he agreed. The session was called, and the amendments were
proposed. In addition, however, certain amendments that would
have frustrated the whole purpose of the bill were suggested. The
organization, still at its old tricks, tried to get back into its
possession the bill already passed. But the Governor was not
easily caught napping. He knew as well as they did that
possession of the bill gave him the whip hand. He served notice
that the second bill would contain precisely the amendments
agreed upon and no others. Otherwise he would sign the first bill
and let it become law, with all its imperfections on its head.
Once more the organization and the corporations emulated Davy
Crockett's coon and begged him not to shoot, for they would come
down. The amended bill was passed and became law. But there was
an epilogue to this little drama. The corporations proceeded to
attack the constitutionality of the law on the ground of the very
amendment for which they had so clamorously pleaded. But they
failed. The Supreme Court of the United States, after Roosevelt
had become President, affirmed the constitutionality of the law.

The spectacular events of Roosevelt's governorship were incidents
in this conflict between two political philosophies, the one held
by Platt and his tribe, the other by Roosevelt. Extracts from two
letters exchanged by the Senator and the Governor bring the
contrast between these philosophies into clear relief. Platt
wrote as follows:

"When the subject of your nomination was under consideration,
there was one matter that gave me real anxiety . . . . I had
heard from a good many sources that you were a little loose on
the relations of capital and labor, on trusts and combinations,