liked war for its own sake. Men said: "Oh! this Roosevelt is such
a rash, impulsive fellow! He will have us in a war in a few
months!" The exact opposite was the truth. He kept our country and
our flag respected throughout the world; he avoided two possible
wars; he helped end a foreign war; we lived at peace. Of him it
can truly be said: he kept us out of war, and he kept us in the
paths of honor.

He preached the doctrine of the square deal.

"A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country, is
good enough to be given a square deal afterward. More than that no
man is entitled to, and less than that no man shall have."
[Footnote: Springfield, Ill., July 4, 1503. Thayer, p. 212.]

He did not seek help and rewards from the rich by enabling them to
prey upon the poor; neither did he seek the votes and applause of
the poor by cheap and unjust attacks upon the rich. To the people
who expect a public man to lean unfairly to one side or the other;
who cannot understand any different way of acting, he was a
constant puzzle.

"Oh! we have got him sized up!" they would say, "he is for the
labor unions against the capitalist!" and in a few months they
would be puzzled again: "No; he is for Wall Street and he is down
on the poor laboring man."

For a long time they could not get it into their heads that he was
for the honest man, whether laboring man or capitalist, and
against the dishonest man, whether laboring man or capitalist.