Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography
fight for the Governorship nomination, and, moreover, that I intended to
get it. This brought Senator Platt to terms. The effort to instruct
the New York delegation for me was abandoned, and Lieutenant-Governor
Woodruff was presented for nomination in my place.
I supposed that this closed the incident, and that no further effort
would be made to nominate me for the Vice-Presidency. On the contrary,
the effect was directly the reverse. The upset of the New York machine
increased the feeling of the delegates from other States that it was
necessary to draft me for the nomination. By next day Senator Hanna
himself concluded that this was a necessity, and acquiesced in the
movement. As New York was already committed against me, and as I was
not willing that there should be any chance of supposing that the New
Yorkers had nominated me to get rid of me, the result was that I was
nominated and seconded from outside States. No other candidate was
placed in the field.
By this time the Legislature had adjourned, and most of my work as
Governor of New York was over. One unexpected bit of business arose,
however. It was the year of the Presidential campaign. Tammany, which
had been lukewarm about Bryan in 1896, cordially supported him in
1900; and when Tammany heartily supports a candidate it is well for the
opposing candidate to keep a sharp lookout for election frauds. The city
government was in the hands of Tammany; but I had power to remove
the Mayor, the Sheriff, and the District Attorney for malfeasance or
misfeasance in office. Such power had not been exercised by any previous
Governor, as far as I knew; but it existed, and if the misfeasance or
malfeasance warranted it, and if the Governor possessed the requisite
determination, the power could be, and ought to be, exercised.
By an Act of the Legislature, a State Bureau of Elections had been
created in New York City, and a Superintendent of Elections appointed
by the Governor. The Chief of the State Bureau of Elections was
John McCullagh, formerly in the Police Department when I was Police
Commissioner. The Chief of Police for the city was William F. Devery,
one of the Tammany leaders, who represented in the Police Department
all that I had warred against while Commissioner. On November 4 Devery
directed his subordinates in the Police Department to disregard the
orders which McCullagh had given to his deputies, orders which were
essential if we were to secure an honest election in the city. I had
just returned from a Western campaign trip, and was at Sagamore Hill. I
had no direct power over Devery; but the Mayor had; and I had power over
the Mayor. Accordingly, I at once wrote to the Mayor of New York, to the
Sheriff of New York, and to the District Attorney of New York County the
following letters:
STATE OF NEW YORK OYSTER BAY, November 5, 1900.
To the Mayor of the City of New York.
Sir: My attention has been called to the official order issued by Chief
of Police Devery, in which he directs his subordinates to disregard the
Chief of the State Election Bureau, John McCullagh, and his deputies.
Unless you have already taken steps to secure the recall of this order,
it is necessary for me to point out that I shall be obliged to hold you
responsible as the head of the city government for the action of the
Chief of Police, if it should result in any breach of the peace and
intimidation or any crime whatever against the election laws. The State
and city authorities should work together. I will not fail to call to
summary account either State or city authority in the event of either
being guilty of intimidation or connivance at fraud or of failure to
protect every legal voter in his rights. I therefore hereby notify
you that in the event of any wrong-doing following upon the failure
immediately to recall Chief Devery's order, or upon any action or
inaction on the part of Chief Devery, I must necessarily call you to
account.
Yours, etc., THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
STATE OF NEW YORK OYSTER BAY, November 5, 1900.
To the Sheriff of the County of New York.
Sir: My attention has been called to the official order issued by Chief
of Police Devery in which he directs his subordinates to disregard the
Chief of the State Election Bureau, John McCullagh, and his deputies.
It is your duty to assist in the orderly enforcement of the law, and I
shall hold you strictly responsible for any breach of the public peace
within your county, or for any failure on your part to do your full duty
in connection with the election to-morrow.
Yours truly, THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
STATE OF NEW YORK OYSTER BAY, November 5, 1900.
To the District Attorney of the County of New York.
Sir: My attention has been called to the official order issued by Chief
of Police Devery, in which he directs his subordinates to disregard the
Chief of the State Election Bureau, John McCullagh, and his deputies.
In view of this order I call your attention to the fact that it is your
duty to assist in the orderly enforcement of the law, and there must be
no failure on your part to do your full duty in the matter.
Yours truly, THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
These letters had the desired effect. The Mayor promptly required Chief
Devery to rescind the obnoxious order, which was as promptly done. The
Sheriff also took prompt action. The District Attorney refused to heed
my letter, and assumed an attitude of defiance, and I removed him from
office. On election day there was no clash between the city and State
authorities; the election was orderly and honest.
APPENDIX A
CONSERVATION
As foreshadowing the course I later, as President, followed in this
matter, I give extracts from one of my letters to the Commission, and
from my second (and last) Annual Message. I spent the first months of my
term in investigations to find out just what the situation was.
On November 28, 1899, I wrote to the Commission as follows:
". . . I have had very many complaints before this as to the
inefficiency of the game wardens and game protectors, the complaints
usually taking the form that the men have been appointed and are
retained without due regard to the duties to be performed. I do not wish
a man to be retained or appointed who is not thoroughly fit to perform
the duties of game protector. The Adirondacks are entitled to a peculiar
share of the Commission's attention, both from the standpoint of
forestry, and from the less important, but still very important,
standpoint of game and fish protection. The men who do duty as game
protectors in the Adirondacks should, by preference, be appointed from
the locality itself, and should in all cases be thorough woodsmen. The
mere fact that a game protector has to hire a guide to pilot him through
the woods is enough to show his unfitness for the position. I want
as game protectors men of courage, resolution, and hardihood, who can
handle the rifle, ax, and paddle; who can camp out in summer or winter;
who can go on snow-shoes, if necessary; who can go through the woods by
day or by night without regard to trails.
"I should like full information about all your employees, as to their
capacities, as to the labor they perform, as to their distribution from
and where they do their work."
Many of the men hitherto appointed owed their positions principally to
political preference. The changes I recommended were promptly made,
and much to the good of the public service. In my Annual Message, in
January, 1900, I said:
"Great progress has been made through the fish hatcheries in the
propagation of valuable food and sporting fish. The laws for the
protection of deer have resulted in their increase. Nevertheless, as
railroads tend to encroach on the wilderness, the temptation to illegal
hunting becomes greater, and the danger from forest fires increases.
There is need of great improvement both in our laws and in their
administration. The game wardens have been too few in number. More
should be provided. None save fit men must be appointed; and their
retention in office must depend purely upon the zeal, ability, and
efficiency with which they perform their duties. The game wardens in the
forests must be woodsmen; and they should have no outside business.
In short, there should be a thorough reorganization of the work of
the Commission. A careful study of the resources and condition of the
forests on State land must be made. It is certainly not too much to
expect that the State forests should be managed as efficiently as the
forests on private lands in the same neighborhoods. And the measure
of difference in efficiency of management must be the measure of
condemnation or praise of the way the public forests have been managed.
"The subject of forest preservation is of the utmost importance to
the State. The Adirondacks and Catskills should be great parks kept in
perpetuity for the benefit and enjoyment of our people. Much has been
done of late years towards their preservation, but very much remains to
be done. The provisions of law in reference to sawmills and wood-pulp
mills are defective and should be changed so as to prohibit dumping
dye-stuff, sawdust, or tan-bark, in any amount whatsoever, into the
streams. Reservoirs should be made, but not where they will tend to
destroy large sections of the forest, and only after a careful and
scientific study of the water resources of the region. The people of
the forest regions are themselves growing more and more to realize the
necessity of preserving both the trees and the game. A live deer in the
woods will attract to the neighborhood ten times the money that could
be obtained for the deer's dead carcass. Timber theft on the State lands
is, of course, a grave offense against the whole public.
"Hardy outdoor sports, like hunting, are in themselves of no small value
to the National character and should be encouraged in every way. Men who
go into the wilderness, indeed, men who take part in any field sports
with horse or rifle, receive a benefit which can hardly be given by even
the most vigorous athletic games.
"There is a further and more immediate and practical end in view. A
primeval forest is a great sponge which absorbs and distills the rain
water. And when it is destroyed the result is apt to be an alternation
of flood and drought. Forest fires ultimately make the land a desert,
and are a detriment to all that portion of the State tributary to the
streams through the woods where they occur. Every effort should be made
to minimize their destructive influence. We need to have our system of
forestry gradually developed and conducted along scientific principles.
When this has been done it will be possible to allow marketable lumber
to be cut everywhere without damage to the forests--indeed, with
positive advantage to them. But until lumbering is thus conducted,
on strictly scientific principles no less than upon principles of the
strictest honesty toward the State, we cannot afford to suffer it at
all in the State forests. Unrestrained greed means the ruin of the great
woods and the drying up of the sources of the rivers.
"Ultimately the administration of the State lands must be so centralized
as to enable us definitely to place responsibility in respect to
everything concerning them, and to demand the highest degree of trained
intelligence in their use.
"The State should not permit within its limits factories to make bird
skins or bird feathers into articles of ornament or wearing apparel.
Ordinary birds, and especially song birds, should be rigidly protected.
Game birds should never be shot to a greater extent than will offset the
natural rate of increase. . . . Care should be taken not to encourage
the use of cold storage or other market systems which are a benefit to