The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-11-06
EXPLANATION OF A
MYSTERY IN POLITICS
Philadelphia Paper Pays Trib-
ute to Human Side of a
Political Boss"

From the Philadelphia North American.
To the theorist, the dilettante in poll
tics, the self-righteous bat imprac-
teal business man, the reformer who
thinks he has set all things right by
passing a set OF resolutions and then
ticlan is an ~unspeakable villain adorned
with a cloven hoof, hide, horns and a
forked tall.
such well-meanlng men cannot I'M
derstand tine Joe" Calls. And the
solution OF the failure of many a prom
ising reform movement to achieve per
manence is that to such men the asser-
ton that in his especial good work
Joe Call had no selfish interest, but,
on the contrary, only the worthiest OF
aims, would be unbelievable.
Yet. in our belief, that was the abso-
lutte truth. Deaf as most of the Joe"
Calls OF our cities may be to the voice
tra~ct-grabbing and every form OF tax
eating, their ears are open usually to
the appeal Of humanity. An occasional
Clay is merely the exception that
proves the rule.
Pharisees believe that a zoe" Cali
can win a position in politics by acct
dent. Accidents in politics do happen.
But they do not last throughout a
number of years. Back OF the making
OF every Tammany leader. as back of
the rise of Joe" Call. lies a quality be-
You'd mere Owe of organization.
.hrewdness before and at the polling
and party regularity. 1t is sympathy.
the understanding and therefore the
liking of his fellow man. regardless OF
his class or clothes. the nna though
underlined impulse to help the other
fellow"
Highly respectable citizens may walk
through wards like the Twentieth in
Philadelphia and wonder how the Joe"
Calls can influence intelligent citizens
to vote for a corrupt organization,
against decent. honest government.
They do not see that the campaigning
of such men continues during 1865 days
each year.
Were they to follow the Joe" Calls
in the month after as we'll as the
month before an election. they would
see help given to men to find work: the
coffin or cemetery lot bought when
death enters the home of the poor the
load of coal bought in winter OF The
order on the grocer for a widow and
her children: the boy helped u in his
first troubles that otherwise might
make him a hardened criminals: and
back of it all sympathy and under
standing always.
On the surface there would seem to
be nothing in common between the
Joe" Calls and the North American.
shall fight the rotten machines to
which they belong. and their own false
theories of government. But, in an
dor, We say that there is q bond be-
tween us that does not link us with
some who believe in civil service and
business methods of administration and
therefore support our policies in the
main.
On the lines of humanity we are as
one with the Joe Calls. If We lay
crippled by the roadside we should
rather see joe Call come within hail
than many another whose civic vision
is clearer. He would play the samar-
titan without asking who and what wu
We're.
The reason we speak these plain
truths is because this particular Joe"
Call has had the good sense to see that,
while he hates us and while we cam
not indorse him as a public man, none
the less we can work together to help
the other fellow"
A host of his political associates who
never will last in w as he has and
always will. wonder why-wonderel
the other night why-in the name OF
all their political gods Joe" Call was
helping the North American outing
fund. We knew why. And therefore
we have told the simple story.
Every year, almost every day that
passes leave us with q double regret.
One is that the "Joe" Calls, so right
in their sympathy and sense of brother
hood, are so wrong in other things es-
scntial that we must combat them.
The other regret is that those who
uphold the rights that the Joe" Calls
strive to destroy. fail SO often to
grasp and put into beneficent reality
the truths hat the Joe Calls com
prehend.
Both are right: both wrong. We
should lose hope Of humankind at times
if we did not believe that sooner or
later the good of both sides will be de-
Veloped and the errors eliminated. The
coming of that day when the North
American could represent and com
pletely approve both those classes
would be the coming true of our
dream of dreams.
r. n.I:>--- Al. Alt,