Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| they thought—till Roosevelt heard of it at the meeting. Then and there he got up and said what he thought of it. It was not complimentary to the conspirators. They were there as Republicans, as American citizens, he said, to work together for better things on the basis of being decent. The proposition to exclude a man because he was a Jew was not decent. For him, the minute race and creed were brought into the club, he would quit, and at once. |
| “He flayed them as I never heard a body of men flayed in my life,” said my informant. “Roosevelt was pale with anger. The club sat perfectly still under the lashing. When he sat down amid profound silence, the vote was taken. There were no black balls. The Jew never knew how narrowly he missed getting in.” He had a chance to vote for Roosevelt three times for the Legislature in settlement of the account he did not know he owed, and I hope he did. |
| When Mr. Roosevelt’s third term was out, he had earned a seat in the National council of his party. He went to Chicago in 1884 as a delegate to the convention which nominated |