Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| his writings, when you look back now! There would be obstacles, he wrote. “Let him make up his mind that he will have to face the violent opposition of the spoils politician, and also, too often, the unfair and ungenerous criticism of those who ought to know better.… Let him fight his way forward, paying only so much regard to both as is necessary to help him to win in spite of them. He may not, and indeed probably will not, accomplish nearly as much as he would like to, or as he thinks he ought to; but he will certainly accomplish something.” He settled down courageously to the fight that was his own prescription. And when it was over, this was the judgment passed upon his administration in the “Review of Reviews” by Dr. Albert Shaw, than whom there is no fairer, more clear-headed critic of public events in the country: “He found the State administration thoroughly political; he left it businesslike and efficient. He kept thrice over every promise that he made to the people in his canvass. Mr. Roosevelt so elevated and improved the whole tone of the State administration and so effectually educated his party and public opinion generally, that future governors |