The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (169 page)

75.
Ib., Aug. 24, 1894; Lod.134; Mor.399. For a further description of this hunting trip, see Mor.410–11. TR to HCL, Oct. 11, 1894 (LOD.).

76.
TR to B, Oct. 22, 1894; Mor.400.

77.
Mor.8.1433.

78.
Ib.

79.
Ib., 410; HCL to his mother, Dec. 9, 1894 (LOD.); see Mor.418–9 and ff.; ib., 417.

80.
Ib.; see p. Ch. 5; also Put.241. TR’s letter of reply has not survived, but its contents can be inferred from his supplementary letters to Carl Shurz and Jacob Riis (Mor.418–20).

81.
Ib., 417–20.

82.
Ib., 428.

83.
Gar.180; see Samuels, Ernest,
Henry Adams: The Major Phase
(Harvard, 1964) 164 ff.

84.
Mor.426.

85.
Ib., 433. The date of this first meeting with Kipling has been the subject of some confusion, since Mor.370 puts TR’s letter describing the occasion (a dinner at the Bellamy Storers’) in 1894, and Kipling, in
Something of Myself
(London, 1936) 131, vaguely remembers it as 1896. The correct date—March 7, 1895—is made obvious by other references in TR’s letters. See, e.g., Mor.433, 436, 439

86.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
(1970) 13.382.

87.
Mor.370.

88.
Ib., 448, 439; Kipling,
Something
, 131–3.

89.
Mor.247; TR.Wks.IX contains the text of
Hero Tales
.

90.
Wis.40.

91.
Manchester
(NH)
Telegram
, Feb. 11, 1895 (TR.Scr.).

92.
Ib.; Storer, Mrs. Bellamy,
In Memoriam Bellamy Storer
(privately printed, 1923) 22. This was, of course, the era of “red-meat” football—infinitely more bloody than anything seen today. Eye-gouging and multiple fractures, sustained in real on-field fights, were
routine. Football grew redder and meatier until TR himself, as President, was revulsed and called for reforms. See “Walter Camp,”
American Heritage
, XI.6, Oct. 1961.

93.
See Mor.437, 9.

94.
Ib.

95.
Ib., 442.

96.
Ib., 444. Sageser, A. Bower, “The First Two Decades of the Pendleton Act,” Nebraska U. Studies, Vols. 34–35 (1934–35) prints a table showing the growth of the classified system under Commissioner TR. Opinions of the latter’s effectiveness in office vary widely. Leonard D. White in
The Republican Era, 1869–1901
(Macmillan, 1958) points out that for all TR’s boasts about doubling the classified service, the service as a whole was growing so fast that the number of patronage positions
increased
steadily through the rest of the century. He allows, however, that the Roosevelt team was “one of the strongest commissions in the whole history” of the CSC. TR’s genius for publicity was, in the opinion of this author, his greatest contribution to the good gray cause. See the
Civil Service Chronicle
of May 1895, which praises his ability to throw dazzling light on the hitherto shady patronage practices of professional politicians. Through his courage and his flamboyance, he had spread “an educational process … across the country,” resulting in a general desire for reforms in all areas of public business. “He is the only man in the Harrison Administration who has won permanent national fame.” The view of the CSC itself expressed in
Letters of TR, Civil Service Commissioner
(Washington, 1958) 125, is unequivocal: “Theodore Roosevelt probably contributed more to the development and extension of the civil service than any other person in the history of the United States.”

97.
Gardiner, A. G.,
Pillars of Society
(London, 1913), 238.

98.
TR to B, June 17, 1895; Cha.204.

99.
Theodore Roosevelt Association,
Journal
, Winter/Spring 1976; Cut.34.

100.
Sun
, June?, 1889 (TR.Scr.). TR used to joke that the real reason he came to Washington was his “desire to mingle with members of the Cosmos Club and discuss with them congenial topics.” (Ib.)

101.
Kipling,
Something
, 132; Kipling qu. Tha.II.333.

1.
The following description of Mulberry Street is based on pictures and text in
Shepp’s New York City Illustrated
(Globe, Philadelphia, 1894);
King’s Handbook of New York
, 1893; Scrapbooks, “Mulberry Street,” in the New York Public Library; Riis, Jacob,
The Making of an American
(NY, 1902)
passim;
Ste. 197–265.

2.
New York Evening Post
, May 6, 1895.

3.
Ste.257; see also
Eve. Post
, May 6, 1895; AND.30–3.

4.
Ib.

5.
Eve. Post
, May 6, 1895. Physical descriptions taken from sketches in
World
, May 7; group portrait in
Review of Reviews
, May 20; various other pors. in TRB. Personal details from AND.16, 30–1; AND.Scr. For more on Grant, see Perling, I. J.,
Presidents’ Sons
(New York, 1947), 178–79.

6.
Ste.257–8; Brant, Donald Birtley, Jr., “TR as New York City Police Commissioner,” unpublished dissertation (Princeton, 1964) in TRB, 10; AND.32.

7.
Andrews quoted Steffens’s story verbatim in his memoirs. One of the Republican members was by courtesy entitled to the presidency, since the appointing Mayor was of that party. According to Steffens in the
Post
that evening, Grant announced that he
wanted the honor to go to TR; this was obviously at Strong’s request.

8.
TR qu. Ber.47. Berman observes that such a statement at such a time, coming from so prominent a public figure, “clearly marked a radical departure” from old-style Police Headquarters policies. The hopes that it raised among reformers, however, were dashed by passage of the Bi-Partisan Police Act. (See below.)

9.
Richardson, James F.,
The New York Police: Colonial Times to 1901
(Oxford U. Press, 1970) 244. See ib. 214 ff., and the more recent scholarship of Ber. 35–41, for background to this bill.

10.
TR was, by virtue of his sweeping investigation of the city government in 1884, intimately familiar with all phases of police operation. See, e.g., his “Machine Politics in New York City,” (1886) in TR.Wks.XII.30. “Polish” quote from ib., 123.

11.
Ber.35–36; TR.wks.XII.123. TR and his three colleagues and the Chief all earned the same salary: $5,000
(New York Times
, May 7, 1895). Richardson,
Police
, 212; AND.35;
New York Herald
and
World
, May 28.

12.
Ber.51; Ste.221.

13.
Richardson,
Police
, 210; Ber.51.

14.
AND.7.

15.
Ib., 19; 8; Ste.254;
King’s Handbook; Shepp’s NYC
, 410 ff; New York State,
Report and Proceedings of the Senate Committee Appointed to Investigate the Police Department of the City of New York
(Albany, 1895, reprinted Arno/
N.Y.T.
, 1971) 28 ff.

16.
Sun
, May 12, 1895;
Shepp’s NYC
, 413;
Report
, 49; AND.7; TR.Wks.XIII. 119; TR.Auto. 178.

17.
Report
, 29; AND.7.

18.
Report, 1–76;
Ber.23–29; Brant, “TR, PC,” 5;
Shepp’s NYC
, 410–3.

19.
AND.11.

20.
TR.Wks.XIII. 119.

21.
Report
, 16;
Shepp’s NYC
, 413; AND.11.

22.
Ste.256.

23.
AND.18–9, 141 ff; see also
Trib.
, May 23, 1895, on former election corruption.

24.
Richardson,
Police
, 231; AND.13;
Report
, 16–19.

25.
The Lexow Committee asserted that “honest elections had no existence, in fact, in the city of New York.” Qu. Richardson,
Police
, 233. Myers, Gustavus,
The History of Tammany Hall
(NY, 1901) 333; Connable, Alfred, and Silverfarb, Edward,
Tigers of Tammany
(NY, 1967) 197–214;
Report
, 15–61; AND.10.

26.
Steffens,
Autobiography
, 258.

27.
Ib.

28.
Riis,
Making
, 70–3.

29.
Rii.131; Riis,
Making
, 328; TR.Auto.174.
“How the Other Half Lives
had been to me both an enlightenment and an inspiration,” TR wrote in ib. “… I wished to help him in any practical way to try to make things a little better. I have always had a horror of words that are not translated into deeds, of speech that does not result in action.”

30.
Riis,
Making
, 328.

31.
See Kaplan, Justin,
Lincoln Steffens
(Simon & Schuster, 1974) 57; Steffens,
Autobiography
, 223.

32.
See Stein, Harry H., “Theodore Roosevelt and the Press: Lincoln Steffens,”
Mid-America
, 54.2 (Apr. 1972). This essay convincingly demonstrates TR’s mastery of the media by providing a documented case history of his dealings with one reporter over a long period. After TR became President, he ignored Steffens for two years, until the journalist became nationally famous; he then took him up again, manipulating him with consummate skill and no little hypocrisy. Stein’s essay should be read as an antidote to the Steffens
Autobiography
, which suggests that the author had a powerful influence on TR.

33.
Ste.258;
Eve. Post
, May 6, 1895.

34.
Ib.; Richardson,
Police
, 249; New York City Police Department,
Minutes of the Board, 1895–7
(TRB) 1–2.

35.
World
, May 10, 1895;
Evening World
, same date;
World
, May 11;
Journal
, May 17;
World
, May 17.

36.
World
, May 22, 1895. The
Journal
, May 21, noted “the constant splurge made over what Mr. Roosevelt does or says.” Also AND.
6
7–9.

37.
See, e.g., Ste.261–2.
N.Y.T.
, July 21, 1895.

38.
World
, May 17, 1895. No other explanation of TR’s scar has ever been offered. It shows up clearly in numerous photographs.

39.
Eve. Sun
, May 8, 1895.

40.
Ib.;
Sun
, June 27, 1896, quoting TR.

41.
TR to HCL, May 18, 1895 (LOD.).

42.
Mor.457.

43.
N.Y.T.
, July 23, 1895.

44.
Miss Minnie Gertrude Kelly is insinuatingly described in the
World
, May 10, 1895, as “young, small, and comely, with raven-black hair and … a close-fitting gown.” TR’s motives in hiring her were of the highest, however. She was to “take the place of two men employed by the previous President, at a saving of $1,200 a year.” Apparently the arrival of Miss Kelly, a family friend of the Roosevelts and a protégée of Joe Murray, “quite took the breath out of the old stagers in the Mulberry Street barracks.” Hitherto headquarters staff had been exclusively male. (Ib.)

45.
Photographs of TR working survive as evidence of this curious habit. See, e.g., Bis.I.60.

46.
Wise, John S.,
Recollections of Thirteen Presidents
, 246.

47.
TR to B, May 19, 1895; ib., June 2.

48.
Mor.456, 458.

49.
Ib.;
World
, May 17, 1895.

50.
Rii.130; AND.36.

51.
AND.78–9; Ber.51–53; Ste.261. See also
N.Y.T.
, May 29, 1895.

52.
Ste.206–14, 263; AND.79–80.

53.
Ib.;
N.Y.T.
, May 25, 1895.

54.
World
, June 3, 1895.

55.
Jacob Riis, in
Outlook
, June 22, 1895, confirms that what follows was TR’s own idea.

56.
Account of the night walk based on Riis,
Making
, 330–2;
Trib.
, June 8, 1895;
World
, same date; AND.Scr.; TR.Scr.

57.
World, Trib.
, June 8, 1895; AND.57.

58.
Trib.
, June 8, 1895.

59.
World, Trib.
, June 8, 1895.

60.
Eve. Sun
, June 8;
Philadelphia Times
, n.d., AND.Scr.

61.
Brooklyn Times
, Washington
Star
, June 8, 1895.

62.
Davis (31) and TR had met in Washington on Dec. 6, 1892. They did not get on too well at first. TR’s insistence that Americans should approve of all things American prompted Davis to ask if that included “chewing tobacco and spitting all over the floor.” TR replied sarcastically that it did, and what was more, he always made a point of sitting with his feet on the table when dining at the British Legation. (Mor.299.) After that their relationship improved. Davis later contributed much to the Roosevelt legend.

63.
Trib.
, June 15, 1895;
Recorder, Commercial Advertiser
, same date; AND.54.

64.
Press
, June 15, 1895.

65.
Ib.

66.
Excise Herald
, June 29, 1895; AND. confirms the report by quoting it.

67.
Sun, World, N.Y.T.
, June 15, 1895.

68.
Press, N.Y.T., Commercial Advertiser
, June 15, 1895.

69.
AND.Scr.; TRB clips, 1895;
Sun
, Mar. 24, 1896.

70.
Ib. For another, very funny anecdote about “Teddy’s Teeth,” see Edward Marshall, “The Truth about Roosevelt,”
The Columbian Magazine
, June 1910.