Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-27
ROOSEVELT: HIS DAY


4 alone and apart among the people who
are celebrating the anniversary of his birth
today. lie did not consider himself as a
superman, nor would he ever admit the
possession of qualities of mind and heart
essentially different from those that belong
to the man In the street. He preferred to
feel and believe that he was one of the great
crowd and that he reflected only the crowds
virtues and spoke with it's voice. This was
an opinion which Roost vet's enthusiastic
countrymen refused to share. Yet 1t was
rooted in simple truth-truth which. upon
closer analysis, goes far to explain Roose-
velt's force, his usefulness and his immeas-
urable popularity.
There are two sides to every human
character, and one Is good and the other is
not 80 good as it ought to be. Yet 1t Is
before the lonely altar of his own better
spirit that a man does homage in secret
even while that better part of him is aban-
doned to the dust and to defeat. So we are
made. In Roosevelt the average American
saw his own secret virtues triumphant and
marching unafraid He saw his own better
nature personifed and freed. by some miracle
of circumstance, from the hindrances that
disturb and confuse existence for most of us.
All men retain through most of their
lives something of the imaginative quality
that is supposed to end with the visionary
days Of boyhood. How many Americans
dreamed in the days of Mark Hanna and
dollar marked politics, of playing the knight
to the lady with the torch Of mauling the
bosses, Of great assaults in which the de-
spoilers might be kicked out of the temple?
Roosevelt did what millions of other men
thought of doing while they lacked the en-
ergy and the determination necessary to do
l.. L,kA1 IL. Al, t1,nN -,
had not time to defend. 1t was no wonder
that the crowd followed him. He was what
is noble in every crowd. II hn differed cs
srntially from his fellows, it was only be-
cause he listened to that voice of conscience
which. though it is never still in any one,
is forgotten or avoided for the sake of COM
fort or expediency.
When Roosevelt boastcd that he shared
only the gifts of the plain man he gcneralized
largely. He did>differ from countless Amer
leans in one respect He was able to think
of the spirit of his country as If 1t were
visible and conscious entity, a living and
present thing not without constant need
of passionate and courageous friends.
America was not an abstract thing to Roose-
welt. 1t was more than n country, more
than a democracy, more than system of
government and collection of ideals. 1t
was SymOOl ana nope ana promise OF
incalculabe Importance to all the world.
While other men who could think as
clearly and feel as keenly as he were con-
tent. for the sake Of their own peace and
welfare. to drift and surrender. the man
from Oyster Bay went out to scuffc, TO
strike blows, to fight furiously with the
powers of darkness in politics so long as
there was fight left in him. He was, as he
said. a practical man. He started nothing
without the hope of finishing it. In other
ways, too, he was the typical American.
He had the normal mans hatred for uginess
and double dealing and unfair play. His
philosophy and his breeding left him happily
free from the acquistive instinct that has
overwhelmed and driven many great minds
in this country to futile effort, and so he
turned easily to a career Of great service.
On the birthday of this great American
many people will again speak of him as a
man OF destiny. Roosevelt himself would
say that he was more a man Of destiny
than any other good citizen of the United
States. and that he did his greatest work
when he carried to realization the ideal OF
citizenship which every one of his hurried
and harassed and negligent countrymen know
to be the only decent one. He put his coun-
try first even among the things of his inti-
matt life. He saw America clearly and he
saw it whole, and deemed it worthy of the
best that was in him. Any American will
ing to forget himself and risk the battle can
be- in q sense, as great as Roosevelt. But
how many are there who are willing to do
that much?