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: