The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1912-10-22
R0OSEVELT'S
PROGRESSIVE
PLATFORM
Says Present Position is Result of
Life Long Battle Against Cor
ruptiOn in Politics


views. That is what the Progress
sive movement means. The two
generations thought differently.
Progressivism is the thought of
new generation. Hardly one of us
Progressives but is in a sense a con-
vert we all did conscientiously, in
those days, something or other which
we would shudder to contemplate
now, said Col Roosevelt, the other
day.
Didn't Want to be a Mollycoddle
When first thought about public
life. saw the two political organi-
cations hard and fast in the hands of
gang. You know the old system.
When | told my regular associates
hat was going to join my district
club, they objected mildly-not be-
cause | was going to mix with cor
rupt gang. but because | was going
out of nv own crowd. AS a matter
of fact, when | joined my district
club, when went into the National
Guard, had no more definite idea
of real public service than when |
went West ranching. | was doingit
becausel wanted to save myself
from being mollycoddle.
Il remember with how much
courage, and how little common
sense, fought in the State Legisla-
ture against the reform of the con-
yict contract labor system. | hon
estly thought was right. 1t was
better that the conVicts should be
kept busy. and the contractors,
felt, would treat themright. When
the labor leaders came to me and pre-
sented their side, | couldn't see it at
all.
Saw General Corruption
But | got my first lesson there.
| saw first-hand the general corrup.
ton in state legislature under the
old system. That was before the
Boss reached his highest power; each
member of the corrupt element was
getting his own bit for himself.
Money was being passed on all sides
of me. couldn't exactly prove it
in court, but privately | knew it. |
saw bill affecting a corporation
held up because the corporation
wasn't comirgl through strongly
enough. saw their lobbyist arrive
from New York with thesack-after
which the billswent through.
They put me on the commission
tolnvestigate aforementioned tobacco
manufacture-and that was thenext
step, suppose. We had connected
with that work a man tied up to one
of the old crowds-a heller, regu-
Iar wara politician, but sometimes
right in his heart, as such man is
likely to be. He said to me, Those
conditions are awful, but | can't
touch them; I'm all tied up. Now,
you're free You go ahead and show
item up. Well, he was right. Con-
ditions were awful. Thepeople lived
and worked four deep in little tene-
ment rooms-starved, diseased and
worn out with long hours and low
pay. | went to the bottom of the
thing, as | thought then. / found
that some of the most eminently res
p actable people in New York owned
those tenements. And all that |
learned in the investigation and in
the fight topass a decent law knocked
my laissez faire theories into a cooked
hat. However you might work it
out in theory, it was failure in prac-
tice. Could those poor fellows get
out and do something else? Practi-
cally, no. The frontier was gone,
and in the condition to which they
were reduced, they weren't the kind
Of people to go pioneering.
That's the set of ideas which |
Drought with me into the Civil Ser
vice Commission and the Police Com
And by that time | was on
he road to real understanding of
social Service. 1t was Jacob Riis
Who set me on the right track. |
lad read his stories about real con-
1itions in New York; and / said to
him, Let's get in and work together.
let's dosomething to make this real
Where He First Saw Light
i became Governor of New York.
There was where / began to see light.
ran against what we ugad to cal1