CHAPTER VI

FIGHTING OFFICE-SEEKERS


To tell the story of Roosevelt's life it is necessary to talk much
about politics, and that to some people is a dull subject. But he
was in political office over twenty years of his life, always
interested and active in politics, and the vigor which he brought
to his duties made public affairs attractive to thousands of
Americans who had felt little concern about them.

This alone was a great service. If a man is going the wrong way in
political life, if he is trying to do unwise or evil things, he is
a danger, but a danger which may be corrected. He may be made to
turn his efforts in useful directions. But the man who takes no
interest at all in the government of his city, state or nation,
who is so feeble that he cannot even take the time to vote on
election day, but goes hunting or fishing instead,--this man is a
hopeless nuisance, who does not deserve the liberty which he
enjoys, nor the protection which his government gives him.

Politics, when Mr. Roosevelt was active, were not dull. Few men
have ever made them so lively and interesting. Every activity in
life meant something to him, a chance for useful work or for good
fun. He had a perfectly "corking time," he said, when he was
President, and the words shocked a number of good people who had
pardoned or overlooked dirty actions by other public men, so long
as these other men kept up a certain copy-book behavior which they