Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1908-09-10
BY ERNEST McGAFFEY

"N HERE mad grown up III our city
an army OF men who followed
q politics strictly as a means of
earning a livelihood. They
either expected to make a
living by holding office Of some kind
or another, or they figured on making
both ends meet by attaching them
selves to the train of some boss
who would dole out crumbs to them in
some way. direct or indirect. Some
times they figured on getting business
of some kind through their connection
with politics. But at any rate, there
they were, with mo visible means of
support" excepting politics. They
might be in the directory as taxi
dermists, astronomers, chemists, rat
catchers, lawyers, aeronauts, plumbers
helpers, grave-diggers, clerks, or what
you like, but as matter of fact they
depended on politics for living.
Sometimes they were in one busi-
ness sometimes another, but you
could find them always at the ward
meetings, always at the primaries, al
ways at the conventions, caucuses
(when they could get in) at the city
hall at ward headquarters, at down
town headquarters, in the saloons
where politicians might occasionally
be found at the funerals, dances, pic
MICS, and all social gatherings, and
indeed, wherever acquaintance might
be made or selfinterest fostered. They
were very busy individuals, and sim
ply whirlwinds of energy around about
election time.
If they had held paying Job" for
some time, and a change of admins
tration had brought with it the disa-
greeable necessity of ''resigning," they
were usually waiting" until the next
municipal election. AS these occurred
every two years, in my time, the wait
was over before the enforced hand
to-mouth'' existence entirely broke
their spirits. Meantime, they skated
about, working every avenue to keep
alive and hold their own in "the or
ganization." Give them credit, you
with the three square meals a day, for
their superb nerve. If you tackled
one of these captains OF hope" he
was as cheerful as a humble bee on
a thistle top. Everything was lovely,
things never looked better, 'the organ
ization" was in elegant shape, I'VE"
were going to win next time, etc. How
he would lay down the assurance of
victory with various tremendously sug-
gestive chunks of wisdom, culled
from his evereffervescent bonnet"
How sanguine he was of glory and of
fees in the future. Well, even if it
was straight bunk" there was a
CLEAN of possibility in it.
And his airy, insouciant, diffldent
"by the way, Bill let me have a dol
lar till tomorrow" when the glittering
dope" had been exhausted-well, if
you had it why not let him have it?
The sands OF every lucky office hold
er's career are strewn with the wrecks
Of dollars that were cast away to
such siren invitations.
The evolution of such a politician
might be from the bench of a bright
young mechanic, ambitious to shine III
the difficult calcium glare of publici-
ty. He might get elected as a dele
gate to a city convention and get the
political bug" lodged under his hat.
and get so he could raise "a point of
order" at a ward meeting. He might
electioneer for some alderman, and.
after the victory, get a bran new ter
dollar bill, which seemed like money
off a Christmas tree. He might ge.
elected secretary or president of the
ward club. He might get to be a sort
of political jackal to the boss" who
controlled his district There were
great many ways in which he might
distinguish himself in this way but
usually at the expense of his trade.
Or he might be some young lawyer
with a gift for "the gab," who had
attracted the attention of the leaders
as having the nucleus Of speaker"
In him. If he was making money in
his profession. so much the better. In
that event was MIXED for contribu-
tions to the party and sent broadcast
at night to split the tobacco-enveloped
empyrean of the halls where the
voters gathered to hear about the
burning issues" These voters"
may remark in passing, were confined
to the garbage-wagon drivers, the
sewer-pipe extension men. the city
employees and others who had real
interest in politics, and who could
stand all sorts of oratory If they
could only smoke.
Such a victim as I have described
was often held close to work and dis
bursement by promises, half-promises
or suggestions of some prominent gift
in the party nominations. Sometimes
as the years rolled on and he never
realized his ambitions, even in the
shape of a nomination, he drew out a
sadder and a wiser man and let the
political will-o -the-wisps alone.
But strange things happened in pol