He may have seen the tour as an opportunity to observe and understand forces he needed to contend with.

What is documented is that he found the experience of Eastern American cities and the poverty he saw there disturbing.

He is reported to have expressed surprise and distress at the existence of severe poverty in the midst of the wealth displayed in American cities — an observation that his traveling companions noted as characteristic of the way he thought about social obligation and the proper relationship between people of different circumstances.

His relationship with Annie Oakley, the show’s star sharpshooter, was one of the more genuinely warm personal connections of the tour.