CHAPTER X. Good Citizenship and a Square Deal for All Men HEODORE ROOSEVELT is a man of many policies, yet TH which really form one policy: many when we consider the great variety of interests to which he has devoted himself; one when we consider the principle that underlies them all, that of a square deal for all men, rich and poor alike, of good citizenship and good conduct; with stringent control of all who are seeking their personal gain at the expense of the public good. There are policies and policies; policies tending toward evil, policies devoted to good; the policy of the brigand, whether in defiance of or under cover of the law; the policy of the honest and progressive citizen and statesman, who has in mind the best good of his fellows, of his country, of the world. Are there any who doubt that the latter is the policy of Theodore Roosevelt? He certainly has given abundant evidence throughout his whole career of integrity and good intent. That impulse has led him into errors must be granted. He is a strenuous, imperative, warm-blooded, hard-hitting warrior; one who wants to redeem the world and to do so off hand; who is impatient of delay and chafes against opposition; but who has won the love of his countrymen and the admiration of the world by his unyielding integrity and ceaseless insistence in the fight against wrong-doing, and to-day stands in the enviable position of the most admired and respected citizen of the world. A democrat in grain, a hater of fraud on principle, a stout-hearted and strong-handed battler for the right, it is not surprising that his fame has spread from his country over the earth and that the nations have hailed him as a new evangel in the realm of good government and uplifting reform. "The place he holds in the minds of the people is so phenomenal that we are apt to attribute it to mysterious causes. Upon the surface, it seems a phase of hero worship so unusual and exaggerated as to appear a craze, a hysteria unworthy of a thoughtful people. And so, many marvel and see something almost supernatural about it and are unable to offer any explanation, except that Roosevelt lives and moves under a lucky star. But the real explanation is simple. The trusting affection which the people have for Theodore Roosevelt is the inevitable consequence of his efficient and courageous fight for public morality, commercial probity, equal opportunity and conservation both of human rights and the public domain. "Roosevelt is not a superman. He has unnecessarily made enemies. His honest errors would have doomed the career of any other living public man. But the people have seemed to love him better for the mistakes and the enemies he has made. He has taught the American people as no other man could teach them, the lesson of the hour. "That lesson is, that this young nation is just entering upon the third and most critical period of its material progress. "The era of exploration and discovery was followed by one of development and expansion, during which our growth placed us among the foremost world powers. But that growth was attained in spite of prodigal expenditure of natural resources, now dangerously nearing depletion, and careless toleration of civic, economic and social wrongs that represent, at best, the wicked folly of the spendthrift, and at worst, the crime of the brigand or the murderer. "The broadening consciousness of these truths marks the opening of the new epoch, the start of the war against waste, the opening of the battle to conserve and replenish our intrinsic wealth, inanimate and human. And it is because Roosevelt has been the preacher of that crusade, the creed of which is not the possession of any party, any more than patriotism or morality, that the American people call him the foremost American. "'* As above stated, the Roosevelt policy is a multiplicity of policies, which can only be properly dealt with by dividing the most important of them into a series of chapters and treating them separately. But underlying them all, the foundation upon which the whole edifice is *The North American, Philadelphia, April 20, 1910. built, has been his strenuous advocacy of good citizenship and a square deal for all men and it is this basic principle of true statesmanship which logically comes first in our inquiry. There are two ways of dealing with this subject. One is that of speaking for Mr. Roosevelt. The other is that of letting him speak for himself. The latter would not be the best in many cases, for there are many men who are excellent phrase makers; who can express the most admirable thoughts in the choicest words; but whose conduct is far from fitting with their words. It is the best in Roosevelt's case. Ready orator as he is, he has the reputation of saying just what he means and of living squarely up to his utterances. And he has the faculty of expressing himself so neatly and fittingly that it would not be easy to better his words. We therefore propose to put him on record and in these chapters to let him for the most part speak for himself, being assured that when he speaks his words will represent truly what he thinks. What is a good citizen as he views him. Here is his answer, as given in an address delivered at Syracuse, N. Y., September 7, 1903: The good citizen is the man who, whatever his wealth or his poverty, strives manfully to do his duty to himself, to his family, to his neighbor, to the State; who is incapable of the baseness which manifests itself either in arrogance or in envy, but who, while demanding justice for himself, is no less scrupulous to do justice to others. It is because the average American citizen, rich or poor, is of just this type that we have cause for our profound faith in the future of the Republic. "The line of cleavage between good and bad citizenship lies, not between the man of wealth who acts squarely by his fellows and the man who seeks each day's wage by that day's work, wronging no one and doing his duty by his neighbor; nor yet does this line of cleavage divide the unscrupulous wealthy man who exploits others in his own interest, from the demagogue, or from the sullen and envious being who wishes to attack all men of property, whether they do well or ill. On the contrary, the line of cleavage between good citizenship and bad citizenship separates the rich man who does well from the rich man who does ill, the poor man of good conduct from the poor man |