The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-01-26

| be a good man. according to the standard
| of his constituents. His safety lies in
! doing on a large scale the good deeds
which his constituents are able to do
only on a small scale. If he believes what
| they believe, and does what they are all
cherishing a secret ambition to do, he
will dazzle them by his success and win
| their confidence.
THE human kindness which a poor
man shows to his distressed neighbor is
doubtless heightened by the consciousness
that he himself may be in distress next
week He stands by his friend when
he gets too drunk to take care of him
self, when he loses his wife OF child,
when he is evicted for non-payment of
rent, when he is arrested for a petty
crime. 1t seems to such a man entirely
fitting that his alderman should do the
same thing on larger scale.
Because of simple friendliness the al
derman is expected to pay rent for the
hard pressed tenant when no rent is
forthcoming. to find jobs when work is
hard to get. to procure and divide among
his constituents all the places which he
can seize from the city hall. The alder
man from the Nineteenth ward at one
time could make the proud boast that he
had $500 people in his ward upon the pub
lie pay roll. This included day 1aborers.
If we recollect further that the franchise
seeking companies pay respectful heed to
the applicants backed by the aldermen
the question Of voting for the successful
man becomes as much an Industrial one
as a political one"
Miss Adams aroused laughter by tell
ing the story of the campaign of a repu-
table candidate against the alderman of
the Nineteenth ward In this instance
the president of a temperance society
stumped the ward for the independent
candidate, telling his audiences if his man
was elected all the saloons would be
closed at 10 o'clock every night. The
man was defeated, the temperance society
man working openly for Powers at the
polls. It proved he had been hired by
the latter to speak for his opponent, and
later was given city hall position and
resigned from the temperance society.
Later the alderman secured 5000 from
downtown friends to buy uniforms and
equipment for a boys temperance bri-
gade.
The question of where the money comes
from with which to dramatize so success
fully does, of course, occur to many
minds,' Miss Adams continued. The
more primitive people accept the truthful
statement of its sources without any
shock to their moral sense. To their
minds he gets it from the rich and so
long as he again gives it out to the poor,
as true Robin Hood, with open hand,
they have no objections to offer. The
next less primitive people of the vicarage
are quite willing to admit that he leads
the gang in the city council, and sells
out the city franchises; that he is, in
short, a successful boOdler. But when
there is intellect enough to get this point
of view, there is also enough to make the
contention that this is universally done,
but that the alderman of the Nineteenth
ward is unique in being 50 generous.
"A strenuous appeal meets with a much
surer response than one based upon preJu-
dice or patriotism. And if we discover
that men of low ideals and corrupt prac-
tice are forming popular political stand
ards simply because such men stand by
and for and with the people, so that the
sense of identification Overbalances the
sense of outraged ethics, then nothing re-
mains for US but to obtain that sense of
identification before we can hope to mod
ify the ethics"