s the promotion of governmental efficiency and honesty,
and forcing powerful moneyed men to take the proper attitude toward the
community at large. They stood by me when I insisted upon having the
canal department, the insurance department, and the various departments
of the State Government run with efficiency and honesty; they stood by
me when I insisted upon making wealthy men who owned franchises pay
the State what they properly ought to pay; they stood by me when, in
connection with the strikes on the Croton Aqueduct and in Buffalo, I
promptly used the military power of the State to put a stop to rioting
and violence.

In the latter case my chief opponents and critics were local politicians
who were truckling to the labor vote; but in all cases coming under the
first two categories I had serious trouble with the State leaders of the
machine. I always did my best, in good faith, to get Mr. Platt and the
other heads of the machine to accept my views, and to convince them,
by repeated private conversations, that I was right. I never wantonly
antagonized or humiliated them. I did not wish to humiliate them or to
seem victorious over them; what I wished was to secure the things that
I thought it essential to the men and women of the State to secure. If I
could finally persuade them to support me, well and good; in such case I
continued to work with them in the friendliest manner.

If after repeated and persistent effort I failed to get them to support
me, then I made a fair fight in the open, and in a majority of cases I
carried my point and succeeded in getting through the legislation which
I wished. In theory the Executive has nothing to do with legislation. In
practice, as things now are, the Executive is or ought to be peculiarly
representative of the people as a whole. As often as not the action
of the Executive offers the only means by which the people can get the
legislation they demand and ought to have. Therefore a good executive
under the present conditions of American political life must take a very
active interest in getting the right kind of legislation, in addition
to performing his executive duties with an eye single to the public
welfare. More than half of my work as Governor was in the direction of
getting needed and important legislation. I accomplished this only by
arousing the people, and riveting their attention on what was done.

Gradually the people began to wake up more and more to the fact that