Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-01-06
SKETCH OF COLONEL ROOSEVELTS LIFE
DISCLOSES ONE OF MOST REMARKABLE
CAREERS IN ALL AMERICAN HISTORY

onel and Teddy" as he has be-
, come Familiarity called by the pub
lie, their observation-disclosures In
company with the regulars of the
army they took transports to Cuba
J 'anded at Santiago and we're soon
engaged in the thick of battle
: Among the promotions which this
hardy regiments gallantry brought
about were those of Wood to brig
adier-general and Roosevelt to col
onel-and this title Theodore
Roosevelt cherished until the end.
Some Of the Rough Riders formed
the military escort when he was
elected president a few years later.
When Cuba had been liberated,
: Roosevelt returned to New York
A gubernatorial campaign was in
swing, with the Republican party
in need of a capable candidate.
Roosevelt was nominated. Van
Wyck, his Democratic opponent,
was defeated. The reforms Roose-
welt had favored as assemblyman
be now had the opportunity to con-
summate, together with others of
more Importance, and it was dur
ing this administration that he is
said first to have earned the hos
tlity of corporations. When the
Republican national convention was
held in Philadelphia in 1900 his
party in New York state demanded
and attained his nomination for
vice president on the ticket with
William Mckinley. In November
of that year this ticket was elected.
Becomes President
The policies of Mckinley, Roose-
welt endeavored to carry out after
he succeeded the former upon the
presidents tragic death at the
nands of an assassin Roosevelt
retained his predecessor cabinet
as his own and he kept in office the
ambassadors and ministers whom
Mckinley had appointed AS much
as two years before the presiden-
tial campaign of 1904 Republican
organizations in various states be-
gan endorsing him as their next
candidate.
| 1t was thus that ~the man of des-
tiny" idea became associated with
| his life. Ostensibly, Roosevelt,
| leaving the governorship of New
York to become vice president, was
moving forward from state politics
/ into national politics, SO his politi-
cal opponents professed publicly to
| believe; but it was their secret de-
sire to "sheIve" the man and elm
mate him from prominence in their
own community, it was said, that
| prompted these political foes to OBJ
| tain for him the vice presidential
nomination, which he personally
| did not desire.
| At the height of his public and
political career, during the four
| ears of the term for which he had
been elected, Roosevelt accom-
plished achievements which histor-
ians will rank high in the interna-
tional and industrial progress of
! the country. They included his in
fluential negotiations which, con-
Quoted at Portsmouth, n. H., eff
fected peace between Russia and
Japan; maintenance of the Monroe
Doctrine at a period when Euro
pean powers were interested in the
affairs of Venezuela; the recogni-
ton of Panama as a republic and
his treaty with Panama by which
the inter-oceanic canal through that
country was put under way; and
the settlement, through his moral
influence in the fact of a situation
in which there was no adequate
federal legislation, of the Pennsyl-
vania coal mine strike. For his
part in terminating the Russo-Jap-
anese conflict he was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1906. Four
years later, once more a private cit
izen, he was special ambassador
from the United States at the fun
eral of King Edward VII of Eng
! land.
Feud With Mr.. Taft.
A rift in the friendship between
Roosevelt and his successor as
President William Howard Taft, led
to the formers announcement of
his opposition to Mr.. Taft's renom-
nation The ex-president's influ-
ence had been large in placing Mr..
Taft in the white house. Now his
influence was equally strong in
preventing Mr.. Taft from remain
ing there. Men who had clashed
with the Taft policies quickly rail-
lied to Roosevelt's support. Roose-
welt assembled what he termed as
constructive ideas as opposed to
the conservative one of the social
led Republican "Old Guard" char
acteriZed them with the description
Progressive" and organized the
Progressive party by Withdrawing
with his followers from the Chicago
convention of 1912. He became the
new party's candidate for president. !
This split in the Republican ranks |
resulted in Woodrow Wilson's cleo !
ton.
One of the most dramatic Incl |
dents in Roosevelt's Life occurred |
during this campaign As he was |
leaving a hotel in Milwaukee to go |
to a meeting hall to make a politi- |
cal address, a man standing among |
the spectators in the street fired a |
shot which struck the colonel and |
smashed q rib. Roosevelt insisted |
he was not seriously hurt and his !
automobile conveyed him to the |
hall. There he spoke to an audi |
ence which had knowledge of what |
had happened-sobbing women and |
grave-faced men shaken with emo
ton by his appearance under such
circumstances. Examination OF the
wound showed 1t was serious and
the candidate was hurried by spe-
cial train to Chicago for treatment.
Though he speedily recovered the
bullet was never removed The
TMDNDTANT YTMYC