It is a graveyard for
reputations, and it was that in 1895, when Roosevelt took charge
of the New York Police, even more than to-day.
Between the unreasonable reformers, who expect perfection, arrived
at in their own way; the sensible folk who demand an honest
government; the lax and easy-going people who do not care how much
rottenness there is about, so that it is kept partly covered up
(and this is one of the largest classes) and the plain criminals
who are out for graft and plunder, the city office-holder is torn
in a dozen ways at once.
If he is dishonest or weak, he goes under immediately. If he is
honest, but lacking in perfect courage, he is nearly useless. And
if he is both honest and brave, but has not good brains, is not
able to use his mind quickly and well, he is either helpless, or
soon placed in a position where he seems to have been
dishonorable. For, of course the first method which a crooked man
uses to destroy his honest opponent, is to try to make him look
crooked, too. Often during his life Roosevelt insisted upon the
fact that a man in public life must not only be honest, but that
he must have a back-bone and a good head into the bargain.
Nothing but a sense of public duty, nothing but a desire to help
the cause of better government, could have made a man take the
Police Commissionership in 1895. Mayor Strong, on a Reform ticket,
had beaten Tammany Hall.
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