The Lamar register., 1901-10-09
26h PRESIDENT of the U. S.

N-Sb1-
United States Civil Service Commits
sion. His ability and rugged honesty
in the administration of the affairs of
that office greatly helped to strengthen
his hold on popular regard.
Police CommisSioner in WetO
York.
Roosevelt continued in that office un-
til May 1. 1895. when he resigned to
accept the office of Police Commis-
sioner from Mayor Strong. He found
the administration OF affairs in 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 to
achieve n system of dealing decently with
our homeless poor. Two score years be-
fore the surgeons of the police depart
ment had pointed out that herding them
In the cellars or over the prisons OF police
stations in fostering heaps. and turning
them out hungry at daybreak to beg their
way from door to door. was Indecent and
inhuman. Since then grand 1uries. acad-
emies of medicine, committees on phil-
nnthropic citizens. had attacked the foul
disgrace, but to no purpose. Pestilence
ravnHed the prison lodgings. but stii they
stayed. I know what that fight meant.
for was one of a committee that waEed
1t year after year % and sunerfa poosewait oe,edt
came and destroyed the nuisance IN
night. / remember the caricatures OF
tramps shivering in the cold with whicn
the yellow newspapers pursued MN u.
the time, labelling him the poor man
foe" And I remember being Just ittie
uneasy lest they wound him. and perhaps
make him think he had been hasty, bu.
not he. 1t was only those VINO did NOT
know him who charged him with being
hasty. He thought thing out quickly
yes. that is his way; but he thought IL
out. and. having thought 1t out, suited ac-
ton to his judgment. or the consequences
he didn't think at all. He made sure he
was right. and then went ahead with per-
feet confidence that things would come
out right.
His a dolce TO OeSanixed Labor.
Mr.. Riis says he never saw Roose-
welt to better advantage than when he
once confronted the labor men at their
meeting-plac Clarendon Hall:
The police were all the time having
trouble with strikers and their "pickets.
Roosevelt saw that It 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 I went with him 10 tne
meeting. 1t developed almost immedi-
ately that the labor men had taken
wrong measure of the man. They met him
as a politician playing for points. and
hinted 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
tent asked to meet you. hoping that
we might come to understand one anoth-
er. Remember please, before we go fur-
ther. that the worst injury anyone OF you
cat, do to the cause of labor is to counsel
violence. 1t will also be worse for him
self. Understand distinctly that order
will be kept The police will keep 1t. NOW
we can proceed"
j was never so proud and pleased as
when they applauded him to the echo He
Redeemed with pleasure. for he saw that
the best in them had come out on top.
as he expected 1t would.
Affocked by "yeiiotO" .Net1s-
papers.
1t was of this incident that handle
was first made by Mr.. Roosevelt's enc
mics in and out of the police board
and he had many-to attack him:
1t happened that there was a music
hall in the building in which the labor
men met. The yellow newspapers circu-
lated the lie that he went there on pur-
pose to see the show, and the ridiculous
story was .epeated until actually the
liars persuaded themselves that 1t was So
They would not have been able to under
stand the kind of man they had to DO
with. had they tired. Accordingly they
fell into their own trap. 1t Is tradition
of Mulberry Street that the notorious
Seeley dinner raid was planned by his en-
emies in the department OF whch ne was
the head, in the belief that they woulu
catch Mr.. Roosevelt there. the dinners
we're supposed to be his set"
Some time after that. Mr.. Riis was
in Roosevelt's Office when police Of
fcial of superior rank came in. and re-
uuested a private audience with him:
They stepped aside and the policeman
spoke in an undertone. urging something
strongly. Mr.. Roosevelt listened sud
denly / saw him straighten up as man
recoiIs from something unclean. and dis
miss the other with sharp: No; sir.
don't fight that way" The policeman
went out crestfallen. Roosevelt took two
or three turns about the floor. Struggling
evidently with strong disgust. lie toio