The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1905-03-25
Re YELlT|ONS BY
I'm EX.NAYOR
Ha k% a EMA AE HEaM
MAYOR as AN DEVELOPMENT
AGENT"

AGENT"
Clever Work by Campaign Secretar,
Politics a Business Which Deal
in Public Jobs and Contracts-Po
1itical Feudalism City Hall a:
Asylum for Incompetents.
BY AN Ex-MAYOR OF ONE OF TIKI
LARGEST AMERICAN CITIES.
nEFORE had been the chief execu
/ II tive of my city half a dozen week
/ was strongly tempted to rub out th'
sign "Office O.. the Mayor which gilt
tered in gold letters on my door, ant
substitute for it ssEmpIoymentAgenc
Apparently all the expended money
time and energy, all the bitterness o.
fierce political fight, all of the excite
| ment, worry and fatigue caused by {
mayora1ty campaign. and all Of the
skill, GINNING and craftiness incident te
an election had been SO many factors
| in the proposition, not to make me g
| mayor, but to enable me to distribute
|
The day after l was nominated my
modest mail suddenly expanded to
fearsome proportions. Letters literally
| flowed into home and office. They were
heaped in mounds and hillocks, and
| these sWelled to mountains the day
| after my election.
With rare exceptions every letter
+7,Jo Jol
| with an application for a public posi-
ton. Most of them were reinforced by
Endorsements, recommendations from
men of whose existence | was densely
ignorant.
In the beginning ! made some futile
attempts to classify and group the let
tiers, but a few days demonstrated my
inability to keep the head of system
above the deIuge of applications, so
called on my campaign manager for
help. He promptly said | needed a
Campaign secretary" and in few
hours had installed a brisk young man
with corps Of typeWriters, and I saw
no more applications. But when that
energetic campaign secretary took hold
he started the major part of the
troubles which beset me after I became
mayor.
Every letter represented possible
vote and a probably enthusiastic parti-
san. My campaign secretary wrote a
reply to each application, SO c1everly
worded that while it did not contain
the definite statement that I would, if
elected, give the applicant a city hall
position, it was warm enough to JUS
tify thousands of the petitioners in the
belief that they certainly would be
taken care Of. .
The answers dictated by my cam
paign secretary were said to be vote
getters. They were regarded as ex-
ceedingly fetching campaign literature.
AS matter Of fact, they were so many
petty swindles designed to obtain goods
under false pretenses. | aid not see
these tronble-hreeders until I became
mayor. Then they fell on me from all
sides at once. Their bearers filled the
halls and corridors of the city hall
They mobbed my home every morning
and stormed my Office every hour.
could not repudiate the implied prom
ises, for each bore my rubber stamped
signature. | simply was compelled to
listen to every man who came with one
of those typewriter curses, and wrote
down his name, address and Job want
ed for future consideration
Valuable hours, which should have
i'm Io 81 ,s,
business, were giyel up entirely to this
employment agency work And I mar
veled at the eager desire for public po-
sitions displayed by men who wasted
weeks seeking city hall jobs" Some
of them held good positions which paid
them higher salaries than they ever
could hope to get from the city. Yet
they were willing and anxious to give
up substantial situations in honorable |
business houses for insecure. small
salaried clerhships in the public |
service.
While I was struggling against this
invasion Of job hunters / was told by
my political friends that in dividing
che plums I must constantly keep in
mind, not the good of our party, but |
the welfare Of our organization / have
told how the peculiar political condi-
tons which obtained at that time led /
me to organize what my opponents
We're pleased to call my personal ma
chine. \ | supposed that in building up
an organization to strengthen my adj
| ought to be doing my
party good at the same time. But soon I
learned that successful politicians
place organization first and party sec
ond. It was a friendly alderman who I
laid down this rule Of conduct for me:
''Give your fellows the jobs and they'll /
make the party keep you in your job
He had called to get one Of his Eel
lows on the payroll.
He isn't much on figures, but he's
q hustler at the primaries. and need
him. He's one Of the best canvassers
I've got, and I want you to take care
Of him. There's a good job in the
health office which doesn't take up
more than one day a week, and the
rest of the time can use him. He's
a pretty wise lad. could get the
street car company to take him, but
he'd have to work there"
The chat which followed led me to
the conclusion that in the game of
politics the successful man is
he who proves to be the best job get
ter.
You can't stay in politics unless you
can put your constituents on some pay
roll" said the alderman Most Of my
firnn ic crnrt II eating 1rnrIr for nv