Reform as a practical agitation is pretty well exhausted by the points of view of these four gentlemen.

They exhibit its weakness and its strength, its illusions and its good intentions, its dangerous and its salutary tendencies.
Be it remarked at the outset that three of these gentlemen call themselves Democrats, while the fourth has been the official leader of the Republican party.

The distinction to be made on this ground is sufficiently obvious, but it is also extremely important.

The three Democrats differ among themselves in certain very important respects, and these differences will receive their full share of attention.
Nevertheless the fact that under ordinary circumstances they affiliate with the Democratic party and accept its traditions gives them certain common characteristics, and (it must be added) subjects them to certain common disabilities.

On the other hand the fact that Theodore Roosevelt, although a reformer from the very beginning of his public life, has resolutely adhered to the Republican partisan organization and has accepted its peculiar traditions,--this fact, also, has largely determined the character and the limits of his work.