ROOSEVELT 



5076 



KOOSEVELT 



If ever there was an "apostle of energy" it 

 Roosevelt. Inactivity for him was impossible. 



Immediately after the close of his term 

 Roosevelt sailed for Africa with a party in- 

 cluding his son Kermit and a number of natu- 

 ralists. The object of the expedition was not 

 merely sport, to hunt big game, but also to 

 secure specimens for the zoological collection 

 of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. 

 African Game Trails is the record he wrote of 

 this year in the wilderness. His return to the 

 United States by way of Europe in the spring 

 of 1910 was a sort of triumph. Roosevelt de- 

 livered lectures at the Sorbonne, at Paris, and 

 at the universities of Berlin, Christiania and 

 Oxford. He met Emperor William II and King 

 George V and was feted and honored every- 

 where. 



Breach in the Republican Party. While 

 Roosevelt was away there occurred the Ballin- 

 ger-Pinchot Controversy (see PINCHOT, GIF- 

 FORD). This controversy was merely one of 

 the signs which indicated how widely the radi- 

 cals and insurgents in the Republican party had 

 become separated from the conservatives. On 

 his return from Africa Roosevelt at first took 

 no part in politics. Later in the year, how- 

 ever, he made a speaking tour of New York in 

 support of Henry A. Stimson, the Republican 

 candidate for governor, and about the same 

 time he let it become known that he supported 

 Pinchot, not Ballinger. President Taft had 

 supported Ballinger, one of the circumstances 

 which had made him the leader of the con- 

 servative Republicans. Between 1910 and 1912 

 the breach between the two leaders rapidly 

 widened, Roosevelt continually advocating new 

 and radical reforms, such as the elimination of 

 the "twilight zone" which surrounded the pow- 

 ers of the Federal government, the introduc- 

 tion of the initiative, the referendum and the 

 recall of judicial decisions as well as of judges, 

 and a large degree of military and naval pre- 

 paredness. 



Taft, on the other hand, became increasingly 

 conservative, and as the election of 1912 drew 

 near the struggle between the two elements for 

 control of the party became intense. Roose- 

 velt at first supported LaFollette for the Re- 

 publican nomination, but later sought it for 

 himself, in spite of the two-term custom. The 

 story of the Republican convention of 1912 is 

 told elsewhere (see TAFT, WILLIAM HOWARD). 

 The Roosevelt delegates were unsuccessful in 

 their attempts to get control of the convention. 

 Claiming that the "steam roller" had run over 



them, that their rights had been ignored, and 

 their votes "stolen" from them, the Roosevelt 

 delegates finally withdrew from the convention, 

 and held one of their own. Out of this seces- 

 sion grew the Progressive party (which see). 

 The campaign was bitter, the Republicans and 

 the Progressives both indulging in violent per- 

 sonal attacks on the characters of the candi- 

 dates. Three weeks before the election, whilr 

 entering his carriage to deliver an address at 

 Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot by an irre- 

 sponsible man but was not seriously wounded. 

 With characteristic courage, he continued his 

 way to the hall, delivered his address, and then 

 allowed the physicians to take charge of him. 

 For the last weeks of the campaign Roosevelt 

 lay in a hospital, recuperating. The election 

 showed the former President's amazing strength 

 with the people. The Republican party was 

 split into two sections of nearly equal strength ; 

 Roosevelt received 4,119,507 votes; Taft, 3,484,- 

 956. Wilson, the Democratic candidate, re- 

 ceived the entire vote of his party, polling 

 6,293,019 votes. 



Exploring Again. After the election Roose- 

 velt made an exploring trip into the interior of 

 Brazil. There he discovered a hitherto un- 

 charted river, formerly known as the River of 

 Doubt. It is now called Rio Teodoro, in his 

 honor. In South America Roosevelt made 

 speeches in several of the larger cities, and 

 helped to strengthen the friendly feeling exist- 

 ing between the two continents. 



President Wilson's Chief Critic. Beginning 

 in 1913 and continuing until 1917, when the 

 United States entered the War of the Nations, 

 Roosevelt was much in the public eye as the 

 chief critic of President Wilson's foreign policy, 

 first towards Mexico and later toward Ger- 

 many. He objected especially to the "watchful 

 waiting" policy. When the War of the Na- 

 tions broke out Roosevelt at first declared that 

 the United States had no reason for interfer- 

 ence, but later he recognized the vast responsi- 

 bilities resting on the United States. Espe- 

 cially after the sinking of the Lusitania he was 

 vehement in his demands that the President 

 resort to force. When finally war was de- 

 clared against Germany, Roosevelt wanted to 

 lead a volunteer brigade to France without 

 waiting for the mobilization of the new na- 

 tional army to be raised by conscription. An 

 act of Congress authorized the President to 

 enrol such a volunteer brigade, but President 

 Wilson decided that it was better to wait for 

 the regular army. It is worthy of note, how- 



