The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1922-01-12
ABOUT BOSSES
By NJ. H. ].

age or 6l, the second of Pennsyl-
vania's notable men to fall by the way
within few weeks. Penrose was the
victim m-undeservedly so-of the
barbed arrows of the late Theodore
Roosevelt. To what purpose? That
he was a Boss.
Has it ever occurred to YOU. that
for twenty years, Theodore was the
Boss Bossorum, or assumed to be. of
tins great Yankee land of ours? Pen
rose was not disturbed by this slum
contumely. He was a strong man and
silent except when aroused to the de-
tense of some of our great financial
problems, and in that role, he had few
equals. He could afford to ignore the
cheap tom-tOm of an agitator whose
slogan as the discoverer, if not the
author, of the ten commandments was
Be virtuous and you'll be happy.
For twenty years it was the fashion
10 go into ecstasies over Theodore;
but when he passed, we heard no
more political rot about the Boss.
I concede, as I believe the average
American does, the great merits of
Theodore Roosevelt; but his faults
stand out like Shasta among the foot
hills. He was hypercritical and con-
sumed by a violent Ego. His treat
ment Of William Howard Taft was
contemptuous and shameful. One of
his apprObious shafts was: He bites
the hand that fed him. Taft is one
of the ablest men our country has
produced, and was under no Obllga-
tions to Theodore rich man
whatever. Taft possessed an estab-
lished reputation as a public man of
the first rank before Theodore had
any acquaintance with him. When
we recur to Theodore's campaign
slurs one would suppose that he had
pardoned Taft out of Sing Sing and
saved him to an honorable life, where
as Theodore had nothing to do with
Taft's rise to prominence. William
Mckinley was the first to recognize
Taft's great talents, and to place him
on the nigh road to fame if not to
fortune; and he was second to no pub
lie man in this country when he was
nominated to the Presidency. Theo-
dore's common sense had not deserted
him when he consented to the popular
acclaim in favor of Taft for the high
est honor the nation had to bestow
but he assumed the credit for making
Taft the crown prince to succeed him
that assumption was a piece of his
ebullient gall. After his nationwide
decentralization of the Republican
party, he was glad to get back into
the fold; and the whirligig of time
got even with him-when he schemed
TO 90 to France at the head of dlvl-
sion: then it was that big hunk OF
the voters of the country laughed out
loud at the thought of this hero OF
San Juan Hill, not to be soldier
only. but general forsoOth! He went
up to the White House with pouter-
nipeon confidence, and old Woodrow
sat down upon him hard. Of course
there was a time when Iheodore
smoke. we had to be quiet; but 1t is
,5;,,artinor to recall him in the days OF
+be rump convention in Chicago: One
evening. during that political upheav-
al he left the hotel and entered q
Ruick for scout through town; as ne
shot away, the boys shouted after
him: Long live the King. Theodore
looked back over hs shoulder and
laughed heartily, highly pleased at
the implied compliment. While things
were red hot at this time, the boys got
out some cheap dodgers and distrib-
uted them through the Hobbies of the
hotels, which read to this effect: TheO-
dore Roosevelt will walk on the water
of Lake Michigan at p. m. This
evening; the citizens of Chicago are
invited to see the performance. He
can do it!
Toward his last days, Theodore 5
restless energy tempted him to in
wade the swamps and miasma of
South America, where he contracted
the disease that ended his life, for he
was never we'll afterward. He died
before his time; Philander Clark Knox
was cut off prematurely; and BOies
Penrose died comparatively a young
man-how are the mighty fallen!
10000
Senator Penrose and the Penrose
family as a whole, had traditional
repugnance to vulgar funeral display
The senator was the antithesis of the
loud and impertinent, such as we see
daily on the streets of our large cities