The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-08-26
COL. ROOSEVELT
PICTURED AS A
MAKER Of PEACE
BiOgrapher Of Great American
Reveals Some Inside His
tory Of Russo Japanese
Peace Negotiations.

NEW YORK. Aug. 2S.-Joseph Buck
lin Bishop, for 80 years a personal friend
Of Col. Theodore Roosevelt. and who.
five years before the former presidents
death, was commissioned By him "to
write the history of the period which
covered his public career,d presents In
me september issue of Scribner's Mag
a nLL.hhe me Ilrst Of a series Of papers
interesting sidelights on the life OF the
famous American.
Tn paper, entitled Roosevelt
Peacemaker," selected and arranged
rom the former presidents public and
private correspondence, amounting to
more IMAM 1000 letters. deals with Mr..
Rooseyelt's efforts to end the war he.
tween Russia and Japan and which re-
ence of 1905. UNIV
For the first time, apparently. is re-
yeaied the fact that Japan made the
lHillal oVertures for peace. Four days
aIter the great Japanese naval victory
over RoJestvensky,s fleet In the Sea Of
Japan on May ~. 1905, the minister OF
forelgn affairs of japan. the letters
snow, cabled Minister Takahira, in
washington, to invoke Roosevelt's aid
as a mediator.
u was amused" wrote the president
''k ~ "AAi@tl lllG hAhiII me 10
invite the two belligerents together d.
rectly on my own motion and initiative.
IL reminded me of the request for con.
trlbutions sent by campaign committees
TO ofice-holders wherein they were
asked to make a voluntary contribution
oL ~ per cent of their salary. It
showed a certain naivete on the part of
the Japanese"
According to his b%iographer, every
step In the negotiations, extending over
a period OF three months, was taken by
Mr. roosevelt without the aid Of any Of
MS most trusted counsellors, John Hay,
his secretary of state, being critically
III, Secretary Root having resigned
from the cabinet many months earlier
and Secretary Taft being absent in the
Philippines.
"One reads the thick volumes of his
correspondence with amazement bor-
dering on incredulity," writes Mr..
Bishop: 1T is incredible that one man
could do so much and so well. In no
other task ofShis life was the abnormal
energy, mental and physical, of Theo-
dore Roosevelt put to a severer test and
from none did he emerge more triumph
antly. His activity was as ~tireless as
MS resourcefulness was inexhaustible."
The presidents activity was directed,
he said, to mot only steadily and ire
sistibly forcing the two warning nations
into a conference " . put bringing
other nations like England. France and
Germany to the support of his efforts.
II Russia baked and showed signs Of
refusal, he persuaded the kaiser to
bring pressure upon the car in the in.
terest OF peace, II Japan showed SINH
lar signs, England was appealed to, to
bring pressure upon her. In the END
Germany alone really helped, and
Roosevelt gave unstinted praise to the
kaiser ever afterward for what he did
then"
In all of this correspondence the
colonel wrote without restraint or
reservation" In a confidential letter
to Secretary Hay he referred to the
kaiser as n monomaniac and "a jumpy
creature who has had another fit" In
another missive he thus characterizes
the former emperor OF Russia: 'The
car is a preposterous little creature as
the absolute autocrat OF $50, 600, 900
people"
Every day, and, often several times a
day. he urged the emperors of Russia
and Japan to agree upon terms Of
peace. Once he wrote a friend: 1.-THE
more ! see Of the czar, the kaiser and
the Mikado, the better I am content
with democracy, sven II we have to in
clude the American newspapers as one
of"its Observation-Disclosures be a bet
ter term"
While the conference was in session,
the president had occasional doubts OF
ultimate success. II have led the horses
to water" he wrote. but heaven only
knows whether they viii drink or start
Kicking one another beside the trough"
When victory crowned his efforts,
however, continued Mr.. Bishop, he was
not elated by It, King Edward of Eng
land said of him to the American m
bassador in London; II am simply lost
In admiration for the president; nobody
else could have done it." Mr.. Roosevelt s
" verdict was: Il am overpraised. |
am credited with being extremely long
headed, AS a matter Of fact | took the
position | finally did not of my own
volition, but because events so shaped
themselves that ] would have felt as II
was flinching from a plain duty If ]
had acted otherwise"