The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-01-07

~ give MIN credit 1Or more SOplllS-
, ticated genius than then was recog-
| nized as ut his command; for no
American statesman during the past
quarter Of a century, with the possi-
I BILE exception of the President who
! holds the office which Colonel RoosE-
| WELT held for seven crowded years,
has cquullcl him In the mastery OF
| ,he arts of what Is known as prac-
| teal politics. or In the power of ap-
| peal to the Imagination Of large num-
| berS Of citizens, or in the skilful use
of political opportunity. And this Is
true though the quality of the two
minds he as different us iChor is from
c,ching acid.
We forget things quickly, In he
glamour of the presence Of new
hero of enterprise and intellect. But
The seed of the boundless change. In
The scope of Federal power. In the
relation OF Government to business
previously within private control, In
the general conception of the func-
lions of the central legislature and
executive. which made the thirteen
years between THEODORE ROOSEVELT
first election as President in 1904 and
| he republics entrance into the world
| wal. in 1917 a period Of unprecedent-
| ed, reorganization and reform, at
tended by many mistakes and mis-
fortunes of initiative and judgment
and on the other hand by much real
and Salutary progress was deliber-
aiely planted before President Nc
klNLEYs death by the young Vice
President in that memorable speech
at Minneapolis OH Labor Day Of 1901,
when he said ~
The vast individual and corporate
| fortunes. the vast combinations OF capi-
tai which have marked the development
Of our Industrial system, create new
yonditiors and necessitate a change from
the old attitude OF the State and the
| nation toward property"
Colonel ROOSEVELT was then forty
three. Apart from his prestige as Ii
writer, an ardent civil service re.
former, n legislator and executive
| officer ut Albany, and II chivalric and
energetic volunteer in our little war
with Spain. not very much was known
throughout the country of the posi-
billtles and capabilities of his charac-
! ter. The bold declaration of an i'm.
pending change from THE old attitude
Of the State and nation toward prop
erty" sounded sophomore wherever
it attracted any attention ut all.
BRYAN had talked something of the
kind and had been voted under, again
and again. MCKINLEY was assasSi-
mated, and for the remainder of his
term President ROOSEVELT loynlly re
| Trained from any marked departure
from the platform and policies which
| MCKINLEY represented in the White
! House. 1t was not until he himself
! Il
own, expressed in the overwhelming
electoral and popular majorities of
1904, that the seriousness of his pur'
pose and the Significance of the for
gotten declaration three years earlier
at the Minnesota State fair became
manifest to the general and In many
cases the angry public perception.
He held his appointed course In
the face of doubts and denunciations
almost uneXampled in American po'
lltical history To many Republicans
he seemed Il revoiutionist of much
that had been deemed unassailable in
! the American system. Some of his
theories and undertakings would
doubtless have been described by his
opponents as fairly Bolshevik in their
conception and tendency, If the word
had then been current. The nation
witnessed such measures As the eX
tension Of the Forest Reserve, the
National Irrigation act, the beginning
of enforcement of the Sherman anti
trust law by the Hartman, the To
bacco trust and the Standard Oil
suits, the Employers Liability act
the regulation by Federal power OF
railroad organization as upheld IL
the Northern Securities decision, ant
the Intervention of the Government il
| tho preat coal 81 rike Of 1AOC II Is
not our purpose either to catalogue oil
to discuss the achievements of reform
which followed fast, one after thu
other, during his occupancy Of the
foremost post of power in the land
But he did change the attitude O.
Government toward property; ant
this he did with steady purpose anC
indomitable courage; and in shapin,
the new attitude he stirred and re
viyified the American conscience to al
extent which no other President o
the United States has ever attained
in time of peace. He gave the repub
lie n new ideal of the duties and re
sponsibilltles of citizenship. The ma
tional atmosphere was the clearer ant
purer for his efforts,
That was his finest achievement IL
domestic policy and 1t will bear frui
for years to come. Whatever mls
takes were made. in detail. the gen
eral line of progress was fixed by hin