Roosevelt Flag Forward

In 1902 the late great John Pierpont Morgan formed a shipping combine which was to make the U. S. flag supreme on the seven seas. It was one of his several great mistakes. At first he contemplated joining all foreign lines into one. great service. Although he failed to do this, he purchased the famed British White Star Line for his new International Mercantile Marine Co. In Britain, public opinion flared up against this attempt to wrest away supremacy of the seas. But big shippingmen took the deal calmly. "The vendors," wrote a London authority, "made an exceptionally good bargain, which it is probable the purchasers will soon find out."

True to this prediction. I. M. M. eventually, in 1926, was glad to sell the White Star Line back to British interests, represented by the then potent Royal Mail combination. Thereby I. M. M. lost all its biggest ships--Majestic, Olympic, Homeric--and retained only its minor units such as Atlantic Transport. But the same year that this great tonnage passed from U. S. control, another development was taking place in U.S. shipping.

In 1920 Kermit Roosevelt had formed the Roosevelt Lines to operate a service to India for the U. S. Shipping Board. Jute was its principal baggage. In 1926 he took into the company two widely-known young shippingmen: John M. Franklin whose father, Philip Albright Small Franklin, heads I. M. M., and Basil Harris. He promised vigorous expansion of the U. S.-owned Roosevelt Lines. Last year this expansion became marked. Shippingman Roosevelt was able to announce that William Vincent Astor had acquired a substantial interest in the company, that an affiliate, Baltimore Mail Steamship Co.. was being formed to operate a Hamburg-Baltimore service (TIME, July 21). And a month later it was rumored that Roosevelt Lines was entering wider seas by purchasing control of I. M. M. (TIME, Aug. 11).

Only last week did this deal receive its official confirmation. Kermit Roosevelt, John M. Franklin and Basil Harris became vice presidents of I. M. M., while all three and lanky, yacht-fond Vincent Astor were made directors, marking the passing of control to the Roosevelt interests. Still president of I. M. M. is Philip Albright Small Franklin, probably pleased to have his company controlled by his son and friends.

To Roosevelt Lines' fleet of 18 Government-owned motorships operating to Australia, India, the Philippines and the Far East, the deal adds I. M. M.'s consolidated fleet of 46 steamers. At present I. M. M. is the U. S. agent of its once greatest unit, White Star. While it no longer owns the White Star's big three, it still has many an interesting ship. Of these, especially famed are: 1) Pennsylvania, California, and Virginia, turbo-electrics operated by Panama Pacific Line, the largest U. S.-built ships of their type; 2) Minnetonka and Minnewaska of Atlantic Transport Lines; 3) Belgenland, largest in the Red Star Service. Another important I. M. M. unit is the Frederick Leyland Line, sailing between European, Central and North American and West Indies ports. Although no plans have been announced, shippingmen expect Roosevelt Lines to place more ships under the U. S. flag.

When Theodore ("The Great") Roosevelt left the presidency in 1909 the U. S. was well aware that many years would elapse before the White House would again be so boisterous a home. The six Roosevelt children had become national characters. In 1902 Alice Roosevelt, just under 18, made her debut in the White House. From then on her life was a busy social whirl. Older than the other children (she was the daughter of the President's first wife) she often enraged the President by such actions as smoking, driving high-powered cars. In 1906 she was married in the White House to Nicholas Longworth.

By that time Theodore Jr. was a sturdy lad of 19 who liked to collect butterflies and beetles and to frequent the Smithsonian Institution. He was a sophomore at Harvard, traditional Roosevelt college. Two years younger was tall, lanky Kermit, then at Groton. Archibald ("Archie") was 12, not too old to romp with Quentin, 9, mischievous leader of his "White House Gang." Quieter than her half-sister was amiable Ethel.

From the White House, Mr. Roosevelt went momentously into the heart of Africa. Kermit, fond of cameras, went along as official photographer. Three years ago Kermit again went on an expedition, this time with Theodore Jr. In Asia they bagged many a rare beast for Chicago's Field Museum (No. 1 Quarry: a giant panda ). Last week Kermit headed a New York Zoological Society Committee to measure North American game captures, to authenticate "biggest" records.

Theodore Jr., more than the others, deliberately patterned his life on his father's. Like his father, he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Unlike his father, he ran for Governor of New York and lost. In 1929 he was appointed Governor of Porto Rico, a small job but better than none. Imitating his father's smile he twirled his top hat above his head when he landed at San Juan in a gesture so typically Rooseveltian that the crowd yelled with delight.

Too busy to ahunting go was Archibald. In 1924 as a minor employe of Sinclair Oil Co. he gave the Senate evidence against his employer which was the first big break in the oil scandals. He transferred to Roosevelt & Sons, bankers, was made a partner in 1926, representing the fifth Roosevelt generation in the firm.

Of the two daughters, "Princess Alice," as Mrs. Longworth, is more prominent, occupies a strategic position in Washington. Ethel, now Mrs. Richard Derby, lives quietly in Oyster Bay. Except for Alice, whose daughter Paulina is now 6, each of the Roosevelt children has obeyed his father's command for large families to combat "race suicide." Ethel has three living children, a son having died in 1922; her brothers each have four.

In Oyster Bay lives Mrs. Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt. In secluded dignity she is quietly proud of Roosevelts past & present. She recalls that black day in July 1918 when word came that Quentin had been killed in the Air Service in France while Theodore Jr., a major, was wounded and Archibald was recovering from wounds. She knew that if her husband were alive he would say: "Bully! Bully!" at Kermit's acquisition of one of the biggest U. S. shipping groups.

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