Now, in such a situation, what was an honest man to do?  The best men in the Republican party believed that Roosevelt was the only one who could be elected, that the people believed so firmly in his honor and courage that they would vote for him.  Senator Platt did not want him, did not like him, but he came to see that they could win with him, and with no one else.  So Roosevelt was nominated, and elected, by a narrow lead of 18,000 votes.  So far, the people could rule with Roosevelt as their servant.  But the Governor can do little alone; he must have the support of the Legislature and the other State officers.  The Boss hoped to rule through them, to say who should be appointed to office, to decide which bill should pass and which be defeated.

There were people who would have had Governor Roosevelt declare war on Platt; refuse to have anything to do with him; refuse even to speak to him.  In that way he could have done nothing for the good of the State; he could have spent his term in fighting Platt, made a great show of independence and reform, but, in point of fact, advanced the cause of good government not an inch.  All of his proposals would have been blocked by Platt’s men in the Legislature.

Instead, he acted in accord with the facts as they were; not as if they were the way he would have liked them to be.  If Platt could not rule he could ruin.  So the Governor treated him politely, and only disagreed with him when the Boss proposed something actually bad.  For instance, there was a most important officer, the Superintendent of Public Works, to be appointed.  Senator Platt informed Governor Roosevelt that a certain man had been chosen; he showed him the telegram with the man’s acceptance.  Roosevelt said, quietly, something like this: 

“I think not, Senator.  The Governor appoints that officer, and I am the Governor.”

Platt was very angry; Roosevelt refused to get angry, but stuck to his decision, and made his own choice.  Things like this happened again and again, during the two years while Roosevelt was Governor of New York.

Every honorable man in American politics has to fight against this evil of the Boss.  Officeholders, Presidents and Governors, come and go, but the Bosses hold their power for a long time.  So long as they exist it is not wise for us to talk too much about Kings and their tyranny.  For a Boss is very like a King.  Platt and Croker thought that the people were not fit to rule; theirs was much the same idea that King George the Third and the German Kaiser had.  The best and wisest men have had to admit the strength of the Boss and try to deal with him as well as they could; Abraham Lincoln even had to appoint one to his Cabinet.  The Boss creeps into power while the people are asleep.

Roosevelt pointed out that it is not hard for a man to be good if he lives entirely by himself.  Nor is it difficult for him to get things done, if he is careless about right and wrong.  The hard thing, yet the one which must be demanded of the public man, is to get useful things done, and to keep straight all the while.  When Roosevelt was elected Governor, John Hay, the Secretary of State, wrote to him: