The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-02-10
ROOSEVELT PRAISED
As A STATESMAN
Senator Lodge Paid Tribute to the Elk.
President in Eloquent Eulogy De-
Iivered in the National
Capitol.

ute to the memory of Theodore Roose-
welt. Members Of Congress, supreme
court justices, members Of the cabinet,
army and navy officers, and diplomats of
many nations heard Senator Lodge OF
Massachusetts praise Roosevelt as a
/ statesman and as man,
Crowded galleries and the throng of
men and women who could not gain ad-
mission testified to the personal feeling
! for the man whose death shocked the
world 1t was this to which Senator
| Lodge, a close friend of the man he
eulogized, referred when he spoke these
words in the r*illness of the House cham,
| Der;
a tower is fallen, a star is setl Alas
| Alas for Celin.
THE words of Iamentation from the
4 old Moorish ballad, which in boyhood we
used to recite, must, | think, have risen
| to many lips when the world was told
that Theodore Roosevelt was dead. But
whatever the praise the thought was in
slant and everywhere.
| "Variously expressed, you heard it in
| the crowds about the bulletin boards,
| tbut the lAAA III NAtE EbiEfL HIAI LiIE AitdH
on the railroads, from the farmer in the
fields, the women in the shops, in the
| factories, and in the homes. The pulpit
| found in his life a text for sermons The
| judge on the bench, the child ut school,
alike paused for a moment conscious of a
loss The cry Of sorrow came from men
and women OF all conditions, high and
low, rich and poor, from the learned and
the ignorant, from the multitude who
had loved and followed him, and from
those who had opposed and resisted him.
The newspapers pushed aside the absorb
ing reports Of the events of these fateful
days and gave pages to the man who had
died.
"Flashed beneath the ocean and
through the air went the announcement
of Theodore Roosevclt's death, and back
came a world wide response from courts
and cabinets, from press and people, in
other and far distant lands Through it
all ran golden thread of personal feel
ing which CLEANS so rarely in the somber
Journalism OF public grief 1t wonld seem
that here was man, private citizen,
conspicuous by no Office, with no glitter
of power about him, nc ability to reward
~ BAtAAt1AA1 NA1Ft AtbAA FAt btiiA me- VINO
must have been unusual even among the
leaders Of men, and who thus demands
our serious consideration
Senator Lodge was the only speaker
and the services were simple. Prayers
by the Senate and House chaplains and
anthems and patriotic hymns by the ma
riHe band added to the stirring spiritual
nature of the services.
We cannot approach Theodore Roose-
welt along the beaten paths Of eulogy or
satisfy ourselves with the empty civil.
tiles of commonplace funeral tributes, "
said Senator Lodge, for he did not make
his life journey over main-traveled roads
nor was he ever commonplace Cold and
pompeus formalities would be unsnited
to him who was devoid OF adectation
who was never self conscious, and to
whom posturing to draw the public gaze
seemed not only repellant but vulgar. In
his spirit OF devotion to truths simbli-
city, | shall try to speak Of him to-day.
Referring to Rooseyelt's inheritance Of
comparative wealth, Senator Lodge said
He lacked the spur of necessity to prick
the sides of his intent Theodore
Roosevelt put behind him temptation to
a life of sports and pleasure, to deferred
ease, to an amateurs career in one Of the
fine arts, perhaps TO a money making
business"
How he refused to tread the pleasant
paths that opened to him on an sides
and took the instant way which led over
the rough road of toll and action, his life
dscloses,"
Mr. Lodge outlined the life of the man
who came TO play such a big part in the
nations life. With delicate health and
near sightedness in childhood, he became
by sheer hard work an athlete and a rife
shot. This WAS typical, said Mr. Lodge
He spoke OF how Roosevelt persisted in
the unusual; how he made himself q ma
tional figure in one year at the age of "a
while serving In the New York state leg.
islaturei how he fought and won for civil
service reforms when civil service was
scoiied at by influential leaders and of
how he applied himself strenuously to
the task of cxpellng favoTitism and pol |
tiles from the New York police force, |
through which "a purely local Office be
came national in his hands, and his pic.
ture appeared in the shops of European
cities"
As assistant secretary Of the navy, |
when he ordered Dewey to prepare for |
Manila Bay before war came, as colonel |
Of the Rough Riders regiment at San
Juan, as governor of New York, as vice |
president, and as president. Mr. Roose- |
yelt's career was traced. After reviewing
the Roosevelt administrations, touching
upon many of the most important fea |
lures, including Roosevelt's part in world |
politics which won the Nobel peace prize |
for the man dreaded at the beginning on |
account of his eombative spirit" and his |
fight for a larger government control Of
railroads and against the political inau- !
enee Of capital, Senator Lodge added;
In the Panama canal he left the most !
enduring, as it was the most visible, |
monument of his administration. Much |
criticized at the moment for his action in |
regard to it, which time since then has |
justified and which history will praise, /
the great fact remains that the canal is /
there. He said himself that he made up
his mind that it was his duty to estab- /
fish the canal and have the debate about |
it afterwards, which seemed to him bet. |
ter than to begin with indefinite debate |
and have no canal at all This is a view |
which posterity both at home and abroad /
will accept and approve"
Referring to Rooseyelt's fight for pre-
paredness before the United States en-
tered the world war, Senator Lodge said: !
He would have had us protest and |
take action at the very beginning in 1914
when Belgium was invaded. lie would
have had us 80 to war when the murders
of the Fl1ait a nia sypro t.arnotr,4aJ