Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-05-03
ROOSEVELTIS
QUICK READER
THE PRESIDENT GOES THROUGH
A 5O0k At VERY HIGH
SPEED.

SPEED.
President Roosevelt's love for the
woods and the plains is no greater
than his affection for books, writes
the Washington correspondent of the
New York Tribune. In spite of the
busy life he leads and the regular
few men of affairs in the republic
read more than the president, and few
err yet extend their literary foraging
over wider range Of subjects. In
addition to keeping up with the i'm
portant newspapers and magazines,
which S task in itself, the president
is always abreast of the times in fic-
ton, science, historical research and
art. Reading is to the president what
rest is to most men. When he is at
home in Oyster Bay, at the White
House in Washington, or in his car
speeding over the rails to meet some
distant engagement, he is invariably
found with a book in his hand when
not engaged in some more important
work. When he starts on a trip, be
it long or short, his car is always
stocked with volumes and magazines,
and just as soon as he disposes of his
correspondence or bows out the Wis
iting local committeeman who come
to pay their respects, he takes up
the book that lays open and continues
to race through its pages. Aided by
wonderfully retentive memory, the
president holds fast all that he reads,
and is ready, if the need arises, to re-
peat almost any thought expressed
by the author, years after his eye had
travelled with lightning speed over the
page. That the president is able to
cover so much ground in literature
is duo to his systematic sticktoitive-
ness.
Book the First Thing.
The other day, when he made his
journey to New York to appear at
the st. Patrick's banquet, his train left
at 6:55 a. m. Early as was the hour
of leaving, the president reached the
Pennsylvania station Is minutes
ahead of time. Though the sun had
risen, it was dark beneath the train
shed, and porters were trundling their
baggage trucks about by electric lamp
light. AS soon as the president en-
tered his car he took seat by a
window with book in his hand. Muir
ray, the old porter who almost always
accompanies the president on most
of his trips, came into the observa.
ton parlor in response to a push but
ton summons, and lit gas jet over
the executives head, and the latter
plunged into his book. The last
glimpse the crowd at the station had
of the president, as the train pulled
slowly out, was his quiet figure franz
ed in the square of a yellow light,
with a red bound volume in the fore
ground. Thus he utilizes every mo-
ment of what the ordinary man would
call his spare time" a term the
president probably never uses, for ey.
cry minute of his day is precious
| and must be used with jealous econ
omy.
Enthusiastic reader DIS he is, and
| endowed with capacity for accom-
plishing far more than the ordinary
man, the president is, of course, un-
| able to sweep the whole literary no
| rizon unaded. In the great volume
of literature that the publishers throw
upon the market every week, there
| is much that is valueless. But no one
can tell the good from the bad with.
out digging into the pages. In or.
der to make every minute of his read.
ing count" the president is in the
habit of leaning upon a few friends
whose literary judgment he has found
to be trustworthy. Among these
| might be mentioned James r. Gar
field, chief of the bureau of corpora.
| tons, in the department of commerce
| and labor; Francis E. Leupp, the In
dian commissioner, and Senator Henry
Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts. Be
tween them, with their divergent
| tastes, they manage to keep in close
touch with most that is notable and
worth reading in the field of letters
Then there are the various reviews
published for the use of busy men
| and a score or more of other friends
who communicate regularly with the
president by mail to keep him ad
vised on what is and what is not
| worth while"
I'D read this if l were you," re
marks Mr.. Garfield, as he enters the
| presidents office almost any after
noon when he is not out in Kansas
| investigating oil or away from town
on some other important mission
And this" he continues, selecting
another from the package of books
he has brought under his arm, SIS
hardly worth your while. You'll fine
that the third chapter is very good
You'll enjoy the close of this story
and this volume of short stories will
repay you for all the time you put
on it,
Writers and editors all over the