The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 17

THE DAILY EAGLE -BRIJOKLYjN SECTION HW YOItlv CITY, MONDAY. JANUARY 1919. 5 s8' DEEDS, NOT WC KEYNOTE OF ROOSEVELT'S CAREER -V I Destiny Crowded His Life with so Many Wonderful Experiences and Opportunities for Achievement That His Career Suggests a Work of Fiction. His Intensely Human Side Endeared Him to a Vast Number of Followers. that year was known as the "Roosevelt Reform Bills." Tho young Roosevelt had become I such a force in the Republican party Former President Was Statesman, Soldier, Athlete, Explorer, Historian, Naturalist, Ranchman.

A Two-handed, Hard-fisted, Lion-Hearted Fighting Man Even His Sternest Critics Admitted That He Was Touched by the Wand of Genius. Whatever place the historian of the future shall accord to Theodore Roosevelt, his friends and his enemies are agreed that his unique personality, his amazing many-sidedness, his ability to project himself across the pathway of world events, place him upon a pedestal peculiarly his own. Action was the keynote of his life and of his character action every moment. Since the days when he was old enough to toddle his restless nature bade him be up and doing. "Deeds, nor words," was a favored phrase.

Into the lifetime of an individual he massed so exploits that a mere catalogue of them would fill a thick volume. He was statesman, athlete, explorer, hunter, author, soldier, historian, naturalist, ranchman and a host of other things. And through all the he was a two-handed, hard-fisted, lion-hearted fighting man. So he kept his hold on the American people. His friends and Ms-enemies- stood ever at the extremes.

There was no attained by any American in political hunt grizzlies ho announced that Hoosevelt couldn't do any hunting in that section, lie said he would shoot him if he did. This angered Roosevelt and he decided he had belter make his reputation at once. He rode over to the bad man's house and mado him apologize. Another exciting experience of tlio Hist few months of Roosevelt's life In the West was when a. man with several notches on his gun stuck his revohcr in llooseveh's face and tried tiV'fi I to bully the man from the Hast.

I Hoosevelt was rather pale nt that time and wore glasses. He didn't look like nilddlo ground. His friends regarded lire. A famous editor once wrote of him that he 'supposed Hoosevelt was born like other boys," but there the similarity ceased. From boyhood to tho end of his life span, his history was idled with remarkable incidents.

Reporters learned early that wherever hint with a passonutc devotion which those outside the charmed circle could not understand. His enemies hated him us intensely as his friends loved him. If ho was Richard the un-Killlsh crusader to the flue, he was a "bogey" to tho other just as was liiehard Coe.ur do Lion to the Moslem children. He was tit once the most haled and the best loved man of his use. (hie had but to utter the Initials, and at onee everybody knew who was meant, not only here but abroad.

Destiny crowded Wis life with so many wonderful experiences and so many rare and unique- opportunities for achievement, that his career suggests a work of fiction rather than that of a man of llesh and blood. His enemies were wont to speak slighting-ly of his success and attribute it, snceringly, to "Hoosevelt luck," but ho himself explained it in this way: "1 put myself in tho way of things happening and they happened." lie was nt once simple and pro or the State that he was made chairman of the delegation from New York to the Republican National Convention In Chicago In 1S84. He worked with all his energy for tho nomination of Senator Edmunds of Vermont for the presidency and was vigorously opposed to James i. 1 llu inc. How.

ever, ufter Mr. Blaine's nomination ho had no more active supporter than Theodore Hoosevelt. I'arly Learned to Trust the I'oiplc. liven in those early legislative days Roosevelt learned to take, a lhlng to the people when the politicians turned him down. It was by riveting the attention of the people of the State on him, in his buttle against Judge Wcstbrook, that ho eventually won out, for the Asemblyman had heard from their constituents before the controversy was over, und did not dare to take an unpopular stand.

Hoosevelt had been characterized again and again as Die most astute of politicians but his friends have always insisted that he was not a politician in the sense in which tho word is generally used. Those who have known him best have always declared that if his record is carefully studied it will be seen that he carefully mapped out a course for himself as a young man, which he never deviated from, that he never sought to satisfy a personal ambition but always to advance a cause, that tho opinions, regarded as radical by many, were carefully considered for years and that it was of little concern what happened to his own fortunes If the principle for which he was fighting was carried forward. When he was Civil Service Commissioner he wrote as follows to a friend: "When I was in the Legislature I soon found that for my own happiness as well as for the sake of doing good work, I had to cast aside all thoughts of my own future; and as soon as I had made up my own mind to this and voted simply as I thought right, not only disregarding people themselves, if I honestly believed them wrong on a matter of principle, not of mere expediency, then I began to enjoy myself and to feel that I was doing good. "It is just the samo way with my present work as Civil Service Coni-misisoner. I believe in it with all my heart and am absolutely certain that I' could not possibly bo engaged in any other work at the present moment more vitally important to the public welfare; and I literally do not care a rap what politicians say of me, in or out of Congress, save in so far as my actions may hurt or help 'the cause for which I am working.

My hands are, fortunately, perfectly free, for I have not tho slightest concern about my political future. "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. I may not ever be called to take another public place, or I may be; in any event I shall try to do decent work while I am in office. I shall prob Hoosevelt "Was there news was in the making. Other men said things which were forgotten the next day.

When Hoosevelt said a thing it passed into current speech, liven as a private citizen his slightest action was often of more interest than that of the President of the United States, l'loin a Physical He Be- came un Athlete. He began life under the handicap of a puny physical frame. He made himself a. strong man among tho strong. Ho was a pale-faced, sickly, rather timid child.

He left college an athlete, with a reputation as a boxer, wrestler and polo player. From tho time he left Harva-rd his career was a succession of kaleidoscopic changes. At one moment he was seen climbing the Swiss Alps, outrivaling even the hardiest mountain a bail man at all. Hie cowboys, tho gamblers and the desperadoes laughed when they saw the bully trying to bulldoze Roosevelt. But they didn't laugh when they saw the young Easterner shoot out his fist and send tho big bully to the floor.

Roosevelt did not have a friend In tho crowd until he struck the bully; ufter that they wero nil his friends. It was a new way of fighting in the West, and they all applauded when Hoosevelt. kicked the very much humiliated bad man out of doors, ufter taking- his revolver from him. Roosevelt soon proved that ho could ride bucking bronchos as well as tho cowboys themselves. Ho lived the life of his cowboys, sleeping and eating with This was the foundation for the popularity that swept the whole West in the last election.

Ills Cowboy Companions Became the Nucleus of the Hough Riders. These same men, who were his pals on his hunting trips, formed the nucleus of the famous Hough Rider regiment during the war with the Spaniards. They rode, fought and slept with him in the fever-swept regions of Cuba as they had on the plains of the West and they used to say of him that he would never ask any of his men to do anything which he would not do himself. When lie returned to Xew York in 1886 he was once again carried into the maelstrom of politics. He got tho nomination for Mayor on the Republican ticket.

Henry George was running, and tho Democrats, in a panic, got. together and nominated Abram S. Hewitt. Hewitt was elected over both George and Hoosevelt by a plurality of 20,000 votes. Roosevelt took the.

defeat In good part. When the result was announced he just laughed and said: "Well, I have had a bully good time just the same." He went again to his ranch and there plunged once more into his literary work. He was a very proline writer, though not a very finished one, and his books were written out of an intimate knowledge of the West, and its, people. He knew the cowboys and he knew the wild lifo of that part of the country as few men did. His books rank today as an authority.

In 1SS9 ho was appointed by Presi. dent Harrison to be Civil Service Commissioner. Ho went to the task with eers of Europe. At another as a very young man in tho legislative halls at Albany lighting the bosses single-handed, conducting a light against a corrupt ailroud ring with an ardor, a tenacity and a determination which came to be regarded as characteristic of the man. His entire lifo was one of "affirma found, easily comprehensible and an enigma.

His friends understood him readily. Those wiio opposed him never could falhom his motives to their own satisfaction. Ho was so many-sided that to give a complete picture of tho man is the most diilicult of tasks. In every newspaper clipping bureau there were hundreds more of clippings about him than there were about any other living1 man. Even hi.s sternest critics grudgingly admitted that ho was louched by tho wand of genius, the while they proclaimed that his success was largely due to a happy element of chance.

Possessed an Intensely Human Side. He had an intensely human side mid -every-tmtk it Trtrteh-h-msa(red himself he went at with tho zest of a boy. No man since Lincoln's day had so many followers among tho plain people. To get the complete plctur of Hoosevelt you had to see him not tive action." A favorite text of his was: "Be yc also doers of the Word, not hearers only," and tho motto he set for himself in the days of his youth was, "Better faithful than famous." Ho strove to epitomize these words In his life. His career shows as many facets as a diamond and each seemed to shine with equal brilllnncy.

Had he never been- President, his fame as a soldier would have sufficed. Had he never been a soldier his nicho would hnvo been secure in history ns a writer. If he had never set pen to papen, he would have been known as a naturalist, an explorer or for his work ably enjoy the life greatly while doro Hoosevelt was born on October 21. 1S58. He began life under the double handicap of wealth nnd bad health.

From early infancy ho was subject to asthmatic attacks nnd it was at first feared that he would not grow to In other fields. His Nome and tho Word "Strenuous," Synonymous. Ho studied law, desired to become a professor, did become a cowboy, hunted big game, explored tho untrodden wilderness, presided over the destinies of tho police, fought the Spaniards and tho "malefactors of great wealth" impartially, built up the Navy, settled the coal strike of 11)02, made peace between Russia and Japan, caught African fever, was shot by a crank, and no matter what tho adventure the fates had in store for him found life a "bully game." His active lifo brought the word into common use. He was known as tho greatest apostle of only as the politicians and tho men controlling tho big interests saw him. but as Bill Sewa.ll, the Maine frontiersman saw him, as he was known to his Hough Kiders, to tho men in the mines and the men on tho farm.

There were more stories told about him than about any other American, save only Lincoln. The almost fanatical devotion of his followers may be illustrated by a story told at the time ho was running for Governor of New York State. Word had gone round that Richard Croker had referred to him as a "wild man." It reached the ours of Sherman Bell. "Who is this 'Dick asked Boll. "He don't belong to my State.

don't know him. Let him take thirty of his men I don't, care how well they are heeled and meet me. I will shoot him so full of holes that I am taking part In It, nnd I shall certainly be ready at any time to go out of it, with a perfectly light heart." Quit Politics for Lifo on a Ranch. He was still a rising star in the political firmament when he went West to live among the cowboys of whom ho grew so fond. Ho purchased lands In North Dakota, where he established two ranches on the Little Missouri River among the "bad lands." The writer of this article lived for a year with his ranch foreman in the same country and had an opportunity to learn, at first hand, how his men regarded him.

They idolized him. Many stories were told of his supreme courage, of his endurance, of his fairness and justice. Among the cowboys all tenderfeet ning on a platform of clean streets and clean politics. The old stagers referred to the spectacled young man as a "silk stocking" and a "dude." He soon proved ho was neither. He once said to his close friend, Jacob A.

Rils, when ho was asked why ho went into politics: "I suppose for one thing ordinary, plain, every-day duty sent mo there to begin with. But, more than that, I wanted to belong to the governing ektss. not to be governed." "When I said that I wanted to go to tho Republican Association they told me that 1 would meet tho groom and tho saloonkeeper there; that poll-lies wero low, and that no gentlemen energy and enthusiasm nnd made the ofMce known. Other civil service commissioners passed their of office in obscurity. Roosevelt succeeded in fixing the eyes of the entire nation upon himself.

He made a report on political blackmail in the Custom House which attracted general attention. So efficient were his services in that onice that when President Cleveland was elected ho continued him in his place. When Roosevelt resigned, President. Cleveland wrote to him: "You are certainly to be congratulated upon the extent and perma-, nenoy of civil service reform methods which you have so substantially aided in bringing about. The struggle for its firm establishment and recognition is past.

Its faithful application and reasonable expansion remain, subjects of deep interest to ull who really desire the best attainable public service." Roosevelt's next berth was the Police Coinmlssionership of New Y'ork. Tho two years he spent in Mulberry street have sometimes been described as its "golden days." He destroyed the old evil system under which a man owed his promotion to "pull," and established the new one of promotions strictly on merit. When he came to Mulberry street. manhood. The first care of tho young Hoosevelt was to build for himself the healthy body which had been denied him at birth.

He lived outdoors, spending much of Ills-time tramping in tho woods and hunting. His indomitable will led him to attempt tasks which were thought to bo beyond his strength. Bill Sewall, his guide In tho Maine woods, tried to get him to carry a. light gun, but ho ulways insisted on carrying a man's him said, "It was his fighting eense of right and wrong. That was big In him." Half a Southerner nnd hnlf a Northerner, ho always said he was of no section, but was ijn American with an equal lovo for every part and every people of his native land.

It was bis proud boast that ho was "strulght United Slates" and nothing else. Through his Southern mother, one of the Bullochs of (Jcorgia. ho Inherited the royal blood of Kobcrt Iti'uce of Scotland. His mother was directly descended from Archibald H. Bulloch, the first president of Georgia In Colonial times.

All of his mother's sympathies were with the Mouth, nnd it was her brother In the Confederate navy who fired the last shot from tho Confederate battleship Alabama as she was going down under the guns of tho lveursarge, oft Cherbourg, France. Born to Wen Kb, or Distinguished Ancestry, On his father's side ho inherited a mixture of Dutch, Irish and French tho "strenuous life," yet after his bothered with it. said 'ir that is so. the groom und tho saloon keeper are the governing class and vou confess weakness. You have all tho chances, the education, tho posi he won't know himself from a honey-, election to tho Presidency In 1004, comb." he went to the other extreme and An accident, the shooting' of Wil- preached lay sermons to Americans, Hum McKinley, made him President calling upon them to lead the "simple of the United Stales before he was I lil'e.

as expounded by Dr. Wagner. 41 years of age, but tho people re-! Ash young man he taught himself turned him to the AVhite House In never to cry "quits" no matter how 19(14 with the greatest popular pin- severe the bludgeonings of chance. Ho vality ever given to any candidate. It was a hater of shams.

His old friend, luis been said that bis vote, In that I Hill Sewali, tho Maine guide and election, gave him the right to claim frontiersman, when asked what It was tho greatest personal popularity ever about Roosevelt that most impressed Hon, und you let them rule you. They must be better And I went." are "dudes," nnd the young Easterner, fresh from college, was no exception. They laughed at him. They learned not to laugh the first time he rode a bucking broncho. Within a few days even the roughest cow-puncher in Billings County had a wholesome respect for tho slight young ranchman.

When ho reached North Dakota he wore a handsome hunter's suit of tho best make. A certain bad man of tho section laughed at him and when he learned that Roosevelt was going to Joe Murray, political lieutenant of Jake Hess, the then Republican boss of the ct which Roosevelt ran, gave, him his assistance and the young weapon. Long years afterward men were amazed nt his endurance and his strength. By paying careful attention to his body ho lilted himself for the turbulent years which wero to como when only a man of remarkable physical resources could follow the path which he laid out for himself. His Chest Development Abnormal.

After he wnH shot by tho Insane crank in Milwaukee and laid on the operating table, one of the attending physicians was astonished at his splendid body and said ho was a physical marvel. His chest development, which was abnormal, saved him from death, for In tho case of another man the bullet would have penetrated a man won. William Waldorf Astor, who van for Congress at the same time, was defeated. Byrnes, who was then chief, told him that the system would "break" him. Til dictate to the boss and ie him to gel out." This photograph, taken in 1912, shows Colonel Roosevelt in a characteristic speaking" pose.

Made a Reputation as Reformer Col. Roosevelt on his African hunting trp. While in tho Legislature. Assemblyman Roosevelt was the youngest member in the popular branch of tho Legislature when he vital organ After a period spent In the private took his seat. None of the old mem- schools ho went to Harvard at the ago bers was disposed to take him serlous- of IS and graduated when he was 21.

)y nt first, but he started in to show Tolls. "nZ'ZwV hT hYlls a fTefu' uany drove a two-whoeled gig and boxed wlth whom mu8t reckon. The with enthusiasm, never even hesitat- first timo hu fpoko In tho House he log to put on tho gloves with men proved that he was ublo to take care twice his size und weight. Of tho box- himself in debate. Ho was not ing bouts the story Is told that once -J7 kIS 4 I I mJs Ik Ida ti- 1 -Ml Ira IV 1.1 1 1 17 over-reverent as to traditions and precedents, and ho counted more on his ability than on his birth.

It was not long before he had a reputation as a debater, lie entered Into everything with enthusiasm and struck right and left ugainst cveryono who opposed him. Tho habit of rushing through bills with jokers hidden In them received 11. serious set back from young Roosevelt. He Insisted upon knowing all about each of the bills Introduced, no nia iter If it wns local and hud no apparent interest or Importance. Ho was rc-eleeleil lo the.

Assemblies of 1SS.I and 1 I ami ho mado such a reputation tor himself that he wag nominal ed for speaker, and made leader of his party In tho latter year. The House was Democratic in that year and lie (lid not get tho speakership. As 11 reformer Mr. Hoosevelt started In seriously In his second year in the Legislature. At that timo there existed a ring of lawyers banded together for 1 lie purpose of throwing life Insurance companies nnd other financial Institutions Into tho hands of Supreme Court Justice Wcslbrook had the appointment of the receivers, and II was alleged that he bad relations with the ring of cor an opponent took a mean advantage of him, striking him before hud his glovo firmly fixed.

Roosevelt's eyes gleamed. "I guess you hnvo made a mistake." he wild. "Wo do not do that way here." Then he punished tho man In a way that he remembered. again did that student take a mean advantage of him. Itnimi'Velt wns studious and won for himself 11 good nnnio In scholarship.

In those iluys In was ambitious to become a iiMtuinllst and 11 professor, but Ills favorite study was the history nt men and things, llu was an omnivorous render anil often he would pick up a blink nnd forget everything else going on about hint us he read It. (Jriiiluiiteil Tr-oni Harvard When 2t. At the age of 21 ho graduated, but beloro thai he hud started on his literary en net-, Ills llrst work was "The Naviil War of 1S12." and no accurate was II. In spil or the ymilh ol' the writer. Unit it took rank at once 11s 11 11 iititliiii-lly.

The British paid tin. nulliiM- Hi" hluhest t'oinplinii'iit that could I'ahl I'll" when thev asked him lo write chapter deallm; wit li this win' for their nionuiueiitn I work, "The Navy." Leaving college, he went to Swlt.er- Mi Huguenot blood. Tie wns born In a home consiiieraino wealth, ns 1 money went In tho early fifties. 11m I father was Theodore Hoosevelt, son 01 Cornelius win ncnaieK Runsevell, and his ancestry runs back to llio me-dltvul davs of Kuteli hlsiiuy, Tim nunio of the father was will I en hugo In Hie history of the city mid lie was remembered iil'lcrwnrd for his many fhurlllcs und for his Kln-IIng Amer'. I leaiilsm, which was tlin (llsllugulHliliiK i nun.

111 iiui cx-i I 1 ne periormeii such feats III limbing that be wns ninilii the Alpine Club of Lun- Tho founder of the Hoosevelt fain- inouiiliiln lly Was Klnss Maieiisen Itnnsevell. mi-tuliei' 1 ill poration wreckers. An Investigation was made and a majority report of the Investlui'ling committee was nothing more than 11 whitewashing, but there was a minority report that con-ilenined WcMbiook and recommended bis removal. The majority report wns adopted. Hoosevelt did not rest Die ma tier, but continued tho fight ni 1 und Nettled In New Amsterdam.

Hlght A f' months afier Ills grndiiiitliiii general hum iinvo sprung from tint: 1 It married Miss Alin. sturdy Inimlgreiil nnd, Willi liardlv an llnsteii. Mi- In liH. leaving one exception, eaeli geiieialloii lui ')'' I I'lillii. Mi''' Hi" wife of lli piv.

senled nt least man of distinction. m-ntnilv' Mi-holtm I ungwui't 1 1 1 1 1 The llonscvHlM have been ncllvrU In tSMl married Identllled wllb the eoiunierclal. Ketinli Can of New York, nnd In lltlcal and social life of Yurie tbeni live 'lnldn-n were born ln-l, City from the time the first Hoosevelt i now tin- If'1 of In-. HMuiril liei liv, landed III the old Dutch rnlntiv. I nml fmir soivi, Theodore Kennll.

Willi IK'W iii.i'.'n "i "oiiimi eoiiiui-- Wcslbrook tiled suddenly before the i-enimllteo began work on the second Investigation. With tho I WTERHATlONtlL I evebltloiis 01 ine nrsi investigation irooseeil omr, ivKioaioiH Klghf Reneriitlons of the lionsrvolt I Arehil'iil'l and ijiienlin. nf receivers, and these bills family hnvo lived at Knst Twen- Roosevelt iniule Ills debut In politics were passed and arc the laws of today, tluth rtriivt, Manhattan, where Xhuo- a A l'Jt Amvmbly, run-1 utliur Ktl-laliun lu'csenled by him 1.