So the agreement was there entered into. Colonel Roosevelt suggested that as 1920 was a presidential year the connection be for two years or until October, 1919, to which Mr. and Mrs. Kirkwood assented.
Colonel Roosevelt said he never pretended to be much of a business man, but a formal contract was the usual thing; he had one with The Metropolitan. Anyhow he would gladly sign it. He was asked if he desired a contract and answered he did not.
“You understand and we do—” said Mr. Kirkwood.
Without waiting for the sentence to be finished, Colonel Roosevelt said quickly, “That’s all I want to know. Let’s don’t bother with a contract.”
And on that basis the Colonel wrote for The Star until his death.
Early in September I was delegated to go to New York, as Managing Editor of The Star, to discuss with the Colonel the details of his work for the paper. I met him at a hotel in Fifty-Seventh Street where he went on the days he came in from Oyster Bay. Mrs. Roosevelt was with him. Roosevelt was in high spirits, which was no uncommon thing. I recall vividly my introduction to Mrs. Roosevelt.
“Edith,” he said, leading me into the room where Mrs. Roosevelt was, “here is my new boss!”
I didn’t say it, but the thought came to me that I would prefer the task of “bossing” a tornado.
The talk that followed was that The Star had no desire to guide what he wrote; that it desired him to write whatever was in him, and it would print it. The Colonel said that was exactly what he wanted; he could do nothing else. We discussed the distribution over the country of his writings, which he left entirely to The Star, with the request that they be not offered to certain newspapers which had long shown a spirit of personal animosity to him and of habitual hostility toward his principles, a suggestion which was wholly agreeable to The Star. He asked about the length and frequency of the articles he was to write. It was agreed that an editorial of around five hundred words was ideal, and at the start there would be two contributions a week. Later they were more frequent. The Colonel said he would probably find it difficult to keep down to five hundred words, but he recognized the limitations of newspaper space and would do his best.
“Now,” he said, “if I get too highbrow, don’t hesitate to tell me. I’m no tender flower; I can stand criticism.”