CHAPTER XX
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AT CHAUTAUQUA
(1905-1908)
The notable event in the Assembly of 1905 was the fourth visit of Theodore Roosevelt. He was the President of the United States, not now by succession, but by direct vote of the people, for his first term, after the death of Mr. McKinley, had been completed. He had promised to maintain his predecessor's policies during the period for which Mr. McKinley had been elected, and through that term he had initiated no new movements. But his pledge having been kept and his administration ratified by the popular vote, Mr. Roosevelt was now free to bring forward his own plans. His address at Chautauqua on August 11th, five months after his inauguration, was the first public announcement of his principles and policies, and in its boldness, its candor, and its originality was fairly startling. Mr. McKinley was a cordial, but a reticent party leader. Everyone who talked with him was charmed, but no one could recall any definite promise or statement that he had made. Mr. Roosevelt was absolutely, unreservedly open; he would state to anybody his opinion on every public question. Lyman Abbott once said, "Mr. McKinley and Mr. Roosevelt were both great men and great statesmen, but between the absolute reticence of the one and the absolutely openness of the other, there is no half-way house."
The presidential party included his son Kermit, his nephew Paul Roosevelt, his cousin Philip Roosevelt, Mr. Jacob A. Riis, and a number of leading politicians, besides secret service men, and the inevitable troop of newspaper reporters. They were met at Lakewood by Bishop Vincent, his son the Principal, and representatives of the Chautauqua Board. A breakfast was served to the party and to some invited guests in Higgins Hall. I sat beside a prominent politician who said to me that on the train and boat he was absolutely amazed at the knowledge of President Roosevelt upon every subject, and his readiness to state his views upon even the deepest matters of State. At the table I noticed Dr. James M. Buckley sitting beside the President and in earnest conversation with him. As we passed out of the Hall, I mentioned to Dr. Buckley what the public man had told me of Mr. Roosevelt's outspoken candor, and Dr. Buckley said that the President had answered every question in utter frankness, evidently having nothing to conceal; and Dr. Buckley could ask searching questions.
The adage, "It sometimes rains at Chautauqua," was verified that day by a steady downpour, which with the umbrellas lifted over the moving procession made every avenue, seen from an upper balcony, look like an endless serpent with a series of bulging black knobs on his back. No words can express the jam of people in and around the Amphitheater and the breathless interest with which all listened to the President's address, which came like a revelation, with its outspoken utterances upon subjects hitherto held as State secrets. He talked of our relations with nations abroad, and of problems at home, the trusts, questions of capital and labor, and, indeed, every subject under discussion at that time. A statesman once said, "Language was invented to conceal thought," but that was certainly not the use of language by one eminent American. As Mr. Roosevelt was leaving the Amphitheater, he saw the Boys' Club standing together, on guard, and he gave them a short, appreciative, practical speech.
Some of the speakers at the Assembly of 1905 were District Attorney William Travers Jerome of New York, Governor Joseph W. Folk of Missouri, the Hon. Robert Watchorn, Commissioner of Immigration, President Charles Cuthbert Hall of the Union Theological Seminary of New York, recently home from giving addresses in India and China under the auspices of the Parliament of Religion, President Rush Rhees of the University of Rochester, President Herbert Welch of Ohio Wesleyan, Dean Charles D. Williams—on his next visit to be a Bishop—and Dr. Richard Burton. Mrs. Bertha Kunz Baker, Dr. S. H. Clark, Mr. Leland Powers, and others entertained us with readings and impersonations; but it should also be said that the leading elocutionists at Chautauqua made it a large part of their task to acquaint us with great literature, both in poetry, in prose, and especially in the drama.
In 1905 the Colonnade Building was built and became the business center of Chautauqua. During this season Mr. Scott Brown, the General Director under Principal George E. Vincent, called into the service of the Chautauqua Institution, as assistant, a young man to become in a few years his successor, Mr. Arthur E. Bestor. Mr. Bestor also began lecturing upon the platform in a course on "Studies in American Diplomacy."
In the report of the year 1906, I notice a custom that is mentioned for the first time this year, though it may have been observed before. On the opening night, June 28, signal fires were lighted at prominent points around the lake, notifying the summer residents, whose cottages by this year were girdling Lake Chautauqua, that the Assembly had now begun for another season. This illumination has been followed every year since 1906, and appropriately gives notice to every village between Mayville and Jamestown that the light of Chautauqua has begun to shine.
The program of July we find as full as that of August. During the earlier month were lectures and addresses by Professor F. Hyatt Smith on "Eminent Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century"—Coleridge, Macaulay, Carlyle, Matthew Arnold, and others; literary lectures by Leon H. Vincent, who was now "Doctor of Letters," Mr. Henry Turner Bailey, head of the Arts and Crafts, but lecturer on many subjects; Newell Dwight Hillis of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn; Dr. W. J. Dawson, an English preacher and author who had lately come to live in America, equally great in the pulpit and in literature; Dr. S. C. Schmucker, one who could make a scientific subject plain to the lay-mind; Dr. John T. McFarland, head of the Sunday School work of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Mrs. Donald McLean, President-General of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and other speakers.