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Roosevelt's stumping the State in his own behalf. But the people wanted to see the Rough Rider and refused to show any enthusiasm for other speakers. It soon became apparent that if there was to be any rousing of the hosts" in the campaign Colonel Roosevelt would have to do the rousing and the consent of the committee was reluctantly given for the candidate to make a tour of the State. The meetings that followed were a surprise to the oldest campaigners. The general apathy that had existed in the opening days of the campaign changed to the wildest enthusiasm. Colonel Roosevelt, by nature forceful, direct, and theatrical in his manner and method, went backward and forward, up and down New York, accompanied by a few of his Rough Riders, dressed in their khaki uniforms. These cowboys made speeches, telling usually how much they thought of their Colonel, and recounting incidents illustrative of his kindness, good-fellowship, camaraderie and brave deeds. The tour was one of the most successful political ventures ever attempted in New York State, and gave the party managers a new conception of the man who seemed destined to win in spite of them. Colonel Roosevelt was elected over

Augustus Van Wyck, candidate on the Democratic ticket, and the scion of another old Dutch family, by a plurality of about seventeen thousand votes.

In his conduct of the governorship Colonel Roosevelt was often at odds with Senator Platt and the leaders of the party in the State. But while he made demands on them that would have caused active rebellion with a less pronounced character in the chair, no open breach occurred and the Governor was able to carry through many measures on which he had set his heart. He nominated men of his own selection for the Department of Public Works-which had been the source of great scandal,-and for Adjutant-General and Surrogate of New York county. These men These men were selected for their special fitness to correct the evils in the office to which they were appointed, and were given the places against the claims of the party leaders' choice for the same positions. Efforts to secure the passage of a bill to improve the Civil Service in the State and to change the police system in New York city were fathered by Governor Roosevelt. While president of the Police Board of that city he had discovered that the

legislation secured by the machine politicians immediately after the new board was appointed to office, under the name of the "bi-partisan" or Lexow law, was designed to make it difficult for that board to get effective action. It modeled the government of the police force somewhat on the lines of the Polish parliament, providing for a four-headed board, so that it was difficult to get a majority, anyhow. "But," declares the author of "American Ideals," "lest we should get such a majority, it gave each member power to veto the actions of his colleagues in certain very important matters; and, lest we should do too much when we were unanimous, it provided that the chief of police, our nominal subordinate, should have entirely independent action in the most important matters, and should be practically irremovable, except for proved corruption; so that he was responsible to nobody. The mayor was similarly hindered from removing any Police Commissioner, so that when one of our colleagues began obstructing the work of the board, and thwarting its efforts to improve the force, the mayor strove in vain to turn him out. In short there was a complete divorce of power and responsibility, and it was exceedingly diffi

cult either to do anything, or to place anywhere the responsibility for not doing it."

In Governor Roosevelt's endeavor to secure legislation which should remedy this mistake, and so further the efforts of the Police Board instead of being a hindrance to them, he was seconded by Senator Platt, who pushed the measures, but through the dereliction of Republican Senators the bills failed of passage. It was the hope that he might work these and other important reforms that made Governor Roosevelt so anxious for a second term and prompted him to fight so hard against being nominated for the vice-presidency later on. In fact he declared openly when that purpose was suggested that he would rather retire to private life than to be vice-president, qualifying that statement by saying "that he wished sincerely to be reëlected Governor of New York because there were things to be done there that he felt he could, and ought to do."

Among the achievements of Governor Roosevelt while Governor, was that of reforming the administration of the canals, making the Canal Commission non-partisan, and the application of the merit system in county offices. But the

measure that awakened the fiercest opposition, both without and within his party, was one intended to make the great corporations of the State pay their share of the general taxation. By a special message he induced the legislature in 1899, at the end of the session, to pass an act taxing as real estate the values of railroad and other franchises to use public streets. Corporations and Republican leaders protested, but the Governor said he would sign the bill as it stood unless they could improve it without destroying its essential features.

The fight over this measure was one of the most remarkable in the annals of legislation. Never was greater pressure brought to bear upon a body of men to force them to defeat an act that, in its every essential, attempted to place a fair and honest division of the burdens of the State upon rich and poor alike. But the great corporations had so long, through the use of an immense corruption fund, been able to escape anything like just taxation, that an effort to force them to pay their share for the protection afforded them by the Government seemed to them like an encroachment on their rights. To attempt the passage of a bill that antagonized all