New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-20
n any other part Of the North American oon
TIE PIONEER STATESMAN"

Some OF our DemOcrdJlO COhlomPVi"AiN' w.
having some fun with themselves over the APP
plication of the term Statesman" to prom,
inent Republican who is believed TO have had
considerable influence in defeating scheme oy
which Tammany Hall was proposing to enrlch
its followers and perpetuate It's power through
the handling Of several millions OF other peopieS
money. They have apparently forgotten the
circumstances under which the word was hrs1
used with a fine irony which at once gave IL
currency as neat and expressive sarcasm.
II was in December, 1873. Place the ofice
Of the Warden of the Penitentiary, Blackweirs
Island. Among the new arrivals one morning
was a man who had been many years in tram
ing for the position in which he STOOD begih-
ming public life as foreman OF lire company No
gradually advanced through various ofnclai posi-
tons from leader of gang" to head OF po-
litical party. He was the product and the prlue
Of the slums. With no education except sucn d.
was picked up from the street, with no 'railins
other than of the saloons in which the mouerh
municinal ruler is schooled, with no capacity
Cor oublic affairs beyond keen scent ana
ravenous annette for public plumber and no
Qualifications for leadership except his cool con-
temnt for law and morals and the audaclty WlCh
which he could conceive and carry cut scnenes
for Numbering on an enormous scale greaU
community this man had passed to the head OF
\ great political organization, which held IN us
orasp ali the concerns Of the largest and wealthi-
oct citv nm the continent. He was so absolute
in his leadership and his following was so obedl-
ont n his will that they called him by title
which at once defined his position and described
their own relations to him in their own YER
nacular He was the Boss; first OF me nani0
in American politics the pioneer of'his ORDER
OF history or philosophy or literature or po'
litical economy or any branch OF statesman
sbin. or even of the conduct of ordinary Dust
ness affairs he was as ignorant as the io"e -
Of the low.browed heelers who ran at his cali'
Ru. he had followers, and they grew in num-
ber With their increase came his recognition
and promoton; and as his power grew so the
more RAPIDLY grew his following. till he had the
creat organization under him that controlled inc
marty and ruled the city and State For years
he held this great city in the hollow OF his manu-.
He rolled in coarse glittering profusion hililsoi,
while in his wake great crowd OF lacke!S anu
underlincs DISTORTED themselves with the CRUMBS
If his stealings and Haunted their vices IN tne
fares of the taxpayers at whose cost they IN
Obliged them. All this with absolute lmpunity'
Never was a community so plundered ana over,
ridden. Never such open contempt for law anu
iustce, decency and morality, on the part OF the
nlunderers. Never snch meek subsection on tne
part of the plundered.
There came an end TO it at last. "The BOSS
carried it Just little too far. so one DAY IN
December, 1873, the man who had IN the ordi-
nary course of political promotion risen 20 De
the Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall and tltular
Boss, of the Democratic party, and had only
used the machinery of that organization accord
ing to his opportunities, stood up conVlc.eu
thief to take his felon's stripes on Blackweiis
Island. "Name 81 said the Warden, putting the
formal question. civilian NJ. Tweed" "Oc-
cupaton?" The convict hesitated moment
Then with unconscious irony he packed IN his
answer the sarcasm which all men recognized
at once as whitening comment upon the tram
inc by which Tammany Hall fits men for the
conduct of public affairs, Statesman"
Since then "Tammany statesmen" have been
\ bvword in politics 1t still has the same ma
chinery and pursues the same methods as when
it turned out Statesman" Tweed as its npened
product.