St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-09-15
THE Machine" and Political
Organization.

When objection is made to the "ma-
chine and to machine methods in pol
tiles it is the custom of journals which
are attached to such methods to meet
the objection by the assertion that all
successful political management is and
must be ''machiner management. Said
one of the opponents of this view of
the case lately: "UnOrganized effort
in politics is n mob and failure; organ
lied effort is a machine and success"
The same journal remarked that 1.-The
machine" is "the one fixed fact and
permanent factor in popular govern
ment, and as immortal and Indestruct-
IDLE as the republic ITSELF How long
the machine may be destined to last in
American politics we do not know, but
that it is essential to them we do not
believe. Such statements as those
quoted above are misleading, because
they purpOsely confound two things
which may and ought to he quite diff
ferent, viz: the "machinen and organ
lied effort and represent that the on
ly alternative, upon the destruction of
the former, is the disOrganized and
fruitless effort of mob.
Political organization is an essential
to the accomplishment of any political
result. The people who cry down par
ties, and look forward to time when
they will no longer exist, constitute
themselves into part, the very mo-
ment that they begin to consult, act
and vote together. People who are
too fastidious or too indolent to attend
a caucus, or who inveigh against the
oil hnt .
as well stand aside while the process
sion of events moves by, for they can
accomplish no result. People who go
to caucus without some clearly de
fined idea as to what they go there for
might as well stay away. The intelli
gent cooperation in canvass, at
caucus and in an election of those who
think alike, constitutes political organ
izatiOn. 1t is not only legitimate, but
essential.
But political organization of this de-
scriptiOn, and the arbitrary dictatiOn
of a 'bOss" or a clique, which consti-
tutes what is known as ''the machine"
in politics, are two wholly different
things. 1t is "the machine" which in
New FORK puts the nominations and all
the preliminary work of an election in
the hands of associations which COM
prise not more than one-tenth of the
voters of the party, and are held to-
gether by rigorous discipline to exc
cute the will of their leaders. 1t is the
''machine" which in Pennsylvania has
cOntrived to make loyalty to the party
synonymous with obedience to one
man, and has taken the membership of
state conventions away from the voters
and intrusted it to a subservient com
mittee. 1t is the machine which, any
where, sends out its paid emissaries
and professional button -holers, makes
of Officeholders "A solid body of work
ers for its interest, and carries its point
in caucuses by dint of effrontery and
lung power. Sometimes the tyranny
of the machine becomes so oppressive
and intolerable that the only escape
| from it is a revolt, such as the Penn
sylvania Independents are now en-
gagged in. The independents are or
ganized and i'll earnest, yet no one has
been foolish enough to talk about an
independent "machine" in Pennsylva-
MIA and the difference between "ma-
chine" management and legitimate po-
| litical organization could scarcely be
better illustrated than by contrasting
the principles and methods of the re-
publican factions in that state. Cam
er0nism is the embodiment of the one,
and the independent movement repre-
sents the other.
| The essence of machine management
is secrecy, trickery, manipulation, the
suppression of debate and of individu-
al action. 1t stands for dictatiOn, sell
tislness and tyranny, and is responsible
for some of the worst and most nearly
hopeless features of our politics. 1t
debauches the public service and de-
moralizes the public mind. 1t is some
thing to be resisted at whatever cost
of ridicule or reproach, and its evils
are too apparent to be palliated by the
attempt to represent the machine and
legitimate political organization as
identical.-[ Boston Journal.
A Frenchman, feeling i'll, complained
to an English friend that he had pain
in his pOrtmanteau, by which he meant
his chest.