CHAPTER XIII

HE DEFINES CHARACTER

We would expect a person of Mr. Roosevelt's sound common sense to place character above genius. "Genius is not necessary," he said, "Genius is a fine thing but fortunately character is not only more common, but better." He named three qualities essential to well-rounded character: Honesty, courage, and the saving grace of common sense. Men with capacity to accumulate great wealth, men with intellect, men with the personality that goes with leadership, or men possessed with any other talent, must have character first, otherwise they menace the well-being of the community.

He preached the gospel of work as an important adjunct to sterling character. He reserved his admiration for those men and

Work, hard

women who spoke in deeds. work, unceasing work, work that meant exhaustion, he urged on all who wished success for themselves or for the state. Do not pity the man who toils, he said, pity the person who does not toil. The proud must work; the humble must work. Work is a law of nature none may escape. No worthwhile progress can possibly be made without it. But work should be well done. Better let someone do the task who will do it well than do it yourself in slipshod fashion. The duty should be honestly met, and done with an application of common sense. Men like trees are known by their fruits.

He had nothing but praise for the honest toilers of America, often going out of his way to commend them. He liked to shake hands with the engineer and fireman of the train on which he had ridden, to mingle with sailors and soldiers, cowboys and hunters, lumbermen and pilots, for he felt deeply America's obligation to the laborers who were turning the wheels of industry, directing commerce and defending the national honor on land and sea. Work

ing America never had a more generous or appreciative advocate. He wanted his sons to learn the dignity of honest toil, and to possess the fiber of character that comes therefrom. Consequently he had them start at the bottom and work shoulder to shoulder with the workmen who wore jumpers and overalls.

The joy of life comes only to those who have carried the burden through the heat of the day, not to those who have shifted it to the shoulders of others. He once said in a Labor Day address:

"No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing; and this is a prize open to every man, for there can be no work better worth doing than that done to keep in health and comfort and with reasonable advantages those immediately dependent upon the husband, the father, or the son. There is no room in our healthy American life for the mere idler, for the man or the woman

whose object it is throughout life to shirk the duties which life ought to bring.. No one seems to arrive at any goal really worth reaching in this world who does not come to it heavy laden."

"Back of character are the rugged virtues, the muscular arm, the hand hardened by toil, the simple life of the family circle, the old, old qualities of courage for the day, resolution, unflinching willingness to meet danger-the virtues that make men, men."

He felt convinced that prosperity for the nation was based in every instance on character in the nation's leaders. The country made long strides forward during the Roosevelt days; it grew rapidly in population, expanded industrially and commercially, and for the first time following the Portsmouth Conference engineered by Roosevelt at which peace was secured for Russia and Japan, climbed to a position of equality with the great European powers. This prosperity Roosevelt attributed not to his own efforts but to the high average

of citizenship. Fidelity to the higher interests of America was to him a religion. Corrupt politicians, corrupt bankers, and corrupt congressmen meant a corrupted commonwealth. On this account, he hunted down with relentless persistency the dishonest men, and just as cheerfully elevated to offices of trust and responsibility men whose veracity and patriotism could be depended on.

Law of itself was not sufficient; social reform was not sufficient. The factors that would make a greater America were those included in the personal lives of the citizens themselves. Therefore, he preached as from the housetops personal endurance and lofty endeavor-what he called with fine meaning, "The lift toward nobler things."

Mr. Roosevelt had what we name, rather vaguely to be sure, personality, by which we mean a power of body and spirit that impressed itself mightily on his fellow men. The year 1905, the year when he negotiated the treaty that terminated the Russo-Japanese war, was perhaps the year of his supreme triumph. He