The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1916-04-28
HOW | SWUNG
BACK TO TEDDY
Young Business Man Tells Why He is
Going to Support Roosevelt

| have swung back to Teddy. / hav,
completed the circle, or nearly com
pleted it, and am back again almos
where | started. l have passed thru
every stage of feeling toward him
hero worship, admiration mingled
with mild criticism, severer criticism
impatience, distrust, bitter criticism
almost hatred, then indifference. a
slowly growing confidence, finally a
new admiration and respect | can
never worship him again as | did in
college: but | am ready to give him
the White House for four years more.
The only excuse for writing this
is that thousands of other young fel-
lows like me must have gone-are
now or going-thru the same process.
have an idea that by June there
may be enough of us to put him at
the top of the ticket again.
| remember the first time | ever
saw him. / was a Sophomore. Our
title New England college was STAN
peded by a scarlet fever scare and
the authorities decided to close up
for two weeks until everything could
be thoroly fumigated. l went to Bos-
ton; and that evening the papers an
nounced that Teddy would arrive at
the Back Bay Station next morning.
He was coming to visit Theodore,
Jr., at Harvard and his train was
scheduled to arrive at 5:45.
AT o'clock | got out of bed and
started for the station 1t was bitter
cold, eight below zero; yet the sta
ton was already full of people wher
arrived, and | was prest out into
the street There | stood for forty
minutes-and finally Teddy arrived
He stepped out of the station and
into waiting carriage, waved his
hat to us, and vanished,-all in
minute. | was left with nothing to
show for my forty minutes wait but
an incipient case of chilblains; yet
felt repaid. Lord, what a mani"
kept saying to myself, What a ruler
Line up the kings and emperors of
the world beside him and he would
stand out among them like a giant
among pygmies. He's the best we've
got, and we don't need to be ashamed
of him anywhere. He typifies us. lie
represents us to the world the way |
we like to think of ourselves big. |
strong, and square, little loud, may |
be, but absolutely self-confident aud |
able to stand up with the best Of |
them" | threw back my chest and |
all that day | had curious warm |
glow around my heart at the thought |
that ! was an American.
have seen Mr.. Taft and Mr.. Wilson
several times, and neither of them
ever left any such feeling with me.
Perhaps it is because | am older;
perhaps | can never feel the same
about any President as | did about
my first; perhaps l know too much
now about the way Presidents are
made, and the influences that act on
them. And yet don't know passed
Teddy again on Madison avenue, New
York, last week and-but that comes
later.
But during Teddy's last year in the
White House my enthusiasm began
to wane. He was terribly loud and
overbearing, it seemed to me, forever
running out onto th4 front porch and
1enouncing some one as a liar" at
The top of his voice. l began to be
/ bit glad that his time was almost
-hru He's done a big work." | said
% myself, "but he's getting tired; it's
line for him to step down and dis
cover that the country can, somehow.
,et along without him" !"
And then he did the one thing for
which | can never forgive him. He
lad fought our battles, he had spent
lis life telling us how highly he re
came to showdown he failed us,
lie was willing to fight our battles,
,ut he didn't trust us to select
President for ourselves If there was
my other man in the United States
Who had thought of Taft for Presi-
ent-except Brother Charlie new
r heard of it. Most of the folks out
n my section were getting ready to
heer their heads off for Hughes. Then
eddy stepped in to tell us that we
ouldn't have Hughes or anybody ex
ept Taft. | went out to Chicago to
he convention and got appointed an
Sergeant-at-Arms along with
thousand others. And the cheers
t those delegates for Taft reminded
ne Of crowd of medical students
t an inquest. There was just about