With parties in existence, as they have been for almost all of our history as a nation, there are in the main, four ways in which a man may act toward them.  He may be a hidebound party man, always voting the party ticket, and swallowing the party platforms whole.  Such persons often get into the newspapers when they are elderly, as having voted for every candidate on this or that party ticket for fifty or sixty or seventy years.  It simply means, of course, that these men are proud of the fact that they let other people do their thinking for them.

Or, a man may look upon a party as the means through which he may secure better government.  He is proud of its wise and good acts, and is willing to forgive its mistakes, because he knows that no large group of men can be perfect.  He believes in remaining loyal to his party as long as possible, but he does not set it above his country, nor agree to follow it when it goes absolutely wrong, or falls into the hands of men who hold party welfare above patriotism.  Roosevelt was a party man of this kind

Furthermore, a man may be an Independent, one who will not join any party for long.  Many of these are highly honorable and wise citizens, who are of great value to the country, although they can usually be nothing but helpers in any good cause.  Their position nearly always prevents their becoming the chief actors in bringing about any good and desirable reform.

The fourth class in which a man may find himself in regard to parties, is that of the so-called independent, who mistakes his own fussiness for nobility of character.  He can find fault with everybody and every party, but he can be loyal to none.  He is strong on leaving a party for the smallest excuse; never on staying with it.  It is as if a member of a football team, half an hour before the game, should refuse to play, because some other member of the team had once cheated in an examination.  He satisfies his own conscience, but he fails in the loyalty he owes to the team and its friends.

At the convention in 1884 Roosevelt took an important part for so young a man.  He made speeches and worked for Senator Edmunds, but Mr. Blaine was nominated.  This caused a split in the party, and many of its members joined the Democrats.  They were called by their opponents “Mugwumps,” and since they believed they were acting for the best, they did not mind being called that or any other name.

So many prominent and able Republicans joined the Mugwumps it is sometimes forgotten that many more equally good and wise Republicans refused to “bolt,” but stayed with the party and voted for Mr. Blaine.  Either they did not at all believe the charges which had been made against him—­and it is as impossible now as it was then to prove the charges—­or else they thought that the country would be far worse off with the Democratic party in power than with the Republicans successful.

Mr. Roosevelt was disgusted with the result of the convention, but did not believe that he was justified in leaving the party.  He therefore stayed in it, and supported Mr. Blaine.