The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-10-23
ROOSEVELT WEEK

/ And when a Warrior dies his comrades
in the war
With arms reversed and muffled drum
Follow his funeral car.
They tell of banners taken
They tell Of battles won
And after him lead his masterless
While peals the minute gun.
The funeral of Theodore Roosevelt
last January was one of the greatest
honors ever conferred upon any Amer
lean but even that was not so great
an honor as is conferred upon him
at this time by the setting aside of
this week, coming as it does nearly
a year after his death, as Roosevelt
week. The incidents Of his life are
still fresh in the public mind and yet
the public stands ready and glad to
dc him honor.
| We are glad that the state of North
Dakota is so linked with the life of
| Roosevelt. We believe no state had
a greater influence in making effect
i've the general course of his life.
AS young man of delicate con-
stitution he came. to our state. The
clear air, bright sunshine and outdoor
Fife accomplished all that Roosevelt
had hoped for.
He learned to do things. The quick,
outspoken men with whom he came
into contact here taught him to be
quick and outspoken. They taught
him the value of manly courage-to
set aside effeminate and inconsequen-
tial things and the ways of the society
in which he was born and raised.
The result was inevitable. The
man who came here physically weak
became strong, strong in body and
mind and strong in courage. He
learned to go along on hunting trips,
accompanied only by dogs, into the
foothills and ravines, sleeping beside
the campfire, hunting the grizzly and
mountain lion. Such acts take cour-
age-courage which the ordinary man
does not have-a courage which stood
him in good stead in after days when
he was called upon to stand alone.
And his life with us colored and
made possible his whole career. On
the lawn in the front of the State
Capitol at Bismarck stands the log
shack which Roosevelt and his cow
boy friends built on his ranch in this
state. It is rugged thing. The
logs are unhewn, the windows are
small, the door roughly made and the
roof is Of sod. The walls are chink-
ed and plastered. 1t is the house of
a man who spent time with and under
stood the elements. And standing be-
side it we have compared the log
shack, roughly built and in rugged
country populated with rough men to
the Executive Mansion in our great
Capital where this same man, for over
six years, received the world digni-
taries and to such a great extent die
tated the policies of the world.
We are glad to have had Roosevelt
with us. It gave us feeling of con-
fidence when we thought of our ma
tional government, of the future of
Americanism.
He was glad to have been with US.
We are glad he was with us.
The greatness of his life stands un-
challenged. The greatness of his life
was the greatness of his courage and
his kindness of heart. He was one
Of the few men in public life who
spoke fearlessly and ceaselessIy for
civic righteousness. And now that
he is gone we see that that was really
the aim of his whole life. If he rush
ed in and seemed to claim the fhonors
it was because he was impatient that
no one else had done the thing that
needed to be done.
And 50 he was called from one place
to another until he at length stood
as the Chief Executive of the nation,
from the log cabin which we are glad
to call ours to the White House. No
other state has such trophy. No
other state had such an influence on
the life Of Theodore Roosevelt. We
are proud to call him North Dakota's
son.