, as Roosevelt saw it,
to put a stop to improper political activities by Federal employees.
Such activities were among the things that the Civil Service law was
intended to prevent. They strengthened the hands of the political
machines and the bosses, and at the same time weakened the efficiency of
the service. Roosevelt had from time to time reported to the Postmaster
General what some of the Post Office employees were doing in political
ways to the detriment of the service. His account of what happened was
this:

"I placed before the Postmaster-General sworn statements in regard to
these political activities and the only reply I could secure was,
'This is all second-hand evidence.' Then I went up to Baltimore at
the invitation of our good friend, a member of the National Committee,
Charles J. Bonaparte. Bonaparte said that he could bring me into direct
touch with some of the matters complained about. He took me to the
primary meetings with some associate who knew by name the carriers and
the customs officials. I was able to see going on the work of political
assessments, and I heard the instructions given to the carriers and
others in regard to the moneys that they were to collect. I got the
names of some of these men recorded in my memorandum book. I then
went back to Washington, swore myself in as a witness before myself as
Commissioner, and sent the sworn statement to the Postmaster-General
with the word, 'This at least is firsthand evidence.' I still got no
reply, and after waiting a few days, I put the whole material before
the President with a report. This report has been pigeonholed by the
President, and I have now come to New York to see what can be done to
get the evidence before the public. You will understand that the head
of a department, having made a report to the President, can do nothing
further with the material until the President permits."

Roosevelt went back to Washington with the sage advice to ask the Civil
Service Committee of the House to call upon him to give evidence in
regard to the working of the Civil Service Act. He could then get into
the record his first-hand evidence as well as a general statement of
the bad practices which were going on. This evidence, when printed as
a report of the congressional committee, could be circulated by the
Association. Roosevelt bettered the advice by asking to have the
Postmaster General called before the committee at the same time as
himself. This was