praised for him! There he
is!

I know an American when I see one. He is a man who is singing.

A man who is singing is a man who is so shrewd about people that he sees
more in them than they see in themselves and who does things so shrewdly
in behalf of God, that when God looks upon him he delights in him. Then
God falls to of course and helps him do them.

When American men saw that there was a man among them who was taking a
thing like the Presidency of the United States (that most people never
run risks with) and putting it up before everybody, and using it grimly
as a magnificent bet on the people, they looked up. Millions of men
leaped in their hearts and as they saw him they knew that they were like
him!

So did Theodore Roosevelt become news about Us.

CHAPTER X

AMERICAN TEMPERAMENT AND GOVERNMENT

I would like to say more specifically what I mean by an American or
singing government.

The thing that counts the most in a government is its temperament. A
German government succeeds by having the German temperament. An American
government must have the American temperament.

If we are fortunate enough to have in America a government with an
American temperament what would it be like? And how would it differ from
the traditional or conventional temperament, governments are usually
allowed to have?

If I were confined to one or two words I would put it like this:

If a government has the conventional temperament, it says "NO."

If it has the American Temperament it says, "YES, BUT ..."

The whole policy and temper of a true American government is summed up
in its saying as it looks about it--now to this business man and now to
that, just in time, "YES BUT."

Louis Brandeis, of Boston, when he was made attorney for the Gas Company
of Boston to defend the company from the criticisms of the people, sent
suddenly scores of men all about canvassing the city and looking up
people to find fault with the gas.

He spent thousands of dollars a month of the Gas Company's money for a
while in helping people to be disagreeable, until they had it attended
to and got over it.

The Gas Company had the canvassers show the people how they could burn
less gas for what they got for it, and tried to help them cut their
bills in two. Incidentally, of course, they got to thinking about gas
and about what they got for it, and about other ways they could afford
to use it, and began to have the gas habit--used it