Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| Legislature.’ And presently the Assembly gave ‘young Mr. Roosevelt time to think’ by voting not to take up his ‘loose charges.’ |
| “Ridicule, laughter, a ripple—apparently it was all over, except the consequences to the bumptious and dangerous young man which might flow from the cross set against his name in the black books of the ring. |
| “It was a disheartening defeat—almost all of his own party voted against him; the most earnest of those who ventured to support him were Democrats; perhaps half of those who voted with him did so merely because their votes were not needed to beat him. |
| “That night the young man was once more urged to be ‘sensible,’ to ‘have regard to his future usefulness,’ to ‘cease injuring the party.’ He snapped his teeth together and defied the party leaders. And the next day he again rose and again lifted his puny voice and his puny hand against smiling, contemptuous corruption. Day after day he persevered on the floor of the Assembly, in interviews for the press; a few newspapers here and there joined him; Assemblymen all over the State began to hear from their constituents. Within a week |