Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/126

94. LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS through Mr. Roosevelt s agency. Through him was abolished the power of the New York board of aldermen to confirm or reject the mayor s ap pointments. He also secured the passage of the civil-service reform law of 1884. Besides these achievements he put through the anti-tenement cigar-factory bill. A police investigation would have been instituted under his inspiration had he longer remained an assemblyman. Such an activity as this naturally got him many enemies among the purse politicians; nevertheless, in 1884, he had made such strong friends that he was sent to the republican national convention. It was as a sup porter of Mr. Edmunds in opposition to Mr. Blaine that he went to Chicago. In this same year of 1884 he joined the National Guard of New York, beginning as lieutenant in the Eighth regiment, and ending as captain. His service in the militia somewhat exceeded four years in duration, and was most useful to him as a preparation for his more important activity in the Spanish war of 1898. Also in the year of 1884 came a crisis in Mr. Roosevelt s career. Upon Mr. Elaine s becoming the republican candidate for president, those friends of Mr. Roosevelt whose faith in him had been based upon his political independence were turned against him because of his adherence to his party s choice. Although he has been known to