all men. There is not a boy or a young 
 man in all this land who cannot, if he will, take 
 such a course of reading and study and gain from 
 it such a breadth of knowledge as Roosevelt's. 
 
 " The proper science and subject for man's 
 contemplation is man himself," declared the 
 philosopher Charron, and if Roosevelt with the 
 same wisdom and interest chose to study, by close 
 observation and contact, his fellow man, and to
 
 I 
 
 364 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 employ all his energies in the work of helping 
 men to understand and strive after their own 
 best development and their rightful relation one 
 to another, surely there is no reason why you and 
 I should not do the same thing. Indeed, we 
 know very well that nothing can so well occupy 
 our time or our talents as active, sympathetic 
 enterprise for t'he uplifting of manhood .and 
 womanhood. This passion of service to man- 
 kind is a steady growth and a constant joy. It 
 can never be idle ; it can never be satiated. Get- 
 ting for self is a grind, a burden, a thing that 
 shrivels and never satisfies. Giving to others is 
 a zestful, ever-increasing delight, as well as a 
 sure road to greatness. 
 
 It is plain to see that so much of Roosevelt's 
 greatness and power as came from his physical 
 fitness and strenuous activity, his habit of doing 
 his best and being at his best always, his laying 
 strong hands upon opportunities as they pre- 
 sented themselves, his industrious reading, his 
 will-power to cultivate and develop such talents 
 and opportunities as were his, wasting never a 
 moment, and his unselfish, unaffected interest in 
 his fellow man regardless of possessions or posi- 
 tion so much of Roosevelt's greatness as was 
 built with these materials may be the property 
 of other men through the use of the same ma- 
 terials. But not thus alone did Roosevelt be- 
 come the man he was, and not thus alone can any 
 other man gain the power invincible. 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt met and overcome count- 
 less obstacles and enemies. He could not have 
 done it with any mere physical, mental, or human
 
 INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION 365 
 
 prowess however finely developed. The strength 
 of truth, honesty, and high ideals was always the 
 one secret of Roosevelt's great and growing 
 power. His fellow countrymen long acknowl- 
 edged it, and the people of foreign nations did it 
 homage. " Righteousness exalteth a nation," 
 and righteousness exalteth a man. In all his 
 dealings with individuals, with classes, with na- 
 tions Roosevelt's one test was this : " Is the right 
 to prevail? Are the great laws of righteousness 
 to be fulfilled ? " Where parties, or persons, or 
 policies conflict, " the - choice must ever be in 
 favor of righteousness." Do foes threaten? 
 Is popularity or place at stake? " We scorn the 
 man who would not stand for justice though the 
 whole world come in arms against him." 
 
 Truth and righteousness are abstractions of no 
 value whatever to the world until they are em- 
 bodied in a personality. The stronger and better 
 equipped that personality is in other respects, as 
 physical and mental, the more value and power 
 he gives to the truth and righteousness for which 
 he stands. There is but one source of truth and 
 righteousness. Except as they flow from Al- 
 mighty God Himself they do not exist. No man 
 can possibly stand for truth and righteousness or 
 employ their power unless he is in direct rela- 
 tionship with the Divine Source. The wireless 
 connection must be established with God at one 
 end and man at the other. Then the man can 
 exclaim boldly and truly with Paul : " I can do 
 all things through Christ which strengtheneth 
 me." Does this sound too much like a sermon? 
 Tell me, if you can, how to approach the mighty
 
 366 ROOSEVELT'S LIFE AND MEANING 
 
 theme of truth and righteousness with God left 
 out? 
 
 Roosevelt grew to be a giant in the world for 
 no other reason than that he linked himself with 
 gigantic forces. He put spiritualities above ma- 
 terialities and did much to save the soul of 
 America. Official dignities and authority, politi- 
 cal or personal popularity, athletic or mental 
 cleverness all are trivial and transient. Nothing 
 that is external has any real power or perma- 
 nence. The spirit within is the invincible force 
 which determines whether a man shall be a crea- 
 ture of destiny or the creator of destiny. 
 
 This is the meaning which Roosevelt's person- 
 ality and career must have for us. We can waste 
 our lives in ceaseless hustle for the external re- 
 wards in the gift of man and we shall never gain 
 much or hold it long. Or we may choose that 
 partnership with the unseen and mighty realities 
 through which we shall grow strong, great, and 
 useful in and to the world. Then, as Roose- 
 velt did, we shall prove that the power exercised 
 is not the power of an office, but is the power of 
 an individual man. 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt could not fail. He had 
 that in himself which made him very largely in- 
 dependent of circumstances or of fortune. A 
 " laborer together with God " can never be with- 
 out a job nor fail to draw his sure wages. Roose- 
 velt is gone, but America need not be left without 
 his successor. He had little or nothing that oth- 
 ers may not have. He desired that his brothers, 
 especially the young men throughout the land 
 which he loved and served, shall equip themselves
 
 INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION 367 
 
 with the same potent qualities. In these days of 
 terrible need the people seize greedily upon a 
 strong and honest man. Here is the great op- 
 portunity for young Americans for the men 
 whose " big job " in France has left them eager 
 to apply their strength and valor in something 
 worth while. If the real meaning of Roosevelt's 
 life shall be fully appropriated we shall find in 
 the coming generation of the men of America a 
 veritable race of moral giants to whom the name 
 of patriot can truthfully apply in all its largest 
 significance. 
 
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