The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-02-05
HOW s'BoSsU PLATT
RULES IN NEW YORK.

In the lobby of the Arlington last
evening a group OF senators and repre-
sentatives were talking. slender
man of medium height. with carefully
trimmed iron gray beard. grave i'm
passive features. dressed with ir0T1ac-
ulate neatness in silk-faced Prince Al
bert, passed through to the elevator
he nodded pleasantly TO the gentle
men, who in like manner returned the
salutatiOn.
Senator Platt." said one of that
senator's cOnfreres to his companions,
has held absolute sway as the leader
OF the Republican party in New York
state for nearly a quarter of a century.
and consider his political power and
control of men to be one of the re-
markable instances of American citi-
zenSh1p and American politics The
question naturally arises how he has
Deen able to do this, and why.
The methods of this American War
wick are quite dissimilar from the av-
eTage leader in politics. You and l.
ana the rest of US in this group, will
promise man anything within or
without reason. according to our re
spectiVe temperaments- Promises are
the stock in trade Of the average
statesman and politician. He perfects
the organization among his adherents
mainly By promises and Yields their
separate strength together in the COM
poS1te whole of his power by promises
with few performances spattered in
the mortar to make it stick
The controller Of the destinies of
the Republican party in New York
never promises anything He makes
no promises He acts He either does
a thing or he does not do it. He is
either for man or a measure or
against him or it. All the men in his
army who enjoy his confidence or
whose confidence he has in turn know
Tef hon
their hands on him and he on them
Political leaders will often talk as
many ways as the wind blows He
talks but one way-to the point indie
clsiOn is an unknown quantity with
him. Moves on the checker board Of
politics are quicklytand carefully con-
sldered and thought out. a position is
taken and there are no backward
steps.
Absolute loyalty 20 his friends is the
second stone in the foundation of his
success as a political leader and fac
tor. A keen observer of men. a close
and accurate reader of human nature.
man must get up early in the morn
ing to mlSlead or deceive him His
heutenants are like those of the cap
'a1n of a ship where he holds their alb
solute faith-it is swim or sink, ac-
corning to his ideas of navigation.
These" continued the senator. as he
lighted his after dinner cigar, ARE two
or three of the cardinal reasons why
Senator Plat has ruled so easily and
long-the easy boss of the big state
on the other eide of New Jersey For
years there has not a day passed that
the metropolitan press has not con-
tanned with reference to him one to
half dozen editorials, ranging from
mild censure to personal abuse vet
things go along the same as though
nnv
man at whom they are directed evil
IDENTIFY take them for what they are
worth, and his hold on the helm has
never been even unsteady, much less
shaken; and the great METROPOLIS
thrObs and thrills with its never-ceas-
ing life just the same.
Low of speech, calm Of demeanor.
quiet of disposition, deliberate of &C
ton, methOdical and systematicaL
senator Platt bears diversified respon-
Slblhties and multifariOUs duties on
his shoulders under which many
stronger men would long ago have sue
cumbed or been oyerthrown in power
NO political victory against a real an
tagOnlst such as is the New York De-
mocracy has ever been won except by
the labor of the man who controls and
the men who constitute the regular or
sanizatiOn Of a party. The political
machinery OF the Republican party in
New York in all of its ramifying in
trlcacles moves with a regularity and
precision which has brought many a
victory over its Democratic foe. The
man who stands on the bridge has but
TO give a word now and then and the
party shin rides out the storms on the
sea, of politics.
And the more remarkable is il all
tEat this work is "A self-imposed avoca-
ton The head of a great corporation,
several times a millionaire. politics
constitutes to him the mental relaxa-