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place, and contesting for it. The one that got it was the other's political enemy, fighting him during the administration. The man who was out tried to destroy the man who was in. These contests between professional office-seekers who claimed to control the negro vote had made the whole subject of federal patronage in the South a public scandal.

These white leaders had not strengthened the Republican party in the South. On the contrary, they had weakened it. The white leaders desired to keep the Republican party a negro party under their control, because they could use the prejudice against the negro to prevent him from seeking office, and leave the whole question of patronage to them.

President Roosevelt's purpose was to change all this and, if possible, make the South as free politically as the North, at least. In the merit system he saw a way to reform the present abuse. He proposed to put the office-seeker from the South to the same test as the office-seeker from the North. He wanted primarily good men for office-holders. He wanted the postmaster named for any town or community to possess the confidence of the people he served. He wanted men

of good ability and good reputation for collectors, marshals and judges. He did not care whether they controlled the negro vote or not. He preferred they should not come with such a claim. He doubted the qualifications of such men for office. He did not propose to ignore the negro in politics. The negroes had been ignored by the men who pretended to lead them, and this the President desired to correct in so far as he was able.

For these reasons he sent for Booker T. Washington. He felt he could trust this man. And the President of the United States and the son of a slave sat for several hours in the White House discussing problems of the greatest importance to future generations of both races. And when they parted the negro bore in his hand an invitation to ex-Governor Thomas Goode Jones, of Alabama, a Democrat, to accept the appointment of a district judgeship.

"If I cannot make the Republican party in the South the dominant party, I can at least make it respectable," the President is reported to have said. "I can appoint good men to office, even though I have to select Democrats." He demanded that the men appointed to federal offices

should be men above reproach, and that their appointments should be made without regard to the race question. Professor Washington told President Roosevelt that he could not recommend a single man for appointment, but he named some men in whom he saw the qualities necessary to the settlement of the grave questions confronting the nation in the South. Those men were Democrats. They had acted with the Democratic party, not because they believed in its national politics, but because they would not act under the leadership of patronage brokers who controlled the Republican organization in their States.

Professor Washington convinced President Roosevelt that some of these men saw the danger to popular government in the present system, and that they were patriotic enough to help him to change it for a better system. The President decided to try and build up a Republican party in the South that should be self-respecting and independent. His first move in that direction was the message to ex-Senator Jones. As soon as he was assured that the appointment would be accepted the President tendered the district judgeship to the patriotic and able citizen of Alabama. In doing this President Roosevelt chal

lenged all the precedents of party, and struck out on new and original lines. Judge Jones's qualifications for the office were of the best, and no complaint could be made on that score. But the fact that President Roosevelt, at the very outset of his administration, should make such a wide departure from the practice previously adhered to, caused great consternation in the camps of the professional politicians, both North and South, and the President was deluged with protests from all quarters. But Mr. Roosevelt took no further heed of this demand of the partisans who still clung to the theory that "to the victors belong the spoils" than he had to the same class of men who appealed to him when he was Police Commissioner of New York. He replied that the merit system was as binding on the President of the United States as on the head of any of the departments, and proceeded in his search for able, honest and sincere men to fill the offices.

President Roosevelt carried into his work at Washington all the tireless industry that had distinguished him in every vocation. He was at his desk at 9:30 in the morning and gave himself no rest until 4:30 in the afternoon, with the exception of a short break at the noon hour, when he

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