Gunnison news-champion., 1908-06-19

likes and exceedingly blunt n hss
~sy Of ps1rtssx thiaxs sui be could
neither s~ ~heeaied nor ipsinsidated
The mere TACT thai hs had proasssed
tho support os has Delegates IN . COO
deternsine that he would s.ygort fnst
canaidst. al the polls on eiectioe- Hut
iu-; ~ far a. his wora ~eut. thai
promise ~ss iFoa-claa and irr~vocsb,s
Time ~A- when boss ~as to b.
marked by his reputation for physical
prose.s. Hut those DAYS are In the
sere and yellow leaf Strange To say.
even In the toughest of the -toagh"
~ards the leaders" are very seldom
Eos men ~ho depend on their knock
ao~n and drag oat abilities. The
boss" Of to-day sspires to he .
dresser" and = wit not q "sl,a&SeT :"
Pugihsm 10 left to il. regular expoa-
ents. and though many Of the ''boss<e"
NAV be patrons Of the sparring
matches. they have given the ro~Gh-
and tumble method of the past the
good-by. and plume themselves on
such q thing as . coRscieDce 10
something that no unscrupuloss ward
boss" will hsrbor. for TO him con
science is q dead letter in politics Be
sides. = boss" may he in one party
one year and on the other side of the
fence the next year He may support
measure At FIRST and then switch"
and night h. Expediency is his watch
word, and he will support q man
see advantage to himself In the end
The questions Of party principles have
an exceedingly hazy interest to him
for the class with which he mingles
and the interests which he represents.
have no time at all to study political
the ethical side Of politics.
II was a matter Of genuine interest
TO meet the various bosses" big and
little. and weigh them and analyze
them as they came into my perspec-
tive They were always . trife curl.
Gus as to just how happened to be In
politics, and ! an quite certain they
were decidedly uncertain as to Just
how ! came TO he holding down q fair.
salaried position when I could not de-
liver delegates: and yet, meeting me
In the game at every turn. from the
primaries 10 the national conventions.
they knew I Vas keeping cases," ~
they may have expressed II. aHd that
In some mysterious way ] must be Of
some value in the sum total Of els-
ments making up political life.
The question Of silent bosses" and
talkative bosses" is one which has
been variously reviewed. and the av.
erage judgment has been that the
silent boss" was the great power.
The fact was that the silent boss
could talk fast enough when he want.
ed to, and the laxative boss could
stand pat" when he so desired II il
WAS the nature Of bose to talk he
did SO: IL he WAS naturally . secretive
man, he kept still generally The most
elective combination was the Boss"
who could talk or keep still as ocoa-
sion demanded, and who could neither
be goaded nor coaxed into either
silence or speech against his better
judgment.
II could be said in favor Of nearly
every real ward boss" that ne was
not an orator. Not In the sense of q
"silyertongued spell-binder. Many Of
them could give good. common sense
talks. and effective ones, too. but they
did not essay to split the welkin with
their perorations. and rather despised
In their hearts the wind -jammer" and
his periods. At the same time. for a
genuinely great speaker they had a
deep respect and enjoyed hearing him.
As for the man with the pen" they
were never unwilling to avail them
selves of his services il he could
make good" with anything TO help on
= campaign.
ERNEST M'GAFFEY.
Copyright. 1893. by Joseph b. Bowles)