The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1912-05-30
His Compelling Strength Among
Those for All the People"
HUMAN INTEREST Is DOMINANT
As Private Citizen and Public Official
He Always Has Worn Upon His
Sleeve the Colors of "the Public"
Why He Is Comparable to Lin
coin, Who, Too, Emphasized the
Human Note.

said and done, the human note is DOM
inant in politics; the human interest
Is the determining interest Right
here is brought home the compelling
strength of Theodore Roosevelt with
those who believe, as the editor OF the
Detroit News says, that: POLITICS IN
the large sense is the endeavor to pro-
vide for opportunity, justice, comfort
and the means of development among
all the people"
The same writer, in an appreciation
of the man who is battling for social
justice for all the people as against
control. by big interests, special priv
ileges and political bosses, says:
r The human element has never been
lacking from Theodore Roosevelt's
public endeavors. He has always be-
lieved that man was not made for the
government, but the government Tor
man. And the public to him is not
an abstract noun; it is something ne
has lived with, knows, and loves. AS
a boy in precarious health he played
about the farmers turning up the new
vitaliZing qualities. AS young man
he herded cattle with the men OF the
plains. AS police commissioner he
walked the night beats with police
men and helped them in their dan
gerous work. AS soldier he slept
in open fields with his Rough Rid
ers AS a hunter he has taken his
ing the long night through. AS
president he has met the people OF
every state, and a man with family
or woman with baby never
escaped his eye. 1t was no mere cam
paiA cleverness, but the deep convic-
ton of his heart, when he said that
the American was a mighty good fell
low, but his wife was a better fell
low. And now as private citizen he
has played and tumbled with the ten
ement children of New York, has
iunched with the workingmen OF
many factories, has gone out to ex-
anime for himself the problem Of
abandoned farms, and has gone home
with the newsboy to see how things
were at the house. With one of the
greater ancients he could well say, 4
am a man; therefore, nothing human
is alien to me-
.And his Official acts-what were
mines and forests, the purity OF the
peoples foods; the inspection OF the
peoples meat; stopping the slaughter
OF Russian mujiks and Japanese SOL
diers; prosecution of various robbers
of the housewives pocketboOk or
ritier of the peoples savings banks;
sending 16 battleships around the
world to warn off disturbers of the
worlds peace. Everywhere and al
ways working for that which affected
most closely every citizen of the re-
public, great or humble.
Theodore Roosevelt was born with
a silver spoon in his mouth, but he
never used it. He was born with an
other quality far more precious.
which was a wide range OF human
sympathy. He knows the long hours
of the working girl, and her many
too. He knows the risk OF the man in
hazardous employment and the acct
dents which so tragically cut short
his usefulness-and all Of US remem-
Der how he blazed forth in wrath
when the supreme court of his state
said that those MANNED workers or
their orphaned families had no claim
against society on account OF such
loss. In the last campaign he went
to another state and campaigned
against a judge who had ruled that
the manned workingman was not en-
titled to automatic compensation.
Theodore Roosevelt is so intensely
patriotic that he will bare his head
to an empty sleeve of blue; but he is
so intensely and practically human
that he will go out and DO battle for
the man who lost limb or a life on
the field of industry, and for his fam
lily. And he will throw the whole
weight of his influence and reputa-
ton and ability against the system
which wears women down to wan,
white ghosts in the struggle for sub
sistence. Theodore Roosevelt is a
lover of his kind; man stirred from
the heart and reinforced by the head:
q man with courage of tongue and
courage of fist to attack the common
enemy-the enemy of a happy hui
mainly.
Many have tried to draw compar-
isons between Roosevelt and other
great men. It is significant that no
small man will serve to compare with
him. 1t is more significant that no
great man with a dominating streak
of badness running through him will
serve to compare With him. You re-
member how they tried it with Ma
poleon-'The Man on Horseback
but the comparison was caricature
and the people laughed. He is, how
ever, comparable to Lincoln. who
more than any president before or
since, until Roosevelt came, empha-
sized the human note. Lincoln lived
in and loved the people. He loved
the black man In darkness and IN