437 
President Roosevelt as a Sportsman. 
Of the presidents of the United States not a few 
have been sportsmen, and sportsmen of the best type. 
The love of Washington for gun and dog, his interest 
in fisheries, and especially his fondness for horse and 
h'ound, in the chase of the red fox, have furnished the 
theme for many a writer; and recently Mr. Cleveland 
and Mr. Harrison have been more or less celebrated 
in the newspapers, Mr. Harrison as a gunner, and Mr. 
Cleveland for his angling, as well as his duck shooting 
proclivities. 
It is not too much to say, however, that the chair 
of the chief magistrate has never been occupied by 
a sportsman whose range of interests was so wide, 
and so actively manifested, as in the case of Mr. Roose- 
velt. It is true that Mr. 
Harrison, Mr. Cleve- 
land and Mr. McKmley 
did much in the way of 
setting aside forest res- 
ervations, but chiefly 
from economic motives; 
because they believed 
that the forests should 
be preserved, both for 
the timber that they 
might yield, if wisely 
exploited, and for their 
value as storage reser- 
voirs for the waters of 
our rivers. 
The view taken by 
Mr. Roosevelt is quite 
different. To him the 
economics of the case 
appeal with the same 
force that they might 
have for any hard- 
headed, common sense 
business American; but 
beyond this, and per- 
haps if the secrets of 
his heart were known, 
more than this, Mr. 
Roosevelt is influenced 
by a love of nature, 
which, though by some 
it might be considered 
sentimental, is, in fact, 
nothing more than a 
far-sightedness, which 
looks toward the health, 
happiness, and general 
wellbeing of the Ameri- 
can race for the future. 
As a boy Mr. Roose- 
velt was fortunate in 
having a strong love for 
nature and for outdoor 
life, and, as in the case 
of so many boys, this 
love took the form of 
an interest in birds, 
which found its outlet 
in studying and collect- 
ing them. He pub- 
lished, in 1877, a list of 
the summer birds of the 
Adirondacks, in Frank- 
lin county. New York, 
and also did more or 
less collecting of birds 
on Long Island. The 
result of all this was the 
acquiring of some 
knowledge of the birds 
of eastern North Amer- 
ica, and, what was far 
more important, a knowledge of how to observe, and 
an appreciation of the fact that observations, to be of 
any scientific value, must be definite and precise. 
In the many hunting tales that we have had from his 
pen in recent years, it is seen that these two pieces of 
most important instruction acquired by the boy have 
always been remembered, and for this reason his books 
of hunting and adventure have a real value — a worth 
not shared by many of those published on similar sub- 
jects. His hunting adventures have not been mere 
pleasure excursions. They have been of service to 
science. On one of his hunts, perhaps his earliest trip 
after white goats, he secured a second specimen of a 
certain tiny shrew, of which, up to that time, only the 
type was knoAvn. Much more recently, during a de- 
clared hunting trip in Colorado, he collected what is 
perhaps the best series of skins of the American 
panther, with the measurements taken in the flesh, that 
has ever been gathered from one locality by a single 
individual. 
Mr. Roosevelt's hunting experiences have beeii so 
wide as to have covered almost every species of North 
American big game found within the temperate zone. 
Except such Arctic forms as the white and the Alaska 
bears, and the muskox, there is, perhaps, no species 
of North American game that he has not killed; and 
his chapter on the mountain sheep, in his book, "Ranch 
Life and the Hunting Trail," is confessedly the best 
published account of that species. 
During the years that Mr. Roosevelt was actually 
engaged in the cattle business in North Dakota, his 
everyday life led him constantly to the haunts of big 
game, and, almost in spite of himself, gave him con- 
stant hunting opportunities. Besides that, during dull 
seasons of the year he made trips to more or less dis- 
tant localities in search of the species of big game not 
THE PRESIDENT IN HiS OFFICE. 
Photo copyright, 1903, by Waldon Fawcett. 
found immediately about his ranch. His mode of 
hunting and of traveling was quite different from that 
now in vogue among big game hunters. His knowledge 
of the West was early enough to touch upon the time 
when each man was as good as his neighbor, and the 
mere fact that a man was paid wages to perform cer- 
tain acts for you did not in any degree lower his posi- 
tion in the world, nor elevate yours. In those days, if 
one started out with a companion, hired, or otherwise, 
to go to a certain place, or to do a certain piece of 
work, each man was expected to do his share of the 
work. 
This fact Mr. Roosevelt recognized as soon as he 
went West, and, acting upon it, he made for himself 
a position as a man, and not as a master, which he has 
never lost; and it is precisely this democratic spirit 
Avhich to-day makes him perhaps the most popular man 
in the United States at large. 
Starting off, then, on some trip of several hundred 
miles, with a companion, who might be a guide, helper, 
cook, packer, or what not — sometimes efficient, and the 
best companion that could be desired, at others, per- 
haps, hopelessly lazy and worthless, and even with a 
stock of liquor cached somewhere in the packs — Mr. 
Roosevelt helped to pack the horses, to bring the wood, 
to carry the water, to cook the food, to wrangle the 
stock, and generally to do the work of the camp, or of 
the trail, so long as any of it remained undone. Llis 
energy was indefatigable, and usually he infected his 
companion with his own enthusiasm and industry, though 
at times he might have with him a man whom nothing 
could move. It is largely to this energy and this de- 
termination that he owes the good fortune that has 
usually attended his hunting trips. 
As the years have gone on, fortunes have changed; 
and as duties of one kind and another have more and 
more pressed upon him, 
Mr. Roosevelt has done 
less and less hunting; 
yet his love for outdoor 
life is as keen as ever, 
and as Vice-President 
of the United States, he 
made his well-remem- 
bered trip to Colorado 
after mountain lions, 
while more recently he 
hunted black bears in 
the Mississippi Valley, 
and still more lately 
killed a wild boar in the 
Austin-Corbin park in 
New Hampshire. 
Mr. Roosevelt does 
not claim to be a good 
rifle shot. Whether he 
is so or not, perhaps no 
one knows. Certain it 
is that he is handi- 
capped by the use of 
glasses, which, in cer- 
t a i n conditions o f 
weather, must greatly 
hamper a man in the 
use of this arm. We 
may feel sure, however, 
that he is always cool 
and steady, that he does 
not lose his head or be- 
come excited, that his 
nerves are always under 
control, and finally, and 
most important of all, 
that when he hunts he 
understands the gun 
that he is using. A 
hunter of his experience 
would never attempt to' 
use a rifle without satis- 
fying himself long be- 
fore he sees his game, 
just how that rifle must 
be held to make the bul- 
let reach the desired 
mark. 
Mr. Roosevelt's ac- 
cession to the Presiden- 
tial chair has been a 
great thing for good 
sportsmanship in this 
country. Measures per- 
taining to game and 
forest protection, and 
matters of sport gen- 
erally, always have had, 
and always will have, 
his cordial approval and 
co-operation. He is 
heartily in favor of the 
forest rcsei\'es, and of the project for establishing, with- 
in these reserves, game refuges, where no hunting what- 
ever shall be permitted. Aside from his love for nature, 
and his wish to have certain limited areas remain in 
their natural condition, absolutely untouched by the ax 
of the lumberman, and unimproved by the work of the 
forester, is that broader sentiment in behalf of human- 
ity in the United States, which has led him to declare 
that such refuges should be established for the benefit 
of the man of moderate means and the poor man, whose 
opportunities to hunt and to see game are few and far 
between. In a public speech he has said, in substance, 
that the rich and the well-to-do could take care of 
themselves, buying land, fencing it, and establishing 
parks and preserves of their own, where they might 
look upon and take pleasure in their own game, but 
that such a course was not within the power of the 
poor man, and that therefore the Government might 
fitly intervene and establish refuges, such as indicated, 
for the benefit and the pleasure of the whole people. 
