e Senator expressed himself as so shocked at
this doubting of the word of his brilliant protege that he was unable to
answer the letter at all.

Roosevelt thereupon announced publicly that no such questions had ever
been asked. Mr. Gorman was gravely injured by the whole incident. Later
he declared in the Senate that he had received a "very impudent letter"
from the young Commissioner, and that he had been "cruelly" called
to account because he had tried to right a "great wrong" which the
Commission had committed. Roosevelt's retort was to tell the whole story
publicly, closing with this delightful passage:

"High-minded, sensitive Mr. Gorman. Clinging, trustful Mr. Gorman.
Nothing could shake his belief in the "bright young man." Apparently he
did not even try to find out his name--if he had a name; in fact, his
name like everything else about him, remains to this day wrapped in the
Stygian mantle of an abysmal mystery. Still less has Mr. Gorman tried to
verify the statements made to him. It is enough for him that they were
made. No harsh suspicion, no stern demand for evidence or proof, appeals
to his artless and unspoiled soul. He believes whatever he is told, even
when he has forgotten the name of the teller, or never knew it. It would
indeed be difficult to find an instance of a more abiding confidence in
human nature--even in anonymous human nature. And this is the end of the
tale of the Arcadian Mr. Gorman and his elusive friend, the bright young
man without a name."

Even so near the beginning of his career, Roosevelt showed himself
perfectly fearless in attack. He would as soon enter the lists against a
Senator as a Congressman, as soon challenge a Cabinet member as either.
He did not even hesitate to make it uncomfortable for the President to
whom he owed his continuance in office. His only concern was for the
honor of the public service which he was in office to defend.

One day he appeared at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Civil
Service Reform Association. George William Curtis was presiding, and
Roosevelt's old friend, George Haven Putnam, who tells the story, was
also present. Roosevelt began by hurling a solemn but hearty imprecation
at the head of the Postmaster General. He went on to explain that his
explosive wrath was due to the fact that that particular gentleman was
the most pernicious of all the enemies of the merit system. It was one
of the functions of the Civil Service Commission