of the United States became
warm friends,--a friendship that has endured to the present day.

It is said that the friendship started in rather a peculiar manner.
There was at the time a measure before the Assembly to reduce the fare
of the elevated roads in New York City from ten cents to five cents.
After a great deal of talking, the bill passed the Assembly and then the
Senate, and went to the governor for his signature. Much to the surprise
of the general public Governor Cleveland vetoed the bill, stating that
when the capitalists had built the elevated roads they had understood
that the fare was to be ten cents, and that it was not right to deprive
them of their profits. At once those who wanted the measure to become a
law decided to pass it over the governor's head. When this attempt was
made, Theodore Roosevelt got up boldly and said he could not again vote
for the bill--that he was satisfied that Governor Cleveland's view of
the matter was correct.

"These people would not have put their money in the elevated railroads
had they not been assured that the fare was to be ten cents," said he.
"We are under obligation to them, and we must keep our promises." And so
the bill fell through. It was not in itself right that the fare should
be ten cents, and it has long since been reduced to five cents, but it
shows that Theodore Roosevelt was bound to do what was right and just,
according to the dictates of his own conscience, and this won for him
many friends, even among those who had opposed him politically.

In a work of this kind, intended mainly for the use of young people, it
is not necessary to do more than glance at the work which Theodore
Roosevelt accomplished while a member of the New York Assembly.

He made a close study of the various political offices of New York
County and discovered that many office-holders were drawing large sums
of money in the shape of fees for which they were doing hardly any work.
This he considered unfair, and by dint of hard labor helped to pass a
law placing such offices on the salary list, making a saving to the
county of probably half a million dollars a year.

One of the best things done by Theodore Roosevelt at that time was the
support given by him to a civil service law for the state. Up to that
time office-holding was largely in the hands of the party which happened
to be in power.

"This is all wrong," said the young assemblyman. "A clerk or anybody
else doing his duty