Roosevelt, "because of the opportune production of the
chair-leg." But the young fighter found that he was no farther
along: the bill slumbered soundly on the calendar, and nothing
that he could do availed to secure consideration of it. At last
the representative of the railroad suggested that some older and
more experienced leader might be able to get the bill passed
where he had failed. Roosevelt could do nothing but assent. The
bill was put in charge of an "old Parliamentary hand," and after
a decent lapse of time, went through without opposition. The
complete change of heart on the part of the black horsemen under
the new leadership was vastly significant. Nothing could be
proved; but much could be surmised.

Another incident of Roosevelt's legislative career reveals the
bull-dog tenacity of the man. Evidence had been procured that a
State judge had been guilty of improper, if not of corrupt,
relations with certain corporate interests. This judge had held
court in a room of one of the "big business" leaders of that
time. He had written in a letter to this financier, "I am
willing to go to the very verge of judicial discretion to serve
your vast interests." There was strong evidence that he had not
stopped at the verge. The blood of the young Roosevelt boiled at
the thought of this stain on the judicial ermine. His party
elders sought patronizingly to reassure him; but he would have
none of it. He rose in the Assembly and demanded the impeachment
of the unworthy judge. With perfect candor and the naked vigor
that in the years to come was to become known the world around he
said precisely what he meant. Under the genial sardonic advice of
the veteran Republican leader, who "wished to give young Mr.
Roosevelt time to think about the wisdom of his course," the