Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| the fact that the Commodore was always trim and neat, and, judging him by its own standard, thought that was all. Roosevelt told them no, he would fight. And he might wear whatever kind of collar he chose, so long as he did that. I remember, when Dewey was gone with his ships, the exultation with which Roosevelt spoke of the choice. We were walking down Connecticut Avenue, with his bicycle between us, discussing Dewey. Leonard Wood came out of a side street and joined us. His mind was on Cuba. Roosevelt, with prophetic eye, beheld Manila and the well-stocked ammunition-bins in Chinese waters. |
| “Dewey,” he said, “is the man for the place. He has a lion heart.” |
| I guess none of us feels like disputing his judgment at this day, any more than we do the wisdom of the gun-practice. |
| When Dewey was in the East, it was Roosevelt’s influence in the naval board that kept his fleet intact. The Olympia had been ordered home. Roosevelt secured the repeal of the order. “Keep the Olympia,” he cabled him, and “keep full of coal.” The resistless energy of the man carried all before it till the day |