Evening star., 1932-10-30

campaign.
BY HENRY ". LAWRENCE.
IN 1912 the presidential race was not to the
swift nor the battle to the strong While
Roosevelt had the Republican party away
up in the air, he tried to take the controls
Of the Grand Old Plane away from the
regular pilot, Taft. The violent struggle
drove the old ship into tailspin.
T. r. leaped over the side and descended in
the Progressive parachute. The Democratic
contender didn't have to do much more than
glide to victory.
Or, to change the figure sharply, the Bull
Moose drew the chariots of the Lord into the
battle of Armageddon. severely wounding the
Republican elephant and leaving the Demo-
cratic donkey in possession of the field. braying
about the victory that had overtaken him.
However you arrange the scenery for this
drama, Roosevelt gets into the center of the
stage and steals the show.
He had recently returned from exploring sew
eral continents hunting lions in Africa, star
Ting monarchs in Europe, then returning, to
America to see what needed doing there The
Homecoming caused good deal Of uneasiness
in many high places.
on enjoying himself, though the heavens
fell and occasionally they did. Coming back
from contracting miscellaneous Kings in Europe
he remarked, L was going to say that have
been as happy as king but, a matter of
fact have been infinitely happier than any
of the kings I know, poor devils
His glee was perennial, past, present and fu-
ture. As he put it, Il know no other man
who has had good time as have had in
life; no other President ever enjoyed the presi-
dency as did; no other eX-President ever
joyed himself as I am now enjoying myself and
as I think it likely shall enjoy myself in the
future"
Probably he was the only man in public life
who actually enjoyed being assassinated. On
october IA, 1912, while campaigning in Mlwau-
kee, he experienced the discourtesy of being
shot, with intent to kill. That the wound was
not fatal was the fault of neither the gun nor
the gunner. History will place the blame
Squarely on T. r. himself.
Said the surgeon: Col Roosevelt has a phe-
nomenal development of the chest The bullet
lodged in the massive muscles of the chest, in
stead Of penetrating the lung" The bullet had,
to be sure, been somewhat slowed down by the
colonelS spectacle case and by the manuscript
Of speech which he was carrying in his pocket.
Every one is familiar with the fact that he
refused to 60 to the hospital till after he had
made his scheduled Speech but what he really
thought about this whole assassination business
is not so widely known. His remarks taken
from some of his subsequent correspondence
on the duty Of public men in regard to stopping
hostile bullets show an undercurrent of sacri-
fetal glee and suggest that he had rather
bully time throughout the almost tragic ex-
perience.
iiI did not care rap for being shot," he
wrote. "It is a trade risk which every
prominent public man ought to accept as q
matter Of course. For II years have been pre-
pared any day to be shot.
Modern civilization is undoubtedly somewhat
soft, and the average political orator party
leader, the average broker or banker or factory
owner, at least when he is past middle age. is
apt to be soft mean both mentally and ply
sically-and such a man accepts being shot as a
frightful and unheard-of calamity, and feels
very sorry for himself and thinks only of him.
self and not of the work on which he IS en-
gagged or OF his duty to Others or indeed Of his
real self-respect.
But good soldier or sailor, or for the mat
ter of that even civilian accustomed to hard
and hazardous pursuits, deep-sea fisherman,
or a railway man, or cowboy, or lumberjack or
miner. would naturally act IS acted without
thinking anything about it,"
But we must drag Roosevelt off tht stage for
a moment to make way for less spectacular,
though not less significant actor from New Jer-
Sey and points South-Woodrow Wilson.
He was hardly second to Roosevelt in his un-
tagging zeal for making things somewhat bet
ter than they were. As president Of his alma
mater, Princeton University, he had promptly
shattered the academic calm by trying to intro
duce habits Of study among both faculty and
Students, or, as one indignant ahlmnus put It,
he tried to change "the dear old college into q
damned institution Of learning"
For creating this disturbance he was forced