The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-07-04
RoOT AND Rn0sENEIIT.

One of the most unusual and interest
| ing condolences in the political history
of this nation is the part that has been
played by Elihu Root, senior United
States senator from New York, in help
ing to shape the political destinies of
Theodore Roosevelt. He presided. as it
were, at the baptism of Colonel Roose-
welt as a figure of prominence in the
Republican party. And he officiated at
the colonel's obsequies in the same
party.
No small measure of the credit for
the defeat of Mr.. Roosevelt's aspira-
tons for third term Republican presf-
Dental nomination at Chicago belongs
to Mr.. Root for the mastery fashion
in which he presided over the delibera-
lions of the national convention. His
decisions on the important points of
order that were raised at the earlier
sponsible in the main for the
ment. Colonel Roosevelt was very
bitter over these decisions. He
argued that they were the product of
a trained legal mind that stuck to
the technicalities of parliamentary
@NAA
that Mr. Roots brains and level
headedness would be a big stumbling
block in his way was made apparent by
the fight he made against his selection
as temporary chairman. He made such
a fight, too, Notwithstanding the fact
that at one time he remarked he would
be glad to crawl on his hands and
knees from Oyster Bay to Washington
if it would make EIihu Root president
of the United States. On another oc-
casion he characterized Mr.. Root as the
ablest statesman in the United States
if not in the world. So the competency
of Mr.. Root to serve as the presiding
officer of a national convention could
hardly have been questioned even by
Mr. Roosevelt, and would not have been
had Mr.. Roosevelt been less familiar
with Mr. Roots abilities, and had he
not felt sure that with Mr.. Root direct
ing the procedure of the convention
there would be little chance for him
and his followers to carry it by storm
and in violation of all the rules and
parliamentary procedures that had been
developed for the conduct of such
convention.
But there was once a time at the
very beginning of Mr.. Roosevelt's
career in major political life, when he
was glad to avail himself of the work.
ings of the Grained legal mind" of
Elihu Root. That was when Tom Platt
and the Republican bosses of New York
selected Mr.. Roosevelt as a guberna-
torial candidate. The Republican party
was in sore straits in New York at that
time. Mr.. Platt and his friends thought
that they might win out with Mr..
Roosevelt on the personal popularity he
had obtained through his recent per-
formances in the Spanish-American
war They were right in their surnise
and Roosevelt's campaign for the gov
was waged almost exclusively
on his war record. His election was
purely one of the rewards that people
are free to give to the heroes of their
battlefields. After Plat had chosen
as his candidate, and had
made all the necessary arrangements
to nominate him, the opposing wing of
the Republican party challenged Mr..
eligibility to serve as a
governor of New York. When he was
assistant secretary of the navy, the |
colonel .swore off his taxes in New York |
state on the ground that he was a non
resident as he was then living in Wash |
ington. 1t was believed by many that |
this act denied to Mr.. Roosevelt the |
right of citizenship in New York. Plat |
and his henchmen were reluctant 10 go |
ahead and nominate Roosevelt with |
such a stigma attaching to him. AS a |
last resort they called in Mr.. Root for |
a legal opinion in the premises the day |
before the state convention was held. |
Mr.. Root prepared his opinion and read |
it at the opening session of the con-
vention. 1t was classic in legal lore |
and drew a fine line Of demarcation be-
tween a mans 'domicile'' and his |
legal residence" And Mr.. Roots con-
clusion was that although Mr.. Roose-
Welt had sworn off his taxes in New
York on the grounds of non-residence,
that act in no way deprived him of the
rights of citizenship in his original |
home state. On the Root opinion, Plat !
and his TRUSTEES went ahead with the |
nomination of Mr.. Roosevelt. But this
nomination never would have been
made had it not been for the mental
abors of Mr.. Root.
1t was the trained legal mind of
Elihu Root that started Theodore
Roosevelt on the most unusual political
career that this country has ever seen.
It was the trained legal mind" of
Elihu Root that recently brought that
same career to an end, as far as its as
with the Republican party is
concerned, at any rate.
THE USE OF WORDS.
A mental storehouse full of discrimi-
mating words has three doors. which