Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| a polite answer, as he was in duty bound, that he would not; but he had received it, all of it, and the results were not long in showing themselves. 1 For days the cables had groaned under guarded threats of what would happen if we tried to send the petition over, and that was what happened! |
| Perhaps it is in a measure this very unexpectedness—more pity that it is unexpected—of method that is no method, but just common honesty, that has got abroad among people the notion that he is a man of impulse, not of deliberate, thoughtful action. More of it, probably, is due to his quick energy that sizes things up with marvelous speed and accuracy. In any event, it is an error which any one can make out for himself, if he will merely watch attentively what is going on, and what has been going on since Roosevelt came prominently into the public eye. What position did he ever take hastily that had to be abandoned, ready as he would have been to quit it had he been shown that he was wrong? He shut the saloons as Police Commissioner, since the law he had |