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THEODORE ROOSEVELT
1919

CHAPTER 28
 ADDRESS BY CHARLES E. HUGHES
ONE of the most important memorial services in America was the one held in New York, February 9th, at the Union League Club, and the  address  was  made  by  Honorable   Charles  E. Hughes.    It was statesmanlike and masterful.    By the courtesy of the Republican Club we take copious extracts from the address for this chapter.   The orator said:
The heroes of democracy are the springs of its life; its sources of vigor and confidence. We increasingly realize in the midst of our abounding activities, that it is the man and not the mechanism that counts, and that the hosts of the industrious, the efficient, and the just must depend for their triumphs on the worth and strength of leadership. We are not paying tribute to the distinction conferred by office, even the highest office; nor are we commemorating mere achievements although extraordinary and varied. Our tribute is of unstinted admiration and deep affection for one who was great in office, but even greater out of office, whose unfailing faith, courage and energy caused personality to eclipse achievement; whose constant industry and self-discipline, whose sound democratic instinct, elemental virtues and wholesome living, whose restless, alert and indomitable spirit, impatient at all obstacles, made him more than any other the representative of free America—the typical American not only of the nineteenth century, but of the twentieth—the embodiment of patriotic ardor, of lofty ideals, of practical sense and invincible determination. Deeply conscious of the irreparable loss of his immediate leadership, we turn to consider the fructifying influence of a life which has no parallel in our annals. "He is great," says Emerson, "who is what he is from nature, and who never reminds us of others."

The life of Theodore Roosevelt presents strange contrasts in its constant escape from the limitations of environment. He was city bred, but he became a naturalist of eminence and a hunter of no mean prowess. He was reared in the most exclusive circles of the Bast, but he breathed the free spirit of the Western plains. He was educated in private schools, and his early training was amid cultural surroundings tending to separate him from the masses, but he was closer to the thought of the plain people than any leader in America. As a boy, he was of delicate physique, but by the careful discipline of years he made himself an athlete. He spent about two-thirds of his life in public office, but never was any one less official or less mastered by routine. He was engrossed with the grave practical concerns of his time, but he was one of its most prolific authors. He was in politics from the beginning of his career, but he was a master and not a servant of the political order. In every activity, the spirit of Theodore Roosevelt escaped the limitations of all associations and traditions and emerged dominating, triumphant, and he thus represents to us neither locality nor vocation—not the author, or the traveler, or the naturalist, not the political leader or the officer, not even the statesman or the President, but the man—who in his human worth and virile personality transcended all distinctions of place and circumstance, whose defects were only the shadows which made his virtues stand out the more impressively, and whose memory will ever remain an abiding inspiration.

It would be impossible on this occasion even briefly to sketch the seven years and a half of President Roosevelt's administration, still less to do justice to his achievements. There were certain distinctive features, however, which may be noted. He surrounded himself with the strongest men and delighted in their friendship and counsel. He found no sacrifice of leadership in the intimate association with the best minds of his day. He nourished his strength by such intimacy and, with all his eagerness and readiness, he welcomed the best advice he could get. It was characteristic of Roosevelt that his friends in every department of activity were the ablest, the keenest, the most expert, the most vital. To him democracy did not mean the triumph of the common-place or the rule of ignorance, but the best talent engaged in the service of all. Hay, Root, Taft and Knox gave high distinction to his Cabinet, while in every department he was constantly seeking to maintain enlightened policies and the highest efficiency.

In international affairs, with such Secretaries as Hay and Root, there was constantly displayed a rare sagacity and the nation enjoyed a greatly enhanced prestige. President Roosevelt knew how to avoid difficulties as well as to overcome them, and the archives of diplomatic correspondence, and his personal notes to our Ambassadors, will in time disclose the extraordinary influence which he helpfully exerted. Every foreign Chancellery knew that he meant what he said, and that his words were important because they were the sure harbinger of deeds. With such a man, there was no doubt as to action and no temptation to carry things too far. The "big stick" was an assurance of peace. He dared, but not recklessly. And he always had the gift of humor. The story is told that when one expressed the hope that he would not embroil us in any foreign war, he said, "What, . a war? With me cooped up in the White House? Never, gentlemen, never."

The first case before the Hague Court was brought before It through his instrumentality, and this set the precedent for many others. The Alaska Boundary question was settled through the decision of a Joint Commission, removing, as he has well said, "the last obstacle to absolute agreement between the two peoples." But this great service to the cause of peace was in his contribution to the settlement of the Russo-Japanese war in 1905. He conducted the preliminaries with consummate skill. On his invitation, the delegations of the two nations met at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Neither side got all it wanted; he felt that each side had as regards himself a feeling of injury, but this, as he told us, he did not resent. In appreciation of this service, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Me also acted on his own responsibility in sending the fleet around the world. He knew that "neither the English nor the German authorities believed that it was possible to take a fleet of great battleships around the world." But his prime purpose was "to impress the American people, and this purpose was fully achieved." It established the popular belief in the American Navy, and if in the world war our navy has demonstrated an efficiency unsurpassed, let us not forget—while due credit is withheld from none—that naval efficiency is not produced in a year and that the feat of the past two years, which has been In large part the essential basis of the complete victory of the cause of civilization, is directly due to the foresight and intelligent vigilance of Theodore Roosevelt.

When we turn to domestic affairs, we realize that President Roosevelt came to national leadership at a time which needed his championship of the common welfare. It is difficult now to think of the day when lawyers of ability and distinction were asserting the unconstitutionality of the exercise by Congress, through an appropriate agency, of the rate making power in its regulation of interstate commerce. The conclusions then reached after strenuous contests, are now the most familiar postulates. For President Roosevelt, the commerce power—till then but little used—was the instrumentality of an aroused opinion determined that the Republic should not be the victim of the opportunities it had created, and that greed, defying all control, should not make mockery of justice. The record of accomplishment is impressive—especially as so much wps essayed in a comparatively new field. The Hepburn bill as to railroad rates, the Pure Food bill, 'the Meat Inspection bill, the Employers' Liability bill, the establishment of the Bureau of Corporations; his trust prosecutions, illustrate his efforts for the public welfare against what he regarded as the serious evils in our national life. The public had found an undaunted champion, and his blows in their interest fell thick and fast.

But he did not assail the foundations of society. He sought to purge, not to destroy; to secure the essential conditions of progress, not to impair stability. It was never -his notion that he must burn down the house to get rid of the rats. He always sought what he believed to be the "just middle." It was his endeavor to cut out the abuses of property and to hold the scales even between "corrupt and unscrupulous demagogues and corrupt and unscrupulous reactionaries." "To play the demagogue for purposes of self interest," said he, was "a cardinal sin against the people in a democracy."

In the effort to secure a just solution of the problems of labor, he was indefatigable. To this end he used all his authority, legal and moral. It was the moral authority of his office that he exerted in the settlement of the anthracite coal strike in 1902. He was confronted, as Judge Gray said, with a crisis more grave and threatening than any that had occurred since the Civil War. Through the moral coercion of public opinion, directed by the President, an arbitration was agreed to and the dangers were averted. The nation never forgot this service or the way in which it was rendered. It was a service which only a man of rare courage and initiative could have performed. And for it, as Judge Gray said, President Roosevelt deserved unstinted praise.

In his relation to labor, he was actuated by the profound belief that we need never suffer from a class war, that "employers and employees have overwhelming interests in common both as partners in industry and as citizens of the Republic, and, that when these Interests are apart, they can be adjusted by so altering our laws and their interpretation as to secure to all members of the community social and industrial justice." But he realized that In order that prosperity be passed around, it is necessary that "the prosperity shall exist," and that in order that labor shall receive its fair share in the division of rewards, it is necessary "that there shall be rewards to divide."

Of first importance, in his judgment, was the conservation of our natural resources, which he emphasized by calling the conference of State Governors in May, 1908. The administration of the national forests, the conservation of mines, the improvement of waterways, and the development of water power—all were, subjects on which he thought deeply and to which he constantly directed public attention for the purpose of promoting the common welfare and of avoiding the selfish exploitation of the nation's riches.

He thrived on the hard work of the Presidency and left office in the full tide of health and energy. His relaxation was a long hunting trip in Africa, and a tour of Europe in which ne made numerous addresses and received the most distinguished honors. One of our Ambassadors, who was with him on the occasion of King Edward's funeral, has said that to see Theodore Roosevelt, the adequate democrat, furnishing the centre of interest as he discoursed in his free and entertaining manner to a delighted group of Kings, was to get a new vision of the essential worth of manhood which needed no trappings to establish its dignity.

On his return to the United States, he soon resumed the political activity which he could no more dispense with than he could forego his daily food. Those who supposed that he could have remained out of politics must construct another Roosevelt to fit their fancy. To the true Roosevelt, the earnest expression of political views, and the endeavor to put them into effect, were inevitable. One occasion or another might be presented, but there could be no question that in response to the insistent demand of his own nature, no less than in answer to the call of others, he would be found in the political arena.

Of the bitterness and animosities that were engendered, of the divison that resulted, of the party catastrophe which followed, there is no need now to speak. We are deeply grateful that this period of the estrangement of old friends, of misunderstanding and strife, came to an end, and that in the common cause of liberty, which demanded the full strength of the nation, a common patriotic endeavor restored the old-time amity, the wounds were healed, the party integrity restored, the friendships renewed, and the Republican Party once more rejoiced in the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt.

After the labors of campaigns a trip of exploration was taken in South America in the early part of 1914. The spirit of adventure was as indomitable as ever. The fires of youth were unquenched. But in his adventures, Roosevelt was always seeking not mere pleasure, but to add to the sum of knowledge. His achievements as an explorer were indubitable, but he did not seek to magnify them. As Steffansson tells us, Roosevelt thus expressed himself in a letter written shortly before his death: "I do not make any claim to the front rank among explorers . . . but I do think that I can reasonably maintain that compared with other Presidents, Princes and Prime Ministers, I have done an unusual amount of useful work."

But this trip of exploration, useful as it was from a scientific point of view, was a fateful trip for the explorer. He never fully recovered from the fever with which he was then attacked, and he was unable to free his system of the seeds of disease.

Soon after his return to this country, the great war broke out. He was one of the first to appreciate its significance and our duty. His soul revolted at the wrongs of Belgium, and he poured out the vials of. his scorn upon the neutrality which ignored the call of humanity and sacrificed the self-respect of the American Republic. When the Lusitania was sunk, in May, 1915, he' demanded action with "immediate decision and vigor." "Centuries have passed," said he, "since any war vessel of a civilized power has shown such ruthless brutality toward non-combatants, and especially toward women and children." None of the "old-time pirates" had "committed murder on so vast a scale." "We earn, as a nation," he cried, "measureless scorn and contempt if we -follow the lead of those who exalt peace above righteousness, if we heed the voices of those feeble folk who bleat to high heaven that there is peace, when there is no peace. For many months our government has preserved between right and wrong a neutrality which would have excited the tremulous admiration of Pontius Pilate—the arch-typical neutral of all times." Theodore Roosevelt, to his lasting "honor "be it said, was right, and had his voice prevailed and had the country earlier shaken off its lethargy, millions of lives and countless treasure might' have been spared. Better late than never, but it is costly to be late.

Of inestimable value to his country had been his service in office, but now—a private citizen—he was to perform an even greater service. To a hesitant administration, and to a people lulled into a false security and lending ear to an unworthy pacifism, he preached the gospel of preparedness. Throughout the country, journeyed this courageous apostle of right-thinking, having no credentials but those of his own conscience and patriotism, and by his pitiless invective he literally compelled action. Back of all that was done was the pressure of the demand of Roosevelt. "For eighteen months," said he in the early part of 1016, "with this world-cyclone before our eyes, we as a nation have sat supine without preparing in any shape or way. It is an actual fact that there has not been one soldier, one rifle, one gun, one boat, added to the American Army or Navy so far, because of anything that has occurred in this war, and not the slightest step has yet been taken looking to the necessary preparedness. Such national short-sightedness, such national folly, is almost inconceivable." He denounced the proposed program as a make-believe program, as one entirely inadequate to our needs. "It is," he said, "a proposal not to do something effective immediately, but to do something entirely ineffective immediately and to trust that our lack will be made good in succeeding years."

He also demanded spiritual preparedness in a deepening sense of unity. He preached the gospel of undiluted and unhyphenated Americanism. "The foreign-born population of this country," said he, "must be an Americanized population. No other kind can fight the battles of America either in war or peace. It must talk the language of its native born fellow citizens, it must possess American citizenship and American ideals." "There is no such a thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else." "I," he said, "I am straight United States."

And when finally we could stand no longer the brutal assaults of Germany and declared that a state of war existed, he felt that his place was in that holiest of wars, and he was ready to die fighting for his country. When he asked to be allowed to go to France, he had no thought of a return in glory. I well remember the night, shortly after the declaration of war, when at the close of a meeting at the Union League Club, he talked to a little company of his heart's wish. "I shay not return," he said, "my sons may not return, my grandchildren may be left alone"— and no one could doubt that he meant what he said. But the greatest desire of his life was denied him. We can but faintly imagine the measure of his disappointment, but we may conjecture that it had no small share in hastening the final break-down. His country at war, and Roosevelt at home! That was the cruelest blow that fate could deal him.

But if he could not fight for liberty and humanity on the Western- Front, he could fight with pen and voice at home. There was not a moment lost. With increasing vigor he demanded adequate forces, adequate equipment, speed and efficiency. His lash knew no mercy, but it was a necessary lash. As It was, we were just In time. How late we should have been had It not been for Roosevelt, God only knows! But who can doubt the value of the service of that Insistent demand in making it possible that we. should arrive at the front, in force, in time to make the last great German drive a failure? He quickened the national consciousness ; he developed the sense of unity, and when the country awoke he was the natural leader of an aroused America. His priceless service at home made all the world his debtor. If America by its aid at the critical moment made victory possible, it was the spur of Roosevelt that assured that aid, and while we acclaim the splendid service of officers and men, the pride of -our army and navy, and of the host of willing workers, and are gratified at the vast achievements of the nation, let it not be forgotten that yonder in his last resting place in Oyster Bay lies our greatest hero of the war. He incarnated the spirit of America, and when he passed away, and controversy was no more and enemies were silenced, the country with one voice paid its tribute to the patriot who, without office or commission, had supplied the leadership which had not faltered or erred, and had fought to maintain the nation's honor.

It is with pleasure that we remember the family life of this stout-hearted American. Worthy in public life, he dignified the American home. He spoke of his father as the best man he had ever known, and the spirit of his father's house blessed his own. An ideal husband and father, his home was the beautiful abode of all that was worthy and true. He transmitted his own courage to his four sons, and all of his sons won distinction at the front. The last sacrifice for his country which his father longed to make in the battle for liberty his son Quentin did make, and in his heroic death achieved an imperishable honor of his own.

It is small wonder that such a career as that of Theodore Roosevelt has a lasting fascination for young men. There was nothing sordid or commonplace or unclean to mar it. His courage, steadfastness and faith, his deeds of daring, his physical prowess, his resourcefulness, his exploits as a hunter and explorer, his intellectual keenness, his personal charm, and his dominating patriotic motive, make their irresistible appeal, and in the shaping of the ideals of the American youth for generations to come his most important service is yet to be rendered.

He left us when we could ill afford to spare him. Against all that tended to destroy our government, against all that is sinister and corrupt, against tyranny of every sort, against the exploitation of the weak and all injustice, against class hatred and class pride, against the enfeebling influence of pacifism, against the impractical schemes of visionaries, against every tendency to anarchy and Bolshevism, Theodore Roosevelt would have led the fight with his invincible common sense and his sound Americanism.

In the coming struggle we can win the victory only by heeding his repeated Injunction:

"All of us, no matter from what land our parents came, no matter in what way we may severally worship our Creator, must stand shoulder to shoulder in a united America for the elimination of race and religious prejudice. We must stand for a reign of equal justice to both big and small. We must insist on the maintenance of the American standard of living. We must stand for an adequate national control which shall secure a better training of our young men in time of peace, both for the work of peace and for the work of war. We must direct every national resource, material and spiritual, to the path not of shirking difficulties, but of training our people to overcome difficulties. Our aim must be, not to make life easy and soft, not to soften soul and body, but to fit us in virile fashion to do a great work for all mankind. ... In our relations with the outside world we must abhor wrongdoing, and disdain to commit i-t, and we must no less disdain the base spirit which tamely submits to wrong-doing. Finally and most important of all, we must strive for the establishment within our own borders of that stern and lofty standard of personal and public morality which shall guarantee to each man his rights, and which shall insist in return upon the whole performance by each man of his duty both to his neighbor and to the great nation whose flag must symbolize in the future as it has symbolized in the past the highest hopes of all mankind."