The use of this text or audio material is subject to the TR American Patriot user agreement located at: TR American Patriot.com
CHAPTER XXIX
An Ex-President in His Active Retirement

n 50'
THE FAITH OF THE COMMON PEOPLE
" Now   that  Roosevelt  is  home  again,   everything will be all right." From the North American   (Philadelphia)
/ JHALL
ro JAY FOK  TWO ao/lTHl
FOR ex-Presidents there is no established code of duty or of etiquette. It has come to be well understood that a Vice-President should be dignified, without seeming to be aspiring or expectant, and without allowing himself to be influential. What ex-Presidents, however, ought to do, besides remembering that they are to set an example of dignity and of unselfish devotion to country, is a question that has always been debated but never conclusively answered.
There are those who would make our ex-Presidents  Senators for life.    There

GOODNESS!     CAN   THIS   BE   THE   ORIGINAL   BIG
STICK! From the Oregoniam (Portland)

240

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

 

"Ye gods—what a change I"

"Suffering snakes—is that my old home?"

 

"You're not the little chap I knew a year ago"

" Why, Uncle Joe, how you have shrunk!"

 

'My old puddin' chummy"

"And I left it a flourishing Institution

THEODORE   IN   WONDERLAND    (A   YEAR'S   CHANGES) From Collier's Weekly (New York)

An Ex-President in His Active Retirement

I Will KEEP SILENT FOR TWO MONTHS
IS  IT  POSSIBLE?
(In response to numerous questions, Mr. Roosevelt announced on returning from abroad that he would have nothing to say on political subjects for two months.) From the Press (Philadelphia)
are others who would not permit them to hold any kind of public office. John Quincy Adams, after leaving the White House, in 1829, was elected to the House of Represen-

JUST   A  CASE   OF   NERVES From the Herald  (Washington)
HIS FORMER MASTER'S VOICE From the Pioneer Press  (St. Paul)

BACK ON THE JOB AGAIN From the Traveler (Boston)

roosevelt   (to Uncle  Sam):   "Come,  little boy,  and take your medicine."
From Judge

242

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

president taft to colonel roosevelt : " I, too, have not been Idle." (Mr. Taft presents his little bills,— Railroad, Statehood, Postal-Savings Banks and Conservation.)
From the Record-Herald (Chicago)

than two years after his retirement in 1885. President Hayes retired to his country home in Ohio, in 1881, after four years in the White House, and died in 1893. He was highly useful, for twelve years, in many causes of philanthropy and education.
General Grant was an ex-President for eight years, and most of that period was actively spent in a blaze of publicity. His tour around the world occupied more than two years, from May 17, 1877, to November 12, 1879. He was received with the highest honors in all the countries he visited. In the years immediately following he visited Mexico and Cuba, and was a United States commissioner to make a commercial treaty with Mexico. In 1880 he was again a candidate for the Presidency, his name holding together a large body of delegates through thirty-six

W($H YOU COOtO	.
MEET MY FRIEND//   |0 LIKE
VVflHELM-	[)   INTRODUCE

tatives, where he served for eighteen years,—-until his death,—as a contentious and eloquent- member of Congress.
President Cleveland was sixty years old when he left the White House in 1897, and he died at the age of seventy-one. His quiet and consistent life at Princeton was not without its relation to public opinion and the country's affairs; but his health was not vigorous, and his life as an ex-President was private rather than public.
President Harrison practiced law and wrote an excellent book on constitutional government in the short period of life remaining to him after leaving office in 1893. President Arthur lived less

THE\R    TRP.VEUS ?,

THE BW.UNGE8-PINGHOTRFFfllR?
TME \9\Z PRKVDENTIRL
ORTHt PROWESS OF W&R COLlKES,
WHAT
T.  R.  HAD A PRIVATE  INTERVIEW WITH  PRESIDENT TAFT. WAS THE  SUBJECT OF CONVERSATION?
From  the  Spokesman-Review   (Spokane)

fe.

An Ex-President in His Active Retirement

243

 

THE  ACCOUNTING
T. R. TO taft: "Well, how did this happen?    What! From the Sun (Baltimore)

IF   FEET  HAD   BARS   (Mr.   Roosevelt   visits   President
Taft at Beverly) From the Ohio State Journal   (Columbus)

ballots. In the period of illness before his death, he wrote his memoirs, without dreaming of the importance of this contribution to our knowledge of the Civil War and of his own career.
iix&eveu -BuT.

Of the earlier ex-Presidents, Jefferson was by far the most influential. He retired from the Presidency in March, 1809, and died July 4, 1826. His seventeen years of retirement were spent, for the most part, at his Virginia home, Monticello; but he was during all that time the real head of the great political party to which he belonged, and his relation to public affairs was constant and important. In this period of retirement, also he founded and created the University of Virginia, and produced much that appears in his collected writings.
THERE'S ONLY A LITTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM From the Meddler  (Cincinnati)

244

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

" I'VE GOT TO SEE HIM ! " From the Evening News  (Newark)

By   a   strange   coincidence,   ex-President John Adams (father of John Quincy Adams) the sick republican elephant : " Dollars to dough-     died on the same day as Jefferson.    He had nuts that's Oyster Bay!   Wonder if rii be allowed to     been an ex-President for twenty-five years,
land?    I'd like to get a few words of comfort from the	.	*
From Collier's Weekly (New York)
doctor."	and his almost complete withdrawal  from

' THINGS HAVEN'T BEEN THE SAME. THEODORE I From the Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
HURRY,   DOCTOR!
From the Eagle  (Brooklyn)
public    affairs    was    in    marked    contrast

An Ex-President in His Active Retirement

245

THE PEACEMAKER
" Gitche Manito, the mighty, Calls  the   tribes  of  men   together, Calls the warriors to his council By the signal of the peace-pipe."
(Apropos   of   Colonel   Roosevelt's   numerous   visitors, from all factions of the Republican party.) From the Eagle  (Brooklyn)

THE COLONEL AND HIS BOOKS
(Theodore Roosevelt held conferences to-day with State Senator Cobb, Congressman Parsons, and other politicians. After his visitors left Colonel Roosevelt said : " We have had some very interesting talks on literature."—Dispatch Jrnm yew York.)
From the Sun  (Baltimore)
with Jefferson's varied and vital activities.
President Jackson, after 'his  eight years
in the White House, imitated Washington

ALL, KOADS LEAD TO OYSTER BAY From the Journal  (Minneapolis)

246

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

THE   ANNOUNCEMENT   AND   ITS   EFFECT
Colonel Roosevelt is to make a speech in the  Indiana
campaign.—News  item  from  the  Tribune   (South  Bend)

in the issuing of a farewell address to the nation, and retired to his home called the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tenn. Like Mr. Roosevelt, he had influence enough to select, nominate, and help elect his successor; and he remained an influential public personage during the remaining eight years of his life. An exceedingly active and untiring ex-
"WELL,  WHAT ARE YOU BOYS HANGING AROUND FOR?'
From the Lender (Cleveland)

" WE'VE BEEN TO OYSTER BAY !
O.K.!    O.K. !    O.K. ! " From the Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
President was Jackson's successor, Martin Van Buren. He was President from 1837 to 1841,— running for a second term in 1840 but beaten by William Henry Harrison, of the opposing party. Four years later, in 1844, Van Buren was again a candidate before the Democratic convention, where he had a clear majority of the delegates but was unable, on account of the " two-thirds rule," to win the nomination. He had opposed the annexation of Texas, and the Southern Democrats

An Ex-President in His Active Retirement

247

 

ANOTHER  DARING  FLIGHT? From the Leader   (Cleveland)

THE   JUDGMENT   OF   A   SOLOMON From  the  World-Herald   (Omaha)

nominated and elected James K. Polk against Henry Clay- By 1848, ex-President Van Buren had gone over to the Free Soil movement, and was the Presidential nominee of the new party. His candidacy won no electoral votes, but it defeated the Democrats and put the Whigs into power. He was an active supporter of Pierce in 1852, of Buchanan in 1856, and stood with his party against Lincoln in 1860. But he became a War Democrat, supporting Lincoln's policies until his own death in 1862, at his country home near Kinderhook, New York.
However men may differ as to the public uses to make of an ex-President,  most

 

KEEPING  THE   OLD  ELEPHANT   WORRIED From the Picayune (New Orleans)

WHICH  WAT? From the Record   (Fort Worth)

248

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Carreer

AS IT WAS	AS   IT  MAY   BE
From the Spokesman Review  (Spokane)
men of thought and experience would agree that there ought to be some salary or pension granted him,—as to a retired judge,—until his death. Mr. Monroe and General Grant were not the only ex-Presidents whose last days were more or less clouded by financial difficulties. Mr. Roosevelt, returning to the plaudits and greetings of a friendly nation, was subject to extraordinary expenditures by reason of those numerous demands of hospitality, correspondence, travel, and the like, that a public man cannot evade.
Mr. Roosevelt had agreed, before going abroad, to make use of a room in the editorial offices of the Outlook, a weekly family paper published in New York, and to contribute to the paper as he might be able. He had also to put his new book through the press, and to prepare the speeches which he had agreed to make at the John Brown celebration in Kansas, the Conservation Congress at St. Paul, and on other occasions, at the end of August and in the months of September and October.

COPY BOY,1

 

RESTING From the Traveler  (Boston)

THE   STRENUOUS   CONTRIBUTOR Prom the Inter-Ocean  (Chicago)

An Ex-President in His Active Retirement

249

iNTATTl/E 3«p». H 80SSB3 LAST rioPS, OWE DOWN TMf , «£
5PKIAL   TMI HSHT   PICTl/RiS WILL 6HOWN   IN
HON.HMWWW   SUJM.edT   CAM! DOWN TUB HILL VESTCRDAY.   HC WAS ALL 6MILE& •I CWCT SAX V*W (»*•«» BETWEEN Mt ftNUTHECOl. BUT 1/kKVMtLINGTOAOMIT. IF  ttWO PRt»»to,1HAT-TH« COL. HA» PHOfWtP M6 MIS SUPPORT,' &hll> TMI
ARE   YOU   GLOOMY?     VISIT   SAGAMORE   HILL   AND CHEER UP
From the Press  (New York)
He had gone to Harvard College at com-nencement time, where he had met Gov-rnor Hughes of New York and paid his espects to President Taft, who was sum-

SENATOB   BEVBRIDGE   WILL   HAVE  A   GOOD
STARTER
(Colonel Roosevelt is to speak in Indiana) From the Pioneer Press  (St. Poul)
mering at Beverly, Mass. Meanwhile, except for a few hours a week at the Outlook office, he was at home at Sagamore Hill, where many public men from different parts of the country called upon

HUGHES   GETS   T.   R.'S   " O.   K."     WILL   HE   ALSO
LABEL TAFT? From tho World   (New York)

THE SKY-LINE OF OYSTER BAY WHEN GOVERNOR
HUGHES  APPEARED From the Press (New York)

250

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

 

THE BRONCO BUSTER From  the  World   (New  York)

BATING OUT OP HIS HAND From the World   (New York)

him, and where it was believed by the newspapers and the cartoonists that he was much interested in hearing about the political affairs of the State of New York and the strain in the Republican party between the regulars and the so-called " insurgents " or " progressives."
It was known that he would visit Indiana to make a speech  on behalf of the reelection of Senator Beveridge, and this was regarded as an indorsement of the " progres-

HAKD  TO  TUNE From the Evening Newt  (Newark)

HUNTING A CANDIDATE Prom the Record (Philadelphia)

An Ex-President in His Active Retirement

251

INCOGNITO !
(Referring to Colonel Roosevelt's visit to the coal mines of the anthracite region in Pennsylvania in the early part of August)
From the American (New York)

SENATOR  CUMMINS'   NEW  PARTY (Apropos of a proposal attributed to Senator Cummins on account of a statement made in the Des Moines News, which is supposed to be the Senator's personal organ) From the Inter-Ocean (Chicago)

sives." It was also known that he would make a speech on behalf of Senator Lodge's reelection in Massachusetts, and this was said to be a matter of personal friendship rather than of championship of the New England junta of high-tariff Senators.

A  MODERN   TOWER   OF  BABEL From the Herald (New York)
MAKING IMPROVEMENTS! From the Eagle (Brooklyn, N. Y.)
Unquestionably^ Mr. Roosevelt's general sympathies were with progressive movements in the Republican party. At the mo ment when Governor Hughes had called a

252

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

LIONIZATION—SPECULATION—PERTURBATION.—From Harper's Weekly (New York)
the lion : " I wish I knew what you are going to do with  me."
T. R. (thoughtfully) : " So do I."   chobus prom window :    " So do we."

WHAT  TO  DO  WITH THE  BOY From the Leader (Cleveland)

" RETIRE    ME!     WHY,    I'VE    JUST    BEGUN!
I'M ONLY 50." From the Record-Herald (Chicago)
special session of the New York Legislature, Mr. Roosevelt at the Governor's request had declared himself in favor of the Governor's bill for primary elections. In the preliminary plans for the New York

An Ex-President in His Active Retirement

253

State convention, and in the discussion of possible candidates for the Governorship, Mr. Roosevelt's influence was undoubtedly against the further control of the so-called " machine " or " Old Guard," and in favor of Republican progress as it had been exemplified by men of the type of Governor Hughes.
pbesident  taft, to  Mit.  roosevelt :   " Quit  your    crowding." From the Sun   (Baltimore)
And it was well known in advance that this spirit would be expressed in the speech to be delivered at Ossa-watomie, Kansas, on the last day of August. It had become evident that Mr. Roosevelt was to be highly active, and to regard the ex-Presidency as a post of public duty. It was also clear that the cartoonists would find it necessary to keep him under continued observation, and that a record like this which had been prepared with some historical perspective must needs end abruptly, or else be continued in daily postscripts.

' BOY ! THERE'S NOTHING LIKE HIM IX HISTORY " From the Pioneer Press (St. Paul)

From the World (New York)