the party and the wishes of the boss collided with the public
welfare. The facts about the famous breakfasts are plain enough.
The Governor was in Albany, the Senator in Washington. Both found
it easy to get to New York on Saturday. It was natural that they
should from time to time have matters to discuss for both were
leaders in their party. Mr. Platt was a feeble man, who found it
difficult to get about. Roosevelt was a chivalrous man, who
believed that courtesy and consideration were due to age and
weakness. In addition, he liked to make every minute count. So he
used to go, frankly and openly, to the Senator's hotel for
breakfast. He was not one of that class which he has described
as composed of "solemn reformers of the tom-fool variety, who,
according to their custom, paid attention to the name and not the
thing." He cared only for the reality; the appearance mattered
little to him.

The tom-fool reformers who criticized Roosevelt for meeting Platt
at breakfast were not even good observers. If they had been, they
would have realized that when Roosevelt breakfasted with Platt,
it generally meant that he was trying to reconcile the Senator to
something he was going to do which the worthy boss did not like.
For instance, Roosevelt once wrote to Platt, who was trying to
get him to promote a certain judge over the head of another
judge: "There is a strong feeling among the judges and the
leading members of the bar that Judge Y ought not to have Judge X
jumped over his head, and I do not see my way clear to doing it.
I am inclined to think that the solution I mentioned to you is
the solution I shall have to adopt. Remember the breakfast at
Douglas Robinson's at 8:30." It is probable that the Governor
enjoyed that breakfast more than did the Senator. So it usually