Anadarko daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 1901-190?, 1902-06-03

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 CommiSSfoner n .NetO
York.
Roosevelt continued in that office un-
til May /, 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 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 Juries, acad-
emies of medicine, committees on phil
anthropic citizens, had attacked the foul
disgrace. but to no purpose. Pestilence
stayed. 1 know what that fight meant,
for was one of a committee that waged
II year after year, and suffered deteat
every time, until Theodore Roosevelt
came and destroyed the nuisance IN
night. / remember the caricatures OF
tramps shverng In the cold with whlch
the yellow newspapers pursued him at
the time labelling him the poor man
foe" And l remember being Just a lttle
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 beihs
| hasty He thought thing out quickly
J yes, that is his way; but he thought II
| out and. having thought 1t out, suited ac-
| ton to his judgment. OF 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 10 OrSdnfzed Labor.
Mr. Riis says ho never saw Roose'
welt to better advantage than when he
once confronted the labor men at their
meeting-place, Clarendon Hall:
The police were all the time having
trouble with strikers and their "pickets.
| Roosevelt saw that II 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 II over with them'
At his request l went with him to- the
meeting. 1t developed almost tmmedi-
| ately that the labor men had taken a
wrong measu of the man. They met him
as a politician playing for points, ana
hinted at trouble unless their demands
were met. Mr.. Roosevelt broke them on
short:
"Gentlemenr' he sald-with that snar
Il 81, VIat a1x. 90 ma nnOnln
ten-'I asked to meet you, hoping tha'
we might come to understand one anoth-
| er. Remember. please, before we go tur'
ther, that the worst injury anyone of YOU
can do to the cause OF labor is to counse
violence. 1t will also be worse for him
self. Understand distinctly that ordei
will be kept. The police will keep II. Nov
we can proceed"
/ was never so proud and pleased a.
when they applauded him to the echo. HI
Redeemed with pleasure, for he saw ina
the best In them had come out on top
; as he expected II would
Attracted by "ysfIotO" NesOS
papers.
1t was of this incident that handl
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 music
{ hall in the building in which the labo
- men met The yellow newspapers circu
o | lated the lie that he went there on pui
| pose to see the show, and the ridiculou
story was repeated until actually tn
9 liars persuaded themselves that II was 81
[ | They would not have been able 10 under
q | stand the kind of man they had TO d
with, had they tired. Accordingly the
fell into their own trap. II Is a traditio
OF Mulberry Street that the notoriou
a Seeley dinner raid was planned by his eI
;. emies In the department OF which he wa
the head, in the belief that they woul
: catch Mr.. Roosevelt there. The dinnel
;. were supposed to be his set
e Some time after that, Mr.. Riis VIZ
e in Roosevelt's Office when police o
Il 6cial Of superior rank came in, and r
d uuested private audience with hin
s They stepped aside and the policemf
II smoke in an undertope, urging somethir
:, strongly. Mr.. Roosevelt listened. SUI
u denly / saw him straighten up az ma
d reooils from something unclean, and di
Y miss the other with sharp mo, sirl
. don't fight that way" The policemi
went out crestfailen. Roosevelt took ~
y or three turns about the floor, strugglii
Ie evidently with strong disgust lie 70