The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-01-07
THAT WHICH MADE HIM A
LEADER OF MEN.
An Estimate OF Roosevelts Personal.
ity, From Intimate knowledge.

Uy, from intimate knOwledge.
From an article ~ Frank 4. Munsev in
Munssp's Magazine for November. 1904.
Train a pine sapling till you grow
ola and gray, and you will never make
of 1t a hickory tree. 1t will not have
the fibre, the character, the strength
1t will be a pine stick all its days, and
nothing more. And so with human
life. Training and association can
polish the brain and groom the body
and stimulate ambition and energy 10
! their limits, but it cannot create new
limits or fashion new brain or a
new body
Character has a deeper foundation
than that OF training and association
1t comes somewhere out of the dim
and unknown past. The man who
stands head and shoulders above his
born bigger. The size of n man Is
Gods work. 1t was never anything
else, and never will be anything else
so long as the world stands. No man
has ever done great things who wasn't
| created great in the fineness of his
brain. the intensity of his nature. the
clcarness of his perception and tbs
force of his application.
But why should genius favor one
man more than another? 1t may be
because his ancestors, perhaps a thou
! sand years before his advent, suffered
more, endured more. fought a better
| fight than others of their time. II
may be this or that or something else
It's all great, impenetrable mystery
IL not, account for Lincoln, If you car
Lincoln and Jackson and Webster
and Grant and Napoleon.
| From a countless army of ances.
tors, known and unknown from the
sailor. the soldier, the herdsman. the
, farmer, the mechanic. the lawyer. the
doctor. the man Of letters. the aristo.
! crat; from women folk of ali these
classes and degrees; through toll ant
| industry. poverty and atfluence !:
through JOY and sorrow. tenderness.
and affection. devotion TO family, coun.
try and religion--from all these anc
through all these sprang the Roose
welt of to-day.
|
He has his faults He is intensely
human. He isn't immune from error
of Judgment He makes mistakes Il
he didn't he wouldn't be human anC
wouldn't be good for anything. II,
makes mistakes, but he likewise make!
successes. In determining a man.
mental stature. the question is no
Does he make mistakes?' but, rather
Does he make more successes thar
Mistakes?
| The Calling gun doesn't strik,
home its Individual shots with the ac
CuraCy of the carefully, deliberatel,
aimed rifle. but in battle. nevertheless
1t does the deadly work. 1t bring,
results.
OF. all Roosevelt's characteristics
that one which is most marked ant
which has contributed most to hi
| achievements is his intensity.
Without this quality no man. how
ever brilliantly endowed in other re
| spects. ever accomplishes much. Witt
! Roosevelt intensity Is his power. hi
| strenuosity, his life. 1t is passion
with him--the very soul OF his genius
| Roosevelt. however is not merely
man OF intensity and action. but is
scholar as we'll His books SHOW
thought and sound analysis. His styl
In writing, as in speaking. Is forcefu
and convincing. His oratory, like him
self. is rugged and intense.
He Is a close student Of men an,
affairs and OF political history hotl
at home and abroad. He is keen I
,,,
keen 20 retain and encourage /
whether IT be Of his own politica
faith or that opposed to him and 10
dishonesty and Incompetence he ha
no place in the great business owe
which he presides
Roosevelt's bravery Is doubl
harrelled. 1t is both moral and physi
cal. This is assuredly rare com
hination-rare indeed when so highl
developed
We have many men whose courag
in physical combat. in the he'll q
battle, is so fine. So grand, so suprem,
that We can only feel our admiratio
with thrill that sweeps us from hea
to foot But apply to these sam
fearless men the test Of moral Drawer
and our hearts will sink for pity c
them. on the other hand, some me
with the frailest of bodies and tn
most timid natures are ,Giants-grea
grand. heroic figures IN the fierce
warfare o. moral courage.
The combination I repeat Is mos
rare. but in Roosevelt we have boil
He can lead an army in the teeth c
hattie and never finch, and with euuI
courage he can saw. and say wit
terrible emphasis. Yes or NO. II
dares to do right as he understand
the right, and he dares to defy wron
as he sees the wrong.
rryru IuAyTEn nv yxxY.,