Evening star., 1932-10-29
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN,

Theodore Roosevelt: a Biography"
by Henry F. Pringfe, which was re-
biography, has many characteristics
which give it unusual interest both as
history and as literature; its acute
analysis Of the development of Roose-
velt's mind; its vivid presentation of his
personality; its thumb-nail sketches Of
his important contemporaries; its brief
but adequate accounts Of national and
international affairs during Roosevelt S
life; its intelligent and sophisticated
comments upon political maneuvers and
intrigues; its tracing of the growth of
movements in our national life. The
biography Is popular, not exhaustively
scholarly. but there is a photography
of imposing proportions at the end, in
cluding such first-hand evidence as
Archie Butts Taft and Roosevelt" !"
intimate letters, Roosevelt's letters to
his sister, Mrs. Anna Roosevelt Cowles
MY Brother, Theodore Roosevelt" by
Mrs. Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, and
Theodore Roosevelt's Autobiography,
in addition to numerous collections Of
letters and documents of public men
and all the Roosevelt Memorial Asso-
citation papers. In his judgments Mr..
Pringle seems as unprejcdiced as any
mere human being can be. His style is
clear and concise. at times enlivened
by humor and delicately ironical. He
shows great discrimination in his Sc
lection of quotations for illustration or
for weaving into the thread of narra-
tive. An example of Mr.. Pringle's irony
is his comment on the result of the
election of 1896: "In the end, righteous
ness triumphed and the devil was re-
buked. Mckinley received 271 electoral
votes to l76 for Bryan. On March S,
1897, the New York Tribune's headline
on the account of the inauguration was
Republicans Take the Helm. Under
Bright Skies and With Fair Winds the
Ship Of State Sails for the Haven Of
Prosperity"
The alteration of many OF Roose-
velt's ideas, under the influence of po-
litical aspirations and later of respon-
sibility. was often very radical. His
impulSiveness in expressing his opin-
ions, when discreet silence would have
avoided future trouble for him, was
sometimes, but not always, held in check
by Mrs. Roosevelt and Henry Cabot
Lodge When he was Civil Service COM
missioner ''he gave so many interviews
that his mentor, Cabot Lodge, was
moved to protest Edith thoroughly
agrees with you said Roosevelt hum
bly,, so I cry peccavi and will assume
a statesmanlike reserve of manner
whenever reporters come near me- "
That he was never able to assume that
'statesmanlike reserve completely was
probably one of the reasons why he was
so greatly loved by large part of the
American people. As the end of his
administration drew near and he had
selected Taft as his successor, he began
to preach the discretion to his friend
which he had found so difficult to prac-
tice himself: Il believe you will be
elected If We can keep things as they
are, so be very careful to say nothing,
not one sentence, that can be miScon-
strued-that can give handle for ef-
fective attacks. l have always had to
exercise lynx-eyed care over my own
utterances." AS young man Roose-
velt had been member of the New
York Free Trade Club; as President
he held orthodox Republican tariff
views. As New York Assemblyman he
had no sympathy for the cropping aspi-
rations Of labor to better its condition
by organizing; as President he favored
encouragement to every proper effort
made by the wage-Workers to better
themselves by combinations. In 1855
he was unenthusiastic over Civil Service
reform: as United States Civil Service
commissioner he was increasingly and
pugnaciously vigorous in his enforce
ment of Civil Service regulations. But
to say that Roosevelt changed his mind
on many public issues as the years
passed is merely to say that he was
dynamic. not static. His fundamental
principles were fixed. To many he
appeared as above all a moralist. Owen
Wister is quoted as saying: If they
treated Theodore as they deal with
certain composite substances in chem
istry, and melted him down (to)
his ultimate, indestructible stuff, it's
not statesman that they'd find. or a
hunter, or a historian. or a naturalist
they'd find a preacher militant.
AS Mr.. Pringle tells the story, we
are impressed that one of the best
times Roosevelt ever had was during his
tour of Europe in 1910, after his II
months of African hunting when Taft
was safely in the White House and he
himself was merely free citizen of the
eyes of Europe, our country'S most in
teresting citizen. perhaps the most in
teresting man in the world. He had
escaped fulfilling Tom Platt's tenta-
lively hopeful suggestion that many
who have undertaken the same trip
Ito Africa have been stricken by
disease or killed by accident" The
lions and the tSetse flies failed to dc
their duty as envisaged by some of the
offended politicians Roosevelt eX-
pressed opinions at Khartum land
Cairo about the necessity for Great
Britain to tighten her rule over Egypt
and repeated his sentiments at a Guild
Hall Speech in London, which offended
some English editors. but on the whole
entertained and met the approval Of
most of the English public. King
Edward VII died while Roosevelt was
in Norway and Taft asked him to
represent the United States at the state
funeral. ITO say that Roosevelt en-
Joyed this function more than any Other
in Europe is to attribute to him nc
callousness with respect to the royal
grief" On the evening before the
Mineral a banquet was given by King
George to visiting monarchs and
official representatives. In referring tc
it, Roosevelt confided to a friend: I'm
going to a wake tonight. I'm going te
wake" Whitelaw Reid. American
Ambassador, was decidedly worried
about the whole affair, including a
rumor that Roosevelt might wear hi:
Rough Rider uniform at the funeral
But all fears were unnecessary. In
spite of preliminary boyish mischiev-
BUSINESS, he Of course acted with per-
feet propriety. He failed to meet the
Pope at Rome, because he would not
agree not to meet the Methodist OF
Rome, who were at the time in the
midst of an alteration with the
Roman Church. Then he cancelled 9
reception engagement with the Metho-
dists because one of their number tool
that time to issue statement criticizine
the Vatican. He visited the kaiser
who had photographs taken of himself
with his distinguished guest during the
maneuvers- photographs of which ht
gave a set Of prints to Roosevelt, with
inscriptions scribbled on the backs. Oni
showed Roosevelt and the kaiser to.
gether and bore the inscription, "Wher