Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| looked on, stunned. He did not like that way of making votes. |
| Neither did Mr. Roosevelt. He sent “Jake” Hess home and quit the saloon canvass then and there. Instead he went among his neighbors and appealed to them. The “brownstone” vote came out. “Joe” Murray rubs his hands yet at the thought of it. Such a following he had not dreamed of in his wildest flights. Men worth millions solicited the votes of their coachmen and were glad to get them. Dean Van Amringe peddled tickets with the Columbia professors. Men became suddenly neighbors who had never spoken to one another before, and pulled together for the public good. Murray was charged with trading his candidate off for Astor for Congress; but the event vindicated him triumphantly. Roosevelt ran far ahead of the beaten candidate for Congress. He took his seat in the Legislature, the youngest member in it, just as he is now the youngest President. |
| He was not received with enthusiasm by the old wheel-horses, and the fact did credit to their discernment, if not to their public spirit. I doubt if they would have understood what was |