Wheeler P. Bloodgood

“ We have no right to start a war of conquest with any nation and our relations to the South American republic can be improved if we remove their fear of a steady conquest by us by observing this law. Does it not look ridiculous that established governments in this enlightened age sends thousands of unfortunates to prison as punishment for murdering, for to steal and rob, while these same nations are armed with all descriptable weapons like so many bandits ever ready to jump at each other's throat. What else is war but murder for to rob that which belongs to others. ”

“ The soul of the man stands forth as it is. In the Valley of the Shadow his own simple declaration of his sincerity, his own revelation of the unselfish quality of his devotion to the greatest movement of his generation, will be the standard by which history will pass upon Theodore Roosevelt its final judgment. This much they cannot take from him, no matter whether he is now to live or to die."
To the men of America, who either love or hate Roosevelt personally, these words from his speech must carry an imperishable lesson:
"The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long speech. ”

“ Now, honorable men of the jury, I wish to say no more, in the name of God, go and do your duty, and only countries who ask admission by popular vote and accept the popular vote never wage a war of conquest, murder for to steal abolishes opportunity for ambitious adventurers, for all political adventurers and military leaders have adopted the career of conquering heroes, wholesale murder, wholesale robbers called national aggrandizement. Prison for me is like martyrdom to me, like going to war.
Before me is the spirit of George Washington, behind me that of McKinley. ”

“ Tradition is an unwritten law when it concerns a whole nation, it is above the written statute, I would doubt the right of a court to have jurisdiction over a man who has defended tradition of his country, against violation. As we are not an original nation or race, the founders of the republic were the sons of the nation whose language we speak, it is tradition with us especially that identified us as a nation. ”

“ We would at once realize that we are surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves ready to destroy this hated Republic, ready to destroy Monroe Doctrine, ready to annex the Panama Canal and the great land of the brave and free, the home many millions free people, the dream of all heroes and martyrs for political freedom to 1848 would have ceased to be owing to the ambitions of one man, and one man's rule. I hope that the shot at Milwaukee has awakened the patriotism of the American nation. ”

“ He is self-confident, profoundly self-satisfied; is dignified, fearless, courteous and kindly. He shows a sense of humor and is cheerful and calm under circumstances that severely test those qualities. Beneath all of this is an air which is illustrated by his concluding sentence, that the spirit of George Washington is before him, that of McKinley behind him. He gives the impression that he feels himself to be an instrument in the hands of God, and that he is one of the band of historic heroes paralleled by such characters as Joan d'Arc and other saviours of nations. ”

“ You are the people that they dread. They dread the people themselves, and those bosses and the big special interests behind them made up their mind that they would rather see the republican party wrecked than see it come under the control of the people themselves. So I am not dealing with the republican party. There are only two ways you can vote this year. You can be progressive or reactionary. Whether you vote republican or democratic it does not make any difference, you are voting reactionary. ”

“ I always felt that a private was to be excused for feeling at times some pangs of anxiety about his personal safety, but I can not understand a man fit to be a colonel who can pay any heed to his personal safety when he is occupied as he ought to be occupied with the absorbing desire to do his duty. (Applause and cheers.)
"I am in this cause with my whole heart and soul. I believe that the progressive movement is for making life a little easier for all our people; a movement to try to take the burdens off the men and especially the women and children of this country. ”

“ Then I presume you men would declare Joan d'Arc the Maid of Orleans insane because the Holy Virgin appeared her in a vision. France as a nation passed in those days through a grave trial, her very existence as a nation was at stake. To our shame we must admit that while we prosper and are far from danger we hardly ever give it a thought, that all our comfort is granted to us by God the Almighty, and it is an old saying that when the danger is over the saints are mocked. ”

“ We have upheld the Monroe Doctrine without the consent of these countries so she could prevent those nations from inviting a European power to protect them by declaring that inasmuch as the third term tradition is abolished, the Monroe Doctrine is no longer binding, because they are more afraid of the third termer than they would be of any foreign prince. The prudence of our forefathers has delivered to us an equally sacred unwritten law which reads that no president should embrace another Creed than Protestant if possible a sect of the English church. ”

“ Now then when a man concludes to take a weapon and hunt down another man and he then willingly sacrifices his own life in defense we say of tradition, does such man then not willingly give what otherwise the law could take from him, is then not the right with him, I should say where self-sacrifice begins to power of law comes to an end and if I knew that my death during my act would have this tradition more sacred. ”

“ It is so great and so fine that when the historian of the future shall speak of Theodore Roosevelt, he is likely to say that he did many notable things, among them that of inaugurating the movement which finally resulted in the square deal, but that his greatest work was inspiring and actually beginning a world movement for staying terrestrial waste and saving for the human race the things upon which, and upon which alone, a great and peaceful and progressive and happy race life can be founded. ”

“ This nation has four unwritten laws, the oldest and most sacred, because established by Geo. Washington, is the third term tradition, it has never been violated and is an affective safe-guard against unscrupulous ambition, but never before has been established a test case of its inviolability as a warning to coming adventurers. In the present campaign for the first time in American history we are confronted by a man to whom practically nothing is sacred and pretends to stand above tradition. ”

“ Whoever the direct murderer of McKinley has been it could never be proven that he has ever been affiliated with any anarchistic or similar society, but we may well conclude that the man who in years after so willingly violated the first unwritten law, which is the third term tradition, may have readily promised to violate the third unwritten law of the country whenever he thought it profitable to change his creed while president, perhaps to the mother of monarchies. ”

“ He has abused our highest Courts, he has spoken in the profanest language of our legislators, he has abused our best and most venerable citizens, calling them liars and scoundrels, he has shamefully abused our president, thereby undermining the dignity of the office, how can we expect our foreign born citizens to respect our institutions when an ex-President circumtravels the Union telling everybody that those honorable men at Chicago were thieves and crooks. ”

“ All the rest of the time he has been as serene as a man unhurt.
It was in the gray of this morning's daylight that we caught our first glimpse of him after the shooting. Standing in the corridor of his private car as it lay in the North-Western station in Chicago, we heard Dr. Terrell say:
"Now is a chance to see the old warrior, he is coming out."
The door of his state room creaked and swung open slowly. As it swung back within loomed the figure that attracts attention everywhere. The colonel stepped out slowly, his shoulders thrown back and his bearing soldierly. ”

“ About the first remark uttered in the speech, as the Colonel grinned broadly at the audience, was:
"It takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose. I'm all right, no occasion for any sympathy whatever, but I want to take this occasion within five minutes after having been shot to say some things to our people which I hope no one will question the profound sincerity of." ”

“ And a political party is the medium between the people and the elected government, and any party that should nominate a man in violation of the third term tradition does no longer deserve to be a party entrusted by the people. ”

“ I love my religion but I hate my church, as long as the Roman parish is not independent from Rome, as long as Catholic priests are prevented from getting married, as long as Rome is still more engaged in politics and accumulation of money contrary to the teachings of the Lord, the Roman Catholic church is not the religion for a president of the United States. The separation of state from church in France has sufficiently proved that Rome and republic are enemies. ”

“ Roosevelt had opened his vest to show blood from his wound.
Even then many in the audience did not comprehend that they were witnessing a scene destined to go down in history—an ex-President of the United States, blood still flowing from the bullet wound of a would-be assassin, delivering a speech from manuscript perforated by the bullet of the assailant.
Col. Roosevelt said:
"Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible," he said. "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a bull moose. (Cheers.) ”

“ I would be sorry that my life was spared, so convinced am I of my act to act as I did, that if I were ever a free man again I would at once create an order of tradition sole purpose to defend it.
You gentlemen claim that you would think a man insane, that could have such things as a vision appear to him. ”

“ In response to a question as to how he felt, he replied with a laugh: "I feel as well as a man feels who has a bullet in him."
"But haven't you any pain?" asked someone.
"Well," the colonel said, dryly, "A man with a bullet in him is lucky if he doesn't experience a little pain."
Here Dr. Terrell, always on watch, held up a warning hand.
"You must not talk much," he said.
"I'll boss this job," said Roosevelt. "You go away and let me do this thing." ”

“ The Chicago Record-Herald said:
"It is notorious that 'expert testimony' is too often confused and confusing testimony which jurors and judges feel themselves bound to disregard in favor of mere horse sense. The stated experts are matched or overmatched by the experts for the defense, and the conflict of 'scientific' testimony assumes in many cases the proportions of a public scandal.
"Hence the 'Wisconsin idea' as applied by Judge Backus of Milwaukee, who is presiding over the trial of John Schrank, is an admirable one. ”

“ And, then, there is the great and statesmanlike movement for the conservation of our national resources, into which Roosevelt so energetically threw himself at a time when the nation as a whole knew not that we are ruining and bankrupting ourselves as fast as we can. This is probably the greatest thing Roosevelt did, undoubtedly. This globe is the capital stock of the race. It is just so much coal and oil and gas. ”