The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-08-15
(speuial to The Tlnes-D lspatcfh.)

(SSpeGNll
NEW fYO DIRK, August Il IT lie II erald
to-day publishes the following no NJ t1 bic
|3interyioN with form Governor odell, e g
Iconsplcuous figure III New orls pol itics:G
vi ut will doubtless be a disappolntmee.
to the thousands Of readers OF NV ln 1I,
Churollll's latest novel, Conf ston, 2
know, that In thee stlrnutionEof New q ORR
states political boss, Jethro e. Bass the
hera al. ,.Coniston,n'' was not only. q poor
political Il adcr But that he would DO an
Impossible character In real life. n sj
BENJAMIN x 3. Odell, NJrn8 chairman OF
the Republican State Committee, one OF
the t.bosses;,,, Z, and admittedly-ev when
discussed by lis enemies-one Of the
most forceful political leaders In the
country Is the man who holds this Cpl n
lion Of tho charac ter, & whose Ignorance
bluntness tenderness q sagacity and $polit-
| icnl \ nnesssc have 8 fascinated so many
readers since he first made his bow to
the reading public last spring. ssy51 l3$S5
ii5 Mr. C)dell read "Conistonny carefully, rs
he reads every novel OF Importance, " st
after 1t came from the press, ana Il, ( ne
noted particularly the characteristics OF
Jethro Bass from. The time he first talked
politics IN the tnnnery shed until ne
made his last fight2in the throne room
He was discussing politics and other
Timely subjects yesterday fternoons#in
the headquarters of tho State Committee,
in the Fifth Avenue II II otel, hen some
one asked ( him: 3sY lis 5 x: II H ssS5
Have you read tConiston' =
,'Oh, Yes, v 5 replied the former Gov
fernor, smiling. Il, 5
5i'yvhat do You think Of ~ Eng
ut shows that the author, Mr.. Church
|Eill, knows nothing about politics 8 u
Opinion, Of the Boss '4.5S
eWhat do you think Of Jethro Bass,
the political boss n
MI. odell has never been loquacious
when the subject$of pol teal bosslsm was
preached, 4 but at the mentor Of Bass, $
name he leaned back in his chair, bit his
cigar, and said: ~ isf y. s5s III
ia man like Jethro Bass, linschooled
land uncduca te d. could mot attain to the
leadership which Bast did. t He He II wa
shrevd but tfer Qualities than those '
he possessed are required to make a sue
cessful political leader, as any on 9 who
has been In politics knows. In Bass.
Churchill created Il mean, despicable
lobbyist, nothing more, Flo may be In
teresting as n fiction character, but as
a political boss he would DO impossible
ISssS"Possibly Bass could have sfiourished
III the days OF 1870. was observed. 'gif
"I4e couldn't have hourshed long In
IllY4gDeElOu1'f4 - -
way OF doing things. I'll lis possible that
Ito make a story interesting an author
]3hns to be inaccurate linz his drawing \ 81
characters. Certainly Churchill has not
drawn Il truthful character from my way
| OF looking at 1T. The whole story shows
| the authors LACK OF knowledge OF poll
tics, In which respect, however. he re-
sembles other writers Of political $ tories
Take the description of tho Wopdchuck
| .tI,f no
for instance. That Is absurd. It coult
not happen now, and 1t never could have
happened Any one familiar wi til poll
tics and with legislative methods knows
that. The Idea o + the governors liip can
didate paying $4,000 for tho nomination
that Is absurd also giS
{$'1oos little? ~ INTERCEPTED some sone..4
TO this Mr.. Odcll made no reply,
Too Much Money Needed. Il.
''lIow about the mortgage system whicl
formed tile basis of Jethro Bass's politt
| cal mnohlne2 was asked, i5 5a z
f&&.9Thnt might be successful perhaps !
one wanted to build up amachIne, hu
\ II would take three or four national bank
to operate 1t. The whole purpose Q
political novels is defeated BY the failure
on the part of the authors to paintgan &C
clIrute and truthful picture Iassume--I'n
not n literary man., however, and ma
be wrong-that the aim Of every move
IS TO work reform In the special fle
with which 1t deals, Stories like Cons
ton have a tendency to drive men out Q
political life. because they reflect Q
create only the bad and overlook the bet
ter things which would attract the kin
o. men public life needs,
In his subsequent discussion, Mr. Ode
showed that he Is an olnnivorous sreade
OF all popular novels of merit and that II
| political novels Of recent times hay
been overlooked by him.
NEW YORK FIGHT.