When what I have said ceases to be true
of either organization or party, it means that the organization
or party is not performing its duty, and is losing the reason for
its existence.*
* Washburn, 34-38.
Roosevelt's independence as Governor of New York, and the very
important reforms which, in spite of the Machine, he had driven
through, greatly increased his personal popularity throughout the
country. To citizens, East and West, who knew nothing about the
condition of the factories, canals, and insurance institutions in
New York State, the name "Roosevelt" stood for a man as honest as
he was energetic, and as fearless as he was true. Platt and the
Machine naturally wished to get rid of this marplot, who could
not be manipulated, who held strange and subversive ideas as to
the extent to which the Ten Commandments and the Penal Code
should be allowed to encroach on politics and Big Business, and
who was hopelessly "altruistic" in caring for the poor and down
trodden and outcast. Even Platt knew that, while it would not be
safe for him to try to dominate the popular hero against his own
preference and that of the public, still to shelve Roosevelt in
the office of Vice-President would bring peace to the sadly
disturbed Boss, and would restore jobs to many of his greedy
followers.
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