The leader., 1905-03-11
demand 50 much Of man In the city

A0AA4NAAN ~ uAuSA vi AuaM II tAG CAl%
hall as we do IN our shop"
Now this man, but short time be-
fore, had strenuousIy objected to the
amount Of personal tax assessed
against his establishment, and In his
argument had injected the statement
that II the public service werc managed
more economically there would be no
need for such large taxes. ! did not
give his brother the wanted position,
and that business man became my per-
sonal and political enemy.
His was a typical case; one OF many
such. Had acceded to all Of like re-
quests made during my term Of ONCE
the city payroll would have read like
the columns of those directories which
contain only the names of the fashion
ables. Men representing the incest and
best people Of my city begged me daily
to find some place in some department
where the family cast-off could be "em-
ployed." / soon discovered that the
salary had nothing to do with the case;
the family wanted to be able to refer
to the ne'er-do-well as a public OFF,
I Icial" or as one of the mayors friends"
-and the public service was SO elastic.
It never seemed to have occurred to
them that mayor might have some
personal pride in his administration.
Their selfish thoughtlessness blinded
their civic patriotism, and SO they
trooped to the mayors ofice, exhibited
their family skeletons and brazenly
attempted to place their black sheep
as charges upon the public.
There was marked difference be-
tween such men and those presented by
the politicians. The latter were invet-
crate petitioners, but the majority of the
men they wanted to Zine up in front
of the public crib were wide-awake,
active, brainy fellows. They had in
them many qualities which characterize
men of success. Most Of them were
young and ambitious and looked upon
a public job not only as a reward for
services rendered their political supe-
riors but as means to advance them
in politics and the world in general
To be sure they regarded desk in the
I-C1ly nan Vi lAO III O1OuA01S1Ap VA q DlAOOb
gang as sinecure, and this idea of
public service grew out of their politi-
cal creed, which was that the chief end
of ward worker" is to keep himself
and his friends in power.
These men were by nature not lazy
or given to shirking their duties, al
though their city hall lives might in
dicate they were. They were ceaseless
workers for the man whom they recog-
nized as their chief and sponsor. The
time and energy they consumed in his
service would rapidly advance them to
responsible high-salaried positions
should they put as much vigor and en-
thusiasm in private business. Some
of them were fanatically loyal to their
ward bosses, and all of them were
ready to fight at the drop of hat for
their political masters.
This condition of what l might call
political feudalism was one of the most
embarrassing problems which / was
called upon to solve. 1t seemed to me
that if l gave a public position to a
young man he ought to be my fellow, !"
my partisan But soon learned that
after all | was only the employment
agent-the principals were the local
leaders, who took care of their follow
ers through me.
This humiliating truth was driven
home to me several times, and as often
was | on the point of asserting myself
by summarily discharging scores of
employees who had been put on the pay
roll at the request of their ward lead
ers. But | could not afford to lose the
political influence of men who in
their own communities were stronger
than |, nor could | hope to upset a
deep-rooted condition, which, after all,
was entirely in harmony with our rep
resentative form of government. So
swallowed my pride and did just what
all mayors, governors and presidents
do-consulted the leaders, and thus en-
larged their Importance in the eyes of
their immediate followers. One must
use the tools he finds at hand if he
cannot secure better.
According to the dictionary q politi-
cal party is number Of persons
united in opinion and design in opposi-
tion to others in the community" But
one has only to be mayor few weeks
to almost believe that political party
is large number of persons who are
made to think they are the real party
by small number Of persons who call
themselves "the organization" and who
claim all the spoiIs of Office as a reward
for their unselfish devotion to the
party One of the stock phrases used
by politicians who brought applicants
for positions to me was "he did good
work for the party What they should
have said was: He did good work for
the organization-the machine" With
out patronage 1t would be exceedingly
difficult to maintain political ma
chine, and that is the real reason why
political organizations are opposed to
civil service reform am not putting
forth this statement as possessing the
claim of novelty. for the fact is known
of all men, But it will serve to call
attention to the hypocritical devotion
to party and fraudulent loyalty to party
principles loudly voiced by the bosses
of political machines. Such men are
ever trumpeting their disinterested
party loyalty and devotion, and their
incessant claims in time lead many to
believe them. This devotion does NOT
i go outside their little circle; their 10y
atty is confined to the small group
which is the machine. and this machine
stops running when the oil of patron
age gives out.
1t may seem strange that did not
know Of my own knowledge what an
important part hypocrisy played in
politics until after became mayor, but
l.up to my nomination | had been like
hundreds of thousands of others, in
terested in politics only during cam
paigns and then but slightly. | was