low. I believed in the
people's rights, and therefore in National rights and States' rights
just exactly to the degree in which they severally secured popular
rights. I believed in invoking the National power with absolute freedom
for every National need; and I believed that the Constitution should be
treated as the greatest document ever devised by the wit of man to aid
a people in exercising every power necessary for its own betterment, and
not as a straitjacket cunningly fashioned to strangle growth. As for the
particular methods of realizing these various beliefs, I was content
to wait and see what method might be necessary in each given case as it
arose; and I was certain that the cases would arise fast enough.

As the time for the Presidential nomination of 1904 drew near, it became
evident that I was strong with the rank and file of the party, but that
there was much opposition to me among many of the big political leaders,
and especially among many of the Wall Street men. A group of these men
met in conference to organize this opposition. It was to be done with
complete secrecy. But such secrets are very hard to keep. I speedily
knew all about it, and took my measures accordingly. The big men in
question, who possessed much power so long as they could work under
cover, or so long as they were merely throwing their weight one way or
the other between forces fairly evenly balanced, were quite helpless
when fighting in the open by themselves. I never found out that anything
practical was even attempted by most of the men who took part in the
conference. Three or four of them, however, did attempt something. The
head of one big business corporation attempted to start an effort to
control the delegations from New Jersey, North Carolina, and certain
Gulf States against me. The head of a great railway system made
preparations for a more ambitious effort looking towards the control of
the delegations from Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and California
against me. He was a very powerful man financially, but his power
politically was much more limited, and he did not really understand his
own limitations or the situation itself, whereas I did. He could not
have secured a delegate against me from Iowa, Nebraska, or Kansas. In
Colorado and California he could have made a fight, but even there I
think he would have been completely beaten. However, long before the
time for the Convention came around, it was recognized that i