The herald., 1897-07-04

This enormous power welded by the
boss has its source in money. Money
raised as Campaign contributions"
from both individuals and corporations,
mainly corporations. Formerly cam
paign contributions were given to the
chairman of political committees, and
for no specific purpose but to gain the
good will Of the organizations. When
the party boss appeared and began to
dominate everyone else in the party. the
practice of paying money to him follow
ed naturally. The enorn Gus sums
which are now expended annually
by corporations to secure protection
against adverse legislation and individ-
uals seeking protection valuable
franchises almost passes belief. In
form, all such money is supposed to- be
a contribution to the party. In sub
stance and truth, it is bribery and black
mail. Such money is turned over to the
boss, who then gives to the national,
state or county committees as much Of
the spoil as he sees fit, distributing most
of it for the purpose of electing to the
legislature his own nominees. In Illus
| tration of this we republish the simple
but eff1ca cious method used by Mr.. Quay.
who is only second to Mr.. Platt in
power, but whose dominion extends over
Pennsylvania. BY order of Boss Quay
the following letter was sent out to a
number of candidates for the Pennsyl-
vania legislature last year. 1t ram:
"By request Of Senator Quay I take
great pleasure in enclosing contribution
to defray your campaign expenses" /"
Each letter thus sent contained check
for $500 in the case of senatorial candi-
date, and in the case of a candidate for
the lower house, one for $780, That is
the system in all its simplicity, remarks
Mr.. Bishop. The boss supplies candi-
dates with the money necessary for
them to get the nominations in the pri-
maries and to pay their campaign ex-
penses afterward; and he supplies it al
ways with the understanding that he
shall own the candidate after election.
Platt uses this neat little system with
even greater success than Quay, and
Richard Croker, with whom it is said to
have evolved its present power, is re-
ported to have made a big fortune by
means of it.
Another point to be remembered by
all thoughtful men who read the arti-
Gle in the Forum is the fact that the
boss is clever enough to choose for leg
islative candidates those persons who
have either failed in life or who have
never tried to succeed. They may never
have tried to follow a regular calling
or may have tried one business after
another without success. Some of them
are in debt, many of them would like
to be, and all of them, under the care
of the boss, find themselves getting a
living more easily than ever before
Thus, as the article says, they feel deep.
iy grateful to the man who has lifted
them into this happy condition, and are
naturally desirous of prolonging it. They
know that their fitness for public Office
had nothing whatever to do with their
selection. They follow the orders OF
their political creator blindly and even
joyfully, and in complete disregard of
the people, who really had nothing to
do with their promotion to Office and
will have no deciding vote in their con
tinuance in it. Their only guide to
conduct is, what does the old man
want?" This Is not fictitious phrase
but one that Is heard daily at Albany
during a session of the legislature.
Platt is universally spoken of as the
"old man." and the fate Of every party
.aeasure is decided by the knowledge
Of what he wants done with it.
While this country in several of its
great cities is dominated today by the
boss, Mr.. Platt's power is more absolute
than that of any other boss, because OF
the vastly superior invested wealth on
which he is able to make levies. New
York is the center of the corporate
wealth of the land, and as a field for i
despot of his type it has no equal
The gravest statement made by Mr..
Bishop is one which has been made be-
fore, but which gains rather than loses
strength, by repetition. 1t is that the
bosses have taken the control of the
nominating machinery away from the
people and that this was done in 1896,
when Mr.. Hanna, in behalf of Mr.. Nc
Kinley, went into the primaries of one
state after another and secured from
them delegates to the national Repub-
lican convention, who, when chosen.
were pledged to vote for Mr. Mckinley
as the nominee for the presidency.
There was little concealnlent about this
proceeding. AS fast as delegates were
obtained in this manner the result was
announced in the press, and weeks be-
fore the meeting of the convention Mr..
Hanna's assistants published lists of
delegates, showing a majority of the
convention in favor of Mr.. Mckinley.
His nomination had been settled in the
primaries in much the same way as the
state bosses secure their members of the
Legislature. Debts were incurred which
were afterwards paid off when Mr.. Nc
Kinley became president. Appoint
ments to Office were made which were
explicable only on this basis, and in
many cases there was little attempt to
conceal the nature of the transaction
Mr.. Bishop regards the new bossism as
the surest way by which the people will
be brought to a socialistic and populis-
tic hatred of corporations and trusts
and all forms of aggregated
wealth. He says: In making the
boss despot, by supplying him with the
force upon which his power rests, are not
his contributors sowing the wind for a
whirlwind, the devastating possibilities
of which no man can foresee? He sug-
gests some remedies for the loss of the
nominating machinery, but thinks it of
no avail to better conditions by having
good men go to the primaries, because
the element against good government is
too great at such meetings, which have
become engines of corruption and evil.
Mr.. Bishop says if we American peo-