Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/439

 THEODORE ROOSEVELT By Jackson Boyd THEODORE ROOSEVELT is the most distiiignushed man of action in the United States to-day. Probably no man in public life anywhere understands better than he the political and economic conditions that now confront the American people. No other man is so in touch with the ele- ments of progress, or can better sense the danger of reaction in its many insidious forms. While he is not a philosopher, his appreciation of the situation of world politics shows true insight. He of all men is no theorist. He of all men is no re- former. He is a progressive, a man who believes in the evolu- tion of our institutions ; and, as a statesman, he has the fore- sight to anticipate and the ability to assist in realizing their destiny — the ultimate democracy of the human race. If the United States were compelled to find a statesman to represent it in any world movement, to guard its interests in the struggle for supremacy among nations, to see that all reactionary measures were avoided, to help in the forward movement of humanity in social justice, to secure equal opportunity, as far as is possible among men, there is no man in the United States to-day so well fitted for this great undertaking as Theodore Roosevelt. In politics, Theodore Roosevelt is an eclectic. He is more of a nationalist than Hamilton, but unlike Hamilton, a nation- alist for democracy, not aristocracy. He is more of a demo- crat than Jefferson, but unlike Jefferson he would anchor the nation with a strong central government so that it might not go to pieces in its very attempt at freedom. He with Lincoln proclaims the freedom of all men, but not stopping there, he stands for equal rights for men and women, the highest call of the world-wide humanitarian movement of to-day. Li his fearless advocacy of right and justice above the law when there is a conflict, he stands with Jefferson, Jackson, and Lin- coln. Yet Theodore Roosevelt is not a radical. He is a con- iAA^^kdlM