The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-13

trict captain is generally a saloon keeper
because the business of liquor selling is
one which can be proftably run in connec-
tion with politics. A saloon is a convenient
place of meeting at all times of the day
and night. and ranks with the barber shop
as a collecting and disseminating point for
all the news and gossip of the neighbor-
hood Living. he generally does, in
rooms above his barroom, and spending
most of his time behind his own bar. or in
his little private office in the rear, it is an
easy matter f6r the saloon politician to
keep in touch with every one that dwells
within the four streets that mark the limits
of his Kingdom.
He must know the name and face of
every voter i'm his territory and to d GER
tain extent those of their wives and chill
dren. He must keep the run of all births,
marriages and deaths and attend every
christening and wedding. Above all. he
must do reverence to the dead, for in the
moment of bereavement it is easy to get
close to the hearts of the poor. the de-
pendent or the exiled. If there is wake in
the district the captain steps softly i'm
among the mourners. presses the hand of
the sorrowing mother or widow. gazes
pityingly at the corpse and praises i'm low.
sympathetic tones the virtues Of the dead
He accepts an invitation to drink and on
taking his departure leaves behind him a
bottle two of whisky and box of cigars
At the funeral. if the deceased has been
person of any local consequence, the cap
tain is usually to be found with mourning
emblems on his person in a carriage very
near the hearse.
But the saloon politician must be able to
serve his fellows in many practical ways,
or his power will soon disappear. If a Jew
peddler is arrested for selling without a
license, he must his influence with the
judge to have him discharged, or if that is
impossible and the cuprit is fined. he will
find ii expedient to pay the fine himself in
the hope of making the poor emigrant be-
lieve that he-the rich and powerful saloon
keepers the only friend the poor foreigner
has in the country. He must, moreover,
obtain bail for any of his clients who are
held for a bailable offense. and he is not
infrequently called upon 10 provide counsel
for those who are put on trial.
All these friendly offices help along his
political aspirations and in due time build
up for him a personal following, but doubt
If all his efforts would have much avail
were il not for the extraordinary power
placed in his hands by the distribution of
what are called labor tickets" and this
labor ticket is the backbone of the whole
system of municipal politics as practced in
the city of New York.
The labor ticket is simply a card emitting
IT'S holder to job on some specified mu-
nicipal work, Whenever men are needed
for work on the big pipes. or i'm Central
Park. or for street paving or street clean
ing, or for anything else that may be un-
dertaken by the city government. or by the
corporations that desire the good will of
that government. these tickets are issued
according to the number of men required.
When there is a distribution 10 be made
the fact speedily becomes known i'm all the
wards that are populated by the poorer
classes. though there is very little excite
ment in the brown stone district in