Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-09-19
THE JOYS OF LEADERSHIP.
Some OF the Things Politician Is Called
Upon TO DO.


Some OF the Things Politician Is Called
Upon TO DO.
OTIS all well enough TO have tic honoi
and glory Of being leader of your district if
there is any honor and glory attached TO it.
but when you come TO Gnalyze tho mani
fold duties Of the place you will discover
that it's not so pleasant" The speaker
was a typical Tammany district leader,
one of the big chiefs of the wiswam, and a
character who stands high up in tho or
ganization because of his ability TO Gear
ryn his district under the most trying cir
cumstanccs.
The political district leader IA he is
found here in New York, is a thing indig-
enous to the metropolis. You find him
nowhere else as he Is here. He IN an out
growth Of the old ward boss He is pro
duct OF the system of political organization
that obtains hero. The Tammany dead
er" is peculiarly interesting type of this
product lie is well known in his relation
to the organization, and in general way
the public knows pretty well how he runs
his district and manipulates the machine
vote. But there is another side to his lie
that less is knownaabout and which is not
without interest.
"The district leader" said the Tammauy
man, "has more personal duties to perform
for constituents than many persons have
any idea Of. He must be both father and
mother to portion of his flock He Is
called upon 20 perform almost all sorts Of
services for his constituents, and it is in
doing these things that he gets much Of the
pulp upon which his individual political
strength is based.
There are many persons in every rs
sembly district who look upon the district
leader as the man who can help them out
of all their troubles. Poor Mrs. Smith is
all out of coal and food, and Mr.. Brown.
who knows the leader hurries off to him
and tells him Of Mrs Smiths strait. The
leader asccrtains what he can about the
| case and then does his best 80 provide former
| Very often he has to 20 down into his own
| pocket to do it, but that is part Of his bus
mess Then, again, Mrs. Smith has no
money to pay her rent and is about 10 be
dispossessed If she can only secure few
| DAYS more time in which to rot the money
to pay up she will he all right, and then
| the leaders influence is brought to bear on
| the landlord
lone of the leaders constituents dies
and leaves a will The widow does not
| know what to do, and the leader Is called
on to aid her. Mrs. Smiths husband is
arrested and i in sad ne;d of a bondsman.
! Smith has many friends and each friend
has vote and the leader sees that the
! bond is procured and does what he can to
| pull Smith ont Of trouble Sometimes it
! is Mrs Smith who gets Mr. Sm1oh arrested.
Smith has INDUCED his pugilistic instinct
to the detrimcut of Mrs. Smith eye but,
sure, the poor man is fine fellow, and
so q day or two after the arrest Mrs Smith
calls upon the leader and Iaplores him TO
do his best TO get smith out Of the peni-
Tertiary.
"T have lots Of just such cases as these
every month. The people seem to r gard
the lender as a man who should know
everything They pour their domestic az
we'll IL. their financial tr0 bles into his ears,
and he is kept very busy trying to Olsen
| ranglc the troubles OF others.
AN this time an army of men j. huSt
ling after him, and every man wants a good
| job. If You can't get him into the pubic
crib you must do your best to sec that IN.
| gets work in some private concern. The
alderman of the district usually looks out
for places among the city departments and
gets wha; he can for his district
zone class of men very difficult to dis
nos, Of is composed of sons of fathers Vn,
have tniled to educate them. When tn.
| father thinks tho boy has education cncu-.
he comes to Us to see if we can't place hiu
where Re can caru living. The yoJn'
chaps always object to manual labor. Thes
are educated down too fine for thar and moi
educated enough to take places Of resnon
5iDility, SO | usually get them on the hors,
cars rs conductors. 50 you see the leader
have pretty hard rows to hoe after all"
How much does it cost to be Tammany
leader Of a big districts'
"Well l have often figured that out an'
find hat it cannot be done up right OF
much less that 5000 year That is VIVA
it costs the leader out of his own pocket.
And where does the leader come ine'
"Oh, he comes in all right Don't worr,
about him. Now York Times.