The weekly Alaska citizen., 1919-01-13

Colonel Roosevelt's career has left such vivid impression upon the peo pie of his time that it is necessary to touch but briefly upon some of the more striking phases of his varied, interesting and strenuous" life to recall to the public mind full details of his many exploits and experiences.
 Called to the White House in 1901 after President Mckinley had been assassinated, Col. Roosevelt, AZ years of age, became the youngest Presi- dent the United States has ever had. Three years later he was elected as President by the largest popular vote any President has received.
 Thus Roosevelt, sometimes called man of destiny. served for seven years as the nations chief magistrate. In subsequent decade the fortunes of politics did not favor him for, again candidate for President-this time leading the progressive party which he himself had organized when Ie differed radically with some of the policies of the republican party in 1912-he went down to defeat, to. gether with the republican candidate, William Howard Taft. Woodrow Wilson, democrat, was elected.
 Colonel ROosevelt's enemies agreed with his friends that his life, his character and his writings represent ed high type of Americanism.
 Of Dutch ancestry, born in New York City on October 27, 1858. in a house in East Twentieth street, the baby Theodore was a weakling. He was one of four children who came to Theodore and Martha Bullock Roose. velt The mother was of southern stock and the father of northern, a situation which, during the early years of Theodore, Juniors boyhood, was not allowed to interfere with the family life of these children dur luS luS NlNll war UdyS.
 So frail that he was not privileged to associate with the other boys in his neighborhood, Roosevelt was tu- tored privately, in New York and dur ing travels on which his parents took the children abroad. A porch gymnasium at his home provided him with physical exercise with which he combatted a troublesome asthma. His father, a glass importer and man of means, was his constant com. panion; he kept diary; he read so much history and fictional books of adventure that he was known as a bookworm; he took boxing lessons; he was an amateur naturalist; and at the age of IF he entered Harvard University. There. he was not as prominent as some others in an ath- letic way, as 1t Is not recorded that he made" the baseball and football teams, but his puny body had under gone a metamorphosis and before graduation he became one of the champion boxers of the college. This remarkable physical development was emphasized by something which took place after he left Harvard in 1880. He went to Europe, climbed the Mat terhorn, and as a result was elected a member of the Alpine Club of Lon donZan organization of men who had performed notable feats of adventure.
 A few months after his graduation. Roosevelt married Miss Alice Lee of Boston. She died in 1884, leaving one child, Alice, now the wife of Representative Nicholas Lougworth of Ohio. In 1886 Roosevelt married Miss Edith Kermit Carow, of New York, and to them five children were born Edith, now the wife of Dr. Richard Derby, and four sons, Theodore. Jr.. Kermit, Archibald and Quentin.
 The public career of the man who was to become President began not long after he left college. His pro. fession was law but the activities that were to come left him no time in which to practice it. In 1882, 1883 and 1884 he was elected to the New York assembly, where his efforts on behalf of good government and civil service reform attracted attention. When the republican national conven. tion of 1884 was held in Chicago, he was chairman of the New York state delegation.
 After this experience he dropped out of politics for two years. Going west he purchased ranches along the Little Missouri river, in North Da- kota, and divided his time between outdoor sports, particularly hunting, and literary work. Here he laid the foundation for his series of books, "The Winning of the West," which was published from 1889 to 1896, and of other volumes of kindred char. acter.
 Returning to New York he became the republican candidate for mayor. in 1886. He was defeated. President Harrison in 1889 appointed him a of the United States civil .orUioa commission opd Droo{dau< |