Middletown transcript., 1919-11-01
LIFE OF ROOSEVELT
Bv The Rev. Edwia Whittier Css-
well Of Middletown

BV lhe Kew. E0Wld VnlssAe1 S"S
well Of Middletown
HIS SIXTY-FIRST BlkIHDAl
The following are extracts OF an
article published in the Newark Ghr's-
tian. Intelligence in the year l9lo' just
before Ex-President Roosevelt return
ed from his African Hunting Expedition
and is reproduced as appropriate to the
commemoration of Mr.. Rooseveits 8
6lst birthday, Oct. q.
The worlds master writer's and think
ers of many countries have placed a
high estimate upon the public life and
character of Theodore Roosevelt. 1t
will be eminently fair to him to recall
some Of those noble utterances. just be-
fore we hail his homecoming, and
honor him with the freedom OF New
York City and the whole United States
by giving him the greatest reception
ever extended to an American citizen.
John Hay delivered the eliminating
speech of the Presidential campaign OF
1904 in Carnegie Hall. Speaking OF
President Roosevelt, he said: ''Of
gentle birth and breeding, yet man OF
the people in the best sense; with the
training of scholar and the breezy
accessibility of ranchman; man OF
the library and man of the world; an
athlete and a thin er; a soldier and
statesman; a reader, writer, and
maker Of history; with the sensibility
Of poet and the steel nerve OF a
rough rider; one who never did, and
never could, turn his back on friend
or on an enemy. A man whose merits
are so great that he could win on his
merits alone, whose personality is so
engaging that you lose sight of his
merits. Then what is your objection to
him? They will either stand speeches.
or they will answer with the parrot cry
which we have heard so often: He is
unsafe In a certain sense, we shall
have to admit this to be true. To
every grade of law-breaker, high or
low; to q man who would rob till or
ballot box; to the sneak or the bully;
to the hypocrite and the humbug, Theo-
dore Roosevelt is more than unsafe; he
is positively dangerous"
Senator Elihu Root, at the Chicago
Presidential Convention of 1904, said:
"Our President has taken the whole
people into his confidence. Incapable
of deception, he has put aside concel-
ment. Frankly and without reserve,
he has told them what their govern
ment was doing and the reason. He
has meant every word he said, and the
people have believed every word he said
and with him this convention agrees,
because every word has been sound
Republican doctrine. No people can
maintain free government who do not
in their hearts value the qualities which
have made the present President of the
United States conspicuous among the
the men of his time as t;pe of noble
manhood. Come what may here-come
what may in November, God grant that
those qualities of brave, true manhood
shall have honor throughout America,
shall be held for an example in every
home, and that the youth Of generations
to come may grow up to feel that it is
better than wealth. or office, or power.
to have the honesty, the purity, and
the courage of Theodore Roosevelt"
The speech of M. Laird. vice.rector
of the University of Paris, in intro
y ducing Mr.. Roosevelt, was most COM
plimentary and felicitous. He said:
The University particularly wished its
students to hear the greatest voice of
the New World, that Of the man who
speaks by action as well words, Civ
ing to the world councils of justice and
energy" Turning to Mr.. Roosevelt,
he said: 'You denounce the idle and
the useless, but you combat also the
mischief makers and the selfish. You
do not separate morality FROM politics
nor right from force. You are rough
soldier and pacific thinker, and mar
Of action, preacher of high virtue ant
living example of the virtues YOU
preach.
} frank A. Munsey, in Munsey's Mag
azine, gives us the following: "Roose
velt's bravery is double-barreled. 1t il
both moral and physical. This il
assuredly rare combination-rare in
deed when so highly developed. ",
have many men whose courage In physi
cal combat, in the hell of battle is 8,
fine, so grand. so supreme, that we cal
only feel our admiration with a thrill
that sweeps us from head to foot
But apply to these same fearless me]
the test Of moral bravery, and ou
hearts will sink for pity of them. O.
the other hand, some men with tn
frailest of bodies and the most timi
natures. are giants great, grand
heroic figures in the fierce warfare O
moral courage. The combination, l re
peat, is most rare, but in Roosevelt W
have both. He can lead an army in tn
teeth Of battle and never finch: an
with equal courage, he can say, an
say with terrible emphasis, Yes G
NO. He dares to do right az, he undel
stands the right, and he dares to def