IMPRESSIONS OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT - 1919 - PREFACE - THIS book makes no pretense of being a biography of Theodore Roosevelt. Nor will the reader find in it a chronological narrative of the events of his career. Those who wish to know these chronological facts are referred to his own Autobiography to the forthcoming Life and Letters by Mr. Joseph Bucklin Bishop, who was named by Mr. Roosevelt as its authorized editor to the introduction, notes, and appendices which I furnished for his volume of African and European Address and to the article on Theodore Roosevelt which I contributed to The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopzdia Britannica. The purpose of the present volume is to record some personal impressions which this great American made upon me in the course of an acquaintanceship of twenty-two years, during the latter half of which our relations were those of intimate association and friendship. It is with the hope of supplying some useful details for the final portrait which will be painted by the historians of the future that this simple, informal, and free-hand sketch is undertaken. LAWRENC F E . ABBOTT. The Ozitlook Ofice, New York, July 30, 1919- CONTENTS CHAPTER CHAPTE I R . ACQUAINTANCESH . IP . . . . . . PAG j E How I Came to Know Theodore Roosevel t The Police and Good Government His Connection with the Outlook A Cabinet Meeting Roosevelt as a Journalist A Standard Oil Incident 11. POLITICS . . . . . . . . . . 3 3 An Hereditary Republican Joe Murrays Story Roosevelts Relation to the Bosses The Nomination of Blaine 111. THE P ROGRESS P IV A E RT Y . . . . 52 I Am Going Down Like Dewey The Return to Politics Why Mr. Taft Was Nominated in 1908 The Break with Taft The SuddenFormation of the Progressive Party Roosevelts Nomination The Irish and the Dutch IV. STATESMANSHIP . . . . . . . . . 9 2 The Need of Political Machinery An Estimate of Senator Lodge ix X CONTENTS CHAPTBR PAGE A Joyous President and Ex-President Senatorial Conflicts, . Tationalism The Battle Fleetls Visit to Japan Political and Industrial Reform Conservation G brColonia1 Policy 7 - he Russo-Japanese Peace Phe Panama Canal V. FOREIGANF FAIRS . . . . . . . 142 j Remission of the Chinese Indemnity the Origin of the Guildhall Speech c Govern-or-go Roosevelt The Sorbonne Speech and Its Effect on France How Roosevelt Helped to Save Egypt VI. A MAN OF LETTERS . . . . . . 1 69 . The Volume and Variety of Roosevelts Writings The Pigskin Library Hero Tales of American History An Arizona Snake Dance An Essay on Progressivism An Estimate of Tolstoy VII. THE A FRICAN AN D EUROPEA T N O UR . 200 Roosevelts Desire to Get out of the Limelight An Experience in Tipping The Controversy with the Vatican What Fogazzaro Thought About It CONTENTS CRAPTEE The Democratic King of Italy How RooseveIt Met the Kaiser Afternoon Tea with the King of Norway Sir Percy Girouards Estimate of Roose xi PAGB J velt C J VIII. ROOSEVELT PERSONA QU L A LITIE . S . zGq His Caution His Courage His Sense of Humour His Gentleness TX THE END. . . . . . . . . . 3 I2 The SimpIe Funeral The Hillside Grave 3 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Theodore Roosevelt at Work . . . . . Frontispitcc PAGE As President of the Board of Police, New York City, 1895-97 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 In cowboy costume during his early years as a ranchman 14 In 1885, in North Dakota, four years after Joe Murray started Mr. Roosevelts political career . . . . 30 As amember of the New York Assembly . . . . 3 8 As Civil Service Commissioner, 1889-1895 . . . ...