The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-25
HIS FIRST EXPERIENCE
SOON PROVED THAT HE WAS BY
 NO MEANS A BOY.
When Roosevelt Entered Assembly Was Very Much the Same Then as He is Now as
 President.

-
 Brooklyn Eagle,
 Theodore Roosevelt was a very young man when he entered the Assembly ol the State as a member from the city or New York Barely A years oI age, ne little more than a year. short trip to Europe after graduation, he returned t2 make his plunge into the seething pool of Republican politics.
 sition on the part of the seasoned polt- clans who. for the most part made up the Assembly, to regard nm as DO! who was playing at legislation, an aristo- crat who was bending in his opinion to contact with canaille, or. one or limited capacity whose social connections and wealth had made him Tn the nanuS ol Republican managers an experiment;
 The season had not Tar advanced pe- fore all of these judgments were reversed. He was not boy playing at anything. He took himself and the work he was put to do seriously and he had ideas on which he was firmly based. lie was not alls.o M cratic, but ranged himseit as repIesen- tative of the people, quite wilhhg to tha ac cept every other man in the Dody the same and before the session was over IL was apparent that those who had peer responsible for his political deout ha1 pretty we'll measured ms aninues a'to to that his nomination was que less to wealth and social distinction than to hls | own activity in the primary branches ol | ol ganization. ..,., n | legislator. he was the leader of the ma, | iority of the Assembly, position ne nau | not secured by favor. put hao VIII oii iai, by. energy, by display oL aDiiity ;s;,,a,n. dau by the exercise of those fighting abilities as to which the whole country now mas no doubt, as ever man won ms place i'i | that body where favor goes ieasl o'
 kissing. .. fave | if they are frank, will admit that Wnil-
 they probably did not dream ol .a uRe h.sn | distinctions to be his in after lire, As | semblyman Roosevelt was very mucii l the same individual that Governor and | Vice President Roosevelt, In these Ialt | omces broader, larger deeper alu o, n,or ' l mellow but in those days or the i saIiis | pugnacity and of the same. boundless | irdustry' sensitive to every single tnlne
 that would concern the American Slll l zen. The same democracy olslihsuisheu | him then as now ,., d.,
 The writer of these lines sat With mn | at the same table in the restaurant o
 the hotel at which he lived during tnS
 greater part of his legislative llte anc
 carries to this day the agreeable i'm
 pressions of his vrility. his buoyanc.
 and his intense interest Tn the dhar' of the world. .,.o ..oal, fast table with all the morning papers O 7 New York and while waiting the servlc of the breakfast he had ordered to eX | hauSttvely run over these papotS' ;,'
 to the floor each one as he had finished | 1t opened until his chair was nearly GOV
 cred with them But by the tiile lIi
 breakfast was served he had apsorne' | everything and was not only wiling ou
 eager to discuss their contents with an!
 one of his table companions, all the nor delighted if controversy was the result.
 Those companions learned: 100. that
 was not we'll relying on the apparen
 hasty way in which he had gone througl
 the Journals, to dispute his knoWledge o their contents, for nothing seemed to es | cape him. oenized as a formidable foe who entere
 into every controversy ana denate Wltl all the ardor of Scotch terrier whic in those days he resembled, and wit
 all it's pugnacity and snappishness. Per sonally he secured the good will Of hl i trother members. even those who wer g antithetical to all that made up ms pc culiar personality.
 In 1884 he originated some important leg islation affecting the city ot New 1orN One was the wiping out or the connrm
 ing power of the Board of Aldermen, an
 other making the feed offices of the cit and county salaried; others relating | , the Commissioner of Public Works. the the basic foundation stone Of a grea , noIiticaI orsa nization in the city, to tn
 corporation counsel and the Board of Al dermen. There was another relating | the Bureau of Elections But the latte l, one was lost OF it's way through tn
 houses The others, however, were al carried successfully to the executiv
 chamber and constituted the grea achievement of his legislative career. One of them. that relating to the Com missioner of Public Works. was as tn apple of his eye The former Presiden Cleveland was then Governor and the on
 bill Assemblyman Roosevelt regarde'
 with the greatest affection found ht'l
 favor with him. He contended that tn
 bill as enacted did not accomplish wha
 1t was intended to do. but baleful results
 He determined to veto it though signing
 the others. Mir. Roosevelt went as
 delegate from the city of New York t'
 Chicago, to that Republican Nationa turning. he stopped off at Albany t
 learn the fate of his bills. which were il
 the thirty day class, and meeting. an ac bill was in. Insisting that his acouaint
 ance should accompany him to the ex
 ecutive chamber. Fe went thither in al effort to save it. He didn't The bill wa
 formed about the executive deek note which is the reason of telling thi story.
 Fou" were gathered at that desk. Gov l ernor Cleveland. Assemhlvn1an Roosevelt
 Private Secretary Lamont and one of n
 i"1nHrt9nc" and mere observer Bi that observer looks back at it as mos
 notable group, in view of the fact tha in it were two Presidents of the Unite' States and ono high Cabinet officer. II view of thu fact that there were thel l gible to the Presidency. that in a srouI l Of faces brought together in the eXigen Ctes of State hurineSs one-h half was des z tined t0 the high office Is certainly re
 markab1e.
 And these two Presidents in embyro ! both strong, cCmhativn men. argued thi qu' 'stion from their different standpoin most vi"orouslv. each indifferent as t. the effects upon themselves. and both de slring to seek the right end. Over on the shadow of the nr residential nomina
 ticn was inst protected. Over the oth
 tho nc ssihiitv of the title was as remot