ought to disregard them. To pursue any other course would be to
show servility; and a servile man is always an undesirable--not
to say a contemptible--public servant. A Governor should, of
course, try in good faith to work with the organization; but
under no circumstances should he be servile to it, or "carry out
its wishes" unless his own best judgment is that they ought to be
carried out. I am a good organization man myself, as I understand
the word "organization," but it is in the highest degree foolish
to make a fetish of the word "organization" and to treat any man
or any small group of men as embodying the organization. The
organization should strive to give effective, intelligent, and
honest leadership to and representation of the Republican Party,
just as the Republican Party strives to give wise and upright
government to the State. 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