1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
869 
GOVERNOR THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 
A PERSONAL STUDY OF THE MAN. 
How He Looks; What He Says; His Promise. 
Our readers will remember the little verse printed 
on page 788, just after Mr. Roosevelt’s election : 
Don’t disappoint us, Teddy, for the hour has struck at last, 
And golden opportunities within your life are cast. 
Go right out to the people; they have put you in the chair, 
And they can knock you out again—remember that ! Take care ! 
Kick out the politicians when they whisper evil things. 
Be true, and see what higher trusts the fateful future brings. 
Be firm, and common people will be proud to shout your name; 
Be weak, and ’round your promises we’ll brand a mark of shame! 
Mr. Roosevelt acknowledged this verse in two lines : 
“ I like the poem, and you may be assured that I will 
try to act up to it. ” 
Readers of The R. N.-Y. are country people. Some 
of them cast votes which acted as bacteria to ripen 
and develop the public life of Theodore Roosevelt. It 
occurred to me that our people would like to know 
what sort of a human being stands behind the public 
man. I told Mr. Roosevelt I wanted a mortgage on 
half an hour of his time. He gave it readily. I have 
tried to forget all I have read about him, and give 
here a pen picture of the man as he photographed 
himself upon my mind. 
How He Looks.—Imagine a burly, thick-chested 
man of about 40 years. He has the peering habit of 
near-sighted men, who thrust the head forward and 
glance about them on entering a room. Mr. Roosevelt 
is decidedly a man of pronounced mannerisms. A 
big, square head is set so flat upon his shoulders that 
you hardly notice his neck. There is a wonderful sug¬ 
gestion of power in that deep, heavy chest, and the 
square, bulging shoulders. He seemed quick on his 
feet, but a look at his legs would disprove one great 
campaign story. The people were told in glowing 
language how, at the battle of San Juan, Col. Roose¬ 
velt ran up a steep hill, and then shouted a sentence 
of mild profanity back at his soldiers. The more 
this story was told, the steeper grew the hill and the 
more forcible the sentence. I don’t believe the story. 
No man with that build can run up a steep hill and 
have enough breath left for swearing. He might run, 
or he might shout, but I don’t believe he did both at 
once ! Theodore Roosevelt is built for square, stand- 
up fighting, but not for running. The people of New 
York may be glad to find that he has speed in mind 
and heart rather than in his legs. 
Have you ever seen a burly, thick-chested Irishman 
directing a gang of Italian laborers ? He fairly 
bristles with the proud thought that time brings its 
reward, and has made him the boss of men whose 
ancestors in the Roman army conquered the world. 
Trim that man’s hands and feet down by 80 per cent. 
Cut off his head at the thick shoulders, and put 
back a head four sizes larger and filled to the skull 
with brains. Shape in front of it a square, Dutch¬ 
looking face, and flavor it by extracting the dominant 
expression from the faces of Gen. U. S. Grant, the 
Emperor Napoleon, St. Jerome and George Peabody. 
Temper the power and force with nobler purpose and 
a keen sense of responsibility, and dress the man in 
good clothes of the common people. There you have 
a picture of Theodore Roosevelt. 
How He Talks.—He looks at you through his eye¬ 
glasses, and waits for you to begin. These glasses 
seem to be microscopes which enable him to look 
at your thoughts and read your unspoken words. 
The eye is kindly and true. The contraction or 
“ squint ” seems to be a mere habit. When Mr. Roose¬ 
velt talks, he goes at it earnestly, his face twitching 
with nervous energy. He has a habit of drawing back 
his upper lip and showing his teeth. This does not 
appear to be a smile or a scowl, but a habit like rais¬ 
ing the eyebrows, or shrugging the shoulders. He 
waits till you are through, and then talks rapidly and 
forcibly, apparently screwing the words out of his 
mouth—twitching or jerking the muscles of his face. 
It is like a man conscious of possessing great bodily 
energy, packing the steam and fire of his nature into 
his words, and darting them out to explode against 
his hearers. He talks shells rather than rifle balls. 
He struck me as a man with small sense of humor_ 
too earnest to deal in jokes. I would call that a mis¬ 
fortune, for there are troubles ahead of him, and the 
ability to see the fun in some of the political dramas 
that are coming would lighten his way. 
What He Says.—Mr. Roosevelt said that he did 
not want to be interviewed in the ordinary sense of 
the term. He will give no opinions regarding matters 
which he has not studied. I asked him one question, 
however, which I do not think he will object to answer¬ 
ing in public. “Mr. Roosevelt”, I asked, “do you 
think you appreciate and understand the confidence 
and the faith that plain, country people have in you ? 
They have never seen you, they know you only by 
what they have read about you, but somehow, they 
feel that you are straight and square. I wonder if you 
realize just what that faith in your character means I” 
Mr. Roosevelt seemed to know at once why I asked 
such a question. His answer was that he thought he 
did realize what that meant, for he was by breeding, 
training and habits a man from the middle class of 
everyday life. He seemed to think that it was, in one 
sense, unfortunate that people should build practical 
hopes on their theory of his character and ability. It 
is a pleasure to be considered “square” and “ straight”, 
but a Governor’s square might seem a triangle to the 
man who was personally interested in some legisla¬ 
tion, that the Governor fairly considered unwise. A 
thing may be “ straight ” or crooked according to the 
amount of personal interest we have in it. There are 
only two sentences that I want to quote from Mr. 
Roosevelt : 
“All I can do as Governor is to try to see that all 
men have an equal chance before the law. There are 
injustices of Nature that I cannot hope to remedy.” 
“ Injustices of Nature !” Is Nature ever unjust ? The 
poor, the weak, the victims of unfortunate ambition, 
habits, judgment, or locality ! There are thousands 
of men living on lonely farms who are disappointed 
at the outcome of life. They cannot tell you just why 
they have failed to reach what they hoped for. They 
have but a vague idea as to a remedy for their trou¬ 
bles—which may be due to these “ injustices of Na¬ 
ture.” Many of these men have faith in Mr. Roose¬ 
velt’s honesty and “square” qualities. I wondered 
then, and I wonder still, whether he realizes what 
that confidence means. I wonder whether he thinks, 
as many of us do, that most legislation is considered 
in the interests of the strong and self-assertive classes! 
GOVERNOR-ELECT THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Fia. 396. 
I am glad of one thing—he did not have a mouthful of 
promises of impossible things for the farmers of New 
York State ! 
Who He Is !—I can tell you about the man’s head 
or chest or tongue, but who can bore into his heart 
and brain, and tell you the ruling forces of his life ? 
Farmers understand the value of pedigree. Many a 
farm has weathered the storm during the past hard 
years because there were fixity of purpose and good 
habits in the farm stock in house and barn. Now and 
then, an individual goes wrong, and is fed or trained 
away from the fixed habits of his ancestors. As a 
rule, though, we may safely judge the inner works of 
the son by the outside works of the father. Mr. 
Roosevelt’s father and grandfather were both public 
men, upright and “square.” The younger man was 
not required to change any angles or correct any 
curves in the character that came to him by inheri¬ 
tance. It is said of the elder Theodore Roosevelt that 
he regularly gave one day in every week to visiting the 
poor. He did this not as a penance or as a duty, but 
as a privilege, and he gave counsel, consolation or 
cash willingly and helpfully, so that no man or woman 
lost self-respect through the giving. 
“ Blood will tell ! ” 
What will it tell ? 
Just the old story—what the past generation taught 
it to tell and gave it the right to direct. Many a 
man, with good blood in his veins, has watered it by 
indolence or dissipation. If anything, Theodore 
Roosevelt seems to have worked some of the water 
out of the blood that he fell heir to, and thickened 
rather than diluted it. The picture of the self-made 
man is often held up for our admiration. This man 
is usually some strong, rugged character who works 
his way up through poverty and troubles to some 
high position, and we envy him. The truth is that 
the happiest days of his life are those passed in the 
early fight—before he won a place. If he rise above 
his natural station in life, he will find himself at the 
goal with defects of character that will embitter him. 
I have often thought that the rich man’s son who, 
growing up without the stimulus of poverty or the lash 
of hard conditions, yet remains true to manly ideals, 
may be ranked as perhaps the highest type of the 
“ self-made ” man, for he has fought against destruc¬ 
tive forces from within. 
Wliat Will He I)o ?—For agriculture ? No one 
knows. He, probably, does not know himself. He is 
a student, and as matters are presented to him, I am 
sure that he will study them fairly. He cannot pre¬ 
vent the potato blight by issuing a proclamation. He 
could not make a speech on nitrogen, which, pasted 
in a farmer’s scrap-book, would make up for neglect 
to sow clover seed. He might draw his sword, and 
charge up hill at the weeds, but he would injure only 
those he stepped on. One good thing is that he seems 
to realize the limitations of the Governor in his direct 
relations to agriculture. Other industries may be di¬ 
rectly benefited by legislation, but, as in business, agri¬ 
culture is reached indirectly—through middlemen. 
How is one to know just what the farmers of New 
York State want? It is not possible to grant every 
individual demand. We have, unfortunately, no thor¬ 
oughly representative agricultural organization that 
can go to the Governor with a fair and concise state¬ 
ment of what the plain farmers require. The State 
Grange, the State Agricultural Society, or the various 
horticultural societies and stock-breeder’s associa¬ 
tions are more or less restricted, and do not represent 
the majority of our farmers. If we had an organiza¬ 
tion like the Michigan State Association of Farmers’ 
Clubs, working on non-political lines and making only 
well-considered suggestions, it could be of vast help 
to Governor Roosevelt. 
I say these things entirely upon my own responsi¬ 
bility. I have no authority whatever to speak for 
Mr. Roosevelt on any subject. I refer to them in this 
connection because it seems the best time to call at¬ 
tention to the fact that our common farmers will 
never receive full consideration until they are repre¬ 
sented by some strong and energetic body of men who 
can make their force and their power felt. 
I hope Mr. Roosevelt will take a personal interest in 
the New York State Agricultural Department. He 
tells in one of his books of a hunting incident in the 
Far West. He watched a bear in the valley below him 
working at stones and stumps and fallen logs—spend¬ 
ing time and power enough to move a house. Yet, 
with all that labor, the bear was merely catching 
mice and grubs. That has always appealed to me. 
The picture of the great, powerful animal, capable of 
fighting and destroying the largest game, yet content 
to waste its mighty energies in hunting mice and in¬ 
sects ! I hope that Governor Roosevelt will do as 
much as any Governor can to see that our State De¬ 
partment hunts the noblest game it can find. 
Will He “Get There.”— Get where ? Higher up ! 
No one ever lives at “Get There’’—better places lie 
beyond. He may go higher up in the truest sense, 
and by doing so kill his chances for higher political 
honors. The people have an ideal Roosevelt in mind. 
It was this ideal that elected him. If he show the 
ear-marks or the collar-marks of the ordinary poli¬ 
tician, he will go from Albany into an obscurity from 
which no human agency—not even another war—can 
ever drag him. 
He is said to carry a violent temper—usually well 
loaded. I would be sorry to have a department under 
him and be found guilty of negligence or laziness. 
Some wise people shake their heads, and say that Mr. 
Roosevelt is too impulsive and quick-tempered to make 
a good Executive. Most people will be likely to think 
that a little “ righteous indignation ” properly laid on 
at Albany during the next two years, will not rob 
the State of money or reputation. 
I have heard people say that this strong man’s 
weakness lies in his honest ambition. He may be 
tempted to further that ambition by trading away 
what we, who stand off at a distance, will call his 
self-respect. Our history contains the records of many 
who did this. The rights and hopes of the plain, un¬ 
represented people seem easy to give away when the 
gift means the political support needed to further 
one’s ambition. 
We shall see what lies in store for our new Gover¬ 
nor. Is he one of those men apparently sent at inter¬ 
vals to speak, and do so that his words and deeds may 
live in history—inspirations for all who hope for 
better things ? Is he one of those characters who 
seem to mock the course of human events by raising 
the hopes of the busy common people only to dash 
them at last by weakly losing faith in their ideal ? 
Who knows ? 
Only He who holds the keys of destiny. 
HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD. 
