Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-06-20
ROOSEVELT
AS A WESTERNER
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART IN
COlllER'S.

GOLFERS.
Colonel Roosevelt is In most that
goes to make of character and enlpe
afnent Il western man. He was born
i'm New York. which everybody knows
is partly European and partly western
i'm its population. Hence that part of
New York which is sometimes called
Wall street and sometimes the inter-
ests, and sometimes takes its turn IN
calling and calls for margins, mates HIM
because it thinks he ought to be one
of them and is not. Grover Cleveland
was not the only statesman who can
be loved for the enemies he has made.
The unpopularity of Roosevelt in Ger
tain circles i'm New YORK city and parts
of New York state is due to the feeling
by capitalists that he was born among
rich men and does not stand by them:
to the feeling of political leaders that
he was brought up among politicians
and does not stand by them: to the
feeling of Il certain class of rcformcrs
that he began his career among them
and does not stand by them.
Theodore Roosevelt is Il westerner,
partly because he for some years made
his home i'm the west; ranched it in
Wyoming hobnobbcd with the cow
boys: slept with the grizzly bears; and
found himself perfectly at home in the
saddle or the ranch house or q ON
Portable piece of ground under a tree.
Ii knowledge of the west can make
a westerner. Theodore has it, for he
has Travelled thousands of miles In or
a~torical trains. and is known from end
to end of the west. in every city. in
| almost every railroad junction. In ev-
| cry state thousands of people have
heard him speak. 1t is probable that
| 1000, 900 OF 5000. 900 individuals have
had a sight of Teddy and most of
them nave enjoyed the sight. There is
a personal breeziness. an outgiving of
himself, a genuine unceasing pleasure
i'm meeting his fellow beings which is
found oftencr in the longitude of n
than In the longitude Of New Haven.
His Liking for Meeting Folk.
Theodore Roosevelt has also a bit of
| open and fearless speech which appeals
to the west. No nan i'm America is
more direct. outspoken and candid; his
| whole habi of mind is to suppose that
what he thinks on public questions is
sincere and may be revealed. Hence
the cool way in which tbs people of
charges that he has been playing
Il crooked and deceptive part with ref
| erence to the presidential nomination.
1t took him a long time to max up his
mind to shy his hat into the ring: there
has been Il time when he did not eX-
pect to do so: but he has accepted the
idea that there is Il demand for him.
and there certainly is in Illinois, Ne
braska, Oregon and Pennsylvania. and
wherever the issue is Roosevelt or Taft.
He has also aid he thinks there is a
demand for him; n In the only OPP
portunities SO far afforded for the count
of noses Of actual republican voters.
his belief has been justified. The pic
ture of Theodore Roosevelt as a gloomy
and disappointed politician. covering
in the caves Of Oyster Bay. admitting
masked conspirators at 3 a. m. and
~ nnbir tho, tN r,r,lNn sHyN-l<1,,sS Ill
over the dead walls Is ludicrous to
those who know the man.. The worst
enemy of Theodore Roosevelt canno,
truthfully say that he is a c%oncealer
of his thoughts.
Again. Roosevelt is a western man in
his broad and genuine liking for peo-
pie. Nobody suspects Senator Aldrich
or even that great western statesman.
Fairbanks. OF Il PERSONAL. hearty, mex
haustfble pleasure iii meeting thous
ands Of new people. They are not
''deelighted" to take the hand of ii
find it hard to believe that anybody can
enjoy setting the locus OF his mind
SO different times In the course of Il
morning and putting himself for the
time en- rapport with so different peo-
Pile; but that Is meat and drink and
an after dinner cigar and a tickle to
the moving picture show for Theodore
Roosevelt. 1t did not become so when
he was president: he began it before
he was q freshman in college and he
has kept 1t up ever since. 1t is a
blessed faculty which enlarges his use
in this world.
West Understands Habits.
Another western quality is his love
OF motion and. for that matter, Of com
motion. The New Englander TO whom
a trip from Boston to New York by the
Fall river boat is an event somewhat
to be regretted, Notwithstanding the
allurements OF the bill OF fare on the
steamer Commonwealth, or who takes
every summer the whole long journey
to h White mountains and back, can
not understand how people 80 jauntily
start on for a trip of 1000 miles, or
across the continent. That is a western
footloose habit which affects the whole
population. The very babies In their
little carriages cry to be trundled as
FAR as the next town. School children.
aided and abetted by their mothers. are
put on trans in the cars Of the Pull
man conductor to visit aunty in Santa
Fe or Spokane. 48 hours away. Every
lively western city now has a handsome
hotel. sometimes three or four of them.
In which to accommodate the wayfar-
ers who freely travel across two or
three states to enjoy the splendors OF
Omaha or the rival magnificence of st.
Paul and Minneapolis. or the glories OF
Chicago. This western habit, accented
by the great distance from city to city
I n the far west, takes great hold on the
dauntless spirit of Colonel Roosevelt,
who. on n of his presidential tours.
a few years ago was 81 nights on the
sleeper and continued to sleep occa-
stOnalIy after he got back to Washing