enjoyed being Governor. I have kept every promise, express or
implied, I made on the stump, and I feel that the Republican
Party is stronger before the State because of my incumbency.
Certainly everything is being managed now on a perfectly straight
basis and every office is as clean as a whistle.

Now, I should like to be Governor for another term, especially if
we are able to take hold of the canals in serious shape. But as
Vice President, I don't see there is anything I can do. I would
simply be a presiding officer, and that I should find a bore. As
you know, I am a man of moderate means (although I am a little
better off than the Sun's article would indicate) and I should
have to live very simply in Washington and could not entertain in
any way as Mr. Hobart and Mr. Morton entertained. My children are
all growing up and I find the burden of their education
constantly heavier, so that I am by no means sure that I ought to
go into public life at all, provided some remunerative work
offered itself. The only reason I would like to go on is that as
I have not been a money maker I feel rather in honor bound to
leave my children the equivalent in a way of a substantial sum of
actual achievement in politics or letters. Now, as Governor, I
can achieve something, but as Vice-President I should achieve
nothing. The more I look at it, the less I feel as if the
Vice-Presidency offered anything to me that would warrant my
taking it.

Of course, I shall not say anything until I hear from you, and
possibly not until I see you, but I did want you to know just how
I felt.