The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-06-04


be asked to join the general committee
of Tammany Hall, a body of voters num-
bering several thousand, the chief duty
of whose members Is to contribute an
nually IS each to the fund from which
Tammany HALL is ostensibly maintained.
The aggregate of the contributions of
the general committee is very large.
This committee has certain functions to
perform besides contributing, but the
real policy of Tammany Hall is directed
by the organization committee, consist
ing of about 60 men By it are chosen
the various executive committees of Tam
many. The most important is the finance
committee. It's chairman is the real
s'boss. Richard Croker held this post
during the period of his supremacy So
did John Kelly and Augustus Schell
and all the rest of them back to the days
of Tweed Little is known by those not
members of the inside workings of this
committee. As all the world knows
those who are opposed to Tammany
claim that the mystery surrounding the
finance committee exists because its do
ings would not bear the light Tt is not
my purpose to discuss this question,
but to bring out the fact of Tammany's
remarkable organization and in some
faint degree TO show its basis.
1t would not be possible in the space
at command to describe in detail the
methods by which Tammany keeps track
of the voters of New York and by which
it is possible for the chief men of the
organization to predict in advance with
reasonable accuracy the outcome of any
election, but one of the most important
features may be mentioned Perhaps a
week before election meeting of dis
trict leaders is held at the wigwam on
Fourteenth street. This is a most i'm
portant meeting for the leaders, and
their future depends upon the accuracy
of their statements then made.
The Tammany society is an entirely
different thing from Tammany Hall, as
the political organization is known. The
society is a small and very wealthy
body. 1t owns the wigwam, as Tam
many's four story brick home on Four
teenth street is called, and Tammany
Hall, the political organization, has al
ways enjoyed the use of the building
rent free. The exact relations of the
two organizations are about as incom-
prehensible to the -Tammany man
as are the relations existing between the
federal government of the United
States and the governments of the sepa-
rate states to the average British editor.
The Original Society.
The Tammany society, or Columbian
order, was founded in 1889. 1t is claim
ed that its original object was to offset
in some degree the Society of the Gin
cinnati, membership in which was al
lowed to none but officers in the Revolu-
zion or their descendants, the basic prin-
eiple of the Tammany society being the
absolute political equality of all voters
The name was taken from that of an In
dian chief, ''Tammanund. - He was
sometimes called ''St. Tammany, - for
he is said to have been a good Indian,
and his day" May IL, was celebrated
with great enthusiasm in New York
during the first years of the republic.
The chief officer of the Tammany socie-
ty is called the grand sachem. 1t might
be possible for the grand sachem of the
Tammany society to be a non-Tammany
man, politically considered, and / be-
heve this has happened once or twice,
though it is not very likely that it will
occur again soon. The Tammany society
leading feature is, in way, mutual
benefit organization. 1t is true, there
is no formal insurance feature, but it is
also true that the family of no deceased
member of the society left without
means upon the death of the member
has been allowed to suffer.
The Local Clubs.
Returning to Tammany Hall. the po-
Htical organization, in conclusion some
mention should be made of its local
branches, or clubs. These are not named
Tammany branches, nor is there proba-
bly, any clause in the constitution of any
of them connecting it with Tammany
Hall But the president of each club is
usually the district leader, and the
closest sympathy is maintained between
the main organization and each Of the
local clubs. 1t sometimes happens that
the president of club becomes dissatis-
fed with the general course of Tamma-
ny and essays to sever relations between
the two bodies. This very thing occur
red not long ago in the case of the Har-
lem Democratic club, whose president
left Tammany and succeeded in carry
a