Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-10-06
SOUGHT HUN VOTE
IN LAST ELECTION,
ROOSEVELT WROTE
Reviewer of Life of Former Presi-
dents Shows G. O. P. Carried
Water on Both Shoulders.
CONDEMNED SOFTNESS OF
PEOPLE, NOT MIR. WILSON


A review Of Theodore Roosevelt and
His Times" that is compiled from letters
of the strenuous former President oil the
United States TO friends and commented
ON by friendly pen, gives some interest,
INC sclosc up" views of the "colonel
that are especially worth notice at TINS
stage of the national campaign: Inc ex-
tracts quoted below open with the ac-
knowledged attempt of Republican Lead
ers 10 capture the German vote. ms ex-
tract is especially significant as showing
how. despite the partial gag the, party
applied 10 former Senator Depew, ne put
his foot into his mouth at the Repuoilcah
convention and spilled the political beans.
Colonel Roosevelt, his letters show, was
not at all In sympathy with the u. y. T. at
facks on the Wilson administration nor
upon the President himself, and was sur
pfised AT General Moods insobordlnation
In attacking his chief. The reviewer, Ber-
andcr Matthews of Columbia University,
CLEANS from the book Roosevelts real
attitude towards Wilson IN not bringing
America into the war before he did, and
agrees with all fair-minded persons that
he made the move the moment when the
country was behind him, Just so soon as ne
safely could.
To quote Mr.. Matthews on this point
one may readily SEE that Roosevelt did
not hold the view Of Wilson's S stand on the
war that c.. o. T. leaders have brought to
bear against him In the present campaign.
sIt actually came to him as thing that
he could not understand, that he should
be charged with attacking the admlnistra-
t,on when il WAS chiefly the people he was
lepndemning" 1t was the "softness OF the
people that he WAS emphasizing, the re-
viewer concludes.
Here are a few paragraphs from the
review of Theodore Roosevelt and His
Timx'' by John Buckhn Bishop, as writ
ten by Bcrander Matthews, Roosevelt
great admircr and one OF his closest
fricnds:
so ne was always pioneer, but
not a Cortez; more like a Boone. VINO
Alwnys kept in touch with the settle
imcnts and never let himself get too far
ahead. He WAS no Pizarro, to disappear
In the ocean on a desperate chance;
rather he was James Robertson, who
crossed the mountains back home every
wear from the frontier to make sure that.
the home folks hadn't forgotten hIm
When he used this pioneer speech, which
he did often to me. he always referred to
his pioneer work in 1916 in behalf of
preparedness for the war he saw Just ahead.
1T was done IN advance OF the Re-
publican convention, and from ohair-
man Warren c. Harding down TO the
humblest delegate, except for handful
Of Roosevelt men, that bind convention
believed that the Republican party could
win the election by carrying water on
both shoulders, most Of the water on the
German shoulder The galleries heartily
disagreed with them. rs they showed
when Chauncev Nj. Depew forgot HIM
self for q moment and got away from the
narrow lines laid down for his speech
and talked real AmericanIsm. 1t was only
for a second. but the galleries turned loose
with an ear splitting roar that made De
pew happy and turned his face red, though
the next moment he was back on the re-
servation again. The delegates sat stold,
Of course; they were busy preparing their
own defeat in November, and the sad
thing was that they really came TO Chicago
with the idea Of nominating ticket
tha; would WIN"
I'm that matter Roosevelt really was
a ploneer. as he had been In so many
other cases; but he was more OF pioneer,
because bv that time he had come to
disregard wholly his own political future
He alwavs disrecarded 1t when 1t really
came down to a matter of duty, but by
1915 he was utterly reckless Of II, because
be believed, as | know, that hIs political
career had come to an end When he
uttered his famous and much mlsunder-
stood statement that he could only
he nominated IF the party was IN 8
heroic mood, he WAS gibed at again by
the men who misunderstood hum or rather
hAssd hum, TO the end. But he meant, OF
ocuype, that be had no chance OF the nom
nation unless the country was prepared
- A>fx Covypsnv and he was absolutely
o.rta,n that II was not. 1t was the nation
b. blamed more than Wilson. He was
,ntnnsuly surprised when General Wood
nrwDittcd hun TO make a speech at P1atts-
burR and the general was reprinanded by
~ WAY Department because the speech
- slk,eDd 70 contain an attack on the
administration. BE had not mentioned
tb~ administration OF the President
hut be had said that nopreparations had
ban made for war slnoe Germany hao
begun her depredations upon US. he was
70 euCrosse-d with the shortcomings oi
fhe people IN this respect that 1t actually
came 10 hum as a thing not TO be under
stood that he should be charged with al
lacking the administration when 1t wa
chiefly the people he was condemnlng
There was such deep difference betweeI
the two parties TO the controversy tha
Secretary Baker and, doubtless, th
President himself, regarded any attael
on the softness of the nation as an at
tax on themselves And certainly Roose
Welt held them fully respor sible as far a
ths,y power went but his main quarre
was with that "softness'' that he saw uni
verxally. To him Wilson and Baker wer'
no headers, only followers, and follower
where the easy path led.