The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-03-25

The Tammany Society, or Columbian Or
der, is doubtless the Oldest purely self-const-
tuted political association in the world, and
has certainly been by far the most influential.
Beginning with the government, for it was
organized within fortnight of the inaugural
ton of the first President, and at a spot with
in the sound of his voice as he spoke his first
official words to his countrymen, it has not
only continued down to the present time
through nearly three generations of men-but
has controlled the choice of at least one Pres
ident, fixed the character of several national
as well as State administrations, given pseu-
donyms to half dozen well-known organiza-
tons and, in fact, has shaped the destiny OF
the country in several turning-points of its
history.
Few suspect, much less comprehend, the
extent of the influence this purely local asso-
citation has exerted. To its agency more
than any otheris due the fact that for the last
three-quarters of century New York city
has been the most potent political centre in
the world, not even Paris excepted. Great
er than party, inasmuch as it has been the
master OF parties, it has seen political organ
ization after organization, in whose conflicts
IL Has lceIltSSIy pdTllClpdJeu, ARISE.
and go down, and yet has stood ready, with
powers unimpaired, to engage in the struggles
of the next crop OF contestants. In this ex-
perience it has been solitary and peculiar
Imitators it has had in abundance, but not one
of them has succeeded in catching that Sc
cret of political management which has en-
dowed TammaIy with its wonderful perman-
ency.
What is that secret? 1t is unquestionably
70 ha in rt To ha iftr Oh
Tammany's leaders have at all times shown
in forecasting the changes of political issues,
or availing themselves of the opportunities af-
forded by current events as they have arisen.
Tammany has not only furnished the most
capable politicians the country has possessed,
but has managed to ally itself with the shrew-
dest ones to be found outside of its own Or
ganization. 1t has always shown willing
ness to trade in the gifts at its command, and
rarely indeed has it got the worst of bar
gain. For the last twenty years it has at no
time numbered an absolute majority of the
voters of New York city in its own following;
and yet during the whole of that period it has
contriVed to retain the lions proportion of
the power through system of comprehen-
sive trafficking, sometimes with factions of its
own party, and sometimes, when they have
not proved sufficiently pliable, even with the
common enemy. Its established policy is,
when no other road is open to boldly buy its
way to the seat of authority.
In part to the heterogeneous population of
New York. Its theory OF political action
has, from the days of Fernando Wood, been
that New York was to be governed from be-
low, not from above-by the weight of its ig-
norance and the strength of its corruption,
and not by the force of its intelligence and
virtue-and has governed itself accordingly.
In the unwashed and spotted rabble of the
great metropolis, whose chiefest element it
has sedulously cultivated without giving Of
fense to any other, it has found an army of
adherents capable of being disciplined and
maneuvred to an extent that no other COM
munity in this country would endure.
But more than all has its success depended
upon the dual character of its construction.
Through its General Committee, or outside
organization, it is public body, to whose
ranks all have admission; and at the same
time, through its interior or secret association,
which only trusted few are permitted to en-
ter, and in whose hands all the society's prop
erty is retained, tits a close corporation. New
er was there more ingenious contrivance for
efficient political control-Rufus Home, in
H0rper'S MdqGzine for ADTiL