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Property of a New York Collector
Roosevelt, TheodoreTyped letter signed ("Theodore Roosevelt") as New York City Police Commissioner, to William C. Sanger, arguing that the police entrance exam is necessary to keep "Blockheads" off the force
8 1/4 pages (255 x 200 mm), first page on Police Department, of the City of New York letterhead, 5 February 1897, page 6 with seven words of autograph emendation, page 8 with one emended word and two corrections; minor toning and soiling, rust stain at top of several sheets where previously paperclipped.
A deeply humorous letter in which Theodore Roosevelt, as Police Commissioner, defends his civil service reforms, including his implementation of an entrance exam for candidates:
"We have appointed sixteen hundred patrolmen under these examinations ... If they were strong, hardy young fellows of good character and fair intelligence they got their appointments. As a whole, they form the finest body of recruits that have ever been added to the New York police force.” Roosevelt became New York Police Commissioner in 1895, inheriting a force weakened by widespread Tammany Hall corruption and patronage; promotions were often doled out based on political affiliation, or sold. With his customary zeal for reform, Roosevelt sought to reinvent the NYPD, promoting the idea of policing as an ethical and honorable profession.
The present letter was written to address concerns raised by Mr. Abraham Gruber relating to the scope of the new entrance examination drafted by Roosevelt. "I have read with interest the four pages of questions quoted from the Police Civil Service examinations, under the heading 'The Reign of Roosevelt,' and apparently gathered by or for Mr. Abraham Gruber. He refers to these questions as if they were in some way improper and not such as should be asked candidates for the position of patrolman," Roosevelt writes to Sanger, a member of the New York State Assembly. "Mr. Gruber’s contention apparently is that questions which it is proper to ask a man before he becomes a citizen are improper when asked him upon his seeking to become the official representative of all citizens and, in a peculiar sense, the guardian of the laws and the upholder of the government."
Roosevelt then goes on to cite specific examples of questions and answers given in the exam: "one question we asked was to name five of the States that seceded from the Union in 1861. One answer was 'New York, Albany, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Delaware.' Another question was 'Name five of the New England States?' One answer to this question was 'England, Ireland, Scotland, Whales and Cork.' Another answer was 'London, Africa and New England.' Another question was: 'In what State and on what body of water is Chicago?' One competitor answered 'New York State on the Atlantic Ocean,' and another, 'California on the Pacific Ocean.' … Another question was 'Upon what written instrument is the government of the United States founded?' The conclusion one bright competitor reached was expressed in the brief word 'Paper.'"
Roosevelt, having no shortage of examples, continues in the same vein. "Yet another question was 'Into what three branches is the government of the United States divided?' Rather a common answer to this during the heat of the last campaign was 'Democrats, Republicans and Populists.' Another question on this line recently asked was 'What is the highest branch of the Judiciary Department of the United States?' This drew a fine crop of replies, which included 'Fiar Department,' 'Sir Pream Coart,' 'Senitar,' 'Exzegitive,' 'General Secession,' 'The Postmaster,' and 'The Juryman.'"
Roosevelt pauses here to put the question, "I will ask any thoughtful man … whether it is not likely that a man of sufficient intelligence and public spirit to know a little about the government and its history is not apt to make better public employe [sic], especially in the police force, than the blockhead who is incapable of understanding what the words 'government' and 'history' mean, or the man who so lacks any sense of regard for the country that he does not care to know the simplest facts in relation to its history and administration?"
Returning to failed exam answers, Roosevelt relates that an essay question about Abraham Lincoln "brought out the information from a number of candidates that he was the president of the Southern Confederacy. One man had him assassinated by Thomas Jefferson another by Garfield, and yet another by Ballington Booth. … Another said that he 'faught one of the worst battels doing the war that of Bauker Hill.' … Another applicant wrote: 'He was a man of good moral caraktor have you a copy of his life if so you pliase lend to me for a week or so.'"
At the end, Roosevelt summarizes his position: "The above are fair samples of the answers given by the men who failed to pass our examinations. They are more amusing than the average, but they are not much more unintelligent. If intelligence is regarded as relevant to the duties of a policeman, then questions to test that intelligence are also relevant, and there could be no better questions for that purpose devised than those we have used. … The best proof of the system is the way it has worked."
William C. Sanger was born in Brooklyn, educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, Harvard College, and Columbia Law School, and became a New York City lawyer. Roosevelt and Sanger were both members of the Boone and Crockett Club, an important wilderness preservation advocacy group.
PROVENANCE:The Forbes Collection of American Historical Documents (Christie's New York, 22 May 2007, lot 104)