president since 1909 so
that what he was described as being then he was now.

T. J. Mahon read this editorial from La Follette's magazine of March
13, 1909:

"Roosevelt steps from the stage gracefully. He has ruled his party
to a large extent against its will. He has played a large part of
the world's work for the past seven years. The activities of his
remarkably forceful personality have been so manifold that it will
be long before his true rating will be fixed in the opinion of the
race. He is said to think that the three great things done by him
are the undertaking of the construction of the Panama canal and its
rapid and successful carrying forward, the making of peace between
Russia and Japan, and the sending around the world of the fleet.

"These are important things but many will be slow to think them his
great services. The Panama canal will surely serve mankind when in
operation; and the manner of organizing this work seems to be fine.
But no one can yet say whether this project will be a gigantic
success or a gigantic failure; and the task is one which must in
the nature of things have been undertaken and carried through some
time soon, as historic periods go, anyhow. The peace of Portsmouth
was a great thing to be responsible for, and Roosevelt's good
offices undoubtedly saved a great and bloody battle in Manchuria.
But the war was fought out, and the parties ready to quit, and
there is reason to think that it is only when this situation was
arrived at that the good offices of the President of the United
States were, more or less indirectly, invited. The fleet's cruise
was a strong piece of diplomacy, by which we informed Japan that we
will send our fleet wherever we please and whenever we please. It
worked out well.

"But none of these things, it will seem to many, can compare with
some of Roosevelt's other achievements. Perhaps he is loath to take
credit as a reformer, for he is prone to spell the word with
question marks, and to speak despairingly of 'reform.'

"But for all that, this contention of 'reformers' made reform
respectable in the United States, and this rebuke of 'muck-rakers'
has been the chief agent in making the history of 'muck-raking' in
the United States a national one, conceded to be useful. He has
preached from the White House many doctrines; but