ROOSEVELT WILD LIFE STATE MEMORIAL 
By Dr. Charles C. Adams 
Director, Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station, 
Syracuse, N. Y. 
With the passing of Theodore Roosevelt the nation and the world 
naturally turned to estimate his place in the galaxy of great men. 
He was the most thoroughly and widely informed man of his time, 
and was aware of the significance of his own acts as few men in 
history have been. He did not drift about; he worked in whatever 
direction forward movement could be made toward a clearly defined 
goal. He reduced random movements to a minimum and took 
every possible advantage to hasten progress. The chemist and 
physiologist calls a substance a catalyzer or enzyme which hastens 
changes which otherwise proceed slowly, and there is no better word 
to describe Roosevelt's influence. His eflFect was that of a good 
yeast. He speeded up progress, which without him would have 
required many more years for accomplishment. For example, the 
Panama Canal would ultimately have been dug by some one, but 
not in our generation, and very probably not so much to the 
advantage of the United States. 
The magnificent grasp which he possessed of historic events and 
of existing social, economic and political conditions of the world, 
made it possible, with his mental poise, to estimate, as has been 
said, very accurately the value of his own work. Evidently his 
chief method of procedure was to find out what was of the greatest 
importance, and then get behind it and work to the limit of his 
ability. 
What was his supreme achievement? Some students of public 
affairs hold in highest esteem the influence which Roosevelt's ideal- 
ism exerted on our public life. This was of the highest order and 
belongs in the same supreme place with that of Washington and 
Lincoln. He made concrete to our generation the living standards 
of these men as no other man has done. Others consider the 
Panama Canal as his greatest achievement, and still others his con- 
servation program — the proper or highest use of nature's bounty 
for the best welfare of the people. It seems to me that this is 
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