MR THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Otago Witness, Issue 3383, 15 January 1919, Page 22

MR THEODORE ROOSEVELT

WORLD-WIDE SYMPATHY. (By Cable.) Mr Theodore Roosevelt died peacefully in his sleep at his home at Oyster Bay at 4 a.m. The cause of death was rheumatism affecting the heart. Mr Roosevelt arrived at Sagamore Hill on Christmas Day. A week later he was stricken with rheumatism and sciatica. His right hand was much swollen. He remained in his room undergoing treatment. On Sunday night he retired, apparently better. At 4 a.m. Mrs Roosevelt went to her husband's room and found him dead. Medical examination showed that there was a clot of blood on the lung. Mr Roosevelt three weeks ago suffered from pulmonary embolism, which endangered hia life for several weeks. _ He was taken to a hospital, and was believed to have recovered. Both Houses of Congress passed a resolution of sympathy in regard to the death of Mr Roosevelt,' and adjourned for the day. They appointed a committee to attend the funeral. Flags were half-masted everywhere on the United States fleet, naval posts, cantonments, and public buildings in memory of Mr Roosevelt. Thousands of condolences have been received. Eulogising Mr Rocsevelt in the Senate, the Democratic leader (Mr Martin) said the ex-President's patriotism and ability were unquestioned. He was a truly great American of unqualified courage. Senator Lodge declared that Mr Roosevelt devoted his life to his country, and always sought to serve it. President Wilson has issued a proclamation relative to the late Mr Roosevelt. This directs that the flags on public buildings be half-masted for 30 days, and that military and naval honours be shown at the funeral. Mr Wilson's proclamation states: " When Mr Roosevelt was President. he awoke the nation to the dangers of private control of great industries and undertakings." King George and Queen Mary, in cabling their condolences to Mrs Roosevelt, said: "We had a personal regard for your distinguished husband. He will be missed by many friends in England to whom he had endeared himself." Queen Alexandra has cabled to Mrs Roosevelt: " I am indeed grieved to hear of the death of your distinguished husband, for whom I had the greatest regard. Please accept my deepest sympathy in your irreparable loss." ; 'JThe New York newspapers declare that one of the late Mr Roosevelt's most important achievements was the reformation "forced on big business during his administration. They praise the vigorous part he played in arousing the conscience of the American people to the moral issues involved in the war. All agree that he was a great figure in history besides being a great American. A SIMPLE FUNERAL. WASHINGTON, January 9. Government activities ceased throughout the United States in memory of ex-Presi-dent Roosevelt. Flags will be half-masted during the ensuing 30 days. Congressional Committees attended the funeral, which was a simple one. The interment took place in the Oyster Bay Cemetery, a little private churchyard belonging to a former colonial family. The service at the church where Mr Roosevelt was formerly churchwarden was attended only by members of the family and a few ticket-hoMers. Vice-President Marshall represented President Wilson. The first service was held at the Sagamore Hill Home, and later the remains were taken to the church, where the episcopal service was read. The mourners included a delegation of the " Rough Riders " commanded by Colonel Roosevelt in the Spanish-American war. A movement has been started for a national memorial to Mr Roosevelt at Oyster Bay. There was a heavy- snowstorm during the funeral, with sleet and dark clouds over the neighbourhood. A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. Theodore Roosevelt, as President of the United States, wielded greater power than any of his predecessors. He was inducted into the Chief Magistracy when the Republic was emerging from it 3 political isolation and was taking its place as one of the fore-, most Powers of the world. Great as was the inherent power of his exalted position, Mr Roosevelt gave it an exceptionally forceful expression through his quick initiation, his remarkable energy, and the magnetism of his peculiarly interesting personality." The political life of Mr Roosevelt, the youngest President the United States ever had, was, figuratively speaking, an open book to his countrymen. He stood for an uplifting of American political morality and citizenship and for the entrance of the United States into the World's councils to every movement that meant an advancement of civilisation. From the outset of his political career to its close he was a tireless enemy of corruption in every form. He was essentially a fighter, and in reaching almost every rung of his political ladder he was beset with foes. He kept a watchful eye over all the details of the various executive departments, shaped the policies of those departments, though he always sought the advice of his Cabinet officers, and exercised a general sway in the legislative field that caused his political opponents to charge him frequently with exceeding his constitutional powers. Claes Martenszen van Roosevelt, or van Roosenvelt as the name was sometimes spelled, was the ancestor of practically all the Roosevelts in America. With his wife, Janetje Thomas, he arrived at New York —then New Amsterdam —from Holland in 1649. Theodore Roosevelt, who reached the Presidency, belonged to the eighth generation of the Roosevelts in America. His father was a prosperous merchant, a philanthropist, and model citizen, who died, at the age of 47, in 1878. Most of the family wealth was amassed by the President's

grandfather, who was engaged in business of several kinds. Tho President's father married Miss Martha Bulloch, of Georgia, who was related to several distinguished families of tho Southern States. This union of a Northern to a Southern family, together with the fact that the President's home was in the east, while his most interesting exploits as a hunter and ranchman were in the west, served to enhance Mr Roosevelt in tho public eye as a splendid type of Americanism. Mr Boosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in New York City. From earliest infancy to well along in his boyhood he was subject to asthmatic attacks, which sapped his vitality and retarded his health, and his health became so cnlical that he was taken to Egypt one winter. This proved to be of benefit, but he had not acquired rugged health when he entered Harvard College in- 1676, and he systematically pursued his course in physical culture. He became an expert boxer, and he never lost his fondness for a bout even when he reached. the Presidential chair. Immediately after his graduation Mr Roosevelt travelled in Great Britain apd the Continent, studying the forms of government and the conditions of the peoples. He climbed the Alps and returned home after a year's absence with a much improved physique and with a determination to enter the public service. He was soon elected a member of the House of Assembly, the lower branch of the State Legislature. His career in the Assembly, to which he was twice re-elected, furnished numerous sensations in New York politics. Mr Grover Cleveland was Governor of New York when Mr Roosevelt was an Assemblyman, and the two future Presidents worked hand in hand in several reform movements, though they were of different political faith. During a few years immediately following this presidential campaign Mr Roosevelt practically dropped out of politics. His wife died in 1884, several days after a daughter had been born, and then his mother passed away. He began an experience as a cattle ranchman in the Bad Lands of North Dakota. Here he revelled with his horse and rifle. He read Shakespeare to the cowboys, and grew very fond of the rough pioneers, and they became .devoted to him. The cowboys and the .Indians flocked to the National capital when he was inaugurated, and never had Washington presented such a bizarre spectacle before. This life on the Western plains was very valuable to Mr Roosevelt, hot only in the development of an exceptionally fine physique, but of physical and moral courage. He learned to deal with the rough characters of the nation in a section where the rifle,- the keen eye, and the iron nerve ruled. He was molested only once in one of the "cow-towns." A bully took him for a "tender-foot" and ordered him to treat to liquor, at the point of two revolvers. In the saloon a crowd stolidly watched the incident. Mr Roosevelt started apparently to treat, and in the next instant his fist shot out and the bully was stretched out on the floor. Then tho ruffian "awoke," the "tender-foot" was standing over him and calmly displaying his two "guns." "You're a good 'un," said the bully with an oath, while the crowd laughed. The ruffian then treated. N Nominated as a candidate for the Mayoralty of New York in 1885, Tammany influence proved too strong, and he was defeated. He later married again. The second Mrs Roosevelt was a Miss Carew, daughter of a New York merchant. Their union was blessed by five children. After the wedding the Roosevelts travelled in Europe, and then divided their time between New York and the ranch in North Dakota until 1889, when Mr Roosevelt was appointed a commissioner of the Federal Civil Service. In the upbuilding of the civil service system Mr Roosevelt spent six very strenuous years fighting political spoilsmen. He was then appointed president of the Board of Police Commissioners in New York City, where reforms were urgently needed. It required two years to crush the wicked partnership and place the police force upon the basis of pure merit. By ■ virtue of his office he was also one of the health authorities. The tenement'laws were enforced rigidly, the deadly "sweatshops'" eliminated, and the death-rate among the poor, of the city decreased. Mr Roosevelt then left the police commissionership to become Assistant Secretary of the Navy, to which- place he had been appointed by President M'Kinley. As soon as the Spanish-American rupture ■ occurred, Mr Roosevelt resigned the Assistant Secretaryship, and with Dr (later General) Leonard Wood, organised the Rough Riders. Mr Roosevelt led' tho charge up San Juan Hill, which placed the United States troops in a strategic position for the capture of Santiago de Cuba, and accounts of his bravery on that occasion so caught the public eye that when the _ little war was ended, the- Republican politicians of New York selected him as the candidate for the Governorship in 1898. From tho time Mr Roosevelt assumed the Governorship of the Empire State he became a strong Presidential possibility. As Governor, Mr Roosevelt showed the iron hand in the execution of various reforms. Ho fought powerful interests, political and financial, and there was a strong desire in certain quarters to get him out of the Governorship and shelve him politically. Partly with that object, and partly to strengthen the Republican National ticket, the Vice-presidential nomination was thrust upon Mr Roosevelt in 1900. For the first time in his political life he became an official figurehead when he was installed in the Vice-presidency. Fate soon ordained, however, that Mr Roosevelt should-; be the third "accidental" President, for in the early autumn of 1901 President M'Kinley was fatally shot by the anarchist Czolgosz. When Mr Roosevelt took the oath as Chief Executive he promised to carry out Mr M'Kinlcy's policies—to be, in fact, the spirit of the slain leader as far as lay in his power. The President faithfully observed his pledge, handed Cuba over to the Cubans, and directed the foreign and domestic affairs with such satisfaction to the Republican Party that he was nominated by acclamation in 1904 for the Presidency. The country's verdict was an overwhelming vote for Mr Roosevelt, who immediately began a campaign to reform economic conditions. He directed much of his energies to a battle against the great "predatory" trusts. In the domain of foreign affairs Mr Roosevelt's most brilliant service was, of course, his mediation which brought to a close the war between Russia and Japan, and which won for him the Nobol Peace Prize. _ It _ was a signal instance of his quick initiation at psychological moments, which was Frequently shown in the internal affairs of the United States. In tho world crisis Mr Roosevelt was of opinion that the United States had forfeited some honour in not going to the support of

Belgium and France at the outbreak of thewar; and, when the die was finally cast, he strongly supported the action that wai taken to rush forces to the front. He was not enamoured of the League of Nations proposal, and very strongly, opposed President Wilson's " Freedom of the Seas" announcement, holding that Great Britain needed a dominating navy, owing to herisolated position and world-wide empire, and that she had always safeguarded and ensured actual freedom on the seas.