Evening star., 1900-10-13

inquisitive callers, bring Ice water, check
baggage and in a score of quiet and unob-
trusive ways relieve politicians of small
work and petty worry.
When conventions are in session the handy
is just essential as platform or
presiding officer He may be do0rkeeper.
usher, messenger, decorator or man OF all
work. No one employs him and none In
authority could get along without him. He
pins a badge to his coat assumes an air OF
authority with the ordinary delegate ana
one of obliging servility to the leader. and
there he is, a fixture of every convention.
Where he eats matters not, his transporta-
ton Is an unsolved problem, he never sleeps;
but he gets to convention and home again.
The brief authority to say to delegate,
"Sit there" and to a spectator. stand
there, is to him intoxicating self-satisfac-
tion and when he inspects tickets at the
door the swelling of his chest is visible to
the naked eye.
Hope for Office.
The camp follower. the handy man of the
boss and the ambitious leader, is the man
who takes politics seriously. Platforms,
policies and the greater questions interest
him only distantly; much as the move
ments of the planets interest the dull stu
dent of astronomy They are things far
off, seem dimly that in time they may be-
come known and understood. Today he is
checking the baggage of boss; tomorrow
he may carry the Satchel of a governor,
and some day, in the dim and distant fu-
ture he may hold office. That is the dream
that makes his drudgery a paStime, his
disappointments mere lessons in patience.
These men receive some compensation for
their service, rarely fixed salary. Small
gratuities here and there, tip for passing
a man without q ticket into a good seat on
the platform of a convention hall. the
change from bill to pay for telegram or
a small bill for the prompt delivery Of
note to a boss Such are the chief sources
,rf fhair ino httt ha rlriI nf vfv,ifxy
to greatness is their most valued perQuisite
In the Political Whirlpool.
These camp followers. handy men and
ward heelers in the politics of great cities
are the failures from the fields Of labor
and the men who never labor with hand or
brain. They are the politicians Of the grog
shops and the street corners. They grow
out of the back rooms of saloons, the
warming place Of idlers, faster than fungi
on the rotting tree trunks Of a tropical
forest. Every corner saloon in a great
city is q political storm center for the i'm
mediate locality. A saloon in the middle
of a block may be neutral ground without
partisan influence. therefore unproductive
soil for the handy man; but the one on the
corner must burn red fire for republican
chowder or harbor an opposition growler
party. District captains in close fight
keep tab on the number of times the growl-
er is rushed at the democratic corner and
the can pushed over at the republican bar
and thereby get an early poll Of the dis
trict vote. Local movements are swayed
by the roll Of the beer keg and petty po-
litical clubs dissolve quickly when far re-
moved from the mixed ale faucet. In this
environment there are men who would
rather carry torch In a political parade
than sign their names to weekly payroll
of toll. They imbibe the Intoxicating
draught of political ambition while drain
ing the tin cup of the back alley growler
party.
BeginninE of the Career.
THE first sten fhaY take un or down the