Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-12-10
THE JOYS OF LEADERSHIP.

Some Of the Things IA Politician Is Called
Upon to do.
''Its all we'll enough to have the honor
and glory Of being leader of Your district il
there Is any honor and glory attached to it,
but when you come TO gnalyze the mani
.old duties OF the place you will discover
hat it's not SO pleasant" The speaker
was typical Tammany district leader,
one of the big chiefs of the wiESsam, and a
character who stands high up. in the or
saniEation because of his ability to ''car-
-" his district under the most Tying cir
substances
The political district leader. as he is
found here in New York. is a thing indig-
snous 10 the metropolis. You find him
nowhere else MS he is here He Is an out
growth Of the old ward boss He is pro-
1uct of the system of political organization
that obtains here. The Tammany lead
err Is - peculiarly interesting type OF this
product. He is well known in his relation
70 the organization, and in general way
thspublic knows pretty well how he runs
his district and manipulates the machine
vote. But there Is another side 20 his life
that less Is known about and which Is not
without interest
The district leader, said the Tamnany
man, has more personal duties to perform
Tor constituents than many persons have
any idea OF He must be both father and
mother TO portion of his fiocH. He is
called upon to perform almost all sorts of
services for his constituents, and'it Is in
doing these things that he gets much OF the
pull upon which his individual political
strength is based
There are many persons In every as
ssrnbly 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, aud Mr.. Brown
who knows the leader, hurries off to him
and tells him OF Mrs. Smiths strait. The
leader ascertains what be can about the
case and then does his best TO provide for her
Very often he has to 90 down into his own
pocket TO do 1t, but that is part of his bus
mess. Then, again, Mrs. Smith has no
money TO pay her rent and is about TO be
mspossessed. If she c1n only secure a few
days more time in which To yet the money
to pay up she will be all right, and then
the leaders influence is brought to bearo on
the landlord
"One Of the leaders constituents dies
and leaves will The widow does not
know what to TO- and the leader IS called
on TO aid her. Mrs Smiths husband Ia
arrested and is In sad need Of bondsmap.
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 out of trouble. Sometimes il
g Mrs Smith who gets Mr. Smith arrested
smith has INDUCED his pugilissic instinct
TO the detriment Of Mrs Smiths eye. but
sure, the poor man is fine fellow and
30 day or two after the arrest Mrs Smith
calls upon the leader and implores him TO
do his best to get Smith out Of the peni-
Tertiary.
II hive lots OF just such cases as these
every month. The people seem to regard
the leader as man who should know
everything The pour their domestic as
well IA their financial troubles into his ears.
and he IS kept very busy trying to Olsen.
tangle the troubles OF Others.
All this time an army Of men Is hust-
ling after him, and every man wants a good
job. II you can't get him into the public
crib you must do your best to see that be
gets work In some private concern. The
alderman OF the district usually looks out
ior places among the city departments and
gets what he can for his district.
"One class Of men very difficult to dis
pose OF Is composed Of sons of fathers who
nave toiled To educate them. When the
father thinks the boy has education enough
he comes TO US 70 see if we can't place him
where he can earn u living The young
chaps always object to manual labor. They
are educated down too fine for that and not
educated enough TO take places of respon.
soiiity, so usually get them on the horse
cars as conductors. So you see the leaders
nave pretty hard rows to hoe after all.p
How much does it cost 10 be Tammanv
leader of a big districtp
Well, have often figured that ont and !.
ma that It cannot be done up right on
much less that 5000 a year. That l. what 4
II costs the leader out of his own pocket
And where does the leader come inn,
oh, he comesin all right Don't WORRY
about him. New York Times.