The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-11-08
RICHARD CROKER ON TAMMANY

The object of running a campaign is
| to win That is what I go into cam
/ paigns for.
! Sometimes it is known to be impos-
| sible to win the campaign we are fight
| ing, but even then the object is the
| same. In a losing battle fight so that
| the next battle, and the battle after
! that. shall be won.
The only thing is to win-today, to
morrow or the next day: but to win in
/ the end. It is supposed that we know
! what we are fighting for before we be-
/ sin, and also that we are willing TO
/ spend our time and money and take all
sorts of risks in order to get the things
! we want. That has all been decided be-
] fore, and when 1 enter d, campaign 1
| keep my eye on one object Only-Suc
! cess.
/ I don't forget what we are fighting
| for, any more than the miner who digs
| coal in a dark mine all day forgets
what he is lighting for against heavy
! odds. But if a workman is to do a good
! job, he has to keep his eye on his work,
! looking just far enough ahead to keep
/ true to his aim. That is just what do
/ in politics. 1 don't forget the end. but
I know that success must come first.
/ We can do nothing toward carrying
/ out our policy until we win; and I put
/ out all my energies to win.
How do I win? BY organization. And
| when say organization" don't mean
( merely organization for single cam
] paign. 1 mean something more perma-
/ nenL mean an organization that has
/ been thought out and planned out in
/ every detail probably years ago, and
/ whose machinery is kept thoroughly
/ oiled and in running order all the time.
! 1t must be ready for any demand made
! upon it, and ready to do any amount
| Of work. and do it we'll
/ Each a. T1D1iuT1 has nf Oh
! acter and scope of its own, and must
+ be fought along its own lines. These
| must be kept in view, so that the most
! effective work may be done. But no
] matter what the ature of the particu-
/ lar campaign a political machine that
! is thoroughly equipped Will be able to
/ manage it better and more successfully
/ than new and untried organization.
TammOny Hall is a big machine. do
1 not use the words in any bad sense, but
/ mean by il a political organization. It
! is organized for political victory. It is
| the most perfect piece of political
/ mechanism in the world. There is no
| other party organization IN this c0un-
| try that approaches it in its complete
| ness or in the effectiveness with which
/ il operates. I am confident there is no
| political machinery in Europe or else
| where that may be compared with it.
! I have studied very closely the work
| and there is no machinery there that
| has anything like the perfect mechan-
ism OF Tammany Hall.
And yet Tammany Hall is only a part
of the Democratic organization. It is
| an organization that has come to be
| used for political purposes, and it is
| often the case that. for practical pur-
| poses, the two organiZatiOns-that is,
the official Democratic organization and
the political organization of Tammany
HaIl-are the same.
Tammany Hall, looking at it as a po-
Iitical machine. and acting, as it were,
| for the Democratic party, fully repre-
sents the voters. Its executive commit
| tee of thirty-six members are also the
| leaders in the thiTty-SiX assembly dis
| tTicts. It sometimes, though rarely
| happens that a member of the Tam
many Hall executive committee is not
| the district leader in his district. They
are generally the same. 1t is as district
leaders that they usually hold their
places in the executive committee OF
! Tammany Hall.
| These leaders report to the general
committee on conditions in their dis
tricts. It is pretty safe to base a pre-
| diction of the result of an election on
their reports, so thorough is their work
! and their knowledge of their field.
The organization expects election dis
| trict captains to hold the same divis-
ions, and the district leaders to hold
the assembly districts for the Demo
cratic party, or to win them for the
Democracy If they are now ReDub-
lican.
Such is, in brief, the machinery witt
which we run campaign 1t is so com
plete and so finely arranged that or
ganized political work can be carried
on in every block and in every house
Every voter in the city could be reach
I al nd "a rr~4fh nd . with in.
side of tWenty-fOur hours. A house t
house canvass. the most effective sor
| of political work, may be made at an
time This is often very necessary il
| getting out the full strength of a dis
| trict Or Of the whole city for primar.
or a general election. 1t may be tn
last straw that turns the balance. w
never fail to resort to it in q hard con
test.
A party may have votes enough [
spare. and yet fail to carry the election
Often there is a feeling of indifference
y that keeps thousands of voters at home
You must get the votes into the boxe
= and have them counted fairly and &C
curately before you have won; and
frequently becomes a problem how {
u bring out the party'S voting strength
7 always recommend a house to hoUs
canvass in such cases. In no other wa
can you reach the voters so directly o
h arouse their interest ana enthusiast
e so effectively.
With the organization I have descrih
/ ed I can feel the political pulse of Ne7
York almost at will 1 know just wheT
the party stands; just how the voter
feel on all the issues, how much interes
they are taking in the election, an
e whether we can count on their comm
> out to the polls without further stirrin
u UP.
s I begin running a campaign years be
fore the candidates are nominated c
the issues defined. Each campaig
NAV indeed. be said TO begin with tn
first steps taken in the organization c
e the political machine that is to manag
q it. Tammany wins in this city chief
,, because OF its perfect organization. TIL
majority of the people, of course, az
- I 1sbin6 and rS-ftn TO --r,7 NV: but e re