be questioned elsewhere as to
what he said on the floor of the House, withdrew, leaving Roosevelt and
the Committee equally delighted with the opera bouffe in which he had
played the leading part.

In the Roosevelt days the Commission carried on its work, as of course
it should, without thought of party. It can be imagined how it made
the "good" Republicans rage when one of the results of the impartial
application system was to put into office from the Southern States a
hundred or two Democrats. The critics of the Commission were equally
non-partisan; there was no politics in spoilsmanship. The case of
Mr. Grosvenor was matched by that of Senator Gorman of Maryland, the
Democratic leader in the Senate. Mr. Gorman told upon the floor of the
Senate the affecting story of "a bright young man from Baltimore," a
Sunday School scholar, well recommended by his pastor, who aspired to
be a letter carrier. He appeared before the Commission for examination,
and, according to Mr. Gorman, he was first asked to describe the
shortest route from Baltimore to China. The "bright young man" replied
brightly, according to Mr. Gorman, that he didn't want to go from
Baltimore to China, and therefore had never concerned himself about the
choice of routes. He was then asked, according to Mr. Gorman, all about
the steamship lines from America to Europe; then came questions in
geology, and finally in chemistry. The Commission thereupon turned the
bright young applicant down. The Senator's speech was masterly. It must
have made the spoilsmen chuckle and the friends of civil service reform
squirm. It had neither of these effects on Roosevelt. It merely exploded
him into action like a finger on a hair-trigger. First of all, he set
about hunting down the facts. Facts were his favorite ammunition in a
fight. They have such a powerful punch. A careful investigation of
all the examination papers which the Commission had set revealed not a
single question like those from which the "bright young man," according
to Mr. Gorman, had suffered. So Roosevelt wrote to the Senator asking
for the name of the "bright young man." There was no response. He also
asked, in case Mr. Gorman did not care to reveal his identity, the date
of the examination. Still no reply. Roosevelt offered to give to any
representative whom Mr. Gorman would send to the Commission's offices
all the aid he could in discovering in the files any such questions. The
offer was ignored. But th