1912] Roosevelt Abroad 



himself chosen Taft as his successor.^ The editor 

 of Lije voiced a popular question as to what he had 

 been feeding Taft. Had he been feeding us, the 

 American people ? And were we his to feed ? 



Concerning Roosevelt's famous and successful u Africa 

 tour as a naturalist hunter in Africa in 1909/ it was '""^ ^"" 

 reported that he left the country to be "out of the 

 way so as not to embarrass Taft. " Later it was said 

 that he stayed away " so that Taft would not embar- 

 rass him"! Be this as it may, Taft's administration 

 soon diverged from that of his predecessor both in 

 purpose and method. Presumably, in his efforts to 

 promote good will, the new President found himself 

 blocked at every angle by his astute supporters in 

 the Senate, for not a single cherished purpose of his 

 own was he ever permitted fully to carry out — not 

 even the one on which he had set his heart, the 

 maintenance of the "Open Door" in China. Mean- 

 while, the public addresses of Roosevelt in Egypt, 

 Germany, and England on his return from Africa 

 were most disappointing to his "liberal" admirers 

 abroad. From the first he fell in with conservative 

 reactionaries who saw no remedy for political unrest 

 save armed compulsion. The sight of big armies. Military 

 splendidly maneuvered, seemed to strengthen his ^"""^ 

 own militaristic tendencies. His unconcealed ad- 

 miration for the Kaiser appeared to survive the 

 beginning of the war, though it ceased abruptly soon 

 after the burning of Louvain. 



The principles of the Progressive party were to me, 



' A friend of Roosevelt said to me in regard to this selection: "Taft is as de- 

 voted to his principles as Roosevelt himself, being besides a most genial and 

 lovable fellow." 



' On this trip a Stanford man, Edmund Heller, then lately returned from the 

 Hopkins Expedition to the Galapagos, served as assistant naturalist. 



c 421 :] 



