San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-08-23
THE JOYS OF LEADERSHIP.
Come of the Things a Politician Is Called
Upon to Do.

Upon to Do.
cts all we'll enough to have the honor
and glory of being leader of your district if
there is any honor and glory attached to it,
but when you come to analyze the 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 wigwam, and a
character who stands high up in the or
ganizatiOn because of his ability to "car-
ry'' his district under the most trying cir
cumstances.
The political district leader, as 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 is an out
growth of the old ward boss. He is a pro-
duct 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
to the organization, and in a general way
the public knows pretty we'll how he runs"
his district and manipulates the machine
vote. But there is another side to his life
that less is known about and which is not
without interest.
"Ene district leader" said the Tammany
man, has more personal duties to perform
for constituents than many persons have
any idea of. He must be both father and
mother to a portion of his flock. 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
'pu!P uDon which his individual political
strength is based.
There are many persons in every as
semOly district who look upon the district
leader as the man who can help them out
of all their troubles. Poor Mrs. Smith is
ali out of coal and food, and Mr. Brown,
who knows the leader, hurres off to him
and tells him of Mrs. Smiths strait The
leader ascertains what he can about the
case and then does his best to provide for her.
Very often he has to go 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 to &c
diSpOssesSeG. If she can only secure few
days more time l.. which to get the money
to pay up she will be all right, and t&en
the leaders Influence is brought to bear on
the landlord.
"Onc of the leaders constituents dies
and leaves will. The widow does not
know whar to do, and the leader is called
on to aid her. Mrs. Smiths husband is
arrested and is in sad need of a bondsman.
Smith has many friends, AID each friend
has o vote, and the leader sees that the
bond is procured and does what he can TO
pull Smith out of t-oI5!e. Sometimes it |
is Mrs. Smith who gets Mr.. Smith arrested. |
Smith has INDUCED his pusilistic instinct |
to the detriment Of Mrs Smiths eye, but, |
sure, the poor man is a fine fellow and
so q 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.
81 have lots of just such cases as these |
every month. The people seem to regard |
the leader as a man who should know
everything. They pour their domestic as
well as 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 good
job. If you can't get him into the pubic |
crib you must do your best to see that h"
gets work in some private concern. The
alderman of the district usually looks out
for places among the city departments and
gets what he can for his district.
Zone class of men very difficult to dis |
pose of is composed of sons of fathers who
have toiled to educate them. When the
father thinks the boy has education enough
he comes to us to see if we can't place him
where he can earn a 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.
sibility, so | usually get them on the horse
cars as conductors So you see the leaders
have pretty hard rows to hoe after all"
"How much does it cost to be Tammany
leader of big district"
well, have often figured that out and
| find that it cannot be done up right on
much less that 5000 year. That is what
it costs the leader out of his own pocket"
And where does the leader come in?"
"Oh, he comes in all right. Don't worry
about him. New York Times.
suggestions for Young nriuers.
began to compose by initiating other
authors. admired, and | WORKED hard to
get, a smooth, rich, classic style. The pas
sion afterward formed for Heine's prose
forced me from this slavery and taught me
to aim at naturalness. seek now to get
back to the utmost simplicity of expression,
to disuse the Verbosity | tried 50 hard to
acquire, to get the grit of compact, clear
truth, if possible, informal and direct. 1t
is very difficult. | should advise any be-
ginner to study the raciest, strongest, best
spoken speech, and let the printed speech
alone; that is to say, to write straight from
the thought without bothering about the
manner, except to conform to the spirit or
genius OF the language. | once thought
Intinizad dict ion was n bp invited. | now