ROOT 



5077 



ROOT 



ever, that Roosevelt's four sons all volunteered 

 for sen-ice and went to France. Theodore, Jr., 

 in France, rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel ; 

 Archie became a captain; Quentin chose avia- 

 tion, was shot down by a German and buried in 

 France; Kermit, a major, served both in Meso- 

 potamia and in France. 



Roosevelt as Man of Letters. His literary 

 work is of high character, and is itself sufficient 

 to have given him a wide reputation. His writ- 

 ings have been collected in twenty-five vol- 

 umes, ranging from scholarly historical essays 

 or biological studies to entertaining narratives 

 of his personal experiences. He was, in 1912, 

 president of the American Historical Associa- 

 tion and he was the thirteenth man elected to 

 the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 



Of his many books the following are most 

 important, some of them being standard works 

 in their respective fields: The Naval War of 

 1812, written in 1882; Life of Thomas Hart 

 Benton (1887); Life of Gouverneur Morris 

 (1887); The Winning of the West, in four vol- 

 umes, which appeared from 1889 to 1896; His- 

 tory of New York City (1890); American Po- 

 litical Ideals and Other Essays (1897); The 

 Rough Riders (1899) ; Life of Oliver Cromwell 

 (1900); The Strenuous Life (1900); True 

 Americanism, a collection of his addresses de- 

 livered in Europe in 1910; The New National- 

 ism, a discussion of political ideals of the day, 

 a book whose title became a current phrase in 

 popular speech; History as Literature and 

 Other Essays (1913); Through the Brazilian 

 Wilderness (1914) ; Life Histories, of African 

 Game Animals (1914); America and the World 

 War (1915). W.F.Z. 



Consult Roosevelt's Autobiography; Kits' Theo- 

 dore Roosevelt the Citizen; Burroughs' Camping 

 and Tramping with Roosevelt; Morgan's Theo- 

 dore Roosevelt, the Boy and the Man; Wash- 

 burn's Theodore Roosevelt. 



ROOT, in mathematics, a number or quan- 

 tity which, when multiplied by itself one or 

 more times, produces a given number or quan- 

 tity. For example, since 2X2=4, 2 is a root 

 of 4; again, since 3X3X3=27, 3 is a root of 

 27. The various phases of this subject are dis- 

 cussed fully in these volumes in the articles 



; SQUARE ROOT; ( 

 ROOT. 



ROOT, KMHU (1845- ), an American law- 

 i, diplomat and administrator who 

 is credited by his fellow citizens with the pos- 

 session of "the best brain in the United States." 

 ccame so dependable a lawyer that corpora- 







tions have been willing to pay him thousands 

 of dollars in a single fee for his opinion ex- 

 pressed in one word, "Yes," or "No." His emi- 

 nence in corporation law has earned for him 

 the distrust of 

 those who pro- 

 fess to believe 

 that a man can- 

 not serve great 

 private interests 

 and at the same 

 time be true to 

 a public trust. 

 Root's career has 

 disproved this im- 

 plication, for few 



men have given T\ 'M'ITJNM 



as disinterested 

 service to their ELIHU ROOT 



country as he, regardless of its effect upon his 

 personal fortunes. 



Elihu Root was born at Clinton, N. Y., the 

 seat of Hamilton College, in which school his 

 father was professor of mathematics. There 

 the young man received a classical training, 

 after which he was graduated in law at New 

 York University. He earned money for his law 

 course by teaching in Rome (N. Y.) Academy 

 in 1865. Since then thirteen universities have 

 conferred honorary degrees upon him. 



He was admitted to the bar in 1867, and be- 

 gan the practice of law in New York City in the 

 same year. Not until 1883 did he enter public 

 service. In that year he became United States 

 District Attorney for the Southern District of 

 New York, which post he resigned in two years 

 because the kind of legal service involved was 

 not to his liking. A brief summary of his later 

 public activities includes the following impor- 

 tant commissions and honors: 



He was a delegate-at-large to the New York 

 state constitutional convention in 1894. and served 

 as chairman of Its judiciary committee. Twenty 

 one years later, at the state constitutional con- 

 vention of 1915. at the age of seventy, he was 

 president of that body. 



Upon the retirement of Russell A. Alger as 

 Secretary of War in the McKlnley Cabinet, in 

 1899, Root became his successor. He continue.) 

 In the position under Roosevelt, until 1904. In 

 this office he planned the War College; reorgan- 

 ized the system of administration of the Depart- 

 . Instituted the General staff and enforced 

 civil service rules, as far as can be made j> 



motions. Alger left t! < 



ment In disorder, after the scandals incident to 

 the Spanish-American War; Root was highly 

 praised for the ability with which lie restored 

 ! for his administrative genius, which 

 showed In the military plans he laid for the con- 



