Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-02-13
RoosEvELT's DEPARTURE


 When Theodore Roosevelt leaves Washington on March 4 1t will be not to return for many months. As presi- dent of the United States he will be seen by the multitude for the last time as he rides down the avenue from the White House with his successor, VII liam Howard Taft.
 Immediately after the inaugural cere- monies at the Capitol he will be driven posthaste to the Union Station, and take special car in waiting. which will carry him to New York.
 He has made the fact clear that Wash ington will see little of him hereafter. His hunting trip to Africa will consume several months, and he is not taking Washington into account in his plans for the more distant future.
 Of course, if the New York legisla- ture should decide to elect him to the United States senate and he should ac- quiesce in that arrangement. the Capi- tai would again see much more of him. But such an outcome of his career, it is said, is not seriously considered by him.
 Hitherto it has been the custom of the outgoing president to return to the White House with his successor after witnessing the oath and hearing the inaugural address. Mir. Roosevelt's de- cision to break this custom was made at Oyster Bay some months ago, and duly chronicled by the press at that time. The wisdom of this decision is re- alized by those familiar with inaugura- ton details of the past. From presi- dent of the United States-the greatest republic on earth--to private citizen in the course of few minutes, consti- tutes the most complete transformation in one's life that is imaginable or con ceivable.
 It is a case of of with the old and on with the new, and in essence and ef- feet, though not in fact, case of ''The king is dead; long live the king!" The outgoing president is lost sight of and forgotten in the celebration incident to the induction into office of his sue. cessor. Scant consideration has been given in the past in connection with the inauguration plans to the movements, or, indeed, the personal comfort, of the outgoing president.
 An illustration is cited in the case of Benjamin Harrison, in l893 He ac. companied Grover Cleveland to the Cap itol and, following custom, rode back with him through the cheering lines on the avenue to the White House. There he bade him adieu. The White House which for four years had been Harri sons home, was now Cleveland's home
 With the formal leave-taking over which occupied perhaps minute, one of the military aids asked Gen. Harri son where he wished to go. He an. swered that he should like to be taken to the home of Hon. John Wanamaker his postmaster general. Reentering the carriage, he was driven out of the White House grounds, and the driver ther found it impossible to cross the avenue
 Futile efforts were made at several crossings, but the carriage was uncer emoniously turned back The man who an hour before was the chief executive of the land, and whose word was law had suddenly become amenable to the rules and regulations of the day apply ing to the ordinary citizen.
 Happily the army officers accompany ing Gen. Harrison were sufficiently az l gressive and tactful after half ar hour s delay to obtain passage through the line of the parade, and reached tho Wanamaker home. Then, within few hours, Harrison, unheralded, was mod estly conveyed to a railroad station ant took train for Indianapolis.
 When Cleveland, four years later, re tired from the White House, he left al once, without ceremony, to join Real Admiral Robley D. Evans on hunting trip.
 Roosevelt will have an escort from tn, Capitol plaza to the Union Station, ant thus the departure will not be so who'll, devoid of ceremony and the actual civil ities of life as have been the departures from Washington of many of his sue cessors.
 | That Roosevelt expects to see littl. of Washington, and Washington will set little of him hereafter does not mean that he intends to lose interest in Wash ington or in the affairs of his countr. centering in Washington. By no man ner of means. He is too young, to, virile, and too deeply concerned in th'