APPOINTED POLICE COMMISSIONER OF NEW YORK CITY--CORRUPTNESS OF THE
DEPARTMENT--STRENUOUS EFFORTS TO MAKE MATTERS BETTER--A "DRY"
SUNDAY--ENFORCING THE TENEMENT HOUSE LAW AND OTHER MEASURES
During the time that Theodore Roosevelt was a Civil Service Commissioner
there were several important political changes made in New York City.
In the past there had been a great deal of what is familiarly called
"machine politics," and matters had been going from bad to worse. But
now there was an upward turn by the election of William S. Strong to the
office of mayor. Mr. Strong was a man of high character, and was elected
by a vote that combined the best elements of all the political parties.
It was at a time when New York City was in urgent need of reform. Those
in power were doing but little to stop the corruption that was stalking
abroad upon every hand. Bribes were given and taken in nearly all
departments, clerks were being paid large salaries for doing practically
nothing, and contracts were put out, not to those who could do the best
work, but to those who would pay the political tricksters the most money
for them.
The record of the police department was perhaps the blackest of the lot.
It was to this department that the citizens looked for protection from
crime, yet it was known that many in the department winked at all sorts
of vice, providing they were properly paid for so doing. Saloons and
worse resorts were kept open in defiance of the law, and wickedness
flaunted itself in the face of the public in a manner that was truly
shocking. Occasionally a private citizen would try to do something to
mend matters, but his complaint was generally "pigeon-holed," and that
would be the end of the matter. The rottenness, as it was well called,
extended from the highest places in the department to the lowest, so
that it was said not even a policeman could secure his appointment
without paying several hundred dollars for it, and this he was, of
course, expected to get back by blackmailing those who lived or did
business on his beat. And get it back the policeman would, even if he
had to make an Italian fruit dealer pay him a dollar a month for having
a stand on the sidewalk, where the walk was supposed to be free from
obstruction.
When William Strong came into office, the first thing he did was to cast
his eyes about him for reliable men who might aid him in purifying the
city. He already knew of Theodore Roosevelt's work as an assemblyman and
a Civil Service Commissioner.
"Mr. Roosevelt is just the man to take the office of Police Commissioner
and put the department on an honorable basis," said the newly elected
mayor, and he lost no time in tendering the office to Mr. Roosevelt. The
tender was accepted, and Theodore Roosevelt was sworn into his new
position on May 24, 1895.
The appointment of Mr. Roosevelt to the office of Police Commissioner
was a great shock to nearly the entire police department. He was known
for his sterling honesty, and it was felt that he would not condone
crime in any shape or form.
"There will be a grand shaking up," said more than one. "Just you wait
till he gets to the bottom of things. He'll turn the light on in a way
that will make more than one officer tremble in his boots."
On the Board with Mr. Roosevelt were Andrew D. Parker, Avery D. Andrews,
and Frederick D. Grant, the latter the son of former President Grant.
Theodore Roosevelt was chosen president, and the Board lost no time in
getting to work.
"The new Board found the department in a demoralized condition," says
Mr. Roosevelt, in his report on the matter. "A recent grand jury had
investigated the records of many officers, and many indictments had been
found; 268 vacancies existed in the department, and 26 officers,
including one inspector and five captains, were under suspension on
account of indictment for crime." This was truly a sad state of affairs,
and a horrible example to the other large cities of our Union.
The Commissioners went to work with a will, and Theodore Roosevelt was
the leading spirit in every move made. Every branch of the police
department was given an overhauling, and those who would not do their
duty were promptly dismissed, while minor offences were met with heavy
fines. By an act of the legislature the force of men was increased to
eight hundred, to keep pace with the growth of the metropolis. The men
who were particularly faithful in the discharge of their duties were
rewarded by honorable mention, engrossed certificates, medals of honor,
and by promotions. More than this, they were given to understand that if
they did their duty faithfully they need not fear trouble from those
over them, no matter what changes were made. No officer was allowed to
accept blackmail money from those lower in the service; and above all,
no politics were to interfere with the fair and square running of the
whole department.
It was a gigantic task, and it cannot be said that it was totally
successful, for the opposition in some quarters was strong. More than
once Mr. Roosevelt was threatened with violence, but, as when an
assemblyman, he paid but scant attention to these mutterings.
His habits of personally investigating matters still clung to him, and
it is well remembered how he went around at odd hours of the day and
night, and on Sundays, seeing if the policemen were really doing their
duty. There had been a boast that all policemen were at their posts at
night. Mr. Roosevelt went out once and found just two out of an even
dozen where they should be. Then began that "shaking up" that has
resulted in better police service in New York to this day.
The effect of the new vigor in the police department was felt in many
other ways. There was a tenement-house law regarding buildings which
were unfit for human habitations. New York City was crowded with such
buildings, but nobody had ordered them torn down, because either nobody
wanted to bother, or the owners paid blackmail money to keep them
standing for the rent they could get out of them.
"Those tenements must come down," said Theodore Roosevelt.
"If you order them down, the owners will fight you to the bitter end,"
said another officer of the department.
"I don't care if they do. The houses are a menace to life and health.
They are filthy, and if a fire ever started in them, some would prove
regular traps. They have got to go." And shortly after that about a
hundred were seized, and the most destroyed.
The enforcement of the Sunday liquor law was another thing that
occasioned great surprise during Mr. Roosevelt's term as Police
Commissioner. In the past, saloons had been almost as wide open on
Sundays as on week days. On account of the cosmopolitan character of the
population it was thought that to close up the saloons on Sundays would
be impossible. But the police force was given strict orders, and on one
Sunday in June, 1895, New York City had the first "dry" Sunday that it
could remember in many years.
This "dry" Sunday provoked a new storm of opposition, especially from
many of foreign birth, who were used to getting liquor as easily on that
day as on any other. More threats were made against the vigorous
commissioner, and on two occasions dynamite bombs were placed in his
desk, evidently with the hope that they would explode and blow him to
pieces. But the bombs were found in time, and no damage was done, and
Theodore Roosevelt paid scant attention to them.
After that he was attacked in a new way. Some of the politicians laid
traps for him whereby they hoped to bring discredit to his management of
the department. The fight grew very hot and very bitter, and he was
accused of doing many things, "just for the looks of them," rather than
to benefit the public at large. But he kept on his way, and at last the
opposition were silenced to such an extent that they merely growled
behind his back.
For many years a large number of shiftless and often lawless men, and
women too, were attracted to the metropolis because of the "Tramps'
Lodging Houses" located there. These resorts were continually filled by
vagrants who would not work and who were a constant menace to society at
large.
"We must get rid of those lodging houses," said Mr. Roosevelt. "They
simply breed crime. No respectable man or woman, no matter how poor,
will enter them."
"But we'll have to have some sort of shelter for the poor people," said
others.
"To be sure--for those who are deserving. The others should be driven
off and discouraged," answered Mr. Roosevelt. And one by one the tramps'
lodging places were abolished. In their place the Board of Charities
opened a Municipal Lodging House, where those who were deserving were
received, were made to bathe, and given proper shelter and nourishment.
A story is told that, during the excitement attending the closing of
saloons on Sunday, a friend came to Mr. Roosevelt and told about hearing
some saloon-keepers plotting to harm him.
"What can they do?" demanded the Police Commissioner.
"I am afraid they can do a good deal," was the answer. "Each of those
men has a barkeeper who has been in jail for various crimes. They may
attack you some dark night and kill you."
"Perhaps I won't give them the chance," answered the man who had been on
many a dangerous hunt in the wild West. "If they can shoot, so can I."
"But they may sneak up behind you and knock you out," insisted the
visitor.
"Well, if they do that, I shall have died doing my duty," was the calm
answer made by the future hero of the Rough Riders.