THE FAMOUS “ROUND ROBIN”

Having aided materially in the capture of Kettle Hill, Roosevelt and his men looked toward their left, to where the Spaniards were fighting in the trenches under the San Juan blockhouse. General Hawkins’ brigade was storming this blockhouse and soon captured it. When the blockhouse fell the Colonel ordered a charge to a line of hills still further on.

Only four men started with him. Three of these were shot. Roosevelt gave one of the wounded his canteen of water and ran back to find out why the other soldiers had not followed. He found that nobody had heard his orders.

By this time General Sumner had come up and Roosevelt asked of him permission to lead the charge. Sumner gave his consent and the Rough Riders stormed the Spanish entrenchment. There was close fighting, which resulted in the taking of a few prisoners, and what was more important to the men, the capture of Spanish provisions.

Later in the day the Spaniards counter-attacked. The Rough Riders were glad of the chance to fight in the open, and drove back the Spaniards with laughter and cheers. During this fight Roosevelt was the highest officer in command at his part of the front.

A rumor went around that the men were to be ordered to fall back. That evening after the fight, General Wheeler visited the front and told Roosevelt to keep himself in readiness to fall back if necessary. Roosevelt answered:

“Well, general, I really don’t know whether we would obey an order to fall back. We can take that city by a rush and if we have to move out of here at all I should be inclined to make the rush in the right direction.”

General Wheeler thought for a moment, then he expressed his hearty agreement with the Colonel’s sentiments and promised that there would be no falling back. Wheeler had been ill for a couple of days, but like the old gamecock he was, he had managed to take a strong part in the fight.

It was the opinion of the Rough Riders that if there had been one in high command to press the attack that afternoon the Americans would have gone right into Santiago.

The next day the battle became a siege and most of the fighting was done from trench works. The flag of truce was sent to demand the surrender of the city. Each day thereafter the soldiers expected to see Santiago surrendered, and whatever fighting was done was of a minor nature.

During the truce certain military attachés and foreign officers came out to visit the Rough Riders. Interesting, in view of the warm relations between Britain and America during the world war, was the incident that happened when Prince X, a Russian, visited Roosevelt. The Colonel introduced him to one of the regular army officers, a splendid fellow, who yet viewed foreign relations from a strictly mid-Western viewpoint. Roosevelt overheard him remark to the Russian, whom he called “Prince” as familiarly as a Kentuckian called his neighbor “Colonel”:

“You see, Prince, the great result of this war is that it has united the two branches of the Anglo-Saxon people; and now that they are together they can whip the world, Prince! They can whip the world!”

Other army officers, who had not received the training in diplomacy and international relationship that our American officers have received in the late conflict, had the habit of grouping all of these foreign attachés under the title of “Dutchmen.”

When this same Russian was making his farewell round, a general shook hands with him heartily, with this parting remark:

“Well, goodby; sorry you are going. Which are you anyhow—a German or a Russian?”

On the 17th of July, Santiago formally surrendered, and the Rough Riders with the rest of the army were drawn up beside their trenches. The American flag was hoisted, the trumpets sounded and the men cheered. Their fighting was over.

After the siege, the army officers in Washington proposed to keep the army stationed around Santiago. General Shafter tried his best to have the army ordered home. The health of the troops was becoming very bad. Yellow fever and malarial fever had attacked them. If the soldiers remained it is possible that at least one-half of them would have died or have become invalided.

General Shafter’s attempts failed and at last he called a council of his commanders and general medical officers and consulted them in the matter.

Roosevelt, while he had command of a brigade, was only a colonel and did not mean to attend the conference, but General Shafter sent word to him that he was wanted particularly, and he went.

The general explained to his officers that he could not get the War Department to appreciate their situation and that the public itself was ignorant of the ravages disease was making upon their ranks. He felt that there should be some announcement issued which would make the War Department take action before most of the men were down with sickness.

At this point General Shafter sought Roosevelt’s assistance. He explained to him that as he was a volunteer officer, about to return immediately to civil life, he could afford to take risks which regular army men could not afford to take. Therefore, he suggested that the Colonel write a letter or make a statement appealing for a withdrawal of the army from the fever holes of Cuba.

Roosevelt left the meeting with the understanding that he would give an interview on the subject to the press. General Wood, however, hinted to him that it would be better to put his statement in the form of a letter to General Shafter. This Roosevelt did. Then he presented the letter to General Shafter, who waved it away and said:

“I don’t want to take it; do what you wish with it!”

The Colonel, however, persisted in handing it to him. At the same time a “Round Robin” was in course of preparation by the commanding officers. This also was addressed to General Shafter.

This document, at the request of the commanding officers, was written by General Wood, who being a surgeon, keenly realized the need of removing the men from their pestilential quarters, and was signed by Generals Kent, Bates, Chaffee, Sumner, Ludlow, Ames and Wood.

The Associated Press representative was anxious to secure a copy of this “Round Robin,” but Wood told him it was impossible for him to have it or see it.

Wood then went to General Shafter, handed him the paper and said:

“The matter is now in your hands.”

Shafter said: “I don’t care whether this gentleman has it or not,” referring to The Associated Press correspondent.

The Associated Press representative then secured a copy of the dispatch and thus the affair became public. The result of this publicity became immediately felt. Within three days the army received orders to prepare to sail for home.

On August 7 the Rough Riders embarked on the transport Miamee. At last the transport sighted the Long Island coast, and late on the afternoon of the 14th it entered the waters of the Sound and cast anchor at Montauk Point.

The Rough Riders stood by their Colonel to the man. In the United States disparaging remarks had been made about the Colonel and his regiment. Some of the officials in Washington, angered at his criticisms of the canned beef and the short supplies sent to the men, took occasion to sneer at his campaign.

In the jungles of Cuba, however, the Rough Riders saw Roosevelt in his true light. He looked after their comfort and well-being. He sympathized with them in their predicaments. He understood them and helped them out of many difficulties. When they broke rules he was as merciful to them as it was possible to be, and whatever attitude he assumed toward them was felt by them to be for their own good.

These were times when battles were won, not by the side that had the greatest amount of shells and shock troops, but by those who displayed a personal bravery, and Roosevelt fought in such a gallant manner that those who had accused him of enlisting for personal motives soon grew ashamed of their spitefulness.

Roosevelt was not given to profanity, but when there came times when a soldier could only be handled by the use of language he knew, the Colonel did not balk at using that language. It is said of him that he once confessed to another officer in a repentant manner: “I swore today.”

Then he made this explanation:

“A captain riding off in cool disregard of orders is enough to make the sweetest-tempered archangel use ‘language.’ What I said, or rather bellowed was: ‘What in —— are you doing? Good ——, wheel into line!’ What I might have said was: ‘Really, my dear sir, do you not observe that you are acting in direct opposition to my instructions? I beg that you will not march your troop into Kamchatka.’ Well, one always thinks afterward of what one might have said.”

HALL AT SAGAMORE HILL

It is interesting to note that the original idea for a regiment such as the Rough Riders was suggested to Roosevelt several years before the Spanish War by no other man than Baron von Sternburg of the German Embassy. The baron, when only seventeen, had served in the Franco-Prussian War as a hussar. There was no war with Germany on the American horizon in those days and the baron spent a week in camp at Montauk with the Rough Riders upon their return.

On the Sunday before the regiment disbanded at Montauk, there came an occasion of genuine surprise to the Colonel. He was asked out of his tent by Lieutenant-Colonel Brodie and found the whole regiment formed in a hollow square. When he entered the square one of the men stepped forward and presented him with a splendid bronze of Remington’s “The Bronco Buster.” Roosevelt was deeply touched and deeply appreciative of this very appropriate gift. After the presentation the men filed past and Roosevelt shook hands with each and bade him farewell.

The next morning the men scattered to their homes. Some went North and South. Some went to the great cities of the East. Some turned to the plains, the mountains and the deserts.

The straight-from-the-shoulder sermon the Colonel preached to his Rough Riders as they went out to resume their citizen occupations was one that made a permanent impression upon their lives.

“Get action; do things; be sane,” he said to them, “don’t flitter away your time; create; act; take a place wherever you are and be somebody!”

Through the remainder of his historic career the Colonel never reached too great a place to be out of touch with his Rough Riders, no matter what humble positions they held. No member of the regiment ever came to the White House to see his former chief without Roosevelt breaking all engagements to shake his hand and talk over with him the stirring events in Cuba.

It is said that when Senator Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois, went to call on President Roosevelt and was forced to wait before he could get in to see him he asked of the doorkeeper: “Who is in there?”

“A former Rough Rider,” was the reply.

“Then,” queried Cullom, “what chance have I, merely a Senator?”

He turned away, promising to return at a time when he would not have to compete with such an attraction.

Roosevelt’s experience during the Cuban campaign made him deeply sympathetic with the lot of the soldier. This was in evidence when, while he was President, our army was engaged in combating the guerilla warfare in the Philippines. An order was then issued by the War Department that while the names of officers killed should be reported by cable, only the numbers of privates fallen should be sent.

The press of the country announced that a certain regiment had been engaged in battle. The War Department was besieged by the parents of the soldiers for information, but no news as to who were killed or wounded came until the lists arrived by mail.

President Roosevelt was at Sagamore Hill when the facts were reported to him. General Corbin was present. He asked the general what the order meant. The general told him that it had been issued for the purpose of economy, that each officer had a symbol in the cable code, but that to transmit the name and regiment of each private would cost $25 or more for each man. When this explanation had been made Roosevelt said:

“Corbin, can you telegraph from here to the Philippines?”

The general said that he could and suggested that he be allowed to do so when he returned from Washington.

“No,” said Roosevelt, “we cannot wait. Send the order to have the names telegraphed at once. Those mothers gave the best they had to their country. We will not have them breaking their hearts for $25 or $50.”

Now that the world war is over and the question of whether the United States is to depend on volunteer military organization or on regular armies has been definitely settled in favor of the latter view, it is well to admit that the decision is a wise one. A regiment like the Rough Riders was exceptional among volunteers. Roosevelt himself, in his book “The Rough Riders,” makes this comparison between the volunteer regiment and the regular regiment:

“The regiment was a wholly exceptional volunteer organization, and its career cannot be taken as in any way a justification for the belief that the average volunteer regiment approaches the average regular regiment in point of efficiency until it has had many months of active service. In the first place, though the regular regiments may differ markedly among themselves, yet the range of variation among them is nothing like so wide as that among volunteer regiments, where at first there is no common standard at all; the very best being, perhaps, up to the level of the regulars while the very worst are no better than mobs, and the great bulk come in between. The average regular regiment is superior to the average volunteer regiment in the physique of the enlisted men, who have been very carefully selected, who have been trained to life in the open, and who know how to cook and take care of themselves generally.”

X
“The Great Peace-Maker”

We have dwelt in this narrative principally upon Colonel Roosevelt’s fighting qualities; perhaps because they are the most picturesque and appeal more to the imagination of author and public. Yet the story of Theodore Roosevelt’s life would be indeed lacking if it did not emphasize the fact that underneath his philosophy of conflict for that which was right there lay an abiding love of peace and a desire for world brotherhood.

Roosevelt’s experiences taught him that in the era in which he lived war at times was essential to establish justice. He did not believe in surrendering to the blusterer, or to the ruler who tried to overrun his neighbor’s boundaries by force. He trained himself to be a warrior and a hunter because he believed that a strain of the primitive man was necessary to combat the too often debilitating influences of modern life.

His sons, in their manhood, became warriors like himself, but in their youth he trained them to love animals and to deal kindly with men. His advice to them under all circumstances was “Be kind!”

The man who was sneered at by his political foes as “The Man on Horseback” became “The Great Peacemaker.”

His own words form the best illustration of his attitude toward world amity:

“Whenever on any point we come in contact with a foreign power, I hope that we shall always strive to speak courteously and respectfully of that foreign power. Let us make it evident that we intend to do justice. Then let us make it equally evident that we will not tolerate injustice being done us in return. Let us further make it evident that we use no words which we are not prepared to back up with deeds, and that while our speech is always moderate we are ready and willing to make it good. Such an attitude will be the surest possible guarantee of that self-respecting peace the attainment of which is and must ever be the prime aim of a self-governing people.”

His acts while President bore out his preaching. When The Hague Tribunal of Arbitration was established, a large part of the work, so far as this nation was concerned, fell to Roosevelt.

When the old Alaskan boundary dispute between Great Britain and the United States arose again, at Roosevelt’s suggestion the matter was settled for all time by a joint commission that met in London. This commission decided in favor of America.

Another dramatic crisis arose for Roosevelt’s solution when an American, Ion Perdicaris, and his English son-in-law were kidnapped from their home near Tangier, in Morocco, by the Moorish bandit, Raisuli, on May 18, 1904. The bandit demanded a ransom and other favors from the Sultan of Morocco before he would release his prisoners. Roosevelt ordered the U. S. S. Brooklyn, Rear-Admiral Chadwick commanding, to go to Tangier. Admiral Jewell followed with three warships. British warships joined the American fleet.

“Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead!” was said to be the slogan that Roosevelt hurled at the Sultan. Whether or not he uttered it, the report rang like Concord’s bullet around the world. A month later the American and Englishman had been released.

Another example of Roosevelt’s desire to keep the peace of the world was illustrated when, at the Easter of 1903, there occurred a massacre of Jews in Kishinef, Russia. The Hebrews of the United States were greatly aroused at the atrocities and besought their government to protest to the Czar against these outrages. The Russian government sent word privately to the European countries and to President Roosevelt that the matter was exclusively a domestic one and that the Russian government would not entertain any representations upon the subject. The European governments took no further steps in the matter. Roosevelt, however, promised the Jews of the United States that he would bring their paper to the notice of the Czar.

Thus a crisis had arisen. Would Russia resent such a move? If she refused to accept the representations of the United States, would that be considered an affront by our government? Was war on the horizon?

No international troubles occurred. Though the Russian government refused to receive the memorial, the American representative at St. Petersburg visited the Foreign Office with a letter from Secretary of State Hay, which inquired as to whether the Russian government would accept the document. This letter to the Russian government went on to set forth the full text of the memorial. The Russian Foreign Office agreeably accepted it. Its publication in the press put before the world every word of the petition of the American Jews. Thus America, through Roosevelt, had spoken its opinion in the courts of mankind without bringing about the war which timid souls predicted.

When Roosevelt became President it was his rule of peace that dominated our country’s relations with other powers and that prevailed in the new policy of territorial annexation entered upon in President McKinley’s administration and carried forward by Roosevelt.

He decided that Cuba should not be taken over by the United States. Europe expected the United States to annex Cuba, and many leading men of his own party advised that this course be pursued, but he determined that the little island should be given every opportunity to govern itself as an independent republic. It was by his inspiration that the American officials who administered government in the Philippines, Porto Rico and, during the American occupancy, in Cuba, devoted themselves to the welfare of the people in a way that won the commendation of our sister nations. His course in this respect was governed by a belief that when it was necessary for our government to administer the affairs of the weaker nations under its control that government should be, not for the profit of the people in the United States, but for the people governed.

Always a sincere seeker of peace, he nevertheless exemplified in his statesmanship his motto: “Speak softly, but carry a big stick!”

This was illustrated when he directed his policy directly athwart that of the German Kaiser.

Those who remember the Venezuela incident of 1902 will recall that the German and British fleets thought it necessary to discipline President Castro. Germany, early in the proceedings, gave evidence that she intended to seize a point in Venezuelan territory and hold it in order to control the approach to the Isthmian Canal. The watchful Roosevelt perceived this scheme, sounded out England and found that she had no stomach for the alliance with Wilhelm’s fleet, and would refuse to help Germany to fight America if a quarrel arose over Germany’s grasping policy. Thereupon Roosevelt sent Dewey to the Caribbean Sea for fleet maneuvers and sent word to Germany through her Ambassador that if Germany did not agree to arbitrate within ten days he would instruct Dewey to resist her taking possession of a foot of Venezuelan soil. This meant war, and the President knew it, but he held resolutely to his purpose. The ten days dwindled to two days, but no agreement had come from Germany. Six more fateful hours passed. Then Germany agreed to arbitrate.

Thus ended a disagreeable diplomatic episode that foreshadowed the acts of the present Germany, but which revealed that the American spirit was more than a match for that of the Hun.

The act that won for Roosevelt the enduring title of “the Great Peacemaker” came during the Russo-Japanese War. When, in February, 1904, war was declared between Japan and Russia, Roosevelt showed his deep concern in the matter by ordering his great Secretary of State, John Hay, to send forth the famous Hay note, which asked the two combatants to respect the neutrality of China, lest there should be precipitated a still greater catastrophe. Both nations agreed to Roosevelt’s request.

Then came Roosevelt’s nomination to succeed himself as President. He was elected by the greatest popular vote ever accorded a Presidential candidate.

Grave domestic problems pressed upon him, but the Russo-Japanese War continued to occupy the uppermost place in his thoughts. The time of his entering upon a new term seemed to him the right moment to propose to Japan and Russia that they declare a truce and settle their difficulties in conference.

Japan had already suffered terribly from the drain upon her men and resources. Even if she were victorious in the conflict the chances were that she would lose more than she would gain. The same was true of Russia.

Roosevelt met with difficulty in getting the two powers to agree to a common meeting place. Each, however, finally agreed to send representatives to a conference at Portsmouth, N. H.

Roosevelt received the two delegations at Oyster Bay on the U. S. S. Mayflower, and then had them conveyed by the Mayflower and another naval vessel from Oyster Bay to Portsmouth.

The peace treaty was signed on September 5, 1905, and the world acclaimed Roosevelt the warrior for his services in behalf of peace. For bringing the two nations together he was awarded in the following year the Nobel Peace Prize. This consisted of a medal and a sum of $40,000, which, at the time, he turned over to a board of trustees as a fund to be used in establishing industrial peace. However, when the World War broke out, without this money having been expended by the trustees, Roosevelt requested that the money, now increased to $45,000, be distributed to the Red Cross and other war charities.

No greater sidelight can be thrown on Roosevelt’s influence for world peace than this tribute paid to him at his death by Baron Makino, the head of the Japanese Peace Commission, convened after the great world war:

“I embrace this opportunity to pay a tribute to the immortal Roosevelt, whose death is a sad calamity. He was a superb American, also a great world’s citizen. His services were not confined to America, but extended to the Orient. Especially are we grateful to him for the following reasons:

“First, for his noble services in bringing to a successful conclusion the Russo-Japanese war. The Japanese public and the rest of the world did not comprehend at that time how sturdy were his efforts to attain the result, but we who knew the inside facts regarding the war situation in Manchuria felt that our good friend Roosevelt secured a just peace—fair to both parties.

“Second, we are thankful for his extraordinary success in settling the friction between the United States and Japan over the San Francisco school incident in 1906.

“Most unusual was it for a President of the United States to say that he would use every power within his control to secure a right settlement. The ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ was the result.

“Third, we are deeply appreciative likewise of the fair appraisal he made of Japan’s part in the World War. Few Americans are apprised as to the extent of Japan’s participation in the war. But this remarkable man fully comprehended and in many published articles gave full credit to the stanch, honest co-operation Japan gave to her allies and to the United States.”

In 1906 Roosevelt again went contrary to the plans of the German government in the Algeciras affair. Possessing the pledge of the German Emperor to accept his decision in this international dispute, he made a decision that, while just, went against Germany.

It is an interesting commentary, however, upon his success as a diplomat that when he came to settle the war between Japan and Russia he induced the Kaiser to help him in an appeal to the rulers of the warring countries.

Later on, when he was touring Europe, Roosevelt had the unique experience of watching the maneuvers of the German troops, in company with the Kaiser, whom he had thwarted. On this occasion he heard himself thus addressed by the Hohenzollern:

“My friend Roosevelt, I am glad to welcome you, a most distinguished American. You are the first civilian who has ever reviewed German soldiers.”

FAMILY GROUP, TAKEN WHILE ROOSEVELT WAS GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK. THEODORE, JR. APPEARS IN THE BACKGROUND. BESIDE HIM IS ALICE (NOW MRS. NICHOLAS LONGWORTH). WITH MRS. ROOSEVELT ARE KERMIT AND ETHEL (NOW MRS. RICHARD DERBY). THE GOVERNOR HOLDS ARCHIE IN HIS ARMS. QUENTIN WAS BORN A FEW YEARS LATER

XI
Roosevelt’s Political Victories

There is a phrase, attributed to Napoleon, to the effect that God fights on the side of the big battalions. There is a truth in the saying that applies to big men, just as well as to big armies.

Fate seemed to battle on the side of Theodore Roosevelt through every step of his political career, though a study of the man shows that by his superhuman energy he himself was almost always the creator and molder of the circumstances that seemed to advance him.

When Roosevelt, at twenty-three, determined to enter politics, the political cards were stacked against him.

When, moved by a desire to belong to the governing class instead of to the governed, he told his folks that he wanted to join the Republican Club as his first step in politics, he relates that they told him that he would meet the groom and the saloonkeeper there; that in addition politics were low and that for this reason no gentleman could afford to join with such men in ward affairs.

Roosevelt was as ready then with an answer as he was in later life. “If that is so,” he replied, according to his close friend, Jacob Riis, “the groom and the saloonkeeper are the governing class and you confess weakness. You have all the chances, the education, the position, and you let them rule you. They must be better men!” He went to the Republican Club, leaving his would-be advisers dolefully shaking their heads.

This opposition overcome, Roosevelt found another obstacle in his way. He had transferred his citizenship from Oyster Bay, where he cast his first vote, to the fashionable Murray Hill district. He therefore was handicapped by a “silk stocking” reputation. Immediately he went to work to show the politicians that, while he had associated with wearers of silk hose, he knew how to wear a slouch hat and how to get down to a shirt-sleeves basis if by doing so he could make those with whom he mingled feel easier. Joe Murray, Roosevelt’s first political sponsor, was won to him by the genuine spirit of democracy he saw in the young aspirant.

Murray was in need of friends just at that time. He had rebelled against the rule of “Jake” Hess, the Republican boss of the district. Jake had his own special candidate for the next Assemblyman from the 21st District. Murray had become the leader of the anti-Hess faction, but had no worth-while candidate for the Legislature. He observed that Roosevelt was popular with the crowd.

“Look here men,” Murray said to his adherents, “what this district wants is a swell candidate who can go as a guest to the drawing room and at the same time be man enough to shake hands with the butler. Teddy Roosevelt is the one!”

He asked Roosevelt to become a candidate. Roosevelt refused. Instead he suggested the names of several men; but Murray kept on persuading, until at last he drew from Roosevelt a promise to be his candidate if he could not secure a better one. Joe at once stopped searching.

“I can’t find any better nor as good!” was his verdict. The matter ended in the nomination of the youthful-looking collegiate “Teddy,” now thoroughly warm to the campaign. He plunged into the battle with an intensity that was earnest of the ardor with which he went into his later and more important political conflicts.

The next barrier that rose before the candidate was high license. A trip to the saloons was said by his political sponsors to be a necessary part of the campaign. At Valentine Young’s saloon on Sixth Avenue, Roosevelt opened his campaign. Mr. Young was against high license. He expressed the hope that Roosevelt was also opposed to it. Roosevelt promptly replied that he was for it, and would advocate it as hard as he could. The argument became hot; the saloon-keeper made personal remarks. Then and there Roosevelt quitted the saloon canvass. Murray and his friends were dismayed, but Roosevelt appealed to his neighbors. The silk-stocking vote joined that of the footmen and shopkeepers, who had become enthusiastic over the scrappy and democratic young candidate. Roosevelt was elected and became the youngest member of the Legislature.