The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-04
ROOSEVELT IS
 AN IDEAL MAN This Is Estimate 0t PERSONIFIES GOOD TRAlIS Writes Opinion for Magazine of
 "My Predecessor" The Prestdent is protrayed, as Calm Cool DociIe, Agreeable, Placid,
 Courageous, Anectionste,
 and sincere. ss

New York, March 2.-In it's issue ot March 6, Golfers Weekly Will pupIsn the following article by President-eiect Taft under the caption MY preoeces | sor."
 MT. Roosevelt and I same to know each other when he was chairman or | the civil service commission ana | was solicitor genera In lSSo-lssl ,n | Washington. We were both supord- | mates in the Harrison administraiion. | We lived in the same part of Wasn- | ,neton. he on Nineteenth street near | the British embassy and l on Dupont | Circle, Our wives knew each other | well and some of our children were | born about the same time
 We found after discussion that we agreed in quite a marked way in our views of proper political ideals and proper political methods. We were | as emphat tic in the judgment that | the political reformer who was nor willing to accept conditions as they | were as the basis for his action and .to | work for the better things that were l practical without achieving all that hd | would like to achieve. was rather | hindrance than a help to progress. and | merely assisted the permanent con | trol of the boss and the machine. Thist I think has been the moving princi- pie of MT. Roosevelt's career. He has
  in ideals which make for no real ad- vancement.
 After these two years, went ups l on the bench. left Washington, ana only occasionally met him. though from | time to time as changes came into l his career. we carried on correspon- dence and as crises would arise he would not infrequently write me to se- cure my judgement on practical situa- | tions.
 | RooseveIt-The Agreeable.
 ''No one could be associated with l MT. Roosevelt closely without having l the strongest possible affection for l him. His mind. his disposition and his temperament 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 con l troversy and a fight according to the rules of the Rar.es for he do1e Hes believes as strongly as possible in team work and never servei under any man or hope to serve under an- other man SO intensely loyal to the | cause which we were both seeking to l uphold and so generous in his accep- | tances of the full responsibility for his subordinates in the work as Theo- 1 dore Roosevelt. | "I never served under another vino was as generous fin his praise of those l WnO WOTkeu WlLU nm ana WHO was N8 1 willing to accord more than their de- serts to the men who were shoulder | to shoulder with him in the light. That characteristic. of his has been call culated to tie men with bonds of steel.
 "The theory that Mir. Roosevelt is of l exceedingly impulsive nature Is per-
 haps due to the extent of the saying | that he had a marvellous quickness for apprehending a question and reaching
 the nub of 1t and almost an over | whemtng desire to decide and get rid of the issue presented as promptly as | possible I never knew man who worked as far in advance of what was l to be done and who kept his engage
 ments with reference to what he had 1 agreed to do as promptly as MT. | Roosevelt. Perhaps l value this vir-
 tue more highly because I lack it my
 self. The result of quick decision and action might have impaired the success
 of Mir Roosevelt's career if 1t had not
 been that he has been freer than most l men from that pride of opinion which
 prevents many men from admitting
 their error. reversing their judgment
 and changing their course. Roosevelt-The TractabIe.
 'I have had to do with a number of | Presidents and with a good many chiefs, and am well within the truth | when 1 say that I never met a man who upon proper presentation. would
 reverse himself as willingly and with
 as little trace of obstinacy or unrea-
 condolences as MT. Roosevelt.
 The relation between Mir. Roosevelt
 and myself has been one of close and
 sweet intimacy. It has never been
 rudled in the slightest degree and
 do not think that we have ever misun- derstood each other
 MT. Roosevelt's tastes and mine | ha Tn fhA m t-se | ter of athletics he takes to tn ose games l more violent than 1 am suited to and
 more violently than l like. He has
 the strongest literary sense and pow
 CT of application In reading current It,
 erature that to me Is marvellous He l loves the woods; he loves hunting: he
 Ives life akin to that of the pioneer; | he loves roughing 1t and don't. | "Mr Roosevelt never had the educa. | ton and practice of a lawyer. His in. | tense desire to reach practical resultt
 for good has made him at times lmpa l tient of the restraint of legal methods, 1 while I have been trained as a lawyer 1 and a judge and am strongly imbued | with the necessity for legal methods as | eleven years on the bench are likely to
 make one. and yet in spite of this dif-
 ference of method and difference of
 temperament 1t 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
 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.
 ROOseVelt-The Sincere.
 "Mr Roosevelts courage in the ex- l presslon of his convictions I need not dwell on. His real and what one
 might almost describe as anectionate
 interest in the welfare of the poor
 man. of the man who has great ob-
 stacles to meet and who has the odds
 against him in lifes struggle and the 1 sincerity of his desire to help that
 class of men. no one who ever had to
 do with him could doubt and his as-
 slstance has always been that the dif-
 Aculty between so-called classes in the
 country and the failure of educated
 lawyers and political economists and
 others to bring about proper relations | between the well-to-do and those who
 are dependent upon wages for their