Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-12
VIII.
A Call From "The Party"

About month after the Chicago and
Fredonia bill smothered in committee
there appeared upon the threshold of my
office in the adminstratio building OF
the Ramsay Company, man whom at first
glance you might have taken for an ex-
horter or collector for some pious enter
prise. But if you had made a study CT
faces. your second glance would have cut
through the glaze of oily, apologize APP
peal Behind thin screen of short gray
beard lay a heavy loose mouth. cruel and
strong: above it, great beak and pair
of pale green eyes intensely alive. They
were in startling contrast to the apparent
decrepitude of the stopped, stumbling
body, far too small for its covering of de-
cent but somewhat rusty black.
Senator Dunkirk" said l. rising and adj
vancing 10 greet the justly feared leader
of my party. l knew there an intimate
connection between this visit and the death
of his pet project. l thought it safe to as
sumo that he had somehow stumbled upon
Woodrufs tunnelngS and with that we'll
trained nose of his had smelled out their
origin. But l need not have disquieted
myself. | did not then know how softly
Woodruff moved. sending warnings
ahead and leaving no trail behind.
For several minutes the senator and
felt for each other in the dark in which
We both straightway hid. He was the first
to give up and reveal himself in the open.
But l do not wish to waste your time and
my own Mr.. Sayier," he said: Il have come
to you about the threatened split in the
party. You are perhaps surprised that l
should have come to you. when you have
been SO many years out of politics. but L
think YOU will understand. as | explain
myself You know Mr.. Roebuck?'
II can't say that l know him. L replied.
He is not easy man TO knoW-lndeed,
who is?"
"A very able man: in some respects a
great man." DUnkirk went on. But like
so many of our great men of business,
he can not appreciate politics-the diff
fcultes of the man in public life
where persuasion and compromise must be
used authority almost never And be-
cause l have resisted some of his impossi
bic demands he has declared war on the
party He has raised up in il faction
headed by your old enemy, Dominick. l
need not tell you what a brute, what a
beast he is, the representative of all that
is abhorrent in politics"
"A faction headed by Dominick coudn' t
be very formidable I suggested.
But Dominick isn't the nominal leader,
replied Dunkirk. "Roebuck is far too
as the decoy my colleague. Croffut-per-
haps you know him? If so, I needn't tell
you what a vain. shallow, venal fellow he
is, with his gift of CAB that fools the peo-
ole"
II know him." said I. In tone which did
not deny the accuracy of Dunkirk's de-
scrict!on.
Their object" continued the senator, rs
to buy the control of the party machinery
away from those who now manage 1t in the
interests of conservatism and fair dealing.
If they succeed the only business interest
that will be considered in this state will be
the power trust. And We shall have Domi-
nick, the ignorant brute, dashed on by Roe
bucks appettes. until people will rise in
fury and elect the opposition-and. you
know what 1t Is.
What you say is most interesting" said
l. but | confess l haven't imagina ton
enough TO conceive a condition of affairs
in which anybody with the price couldn't
get what he wanted by paying for it. Per-
hapS the business interests would gain by a
change-the other crowd might be less ex-
pensive. Certainly the demands of our
party's machine have become intolera BILE y
ut astonishes me- Mr.. Sayler. to hear you
say that-you, who have been In politics.
he protested. taken aback by my hardly
disguised attack upon him-for he was In
reality party" and machine" Surely,
you understand the situation. We must
have money to maintain our organization,
and to run our campaign. Our workers
can't live on air; and, to speak of only
one other factor. there are thousands and
thousands of our voters, honest fellows, too,
who must be paid to come to the polls.
They wouldn't vote against us for any sum i;
but unless we pay them for the day lost
in the fields, they stay at home. Now,
where does our money come from? The
big corporations are the only source-who
else could would give largely enough?
And it is necessary and just that they
should be repaid. But they are no longer
content with moderate and prudent rewards
for their patriotism. They make bigger
and bigger and more and more unreason-
able demands on US, and so undermine our
popularity-for the people can't be blinded
wholly to what's going on. And thus. year
by year 1t takes more and more money TO
keep us in control.
You seem to have forgotten my point"
said l. smiling. why should you be kept
In control? If you go out the others come
In. They buster and threaten in order to
get themselves in; but. once they're elect
ed they discover that 1t wasn't the people s
woes they were shouting about, but their
own. And soon they are docile conSerVa-
tiveS' tapping away at the trough with
nothing dangerous in them but their appe-
tites.
''Precisely-their appetites, said he.
"A starved man has TO practice eating d
long long time before i've can equal the
performances of trained glutton," l sug-
gested.
His facial response to my good humored
raillery was feeble indeed And ii soon
died in a look of depression that made him
seem even older and more decrepit than
was his wont: The same story, wherever
| go" said he sadly. THE business inter
ests refuse to see their peril. And when l,
in my zeal. persist they-several of them
Sayler have srinned at me and reminded
me that the Legislature 10 be elected next
fall will choose my successor! AS II my
own selfish interests were all l have In
mind! | am old and feeble, on the verge
of the grave. Do you think. Mr.. Sayler
that would continue in public life If 1t
were not for what | conceive to be my
duty TO my party? l have toiied too LONG
for it
Your record speaks for itself senator,
put in politely but pointedly.
You are very dscouraging, Sayler, he
VIII Put s.
couraged. The party needs you, and
have come to do my duty, and l won't
leave without doing it,
Il have nothing TO do with the company
political contributions said /. You will
have to see Mr.. Ramsay as usual"
He waved his hand. Let me explain
! please. Roover is about TO resign-as you
probably know, he's been chairman of the
| party's state committee for seventeen years
| I've come to ask you to take his place"
1t was impossible wholly to hide my
| amazement, my stupefaction. Had he had
| the shadowiest suspicion of my plans. OF
| the true inwardness of the Croffut-Dominick
movement, he would readily have offered
me his own head. In fact. he was offering
me his own head, for, with the money and
| the other resources at my command, need
| ed only this place of official executive of the
party to make me master. And here he
was, giving me the place, under the delu'