Roosevelt's mouthpiece. When he came to New York
and made the speech that elected Hughes Governor and made possible
Hughes as Secretary of State he said, "I speak for the President."
He equally spoke for the President when he delivered that other
remembered address, warning the States that unless they mended
their ways the Federal Government would absorb their vitality.
The law is a parasitic profession and Mr. Root's public career is
parasitic. He lacks originality, he lacks passion--there is no
place for passion in that clear mind--he lacks force. He elucidates
other men's ideas, works out or puts into effect their policies,
presents their case, is, by temperament, by reason of gifts
amounting almost to genius, of defects that go with those gifts
always and everywhere, the lawyer. His public career has been
controlled by this circumstance.
I doubt if he ever had a real love of public life. He turned to it
late, after he had made his success in the profession of his
choice, and he carried over into it the habits of the law. He
always seemed to be taking cases for the public. He took a case for
Mr. McKinley as Secretary of War because the War Department needed
reorganization and the case promised to be interesting. He took a
case for Mr. Roosevelt as Secretary of State because Mr. Roosevelt
was the most interesting client in the world.
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