A test of a great man, as well as a test of a modest man, in the
true sense, is whether he is willing to have other able and
eminent men around him as his assistants and fellow-workers. The
most remarkable instances of this among our Presidents were
Washington and Lincoln. The latter appointed men not because they
admired him, or were personally agreeable to him; indeed some of
his strongest and bitterest antagonists were put in his Cabinet,
because he knew that they could well serve the country.
Mr. McKinley had chosen excellent Cabinet officers, and these Mr.
Roosevelt kept in office, promoting them and appointing other men
of high ability to other offices as the need arose. He did not
care to shine as a great man among a group of second-rate persons;
he preferred to be chief among his peers, the leader of the
strongest and most sagacious of his time.
In saying this, I do not mean to compare Roosevelt with Washington
or Lincoln or any of the noble figures of the past. Such
comparisons are made too often; every President for fifty years
has been acclaimed by his admirers as "the greatest since
Lincoln," or "as great as Lincoln." This is both foolish and
useless. There has been no character in our land like Lincoln; he
stands alone. What we can say of Mr. Roosevelt, now, is that he
was admired and beloved by millions of his fellow-countrymen while
he lived; that his was an extraordinary and entirely different
character from that of any of our Presidents; and that upon his
death thousands who had opposed him and bitterly hated him but a
few years before, were altering their opinion and speaking of him
in admiration--with more than the mere respect which custom pays
to the dead.
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