Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1901 — NEW PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NEW PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES

Career and Characteristics of Theodore Roosevelt —His Public Career—Happy Domestic Life.

«?o NLIKE the deaths of Lincoln lilj and Garfield, the passing of President McKinley brings to the White House a man whose characteristics are known to the people. When Xiincoln fell the reins of government passed to hands ill-fitted to handle them. Johnson’s administration was a national scaftdal. When the last spark •f life was eitinguished at Elberon on

that mild September day of 1881, and the nation mourned for Garfield, there came to the Presidency a man hitherto known only as a politician. Theodore Roosevelt is already well known; he has been in the public eye In civil and military capacities and has demonstrated the possession of the executive ability, as well as of soldierly characteristics. That he will be equal to the requirements of statesmanship demanded of a President his admirers aeem positive. Roosevelt comes of distinguished ancestry. Away back, as the eighteenth century was dawning, one of his forefathers was an Aiderman of New York, then an honorable position, and many and varied have keen the offices which others filled. His grandfather was a Supreme Court jus-

flee and Congressman. His father, Theodore Roosevelt, was a leading merchant, a philanthropist and a strong advocate of outdoor life. Theodore was, born in the metropolis in 1858, and ki the youngest man who lias ever In the White House, Grant, the second' youngest, being 47 when swbrn in. His boyhood and early manhood were spent amid such surroundings as wealth, social position and high political association would bring to a fain-' My. He went through the best preparatory schools, graduated at Harvard in 1880 and left college esteemed aot only for his learning, but also for 11s ability as a boxer. Then he studied law with his uncle, ever at that time leing possessed of the determination to eventually engage in “the work of government.” Long before he was ndrnlttcd to the bar, lie saw a chance to go to the Assembly and grasped it. Before he was 23 he was helping to make laws. He became a Republican leader. In 3883 he made a campaign for the Speakership, but failed. In 1884 lie went to the Republican National Convention, as a delegate, In George F. Edmunds' behalf. In 1880 he was the Bepublicau candidate for Mayor of Sew York, and was defeated by 22,000 votes. In 1880 he was appointed a

member of the United States Civil Service Commission by President Harrison. i When the great wave of reform following the investigations of the Lexow Committee swept over New York in 1895 and William L. Strong was elected Mayor, the latter thought of Roosevelt as the best man to reorganize the demoralized police force and enforce the laws whose violation had become a disgrace to the metropolis. He was made President of the Police Commission.

In the Navy Department. When President McKinley assumed office in 1897 he wanted to reward Roosevelt for his service during the campaign of 1890, when, in company with Senator Lodge, the New-Yorker had made a speaking tour of the country. He also wanted an energetic man in the Navy Department. The appointment of Roosevelt was a natural consequence, and in April, 1897, he assumed the Assistant Secretaryship. From the first he foresaw, it is said, the possibility of a conflict with Spain, and he set about preparing his department for it. He pushed repairs on the ships, and left nothing undone that would in his opinion secure the highest efficiency in the service when the time for action came. When the Maine was blown up Roosevelt had no doubt, it is said, that war would follow, and his energies were bent with , redoubled force to getting the navy ready. When war did finally break out, he resigned and organized the Rough Riders. Then he became something of a national hero.

In the fall of the year In which San Juan was fought New York elected a Governor. The politicians feared him, but the people demanded his nomination. He was elected by a plurality of 18,079. With the approach of the Republican National Convention of 1900, the politicians, hoping, it Is said, to shelve the New-Yorker so that he could not be nominated for President in 1904, demanded his nomination for Vice President. His Western friends, from other motives, insisted upon similar action. They wanted to honor him and to strengthen the Republican cause. So McKinley and Roosevelt became the ticket. The campaign was a memorable one. The President has written numerous works, some of which *yill become standard. \ HIS DO.VI A Tale,-* 'Usuallykft”* Delightful Children. President Roosevelt’s domestic life has been beautiful. Mrs. Roosevelt never has courted social prominence, but she has been equal to every demand which the rapidly changing conditions of her husband’s career have made upon her. By birth, education nnd cultivation she is fitted to stand by her husband in the high place which Fate has assignedjo him, and she possesses the ready tact and sympathy

which are so essential to the successful hostess, especially in public life. As Theodore Roosevelt for the typo of energetic, healthy American manhood, so his wife represents a high type of American womanhood. She was Miss Edith Kermit Carow and was born of'a well-to-do family. As a girl she knew young Roosevelt. It has been said that a boy and girl sentiment existed between them before he went to college; but. soon after his graduation from Harvard he married Miss Alice Lee, of Boston. Miss Carow went abroad to supplement her education by a course of study and travel. When Roosevelt had lost his girl wife and was seeking solace in a European trip, he met Miss Carow. When he returned to America they began a correspondence. Their engagement followed and they were married in 1886. Between Alice Roosevelt—the only child of his first marriage—and her father’s second wife there has been always the warmest affection; and her husband’s sisters have been Mrs. Roosevelt’s most intimate friends. Like her husband. Mrs. Roosevelt has a pronounced literary bent. She is an omnivorous reader, an accomplished linguist and a keen student. Several years ago shejiublished a volume of verses, intended for circulation among her friends.' She is posted in

politics, and keeps up with the newspapers and periodicals dealing with matters of current public interest as well as her husband does. She is not athletic, although she rides a horse well. She has little taste for club life and the Daughters of the American Revolution besought her in vain to be a candidate for President-General of their order. Mrs. Roosevelt is not handsome, but she is attractive. Her manner is unaffectedly cordial and winning. She has nice brown eyes, and she wears her brown hair parted {uid carried back loosely from her temples. She dresses with a simplicity that is becoming. Her street frocks especially border on the severe. For evening entertainments

she dresses handsomely, but never showily. She manages the affairs of her own large household to the sma'lest details. Besides Alice, whp Ss‘ 18 years. old, the Roosevelt children are Theodore, Kerrnit, Ethel, Archibald and Quentin. Santa Claus will find a visit to the Wflri’e House next Christmas* exceedingly pleasurable.

NEW HEAD OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. Theodore Roosevelt, who became President of the United States upon the death of William McKlnley, Sept. 14, 1901.

MRS. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The new mistress of the White House, formerly Miss Carow, of New York.

ROOSEVELT HOME AT OYSTER BAY.

MISS ALICE ROOSEVELT.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT. As the President appeared when Police Commissioner of New York.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND FAMILY. Group photograph taken recently shows five of the six children.