The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 18, 1898, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1898 9 ot Hoosevelt: In | Work, War, Politres, R fit Urtaa it i1 HEODORE ROOSEVELT'S re- turn to his home and famlly at Oyster Bay, L. L, in triumph as colonel of the Rough Riders was characteristically picturesque. | The dramatic instinct is one of the keynotes of Mr. Roosevelt's suc- cess. It is that which makes him al- ways interesting, always surprising, al- Vi leading to a climax or tableau. He knows intuitively the people’s love of pageantry, their admiration for| eplendid acts of heroism, their pleasure | in pomps and ceremonies, and Colonel Roosevelt moves naturally to the cen- ter of the stage in any new situation, 80 that the eyes of the multitude focus upon him. A n of Mr. Roosevelt's make-up, with his fine chest, straight legs, hon- est blue eyes, sparkling teeth; a man with his magnificent virility, with his | extraordinary record of achievements, due in no sense to others, may be par- doned if he believes a good deal in him- self. The more impressive the spectacle in which he is to take a leading role the more necessary is the superb and admirable egotism which is, after all, the secret of the success of all great leaders of men. Mr. Roosevelt likes to dress for his part. A good many have thought and said that his costume was the chief preparation Mr. Roosevelt made for his various roles. That i{s what they said when he went to the Dakota *“bad lands” as a cowboy, attired in theatri- cal cowboy’'s togs. That is also what they said when he assumed a disguise and spent his nights in seeing that the patroimen and captains of the police force were fulfilling their duties ac- cording to the Police Commissioners’ understanding of them. ‘That's also what they said when, true to his dra- matic instincts, Theodore Roosevelt re- signed his office as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to organize his now fa- mous band of Rough-Riders. .7@ -% ome. When Mr. Roosevelt, after his return from Cuba, reached his home at Oyster | Bay he appeared in the worn costume | of the Rough Rider. When his charm- | ing wife and six little children met the | hero—for that at least he is in their | Love and 5= el o o Hritiae "‘ i STt Cow RoosEVELYS Howvs g,.OYS\“R (BaYe Tiee OBLOREDS = ! GUH;.J: s =) OLANTER| MADE BY THE CHILDREN OF THEIR FATHER .HOME BYHIS -CHILDREN Roosevelt’s Career at a Glance. Born October 27, 1858, at his father’s house, 28 East Twentieth Weight, 148 pounds (apout). Ancestry—One-quarter Hollandish; three-quarters Scotch, Irish street. Height, 5 fcet 9 inches. and French Huguenot. Pedigree—Father, James J. Roosevelt; Alderman, ’30; Supreme Court Justice, 1854-60; 1841-43. Grandfather, James Roosevelt (merchant), Alder- man, 1809; Assemblyman, 1796-97. Great-grandfather, Cornelius C. | Roosevelt (merchant), Alderman, 1785-1801. Cornelius Roosevelt, Alderman, 1759-64. Great - great - great - grand- father, John Roosevelt (merchant), Alderman, great-great-grandfather, Nicholas Roosevelt, Alderman of New York gressman, City, 1700-01. Assemblyman, Family—First wife, Miss Alice Lee of Boston; second wife, Miss Edith Carow of New York. Married in 1886. Children—Alice, 14 years old; Theodore Jr., 11; Kermit, 9; Ethel, 7; Archibald, 4, and Quentin, 1 year old. Homes—Ranch in the Bad Lands, N. D.; summer cottage at Oyster Bay, L. 1., Washington and New York. 4 Religion—Member of the Dutch Reformed Church. 1880—Graduated from Harvard. 1881-83—Member of the New York Asembly. 1884—Chairman New York delegation National Re- publican Convention. 1884-86—Ranching in the Bad Lands, N. D. 1886—Candidate for Mayor of New York City. (Vote: Hewitt, 90,552; George, 68,110; Roosevelt, 60,435.) 1889-95—United States Civil Ser- vice Commissioner. 1895-96—Police Commissioner, New York City. 1897-98—Assistant Secretary of the Navy. 1898—Colonel of the Rough Riders. 1828, ’29 and 1835-40; Con- Great-great-grandfather, 1748-67. Great - great- eyes—of the Santiago campaign, the husband and father, true to his dra- matic instinct, looked his part. The simple people of Oyster Bay went wild with delight when Colonel Roosevelt, in his stained and weather-worn uni- form, stepped from the cars and smiled response to their frantic acclamations. Mr. Roosevelt would have been no less the gallant colonel of Rough Riders had he landed at Oyster Bay in the costume of a gentleman of ease, mem- ber of an aristocratic New York so- clety, attired in immaculate linen and the white flannels befitting the season. But he would have been “out of the picture,” and that would never have done. There are seven distinct stages in the career of this unusual man. In seven different roles Theodore Roosevelt has given evidence of the at- tributes, in a greater or less degree, that make him to-day perhaps the most talked-of man of 40 in the world. == Of aristocratic birth, a member of a family distinguished for valor, pa- triotism and culture for many genera- tions, young Roosevelt first sued for public favor when he appeared as can- didate for Assemblyman. He was then just out of college, 1879, Even his op- ponents admit that he was a zealous servant of his own party—an unwaver- ing Republican. He was then, as now, athletic and remarkable for his bound- less energy, his interest in people and things and his unfailing enthusiasm. The second stage of Mr. Roosevelt's public career was that'in which he an- nounced himself as candidate for Mayor of New York. A man of his tempera- ment would be apt to jump a little too high after tasting the delights of suc- cess, and success he certainly had achieved as Assemblyman. It was very characteristic that he should, with his belief in himself, consider the office of Mayor one which he was equipped to fill, but unquestionably if Mr. Roose- velt were consulted to-day he would agree with his friends that his defeat in this race was beneficial to him. The egotism of young Mr. Roosevelt, as he was known at this time, irritated Roscoe Conkling extremely and brought e Be i Oceanic, a New Atlantic Liner. She Will The mere size of the Oceanic is overwhelming. tons. To walk from her bow to her stern and back again means a stroil of 500 yards, so that any one who accomplishes this trip three times will have nearly covered a mile. will have, as her picture shows, only three light pole masts, as sail power is useless in a vessel of this class. Her construction could only be accomplished within such a limited space of time by the aid of the most complete and extensive plant. She is to be into this enormous steel ship. forth the witticism which long clung | ment of fringe, the hunting shirt whom Mr. | leather, to the young candidate, Conkling described as “that dentificial young man with more teeth than | brains.” Defeated as candidate for Mayor, Mr. Roosevelt next appears as a Na- tional Civil Service Commissioner, and here again his party found him stu- dious, untiring, capable and eflicient. This appointment was made in 1889 by President Harrison, was barely 30. Two years later, in 1891 (the fourth stage of Mr. Roosevelt's remarkable life), he appears as a hun- ter of big game. When Theodore Roosevelt concluded to hunt bears he naturally decided to do so in what he considered proper and it is most interesting to see the dramatic instinct again dominating. The pictures of Mr. Roosevelt, taken in his costume as a hunter, show him holding his rifle. loaded with many bul- lets; his fine form arrayed in the cos- tume we are accustomed to see in the melodramas which deal with the ex- ploits of “Bloody Bill; or, the Terror of the Rocky Mountains.” The leather breeches, with their plcturesque adorn- grizzly | costume, | when Roosevelt | of embroidered supposedly by Indians, but more likely. by native New Yorkers; the scarlet silk handkerchief, ivory-handled revolver, the blood- curdling knife thrust through the cart- ridge belt, are all the fitting parapher- | nalia of the cowboys’ hero. When Roosevelt, dressed in his gaudy and personally selected hunting costume, reached the far West and made his ap- pearance among the untrammeled citi- | zens around Little Missouri River he was looked upon as a tenderfoot of a very elementary brand. The toughs | who proposed to show him a thing or | two arranged among themselves, in their own expressive language, “to take | some of the frills out of the New York | tenderfoot.”” A well-known character | approached Roosevelt and asked him | what he intended to do, what kind of game he was after. The New Yorker | said he was after grizzlies, and it was soon noised about the camp that the “four-eved tenderfoot” was looking for | big game. The hardest man in the vicinity sent word to Roosevelt that he couldn’t shoot any grizzlies in that territory, and that if he attempted to the “bad man” in question would be informed and prop: d to shoot Roosevelt at sight. When this message was con- veyed to the blue-eyed tenderfoot he seemed greatly pleased and looking eagerly through his glasses he in- quired of his informant “where the ‘bad man’ lived.” Immediately upon receiving the de- sired informatio» Rogsevelt rode over to see the man who proposed to shoot him. When he reached the camp of the individual in question the “bad man” had forgotten why he intended to shoot and was very much disposed’ to be amiable with the tenderfoot from the East. Mr. Roosevelt not only wore a costume which he considered appro- priate for killine~ grizzlies, but he actu- ally killed more bears than the best of the “bad men,” and Ris unquestioned bravery and fearlessness won him, as it always does with the Sret Harte type of man, unbounded respect and love. What the men of the West thought of the tenderfoot was shown when Theodore Roosevelt called for Continued on Page Twenty-six. BIGGEST SHIP EVER BUILT IN THE WORLD. She Is Now Being Rapidly Finis hed in England, and Will Form One of the Crack Atlantic Liners. HERE seems to be no finality in the matter of ships. The modern steamship has not reached its limit, either of size or speed, the evolution of the liner is still going on, every year bigger and faster ships We do not see these gigantic ves-| 5 more daring venture. Even our finest Eastern liners are mere pigmies by the side of the monster steamers which run the Atlantic ferry.with the regularity of clock- ‘We thought the Arizona a large ship when she arrived here recently anc found difficulty in berthing at Yet the Arizona, vessel though she is, has long since been obsolete as an In her day she broke the ocean record and are being built. sels on the Pacific Coast. work. any of the San Francisco docks. Atlantic liner. was the most favored of the Guion passenger boats. the Belgic and Gaelic, now in the China trade, performed the same feat and helped to build up the reputation of the famous White Star line. After the lamentable failure of the Great Eastern there the Biggest Vessel Ever Built in the World. |, She is to be 704 feet long, or twenty-four feet longer than the Great Eastern, and her gross tonnage will be about 17,000 Every appliance known to modern engineering has been introduced Eastern forgot that engineering had not the construction of engin other ventio: i >os entions in much lighter than Both i She but to the fact that she was ahead of her time. launched early next jear, and already every plan required for her completion, every molding needed as a guide to the mechanics, have been prepared. The Oceanic, though owned by a private company, is being built in accordance with admiralty requirements as a merchant cruiser, troi a speed of twelve knots an-hour, opship, etc., and can carry sufficient coal to run her round the world at were many critics who asserted that no man would ever again attempt to construct a ship of cuch size. years their assertion has held good, though year after year the tonnage of ocean steamers has gradually each advance in size and speed only paving the way for For thirty crept up, Those who condemned the Great her failure was not due to her size, Marine then reached the stage which rendered such a vessel practicable. Compound forced draft, high pressure boilers and a hundred use to-day were unknown. Modern machinery is infinitely more powerf .1 and at the same time a generation ago. Consequently the Great Eastern, filled with primitive and cumbrous ma- chinery, proved utterly unwieldy. both financially and otherwise, and ended her days igno- miniously in the ship-breaker’s yard. However, there is no danger of such failure in the White She was a total failure, Star line’s latest venture. For years past the intention of the company to build a boat of fabulous size, to be called the Gigantic, has been rumored. Year after year the company has built larger and better boats, but the myth- ical Gigantic was always in the fu- ture. The Majestic and the Teutonic were, each in their turn, looked upon as the highest triumphs of the ship- builder’s art and the thousands of pas- sengers who crossed the Atlantic in these v Is testified to their luxur- ious appointments and splendid sea-go- ing qualities. Only one step further forward was necessary to produce the gigantic Oce- anic, now being built by Messrs. Har- land & Wolff at Belfast. This firm, it may be mentioned incidentally. has produced most of the famous Atlantic liners, especially the White Star boats, every one of which, in her time, has been a record breaker. The mere size of the Oceanic is over- whelming. She is to be 704 feet long, or 24 feet longer than the Great East- ern, and her gross tonnage will be about 17,000 tons. To walk from her bow to her stern and back again means a stroll of 500 yards so that any one who accomplishes this trip three times will have nearly covered a mile. She will have, as her picture shows, only three light pole masts, as sail power is useless in a vessel of this class. Every appliance known to modern en- gineering has been introduced into this enormous steel ship. The drawing office is a magnificent room, lighted by electricity at night, where all the plans for the vessel are prepared. Then they 7o to the mold- ing loft, where every frame required for the ship is traced on the floor in full size. From this a mold, or shape, of light timber is prepared and the iron worker copies this exactly. The re- sult_is that the element of chance is entirely eliminated. The exact size and shape of every piece of the great ves- sel is known beforehand to the frac- tion of an inch. The builders can, with absolute certainty, predict the weight and draught of the craft, and knowing the horsepower her engines will develop can state to the fraction of a knot the speed she will attain.