we will see about that,' and walked toward the door. He said,
'You understand, the fight will begin tomorrow and will be
carried on to the bitter end.' I said, 'Yes,' and added, as I
reached the door, 'Good night.' Then, as the door opened my
opponent, or visitor, whichever one chooses to call him, whose
face was as impassive and as inscrutable as that of Mr. John
Hamlin in a poker game, said: 'Hold on! We accept. Send in
so-and-so (the man I had named). The Senator is very sorry, but
he will make no further opposition!" I never saw a bluff carried
more resolutely through to the final limit."*

* Autobiography (Scribner), pp. 293-94.


One other Homeric fight with the machine was Roosevelt's portion
during his Governorship. This time it was not directly with the
boss himself but with the boss's liegemen in the Legislature. But
the kernel of the whole matter was the same--the selfish
interests of big corporations against the public good.

In those days corporations were by common practice privileged
creatures. They were accustomed to special treatment from
legislatures and administrations. But when Roosevelt was elected
Governor, he was determined that no corporation should get a
valuable privilege from the State without paying for it. Before
long he had become convinced that they ought also to pay for
those which they already had, free gifts of the State in those
purblind days when corporations were young and coddled. He
proposed that public service corporations doing business on
franchises granted by the State and by municipalities should be