New-York tribune., 1902-03-29
NIXON 0S "PRAcTIcAL PoLITIcs."


, Lewis Nixon in The Philadelphia Saturday Evening
+ Post
The theory of these men seems to be that be
the good men-should not he expected o Join the
bad men in political organization is no valid rea-
son why good men should stay out On the con
trary, It is ali the strongly their duty to
Hail has some Of these bad men In its makeup,
represent even remotely the general character and
tone of the organization or that they represent In
any sense the three hundred thousand Democrats
tive organization as soon as it discovers the men
who are bad, TO put them out, instead Of letting
course viii be pursued by Tammany Hall just as
soon as II locates definitely The persons who in its
the part of good citizenship 10 aid in this process
All Democrats owe # themselves, and TO their
party afiliaton to lend hand In that way only
can they bring about a cure Of the mgncipal sores
a cure at It. the the hands Of men not accountable for
anything Tammany Hall is essentially the poor
end e I tbe eTnau anarfme1t Its leaders arc con-
ana ana, ln ,i in T @ iti f M ifr s az + iaG,rn
class; that is their chief ambition and the source
the streets with one or another Of the TamInany
leaders he has left me as we passed a building in
there to see the boss plaserer and the boss brick
cannot give a job of my men" That being
the case, and the poor man being the mainstay Of
Ranization would countenance state Of affairs
that would surround It's best friends with bad con
1t is unfortunately true that great many voters
and so lightly made that every party organization
is necessarily corrupt that ii can never be differ
ent, and that no honest nan who has regard for
his reputation afford to identify himself
lively with the machine A greater mistake has
been made. The pity of II is. this false idea
is strongly imbedded !n the minds of such num-
beTs or otherwise wei meaning people that II Keeps
out OF the organization much material that would
be invaluable. There is no more reason why
political organization should be corrupt than there
is why business organization should be corrupt.
II Is. Of course, possible IN either but il Is
not a general condition. The trouble is that I'm
cause they paraded in the public prints. one
rarely never hears OF the good work that pOti-
never fails to hear of the had. day with OF
the leaders would prove a veritable revelation 10
the men who stand aloof and cry out against the
IT is folly to declare against the professional poll
tcian and to abstain from participation in party
organization because many OF the leaders are pro-
fessional politicians Politics is very proper. a
very creditabe profession There Is no
why man should not serve the people than
that he should not individual
any choice II is or ought to be In favor Of serving
and satsfact ctorily has qualities that enttle him
the highest regard OF necessity he has executive
for the administration OF the offices his party may
have bestow. Ten to one he gives better service
naturally give large part or the time for which
he is paid Of the city treasury his private af
fairs To say the least the politician has strong
a grasp public questions as has the private cit-
zen Frequently he has much stronger grasp
for II Is part Of HIS business 10 keep informed
the questions before the people. 1t would amaze
some OF the critics Of the Tammany Han politicians
II they could hear these men discussing current
ar-eTts the problems Of the day They have a
look ahead and plan for the future and for big pub
lie improvements In a way that is too often denied
a class Of people Of whom they know nothing ex-
cept what they read