big men of great wealth
played mischievous part in life
… was awake to the need
Two former Presidents of the United States are natives of New York City.
Both wrote books.
One, as a matter of fact, on their marriage license, listed their occupation as ‘Author.’
One was Theodore Roosevelt.
A man who traced his roots back to the founding of New Amsterdam.
A man whose family, when the social list of the top 400 families of New York was put together was asked for their okay (well, not really but there was no question that the New York City Roosevelts would be in the book.)
The other was Donald Trump.
One wrote, ” … as I have said, I was getting our social, industrial, and political needs into pretty fair perspective.
I was still ignorant of the extent to which big men of great wealth played a mischievous part in our industrial and social life, but I was well awake to the need of making ours in good faith both an economic and an industrial as well as a political democracy.
This same man continued, “… because the book “How the Other Half Lives” (about slum life in New York) had been to me both an enlightenment and an inspiration for which I felt I could never be too grateful.
Soon after it was written I had called at his [the author’s] office to tell him how deeply impressed I was by the book, and that I wished to help him in any practical way to try to make things a little better.
I have always had a horror of words that are not translated into deeds, of speech that does not result in action — in other words, I believe in realizable ideals and in realizing them, in preaching what can be practiced and then in practicing it.
I will let you guess which of the two men wrote that.
I won’t come out and say who but I will say that the passage is taken from Theodore Roosevelt; an autobiography … by Theodore Roosevelt, (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1913).
The book in question, How the Other Half Lives, was written by Jacob Riis, a reporter for a New York City newspaper in 1895 when Mr. Roosevelt was NYC Police Commissioner.
Mr. Roosevelt did go to Mr. Riis’ office.
Mr. Roosevelt said simply, ‘How can I help?’
No Haiku For You 