f Spain.

He was not the head of the Navy Department, but that made little
difference. The Secretary was a fine old gentleman, formerly president
of the Massachusetts Peace Society, and by temperament indisposed to any
rapid moves toward war. But he liked his Assistant Secretary and did
not put too stern a curb upon his impetuous activity and Roosevelt's
activity was vigorous and unceasing. Secretary Long has described it,
rather with justice than with enthusiasm.

"His activity was characteristic. He was zealous in the work of putting
the navy in condition for the apprehended struggle. His ardor sometimes
went faster than the President or the Department approved.... He worked
indefatigably, frequently incorporating his views in memoranda which
he would place every morning on my desk. Most of his suggestions had,
however, so far as applicable, been already adopted by the various
bureaus, the chiefs of which were straining every nerve and leaving
nothing undone. When I suggested to him that some future historian
reading his memoranda, if they were put on record, would get the
impression that the bureaus were inefficient, he accepted the suggestion
with the generous good nature which is so marked in him. Indeed, nothing
could be pleasanter than our relations. He was heart and soul in his
work. His typewriters had no rest. He, like most of us, lacks the rare
knack of brevity. He was especially stimulating to the younger officers
who gathered about him and made his office as busy as a hive. He was
especially helpful in the purchasing of ships and in every line where he
could push on the work of preparation for war."

One suspects that the Secretary may have been more complacently
convinced of the forehandedness of the bureau chiefs than was his
impatient associate. For, while the navy was apparently in better
shape than the army in those days, there must have been, even in the
Department where Roosevelt's typewriters knew no rest, some of that
class of desk-bound officers whom he met later when he was organizing
the Rough Riders. His experience with one such officer in the War
Department was humorous. This bureaucrat was continually refusing
Roosevelt's applications because they were irregular. In each case
Roosevelt would appeal to the Secretary of War, with whom he was on
the best of terms, and would get from him an order countenancing the
irregularity. After a number of experiences of this kind, the harassed
slave of