Roosevelt, at Harvard, knew that he must augment his private
income after graduation. The estate of his father, who died on
February 9, 1878, had to be divided among the four children.
Theodore's share cannot be stated with exactness, but in 1880 it prob-
ably provided between $7,500 and $10,000 a year. During his days in
the New York legislature, and while he was Civil Service Commissioner,
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Vice-president, Roosevelt was al-
ways mildly embarrassed for funds.

This was partly because he was reckless in personal financial matters.
In later years Edith Carow, whom he married in 1886, effected salutary
fiscal reforms, but at first Roosevelt was decidedly improvident. He
drew checks light-heartedly until a distracted bank cashier notified him
that he had no more funds. He cheerfully invested, out of his com-
paratively small resources, $20,000 for a limited partnership in G. P.
Putnam's Sons. He felt that he wanted to be a publisher.

"He never had any idea where his money went," recalled Major
George Haven Putnam. "When he came to us as partner, he gave me a
check for $20,000. . . . The check came back from the bank and the
clerks said that he had only about half enough cash to meet it." ¹

Fortunately he had an uncle, James A. Roosevelt, who was a banker.
On this occasion, Mr. Roosevelt borrowed on his nephew's expectations
to meet the overdraft. But as a financier should, he viewed all invest-
ments with a skeptical eye, and so he must have been much more irri-
tated by another obligation incurred by the spendthrift Theodore. In
September, 1883, on his first visit to the Dakota Bad Lands, Theodore
paid $14,000 for a share in a cattle ranch. ² Most of the cattle died dur-
ing the bitter winter of 1886-87. ³

It would have been necessary in any case for Roosevelt to supple-
ment his income: "I had enough to get bread. What I had to do, if I

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