The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-11
The Nobel Prize Man OF 1909.

Fate has taken THEODORE ROOSEVELT
m hand and made him a man Of peace.
Il was not his original conception OF him
self. He was a beligerent Assistant
Secretary OF the Navy. He was an
1 aggressive Colonel Of volunteer cavalry,
and has been prouder of the part he
played in storming Kettle Hill than OF
any other achievem ent of his life. He
yearned for the medal OF honor as the
only suitable reward Of his g~allantry,
and candidly said he would prefer it to
promotion. 1t is n of the keenest
regrets OF his life that it was withheld
from him. The decoration was given
only to those Cuban veterans who
had rescued the wounded under fire.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT would gayly have
exposed himself in such a cause to win
the coveted honor, but provision did
not show him the way TO it.
The role of warrior used TO bemore
oongenial 10 THEODORE ROOSEVELT than
the Office of paciicator. When the truce
luIl in Cuba was about to end by failure
10 agree upon terms Of peace he was
visibly the most demonstrative man in
the army. Fighting he regarded as a
game fit for grown men and he was eager
to wear new laurels. Tradition tells OF
him later in his career as chatting at the
restraint of the White House when there
was talk OF another war. Running
through his messages there is an unmis-
taxable note Of the righteousness Of war
and an appreciation of it as a tonic for
a people sunk in the sloth of material
and sordid effort. Preparedness for war
IN his favorite topic, and he would be
satisfied with no var by his country in
which he was not a paladin.
But his exploits in Cuba pale before
his worldwide celebrity as the ruler
who made peace between Russia and
Japan. 1t was all in the days work, but
Il was we'll done. He will never be able
to live the fame of it down, and history
will know him as the foremost lover of
peace of the epoch. There are signs in
his latest message that he bows to the
inevitable; and now a committee OF the
Norwegian Parliament has awarded him
the Nobel prize under the will Of the
millionaire maker of explosives who was
converted TO the gospel Of peace by the
author OF LAY Down Your Arms
THEODORE ROOSEVELT will confer
more fame upon the Nobel prize than he
receives from it. 1t is an honorable but
not an eminent company in which he
finds himself. All the world TO the re-
hottest bound Of heat and cold has heard
Of the President of the United States who
made Japan and Russia lay down their
arms, but all the world has not heard of
the other beneficiaries under the Nobel
will: JEAN HENRY DUNANT OF Geneva
and FREDERICK PAssY of Paris, between
whom the prize in 1901 was divided; ELI
DUcoMMUN of Berne and DIR. CHARLES
ALBERT GoBAT, also Of Berne, who shared
It in 1902; WILLIAM RANDALL CREMER,
the English radical, honored in 1903;
and BERTHA o SUTTNER, the author of
Lay Down Your Arms" who won Il In
l905-in 1904 it was bestowed upon the
Institute of International Law Of Client.
Long after the little campaign in which
THEODORE ROOSEVELT received his bap-
tism of fire is recalled only by consulting
a reference book he will be acclaimed
the champion of peace whose labors
were recognized by the gift of the illus
trious Nobel prize, and if his name does
not lead all the rest it will be very near
the top. Medals Of honor for making
war are omm On enough, but tokens of
distinction for stopping war and spread
ing the doctrine of peace among all the
nations are the portion only OF the elect
and the deathless.
Let Congress pass without a days
delay a joint resolution permitting the
proaident To nccant thia title Of hnnnr