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arose really out of his devotion to New York City and then his many years of service in the legislature where he began to know the problems of New York State. He had really a passionate devotion to the State of New York and a love for every iota of its physical area and population. He had a knowledge about its laws, about its constitution, about its background, its economic and industrial life, the kind of people there were, their prejudices, hopes and ambitions. It was really fantastic how much he understood about them. Of course, he traveled around the state a lot and he saw a great many people all the time he had been in office.
I saw nothing in what he said that indicated anything but satisfaction that Roosevelt had been elected, although, of course, one knew that deep in his heart he couldn't help thinking, “How much better it would have been if I had been running for Governor. I could have been elected Governor for ever.” He never said that. Those words never passed his lips, but of course they passed the lips of some of the rest of us occasionally. Other people said, “It's such a pity that Al has to stop being Governor, because he's a perfect Governor, everybody would have wanted him. He could have been Governor forever.”
I felt all right about Roosevelt coming in. Like everybody else I was sorry about Al. There was considerable
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