Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1919-01-06

which he resigned in 1896 to become
New York City's police commissioner.
"a thing that attracted me to this
Office" Roosevelt said at the time he
accepted this appointment, "was that
lit was to sbe done in the hurly-burly,
for / don't like cloister life" Homes
ty was the watchword of this admin
istration, and the two years of his oc-
cupancy, became memorable through
the reforms he inaugurated, attract
ing the nations attention while hold
ing a position which was obscure in
comparison with events to come. n
licit liquor traffic, gambling, vice in
lgeneral-of these evils he purged the
city in the face of corrupt political
Opposition and the reputation he es-
tablished as a reformer won him the
personal selection of President Nc
Kinley as Assistant Secretary of the
Navy, in 1897. A year later the Span
ish-American war broke out.
The Roosevelt temperament did not
the man TO retain o deputy Cabinet
position with war Offering something
more exciting. Leonard Wood, now a
Major General in France, was then
President McKinley's physician and
one of Roosevelt's staunchest friends.
The famous Rough Riders were or
ganized by Wood and Roosevelt
band of fighting men the mention of
whose name today suggests imme
diately the word Roosevelt" They
came out of the west.-plainsmen,
mines, rough and ready fighters who
We're natural marksmen, and Wood
became their Colonel. and "Teddy" as
he has become familiarly called by
the public, their Lieutenant Colonel.
In company with the regulars of the
army they took transports to Cuba,
| landed at Santiago and were soon en-
gagged in the thick of battle. Among
the promotions which this hardy reg
iment's gallantry brought about were
those of Wood to Brigadier General
and Roosevelt to Colonel-and this ii
tie Theodore Roosevelt cherished until
the end. Some of the Rough Riders
formed military escort when he was
elected President few years later.
When Cuba had been liberated,
Roosevelt returned to New York. A
gubernatorial campaign was in swing
with the republican party in need of
capable candidate. Roosevelt was
nominated. Van Wyck. his democra-
tic opponent, was defeated. The re-
forms Roosevelt had favored as an
Assemblyman he now had the oppor-
tunity to consumate, together with
others of more Importance. and il was
during this administration that he is
said first to have earned the hostility
of corporations. When the republican
national convention was held in Phil
adelphia in 1900 his party in New
York State demanded and attained his
nomination for Vice President on the
ticket with William Mckinley. In
November of that year this ticket
was elected.
The policies of Mckinley, Roosevelt.
endeavored to carry out after he sue
ceeded the former upon the Presi-
dents tragic death at the hands of an
assassin. Roosevelt retained his pre-
decessor's cabinet as his own and he
kept in Office the Ambassadors and
Ministers whom Mckinley had ap-
pointed. AS much as two years be-
fore the presidential campaign of
1904 republican organizations in var
ious states began endorsing him as
their next candidate.
II was thus the "man of destiny"idea
was associated with his life. Osten-
sibly, Roosevelt, leaving the COVER
norship of New York to become Vice
President, was moving forward from
state politics to national politics, so
his political opponents professed pub
llicly to believe: but it was their Sc
lcret desire to "shelve" the man and
leliminate him from prominence in
their own community it was said, that
prompted these political foes to OBJ
tain for him the Vice Presidential
nomination, which he personally did
not desire.
At the height of his plblic and po-
Ilitical career, during the four years of
the terms for which he had been elect
ed, Roosevelt accomplished achieve
ments which historians viii rank high
in the international and industrial
progress of the country. They in
Icluded his influential negotiations
conducted at Portsmouth, N. H., eff
fecting peace between Russia and Jap
pan; maintenance of the Monroe Doc
Itrine at a period when European Pow
ers were interested in the affairs OF
IVenezuela; the recognition of Pana-
ma as a republic and his treaty with
Panama by which the inter-ocea-'r
Snidl tiifOoSh tiiat NOtuitiy was RSAt
under way; and the settlement, thru
his moral influence in the face of a
situation in which there was no ade-
|quate federal legislation, of the Penn
lslyvania coal mine strike. For this
lpart in terminating the Resso-Japan-
lese conflict he was awarded the Noble
Peace Prize in 1906. Four years la
tier, once more private citizen, he
was special ambassador from the
United States at the funeral of King
Edward VIII of England.
Il A rift in the friendship between
Roosevelt and his successor as Pres
liden, William Howard Taft, led to
1.-THE formers announcement of his op-
position to Mr.. Taft's denomination
The ex-President's influence had beer
large in placing Mr.. Taft in the
White House. Now this influence was
equally strong in preventing Mr.. Taft
from remaining there. Men who had
lclashed with Taft policies quickly raj
llied to Roosevelts 8 support. Roose-
welt assembled what be termed sas
Iconstfuctive ideas as olyDosed 20 the