, 1901-10-10
26h PRESIDENT of The u. S.

cabin, and for several years mingled
tine life OF a ranchman with that of a
literary worker. From Lis front door
he could shoot deer. and the mountains
round him were full of big game.
Amid such surroundings he wrote
some of his most popular books. He
became a daring horseman and a rival
of the cowboys in feats of skill and
strength. In 1886 Mr.. Roosevelt was
the Republican candidate for Mayor
against Abram S. Hewitt, United
Democracy, and Henry George, United
Labor. Mr.. Hewitt was elected by
about twenty-five thousand plurality.
In 1889 Roosevelt was appointed by
President Harrison a member of the
United States Civil Service Commits
sion. His ability n rugged honesty
in the administration of the affairs of
that office greatly helped to strengthen
his hold on popular regard.
Police ComniSsioner in Metz
York.
Roosevelt continued in that office I'M
til May 1, 1895. when he resigned to
accept the Office OF Police Commits
sioner from Mayor Strong. He found
the administration of affairs in a de-
moralized condition, but he soon
brought order out of chaos. Says james
A. Riis, who is an intimate friend OF
President Roosevelt:
We had been trying for forty years 70
achieve a system of dealing decently win
our homeless poor. Two score years pe-
fore. the surgeons of the police oepal.,
NAV had -N-tAl N,,t that har1inR IntItl
in the cellars or over the prisons OF poice
stations in fostering heaps. ana tur,ins
them out hungry at daybreak to Deg 'hel
way from door to door. was indecent anu
inhuman. Since then grand juries, acau-
emies of medicine, committees on pm,
anthropic citizens. had attacked the toui
disgrace. but to no purpose. Pestiehee
ravaged the prison lodgings. but sun thes
stayed. I know what that hght MEAN,
for l was one of a committee that wageo
1t year after year, and suffered delea.
every time, until Theodore Roosevelt
came and destroyed the nuisance IN u
night. / remember the caricatures
tramps shivering in the cold with Whicn
the yellow newspapers pursued him az
the time, labelling him the poor man.
foe" And l remember being Just a little
uneasy lest they wound him. and perhaps
make him think he had been hasty. But
not he. 1t was only those who did not
know him who charged him with being
Nasty hiN a f''''S
yes. that is his way; but he thought IL
out, and. having thought 1t out. suited ac-
ton to his Judgment. OF the consequences
he didn't think at all. He made sure ne
was right. and then went ahead with per-
feet confidence that things would come
out right.
His AdDice TO Organized Labor.
Mr.. Riis says he never saw Roose-
welt to better advantage than when he
once confronted the abor men at their
meeting place. Clarendon Hall:
The police were all the time having
trouble with strikers and their "pickets.
Roosevelt saw that 1t was because neith-
er party understood fully the position OF
the other. and, with his usual directness,
sent word to the labor organizations that
he would like to talk 1t over with them.
At his request ] went with him to the
meeting. 1t developed almost immedi-
ately that the labor men had taken a
wrong measure of the man. They met him
as "a politician playing for points, and
limited at trouble unless their demands
were met. Mr.. Roosevelt broke them on
short:
Gentlemen he said-with that snap
of the Jaws that always made people lis
ten-'I asked to meet you, hoping that
we might come to understand one anoth-
err. Remember. please. before we go fur
Their, that the worst injury anyone OF you
can do to the cause of labor is to counsel
violence. 1t viii also be worse for him
self. Understand distinctly that order
will be kept. The police will keep 1t. Now
we can proceed"
l was never so proud and pleased as
when they ayplauded him to the echo. He