The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1909-03-19

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of the DO and the machine. This,
think has been the moving principle
of Mr.. Rooscvelt's career. He has be
leyed in practical progress and not
in ideas which make for no real ad
,anCement.
After these two years | went upon
the bench and left Washington, and
only occasionally met him, though
from time to time, as changes came
in his career, we carried on cores
pondencc and as crisis would arise he
would not infrequently write me to Sc
cure my Judgment on particular situa-
tiuns.
No one associates with Mr.. Roose-
Welt closely without having the strong
est possible affection for him. His
mind, his disposition and his tcmpcra-
ment are all Of that class that would
rather make him agree than disagree
with the people with whom he comes
in contact. But this Is not to say that
he does not enjoy controversy and
fight according to the rules of the
game, for he does. He believes as
strongly as possible in team work, and
| never served under any other man,
or hope to serve under another man, so
intensely loyal to the cause which we
were both seeking to uphold and so
generous in his acceptance of the full
responsibility for his subordinates in
the work as Theodore Roosevelt.
never served under another who was
as generous in his praise of those who
worked with him and who was as will
ing to accord more than their deserts
to the men who were shoulder to shoul-
der with him in the fight That char
acteristc of his has been calculated
to tie men to him with bonds of
steel
The general theory that Mr.. Roose-
welt is of an exceeding impulsive ma
ture is, perhaps, justified to the eX-
tent of saying that he has a marve-
lous quickness for apprehending a
question and reaching the nub of it,
and almost an overwhelming desire to
decide and get rid of the issue pre-
sented as promptly as possible. |
never knew a man who worked as far
in advance of what was to be done and
who kept his engagements with refer
ence to what he had agreed to do as
providently as Mr. Roosevelt. Per-
haps | value this virtue more highly
because | lack it myself. The result
of quick decision and action might
have impaired the success of Mr.
RooSevelts career if it had not been
that he has been freer than most men
from that pride of opinion which pre-
vents many men from admitting their
error, reversing their Judgment, and
changing their course. ] have had to
do with a number of presidents and
with a good many chiefs, and | am
! we'll within the truth when | say that
| never met a man who, upon proper
presentation, would reverse himself as
willingly and with as little trace of
obStinacy or unreasona bleness as Mr.
! Roosevelt
The relation between Mr.. Roosevelt
and myself has been one of close and
sweet intimacy. 1t has never been
ruffled in the slightest degree, and
do not thinn tnat we have ever mis-
understood each other. Mr.. Roose
velt's tastes and mine have not been
the same. In the matter of athletics
he takes to those games more violent
than / am suited to and more violent
tnan | like He has the strongest
literary sense and a power of applica
tion in reading current literature that
to me is marvellous. He loves the
woods; he loves hunting, he loves life
akin to that of the pioneer, he loves
roughing it, and | don't.
Mr.. Roosevelt never nad the educa-
tion and practice of a lawyer. His
intense desire to reach practical re-
suits for good has made him at times
impatient of the restraint of legal
methods, while | have been trained
as a lawyer and a judge and am as
strongly imbued with the necessity Tor
! legal methods as eleven years on the
bench are likely to make one; and
| yet, in spite of this difference of
method and difference of tempeTa-
ment, it is quite remarkable to me-
and we have frequently commented
on it to each other, that we have been
in agreement in our views as to the re-
suits that ought to be obtained in the
matter of government and political
progress, even to details, much more
than other men who have come into
association with both of us.
Mr. Roosevelt's courage In the eX-
preston of his convictions | need not
dwell upon. His real, and what one
might almost describe as affectionate,
interest in the welfare of the poor
man, of the man who has great OBJ
stacles to meet and who has the odds
against him in lifes struggle, and the
sincerity of his desire to help that
class of men, no one who ever had to
do with him could doubt; and his in
sistence has always been that the diff
| ficulty between the so-called classes
in the country and the failure of edu-
Gated lawyers and political economists
and others to bring about proper rela-
tions between the well-to-do and those
who are dependent upon wages for
! their living, arise from an absence of
a proper point of view on the part of