New-York tribune., 1876-10-18
THE ARITHuh71C or PArRoyAGE.

That one man may be more numerous than
another is admitted as a general principle
and in specific instances the numerical ratio
which a given individual bears to his fellow
beings has been nicely determned When the
gentleman who was set upon by eighteen
tailors drew his rapier and shouted detianty,
"COme on and I'll do for both of yOu," he
evidently knew that one tailor was contained
in an average man nine times and no re-
mainder. But this scale Of relation has not been
accurately graduated for all the walks of life,
and therefore the cause of Reforp appears to
be languishing in the domnions Of the Boss
Kelly and Morrissey and Duffy .and Rooney
and Reilly and ODonOhue, and the rest of
them, had no difficulty in "iXing the basis of
"uhion," for Tammany was to Anii-Iammany
exactly as two to one, and therefore thirty
three and one-third per cent Of our rulers were
to be Anti -Tammany men and the remainder
from Tammany. But how many Assembly,
men make one AldermGn-at-large How
many congressman make enc County Clerk
What is the ratio Which .subSists be-
tween Judge of the Marine Court
and a CorOnerl These vial questions, and
many more, must remain unanswered until
some political tables are de yiscd by means of
which Mayors, and Shcriffs, and Surrogates
and "Senators in the Nth District" and all
the other officials can be reduced and ex-
pressed in terms of District Aldermen. The
situation would be disheartening if we did not
remember how triumphanty the Democracy
have pursued to their final settlement some
previous problems in "diStributiOn."
The subjects of the Boss cannot too frequently
encourage themselves when in temporary de-
spondency by rejecting, for instance, upon
tbe beautiful simplicity of the Labor Ticket
scheme All work done for the city in any of
its departments is patronage" Patronage
belongs to the Democratic party. The Demo
cratic party consists of voters. Divide the
sum total of the patronage by the whole num-
Der of Democratic votes, and the quotient is
each voters legitimate slice. Multiply this
qnotient by the number of voters in any ward,
and you have the gross patronage of that
ward. Now, issue Labor Tickets of different
denominations, and divide them among the
CAPTAINS of hundreds and the captains of
fifties, until each ward receives its share
and the patronage is eqnitably distrib-
uted. These tickets then being legal ten
der for drinks, naturally grayitate to
the sample rooms, so that any laborer
can buy a dollar ticket of boss bar
keeper for seventy-fve cents and make twenty
five cents clear. W tn the privilege of working
one day. Thus it happens that the ward mag
mates obtain their stimulants without cost to
themselves the liquor interest is encouraged !;
the laborer knows where to look for employ
mcnt, and how much he must pay for it, and
the public works are carried on with the mini
,nurn of friction. pprhauS the frontiers of this
plan could be advanced outward into political
space until the entire Government was en-
braced within its benehcent provisions, and
tickets for olNe or two terms in the Assembly
could be procured as easily as a big pipe
ticket or ticket for days work in one Of
Mr. Martins parks. There would be difficult
ties, we foresee, in distributing" the higher
Offices under this scheme, but party which
has achieved the Labor Ticket can be relied
upon to rise to the full hight of the occasion,
and there need be no alarm about the future
of Distribution and Reform.