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CHAPTER IV

MEMBER OF STATE ASSEMBLY

HE year after Roosevelt's graduation at Har

vard was spent in travel and study. During

that period he did some tall mountain-climbing and was admitted to the famous Alpine Club of London, his sponsors being Mr. Bryce and Mr. Buxton, distinguished men who became his lifelong friends. In the fall of 1881 he entered the law school of Columbia College and read law in the office of his uncle, Robert B. Roosevelt. His uncle was a prominent Republican leader with high moral principles, who was chairman of the Citizens' Committee of Seventy, during the fight against Boss Tweed and his "ring." He was a member of the New York City Board of Aldermen, was President of the New York International Association for the Protection of Game and one of the founders of the New York State Fishery Commission. He was United States Minister to the Netherlands and was himself an author. Young Roosevelt, in this highly charged, political atmosphere, with his strong intention to enter public life, soon took his attention away from the college law course and his uncle's office and entered New York City politics at the bottom

of the ladder. His residence was in the 21st assembly district, and he began immediately acquainting himself with the members of the precinct and district committees and engaging in practical work at the primaries.

The 21st assembly district contained a strip along Fifth Avenue, including some of the richest families in the city, and went over into the East Side, including a larger number of the plainer people and those who were under the domination of Tammany Hall. Some of the richest and most intelligent citizens in the Fifth Avenue neighborhood felt that their district had been under bad leadership and under poor representation at Albany; that the baser element was predominant. The ward heelers felt, themselves, that in order to obtain money for the campaigns and the votes of the richer element, it would be better to run a highbrow on their ticket for the assembly. Young Roosevelt, then about twentythree years of age, consented to be a candidate for the Legislature if nominated. Jacob Hess, the district boss, was not friendly to the proposition, but Joe Murray, a rival leader, espoused Roosevelt's cause, and he was nominated.

To launch the campaign, a dinner was given at Delmonico's. Boys from the East Side were not in evidence, the nabobs were out in force. The young candidate read a written address, which occupied a full hour's time, in an emphatic but not inspirational manner, but he laid down rock-bottom facts. He arraigned in detail the evils in the municipality, State and nation. He told what the remedies should be. He said that if they were to elect him he would do his very best to check, in the city and State, evils that were so apparent. Persons who were there said that

in every essential act Roosevelt's public life from that day till his death was the unfolding of the principles of justice, truth, right, mercy, love and a courageous warfare against wrong, which he laid down as a chart in his speech that night.

Politics in New York have always been corrupt enough, but they were singularly so when young Roosevelt entered the fight for the Legislature. Not only the conventions of Tammany Hall, but of the Republicans as well, were held over saloons, and the saloonkeepers, as a rule, were the political bosses and very often political candidates. Young Roosevelt was told by his rich neighbors that politics were so rotten that he could not afford to spoil himself in a political canvass; that the Republican leaders were saloonkeepers, street car drivers and the like; and his reply was, "If you men of education, culture, wealth and religious professions have no more interest in your own government than to let such men rule you, you deserve to be misruled and are largely responsible before God and man for the corruption of the city politics."

The leaders took the young candidate into the saloon neighborhood of the East Side to confer with the boys. Valentine Young, a saloonkeeper, said, "Mr. Roosevelt, if you are elected, we liquor dealers will expect you to do fairly by us." He answered promptly, “If I am elected, I expect to deal fairly with all my constituents." The man said, "Our license is too high, and we expect if you are elected that you will reduce it considerably." He said, "My friend, your license is far too low, and if I am elected you may expect me to use my influence in raising it." Jake Hess and Joe Murray drew him one side and told him he had better go back on Fifth Avenue and take care of the