Omaha daily bee., 1909-03-03
The Roosevelt Record.

or ever close agreement in the judg-
ments that will be passed by men when
Theodore Roosevelt leaves the White
House at noon tomorrow and goes
back to the people after more than
seven years experience as president of
the United States. There has been
hardly a day or an hour since he be-
came president in September, 1901,
that he has failed to stamp his Impress
upon national affairs in no uncertain
color and the very nature of his pub
lie service, in keeping with the charac-
ter of the man, has been so strong and
emphatic as to leave little room for
half way opinions. Men either approve
or condemn his course and his policy
and time alone will set the seal Of
proper judgment on his entire career.
None will deny that the Roosevelt
administration has been one Of
achievement, new ventures, an expand
ing Of the national idea and the arous-
ing Of the spirit Of true democracy
among the people, with the result of
bringing the public and the govern
ment into more intimate relations than
ever before in the nations history.
Much of this has been due to the man
ner and method of the man. He could
not have been, had he so desired. a
perfunctory president. Acceding to the
presidency in a time of profound peace,
prosperity and contentment, he used
his rugged personality and aggressive
methods to arousing the public con-
science to the recognition OF abuses
that had grown up to it's infinite hurt,
in the social and economic conditions
of the nation, and threw a vigorous
directness into the exposure of condi-
tions that drew from the people an
insistent and Irresistible demand for
reforms. The accomplishment OF those
reforms, or the paving of the way for
them, will be history's monument to
Theodore Roosevelt.
The record of the reforms inaugur-
ated or vitalized by Mr.. Roosevelt can
not be yer summarized in an ordinary
review of his work, but no public man
ever approached him in scope of pro-
ductiveness of undertakings that have
had a marked influence on national
life. Some of his policies have become
national and will endure for genera
tions. Others have failed to produce a
lasting impression, but in the advocacy
of all of them he has been a
full, vigorous, tireless, potent leader.
He has been a preacher and a teacher,
making widest use of publicity and
never hesitating to use ever severest
criticism in condemning wrongs and
those responsible for them. He has
been a politician OF the shrewdest type,
an organization man, and yet he has
defied all organization rules, ignored
all ~precedents. violated all sense of
partisan obligations at times. but the
result has always been for the better
ment of political conditions and for
the public benefit.
Mr.. Roosevelt's achievements shine
the brighter for having been accom-
plished in the face of bitterest opposi-
ton. Almost Immediately after he be-
came president he found a congress
hostile to his plans for reciprocity with
Cuba and his scheme for curing the
army Of dry rot. With the first round
in each fight in favor of congress, the
president appealed to the people and
aroused public sentiment which forced
compliance with HE requests. The
same weapons were used most effec-
lively in the fight against the Beef
trust and in the crusade for the enact
ment of a railway rate bill. The Sin
terests" fought him at every hand, but
each appeal by him to the people
brought a responsive endorsement that
congress did not dare ignore. To this
support may be credited the pure food
law, the railway rate law, the Elkins'
anti-rebate law, the Panama canal, the
irrigation and forestry laws, the meat
inspection law and a score OF similar
measures adopted in response to the
peoples demand for relief from ex.
tortions and impositions that had been
practiced upon them. As q net result
of this the spirit of uplift is abroad in
the land, national pride and the ma.
tional conscience have been aroused
and the standards of business, sociaI
and political life have been raised
These results must abide with the ma.
ton long after the more immediate
work of the Roosevelt administration
has served Its usefulness.
Present and future critics will con
tend that Mr.. Roosevelt has made too
much noise in carrying out his re
forms, but It is doubtful II the publ,
could have been aroused to the neces
sity OF the beef investigation, the lanC
and timber frauds, the conservation O
national resources. the railroad abuses
and other evils by the circulation O
pasceful tracts or the publication of In
tervjews mildly suggesting the need O
reforms. IL is safe to predict that Il
the application OF moral discrimination