The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-30
DUTIES OF PRESIDENT
PUBLICATION OF A ROOSEVELT
ARTICLE DELAYED TWO YEARS
While Governor of New York He Wrote
Out His Views IS to tho RESPONSE
biiity of the Head of the Nation
President Should Have considera.
ton, He Says.

BOSTON, Mass, Oct. 29.-In an arti?
Gle written for the Youths Companion,
which will be published next week,
Theodore Roosevelt gives his ideas of
the duties and responsibilities of the
president Of the United States. Mr..
Roosevelt wrote the article in 1900 while
he was governor OF New York and
previous to the Republican national
convention which nominated him for
vice president. In it Mr.. Roosevelt
says:
THE president Of the United States
occupies a position of peculiar impor
lance. In the whole world there is no
other ruler, certainly no other ruler
under free institutions, whose power
compares with his. Of course, there is
the enormous personal factor of the in
cumbent himself to be considered en-
tirely apart from the power of the Of
flee itself. This is merely another way
of stating that in any office the person
al question is always of vital con-
sequence.
Although many men must share
with the president the responsibility,
there is upon him always heavy
burden of responsibility. 1t is easy
enough to give bad administration,
but to give good administration de-
mands the most anxious thought no
less than very unusual powers of mind.
There is every reason why the pres
1dent should be held to sharp ae-
countability alike for what he does
and for what he leaves undone. But
we injure ourselves and the nation if
we fail to treat with proper respect
the man who, in the highest office in
our land, is striving to do his duty.
Every President Honorable.
1--WE have had presidents who have
acted weakly or unwisely in particular
crises, but we have never had one
concerning whose personal integrity
there was SO much as a shadow of
suspicion. Appointments and policies
which are normally routine and unin1-
portant may suddenly become of abso-
lutely vital consequence. The war de-
partment was utterly neglected for
over thirty years after the Civil war.
Neither the regular officer nor the reg
ular soldier takes any part in politics
as rule, so that the der1agogue and
bread and butter politician have no
fear of his vote; and to both of them,
and also to the cheap sensational news
paper, the army offers a fayorite sub
ject for attack.
$50 it often happens that some anna
bic people really get little afraid of
the army, and have some idea that it
may be used some time or other
against our liberties. The army never
has been and am sure it never will
be or can be, a menace to anybody
save Americas foes, or aught but
source of pride to every good and far
sighted American. When an emer-
geney like that caused by the Spanish
war arises, the secretary of1war be-
comes the most important officer in the
cabinet.
Altogether, there are few harder
tasks than that of filing well and ably
the office of president of the United
States. But if the man at the close
of his term is able to feel that he has
done his duty well, he has the salts
faction of feeling that he has perform
ed one of the great world tasks and
that the mere performance Is in itself
the greatest Of all possible rewards