Roosevelt pointed out that it is not hard for a man to be good if
he lives entirely by himself. Nor is it difficult for him to get
things done, if he is careless about right and wrong. The hard
thing, yet the one which must be demanded of the public man, is to
get useful things done, and to keep straight all the while. When
Roosevelt was elected Governor, John Hay, the Secretary of State,
wrote to him:
"You have already shown that a man may be absolutely honest and
yet practical; a reformer by instinct and a wise politician;
brave, bold and uncompromising, and yet not a wild ass of the
desert. The exhibition made by the professional independents in
voting against you for no reason on earth except that somebody
else was voting for you, is a lesson that is worth its cost."
[Footnote: "Autobiography," p. 296.]
The year 1900 was the year of a Presidential election. Mr.
McKinley was to run again on the Republican ticket, and later it
appeared that Mr. Bryan would oppose him again, as he had in 1896.
The Republican Vice-President, Mr. Hobart, had died in office, so
the Republicans had to find someone to go on the ticket with
President McKinley. Roosevelt was mentioned for the office, and
Platt warmly agreed, hoping to get him out of New York politics.
Roosevelt, at first, refused to consider an office which has more
dignity than usefulness about it.
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