en 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