224 POLITICAL LIFE -XI 



district, and you can have the nomination and the election 

 without trouble; but the question is whether you could 

 ever be happy in the sort of work which you must do in 

 order to take a proper place in the House of Representa- 

 tives. First of all, you must give up everything else and 

 devote yourself to that alone; and even then, when you 

 have succeeded, you have only to look about you and see 

 the men who have achieved success in that way, and who, 

 after all, have found in it nothing but disappointment.&quot; 

 In saying this he expressed the conclusion at which I had 

 already arrived. 



I cabled my absolute declination of the nomination, and 

 was reproved by my friends for not availing myself of 

 this opportunity to take part in political affairs, but have 

 nevertheless always felt that my decision was wise. 



To tell the truth, I never had, and never desired to 

 have, any capacity for the rough-and-tumble of poli 

 tics. I greatly respect many of the men who have gifts of 

 that sort, but have recognized the fact that my influence 

 in and on politics must be of a different kind. I have 

 indeed taken part in some stormy scenes in conventions, 

 meetings, and legislatures, but always with regret. My 

 true role has been a more quiet one. My ambition, 

 whether I have succeeded in it or not, has been to set 

 young men in trains of fruitful thought, to bring mature 

 men into the line of right reason, and to aid in devising 

 and urging needed reforms, in developing and supporting 

 wise policies, and in building up institutions which shall 

 strengthen what is best in American life. 



Early in 1891 I was asked by Mr. Sherman Rogers 

 of Buffalo, one of the best and truest men in political 

 life that I have ever known, to accompany him and 

 certain other gentlemen to Washington, in order to pre 

 sent to Mr. Harrison, who had now become President of 

 the United States, an argument for the extension of the 

 civil-service rules. Accompanied by Mr. Theodore Roose 

 velt and Senator Cabot Lodge, our delegation reached 

 the Executive Mansion at the time fixed by the President, 



