has not lost himself in abstractions and platitudes....  The business of a trustee is not to do what the subject of the trust likes or thinks he likes, but to do, however much he may grumble, what is in his truest and best interests.  Unless a trustee is willing to do that, and does not trouble about abuse, ingratitude, and accusations of selfishness, he had better give up his trust altogether....  We thank Mr. Roosevelt once again for giving us so useful a reminder of our duty in this respect.

These notes of approval were repeated in a great number of letters which Mr. Roosevelt received from men and women in all walks of life, men in distinguished official position and “men in the street.”  There were some abusive letters, chiefly anonymous, but the general tone of this correspondence is fairly illustrated by the following: 

Allow me, an old colonist in his eighty-fourth year, to thank you most heartily for your manly address at the Guildhall and for your life-work in the cause of humanity.  If I ever come to the great Republic, I shall do myself the honor of seeking an audience of your Excellency.  I may do so on my one hundredth birthday!  With best wishes and profound respect.

The envelope of this letter was addressed to “His Excellency ‘Govern-or-go’ Roosevelt.”  That the Daily Telegraph and that the “man in the street” should independently seize upon this salient point of the address—­the “govern-or-go” theory—­is significant.

American readers are sufficiently familiar with Mr. Roosevelt’s principles regarding protectorate or colonial government; any elaborate explanation or exposition of his views is unnecessary.  But it may be well to repeat that he has over and over again said that all subject peoples, whether in colonies, protectorates, or insular possessions like the Philippines and Porto Rico, should be governed for their own benefit and development and should never be exploited for the mere profit of the controlling powers.  It may be well, too, to add Mr. Roosevelt’s own explanation of his criticism of sentimentality.  “Weakness, timidity, and sentimentality,” he said in the Guildhall address, “many cause even more far-reaching harm than violence and injustice.  Of all broken reeds sentimentality is the most broken reed on which righteousness can lean.”  Referring to these phrases, a correspondent a day or two after the speech asked if the word “sentiment” might not be substituted for the word “sentimentality.”  Mr. Roosevelt wrote the following letter in reply: 

DEAR SIR:  I regard sentiment as the exact antithesis of sentimentality, and to substitute “sentiment” for “sentimentality” in my speech would directly invert its meaning.  I abhor sentimentality, and, on the other hand, I think no man is worth his salt who is not profoundly influenced by sentiment, and who does not shape his life in accordance with a high ideal.

Faithfully yours,