ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND ELAINE -1881-1884 205 



the reputation of our country. I am not alone in this opin- 

 ion. More than once during my official life in Europe I 

 have heard the whole thing lamented by leading liberal 

 statesmen as bringing discredit on all democratic gov- 

 ernment. 



There were times indeed when the galleries sought to 

 howl down those who were taking part in the convention, 

 and this was notably the case during a very courageous 

 speech by Mr. Roosevelt. 



I may mention, in passing, that the country then re- 

 ceived the first revelation of that immense pluck and vigor 

 which have since carried Mr. Roosevelt through so many 

 political conflicts, borne him through all the dangers of 

 the Santiago campaign, placed him in the governor 's chair 

 of the State of New York and in the Vice-Presidency of 

 the United States, leading to the Presidency, which he 

 holds as I revise these lines. At the Chicago Convention, 

 though he was in a small minority, nothing daunted him. 

 As he stood upon a bench and addressed' the president, 

 there came from the galleries on all sides a howl and 

 yell, ' ' Sit down ! sit down ! ' ' with whistling and cat-calls. 

 All to no purpose; the mob might as well have tried to 

 whistle down a bronze statue. Roosevelt, slight in build 

 as he then was, was greater than all that crowd combined. 

 He stood quietly through it all, defied the mob, and finally 

 obliged them to listen to him. 



Toward the end of the convention this mob showed itself 

 even worse than before. It became evident that large 

 parts of the galleries were packed in the interest of the 

 local candidate for the Vice-Presidency, General Logan, 

 and this mass of onlookers did their best to put down all 

 delegates supporting any other. 



No more undemocratic system was ever devised. The 

 tendency of this " wigwam " plan of hoI3mg great meet- 

 ings or conventions is to station a vast mob of sensation- 

 seeking men and women in the galleries between the dele- 

 gates and the country at large. The inevitable consequence 

 is that the i ' fog-horns " of a convention play the most ef- 



