The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1919-01-10
THE OWOSSO TIMES
EDMUND q. DEWEY, PROP.
OWOSSO, MICH. JAN 10, 1919.
THE GREAT AMERICAN
From the Detroit Free Press

The death of Colonel Theodore
Roosevelt is a national misfortune
that stirs more genuine heart emo
ton than would the passing of any
other American. No one could be in
different to the Colonel. His admir-
ers loved him to idolatry. His enc
mics hated him with frank intensity,
and he as frankly returned their hat
red, considering their animosity an
honor. His personality dominated
every situation on which it impinged,
and compelled either submission to
his leadership or direct antagonism.
To the great mass of the people,
whether they followed him or not, he
was an institution, one Of the great
products of the republic; he was their
man.
Colonel Roosevelt was in fact the
typical, representative American. He
epitomized in his person and life the
national characteristics and tenden-
cies. He was an exposition of the
American virtues and of the American
peculiarities. He possessed in ex-
ceedingly generous measure the ideal
ism, the common sense" instinct, the
dash, the simplicity, the unaffected
piety, the rugged aggressiveness, the
straightforward honesty and the in
dependence of the new world. He was
a man of too many accomplishments.
He could work, fight and play equally
well and with equal enthusiasm. He
was a student, writer, naturalist.
He was mighty hunter. He was
soldier and a navy man. He was a
farseeing, able, constructive states
man, a builder of great works and
great policies. He understood bust
ness. He was practical man. He
was rough-and- fighter, or on
occasion diplomat. He was pol
ished gentleman who gave distinction
to any Office or position he held; he
was in the best sense a natural aris-
tocrat. He also was essentially one
of the plain people. He understood
both class and mass because he en-
bodied both in his own person, not
ostensibly but actually and unavoid-
ably.
An epoch in the history of the
United States closes with the death
Of, Colonel Roosevelt, an epoch in
many ways peculiarly his own. The
impress of the colonel's finger is more
or less noticeable on every page of
the record of it. At the hight of his
career he dominated it; everywhere
he modified materially the course of
events, sometimes positively, some
times negatively, but almost invaria-
bly,, decisively. To even indicate all
Colonel Roosevelt did, all he accom-
plished as a constructive force or as
destructive agency would consume
more space than is here available.
Nor is this necessary. The exhaus-
tive news accounts deal with those
matters in detail. By reading them
we come to realize how much the col
onel did for the nation, how much the
republic owes to his wisdom and lead
ership. We find that both his achieve
ments and his errors were magnificent
ly conceived and magnificently work.
ed out; that he represented in its
every aspect the life and struggles of |
the nation; that he was for years the |
very heart and center of its pulsating |
and that later when others |
took the helm in Washington he con-
tinued to exercise in one way or an
other distinct determinative influence
on the fate of the country. UP to
the very end he was the most infuen-
tial private citizen of the republic.
That Colonel Roosevelt should die
at 60 seems an ironical commentary
on life. Surely this pattern of physi-
cal and intellectual vigor, this exam
pie of robust clean living, this apostle
of the gospel of active outdoor life
ought to have lived to a green old
age. He should have survived his day
and generation to become counselor
and sage for the leaders of the new
era. That his health was not what it
ought to be the country had known
for a considerable time. The colonel
looked haggard and weary when he
was last in Detroit. Probably he new
err fully recovered from the fever he
contracted in the course Of his South
American trip, undoubtedly the war
took its toll of him in baffled desire
for activity and in the loss of his son.
Yet It was generally supposed that his
reserve vitality would be able to tri-
umph over everything. Far from con-
sidering him man whose career was
drawing to close many looked upon
him as the man who would be the
next president Of the United States.
It's trite to say that Colonel Roose-
velt's death is d great shock, "a great