EXPOSING GRAFT IN NEW YORK STATE 
33 
It was the true opening day in his public career when, on April 6, 
1882, he rose from his seat in the Assembly and demanded that Judge 
Westbrook, of Newburg, should be impeached. The speech he made 
was one not strikingly eloquent, but it was one in which he did not 
hesitate to call a spade a spade. To him a thief worth a million was 
still a thief and deserved no softer name. He told the plain truth in 
indignant words and slashed savagely at the two corrupt officials. 
The leader of the Republicans in the House followed the insurgent 
with soothing words. He desired that young Mr. Roosevelt should 
have time to think if his course had been wise, saying mildly, “I have 
seen many reputations in the State broken down by loose charges made 
in the Legislature.” 
The vote was taken and “Young Mr. Roosevelt” was squelched. 
But he did not stay squelched. He defied the party leaders and their 
admonitions to wisdom. The next day and the next day and the next 
day he was up again, pounding away with all the strength in him. 
Reporters took it up. The scandal got into the papers and the public 
indignation widened. After eight days of this unwearying assault he 
demanded a new vote on his resolution. By this time the thing had 
spread throughout the State. The Assemblymen did not dare put 
themselves on record as seeking to hide corruption. The opposition 
collapsed. Roosevelt won by a vote of 104 to 6. 
In the end the delinquent officials escaped through a whitewashing 
report. But Roosevelt had won his fight. From that time he was a 
marked man on the side of justice and truth. What his constituents 
thought of him was shown in the next election, when he was sent back 
with a big majority in a year in which his party went to pieces before 
Democratic assault. What his fellow-members thought of him was 
shown when the Republicans of the Assembly chose him as their candi¬ 
date for the Speaker of the House. He did not win; his party was in the 
minority; but the nomination showed that this young man of twenty- 
four had made himself a power, a man to be reckoned with. 
Other battles he fought; telling ones. The Board of Aldermen at 
that time had the power to confirm or reject the Mayor’s appointments 
of New York officials. With such a board as then existed George 
Washington himself would have been helpless in an effort to have a 
pure administration. To elect a reform board was Hopeless. The 
