EXPOSING GRAFT IN NEW YORK STATE 35 



In his third legislative year Roosevelt was made chairman of the 

 Committee on Cities, an appointment due to the thorough knowledge 

 he had attained of affairs in New York and other cities. As such he • 

 introduced much reform legislation, one of his most important bills 

 being that which abolished fees in the offices of the Register and the 

 County Clerk. 



In 1884 he was a member of the Republican State Convention and 

 was elected by it one of New York's four delegates-at-large to the 

 National Republican Convention to nominate a candidate for the Presi- 

 dency. George F. Edmunds was his choice for this office. James G. 

 Blaine proved the favorite candidate of the convention. Roosevelt was 

 one of the strong members in opposition and fought hard to prevent 

 Blaine's nomination. The result was a sore thrust to him. Some of 

 Blaine's bitter opponents went over to Cleveland, but in this defection 

 Roosevelt would not take part. "Whatever good I have accomplished 

 has been through the Republican party," he said, and held that no 

 results of importance could be gained except through the regular party 

 organization. 



As to how he impressed his party at this time we have evidence 

 in the words of George William Curtis, a fellow-delegate. He had his 

 first meeting with Roosevelt during the heat of the strife and was 

 surprised at his youthful appearance. This he said of him to a 

 reporter : 



"You'll know more, sir, later; a deal more, or I am much in error. 

 Young? Why, he is just out of school almost, and yet he is a force to 

 be reckoned with in New York. Later the nation will be criticising 

 or praising him. While respectful to the gray hairs and experience 

 of his elders, none of them can move him an iota from convictions as 

 to men and measures once formed and rooted. He will not truckle nor 

 cringe, he seems to court opposition to the point of being somewhat 

 pugnacious. His political life will probably be a turbulent one, but he 

 will be a figure, not a figurehead, in future development." 



This year (1884) ended Roosevelt's legislative life. He left it 

 for a long holiday in the West, the scene of his boyhood dreams and 

 aspirations. The story of this outing must wait till our next chapter. 

 It mu?t suffice here to say that it ended in 1886, when, sitting by a 



