Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/149

THEODORE ROOSEVELT 113 given by the people, because they know Mr. Roosevelt. A sometimes misleading enthusiasm about friends, an occasional failure to judge the character of a man or the propriety of an act, do not impair the popular conviction that at bottom Mr. Roosevelt is generally right. There was bewilderment in 1910 when he spoke in Bos ton in favor of Senator Lodge, whose politics were utterly at variance with his own ; but even this piece of perfect inconsistency was soon understood and laid to the door of old friendship, where it belonged. A still more important change in the cabinet was when Elihu Root succeeded John Hay as Sec retary of State, July 20, 1905. Throughout Mr. Roosevelt s second term, Mr. Root rendered serv ices to the country so sound and brilliant that the President repeatedly declared his Secretary to be the greatest statesman living of whom he had any knowledge. Leaving the service of corporations quite opposed to Mr. Roosevelt s policies, Mr. Root renounced a legal income many times larger than his salary, and, steering an entirely new course, dedicated his remarkable powers to the good of his country during nearly four years. But, before touching upon the achievements which so distinguished him, some other matters must re ceive brief notice. During this first summer of the second term, in response to Mr. Roosevelt s invitation and offer of