The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-04
IncOmingPresidentPays
to His Predecessor.
Has Known Him Intimately for
Number of Years.
POLITICALLY.
Says Roosevelt Was Always Gen.
erOus in Praise
OF Those Called Upon to Work
With Him.


March 6, Golfers Weekly will pub
1ish an article by President-elect Taft
under the caption, my Predecessor,
of which the following is an abstract:
''Mr. Roosevelt and I came to know
each other when he was chairman of
the civil service commission and I was
solicitor general in 1890 to 1892 in
Washington. We were both subordin-
ates in the Harrison administration.
Our wives knew each other well and
some of our children were born about
the same time We found after dis
cussion that we agreed in quite
marked way in our views of proper
political ideals and proper political
methods. We are as emphatic in the
Judgment that the political reformer
who was not willing to accept condi-
tions as they were as the basis for his
action, and to work for the better
things that were practical, without
achieving all that he would like to
achieve, was rather hlndrance than
a help to progress and merely assist
ed the permanent control of the boss
and the machine. This, 1 think, has
been. the moving principle of Mr.;
Roosevelt's career. He has believed
in practical progress and not in ideas
which make for no real advancement.
NO one associates with Mr.. Roose-
velt closely without having the strong
est possible affection for him. HIS
mind, his disposition and his tempera-
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 a controversy and
fight according to the rules of the
game, for he does. -=-
Generous in Praise.
at never worked under another who
was as generous in his praise of those
who worked with him and who was
as willing to accord more than their
deserts to the men who were shoulder
to shoulder with him in the fight. That
characteristic of his has been calcu-
lated to tie men to him with bonds of
steel.
1.-THE general theory that Mr.. Roose-
welt is of an exceedingly impulsive ma
ture is, perhaps, justified to the extent
Of saying that he has marvellous
quickness of apprehending a question
and reaching the nub of it and also an
overwhelming desire to get rid of the
issue presented as promptly as possible.
The result of quick decision and action
Roosevelt's 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. 1 have had to
do with a number of presidents and
with a good many chiefs and am well
within the truth when I say that 1
sentation, would reverse himself as
willingly and with as little trace of OBJ
stinacy or unreasonableness as Mr..
Roosevelt.
"The relation between Mr.. Roosevelt
and myself has been one of close and
sweet intimacy. It has never been ruff
fed in the slightest degree and I do
not think that we have ever misunder-
stood each other. Mr.. Roosevelt's tastes
and mine have not been the same In
the matter of athletics he takes to those
games more violent than I am suited
to and more violent than like. He has
the strongest literary sense and a pow
er of application in reading current lit
erature 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 I don't.
Impatient of Restraint
"Mr. Roosevelt never had the educa-
tion and practice of a lawyer. His in
tense desire to reach practical results
for good has made him at times i'm
patient of the restraint of legal meth
DDS, while I have been trained as a
lawyer and as a judge and am imbued
with the necessity for 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
temperament it is quite remarkable to
me and we have frequently commented
on 1t to each other, that we have been
agreed in our views as to results 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. RooseveIt's courage in the ex-
preston of his convictions I need not
dwell upon. Of his real and what one
might almost describe as affectionate
| interest in the welfare of the poor man,
of the man who has had great obstacles
| to meet, and who has had great odds
a ga 1zf N Cf
sincerity of his desire to help that class
| of men, no one who ever had to do with
| him is in doubt. His inSistence has al
ways been that the difficulty between
| the so-called classes in the country and
] the failure of educated lawyers and
political economists and others to bring
| about proper relations between the we'll
to do and those who are dependent
| upon wages for their living arises from
an absence of a proper point of view on
| the part of those who are leading COM
| Portable lives.
Champion of the Plain People
'The confidence that the common,
plain people, including the wage earn
ers, have had in Theodore Roosevelt
as their representative and defender
| has been most perfectly placed for
| there never was a champion more sin
| cere in support of their real interests
i and yet there was never a friend
| franker in his statements to them of
4 the unpleasant truths that occasionally
| they ought to be told.
Mr.. Roosevelt understands the plain
people about as well as Lincoln did.
| shares their feelings and gives ac-
curate expression to them. Hence his
marvellous hold upon the great body of
| the people, which has continued to exist
| in undiminished strength in spite of the,
/ criticisms heard of him and his meth
| DDS in quarters more conspicuous than
really significant.
when the friction of the last few
months shall be forgotten, when the
mists of momentary irritation shall
have disappeared, the greatness of
Roosevelt as a president and leader of
1 NF