Editorials 



431 



only a national, but an international figure. Never before has it hap- 

 pened in the English-speaking world that a man's initials, like the 

 familiar "T. R.," could be used anywhere without fear of misunder- 

 standing. The charm, force, and vividness of his personality were un- 

 forgettable to all who came into contact with him, and he possessed the 

 power of winning personal loyalty more than any other leader who has 

 appeared in American public life. 



Rc isevelt's activities were too manifold even for a summary editorial 

 revievv. But we must not leave unmentioned the fact that he was an 

 ideal outdoor man. The very name and organization of his famous 

 "Rough Riders" was an echo from the western plains where he chose 

 for a time to live the life of a ranchman. Though frail in body during 

 his boyhood, he developed a surprisingly vigorous physique by life in the 

 open and by carefully planned exercises. As a big-game hunter, ex- 

 plorer, and naturalist he has achieved lasting distinction. It is to be 

 feared that the last of his great expeditions, the one which had for its 

 object the exploration of a South American river now bearing his name, 

 so undermined his health that it became the indirect cause of his un- 

 timely death. 



Roosevelt was a man of superb strength, courage, and energy. Who 

 else than he could have written more than forty books while engaging 

 in activities that would have taxed the strength of half a dozen men? 

 *T wish to preach," he wrote years ago, ''not the doctrine of ignoble 

 ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of 

 labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes 

 not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does 

 not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who 

 out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph." This is the man 

 whom Europe chooses to consider the finest embodiment of American 

 manhood ! Fortunate is the country of which such a citizen can be con- 

 sidered typical, even though we know that he was so exceptionally and 

 gigantically American that he has left no peer among us. W. F. B. 



Roosevelt There has been before Congress for some time a proposal to 

 National enlarge the Sequoia National Park so as to include the 

 Park Kings and Kern River canons and the wonderfully pictur- 

 esque High Sierra watershed in which the tributaries of these 

 rivers have their source. On account of the opposition of cattle and timber 

 interests, especially those which center around Fresno, it has been diffi- 

 cult to secure Congressional consideration of this project. The death 

 of Theodore Roosevelt and the unique service he rendered to this coun- 

 try in the conservation of its natural resources suggested to a number of 

 men in public life the propriety of naming the enlarged park as a memo- 

 rial for him. Senator Phelan and Congressman Elston accordingly in- 

 troduced bills to that effect. The Senate immediately passed it with 



