Norwich bulletin., 1909-03-06
HOW ROOSEVELT STANDS.

The Sixtieth congress had it out with Roosevelt until the last moment and now the unworthies assigned by him to the Ananjas club are lifting their voices in condemnation of him without any apparent effect upon the country, because the people realize that what Taft says of Roosevelt is true.
 The great democratic papers of the country. now that the president has retired from political life, are review ing his administration with frank ness and fairness which is surprising. The Richmond Times Despatch. says of Roosevelt:
 "Out of this well-spring of explos- i've life have flowed both his merits and his defects. No fair-minded critic of. his administration can doubt that as tims shifts his record into it's prop CT perspective. the merits will largely outweigh the defects. Despite occa- sional vacillatlons, he has aimed to stand, and has stood, for a square deal to the people. He is basically a man of moral aspirations, of high ideals. of rectitude. courage and honesty. Un- doubtedly his terms as president will be remembered more than anything else us period of moral regeneration in our national and commercial life, and this is. personally, his doing. He has tracked down great evils develop ed in the name of business by male- factors of great wealth, and he has not been afraid to assaiI them hip and thigh. Powerful enemies have come to him in this way, and he has re- joiced in them. He has not gone about his work as a moral reformer always wisely. nor has he. many tangible results to point to. But his purpose has been high and benefcent, and there is no doubt that his constant preaching, supported by his great per- sonsl popularity, has distinctly elevat- ed the standard of public and com mercial morals in this country. No trusts have been broken on the wheel, no magnates are behind the bars and the effective working of the antitrust legislation is proving open to seri- ous doubt. But business will be con ducted on a higher scale because MT. Roosevelt was president, and that is a good deal to say of any man
 Probably Mir. Roosevelts contem- porary fame rests less uDon what he has done than upon what he is. It is the man himself, the picturesque. viv- Id, glowing human animal, that has go caught the popular fancy. He is in many respects a. man to be supremely envied. Never was there anybody who enjoyed everything more, who had a better time. who got more overfioWlng joy out of living. Whether he was settling a great foreign war or going to the floor with some stout-chested wrestler in the East room; taking twenty mile walks in the driving rain or receiving an Austrian diplo- mat; writing a cocksure article about the Morse sagas or castigating an enemy in the language of the street; playing tennis with the Lord Bishop of London or squabbIing violently with congress; shooting mountain lions or seductively haranguing a congress of mothers-no matter what ne turned his teeming mind to, he was happy as a king. He has had over seven years as president, and 1t Is safe to say that he has never been bored or blue a single minute Of all that time. This faculty for superb enjoyment is a quality approaching close to genius. To have "a bully time" ;n the fullest and most genuine sense og that phrase. is almost if not quite as hard as to be a good president of the United States. To have done both is to com pass more than is given to many men in this world"