The Washington times., 1911-05-17

4
first hand. You ought to find out the
| good as well as the baT in him. You
ought to find out wht-e he gets his
| power"
Graft and patronage" he answered.
What about the oth': party" l said.
Then what are you going to do about
Our only hope is education" he said.
Then" / said, why not educate the
young politicians? Get to know RAT
ferty-hes young and simple and hon
and keep him that way"
but he agreed to have talk
Tisn bao Dan tak with In pan the mysef toid
him what my scheme was.
| DAN" l said. you must decide right
at the beginning of your career whether
you're going to be just tool of Swee-
neys or s whether sSet you're going to stand
"Phot's the mather with Sweeney.
| now?'' he asked.
| In some ways he's all right" I said.
"And in other ways he isn't. But any
do what he tells you to do just as
| though he was your landlord back in
| Ireland and you nothing but tenant.
| "Eh?' he said, looking up quick.
I thought I'd strike sore spot there
I and l made the most of 1t. talked
along like this for a half hour and I
saw his lips come together.
| He'd knife me-" he said finally.
Hes sore now cause I'm afther want
in to run for the council this year."
| Then" said, why don't you pull
! free and make little machine of your
own. Some of the boys will stand by
you. won't they?'
| With that I took him around to the
| settlement house Dan listened good
| naturedly to a lot of talk he didn't
| understand, but he listened with more in
| terest to a lot of talk about the needs
| of the district which 1t was now get
| ting cheated out of, which he did under
| stand. And, incidentally, the man who
at first did all the talking. in the end
| listened to Dan.
| After the latter had gone, he turned
| to me and said:
| Il like that fellow Rafferty,"
| That seemed to me the really impor-
! tant thing and right there ana then we
sat down and worked out the basis Of
| the Young American Political Club"
| Our object was to reach the young
voter first of all and through him to
reach the older ones.
To this end we had a committee on
| boys" and a committee on naturaliza-
| ton" 1 insisted from the beginning
that we must have an organization as
| perfect a that of any political ma
chine. Until we felt our strength a
| little. however. l suggested It was
best to limit our efforts to the districts
! alone.
| w took a map Of the city and
we cut up the districts into blocks
with a young man at the head Of
each block. He was to make a list
| closely in touch as possible with
the political gossip Of both parties.
over him there was to be a street cap
1 tam and over him district captain.
| All this was the result of slow and
careful study. All the workers down
here fell in with the plan eagerly and
one or them agreed to pay the expenses
VI nail any time We wished to use
one for campaign purposes. At first our
enorts passed unnoticed by either po-
| hucal party. 1t was thUIght TO be lust
another tanciful civic dream. We were
glad OF II; II gave us time to perfect
| our organization without interference
| Ihts business took up all the time l
could spare during the winter. But in
stead of finding it drag l found il an
inspiration. The insisted upon making
me president OF the club and though
would rather have had a younger man
at lis head l accepted the honor with
a feeling of some pride.
1t was the first public office l had
ever held and IL gave me a new sense
of responsibility and a better sense OF
| citizenship.
In the meanwhile Dan made no open
break with Sweeney, but it soon became
| clear that he was not in such good fav-
vOr as before. Although we had not
| yet openly indorSed his candidacy we
! We're doing good deal of talking for
! him.
received several visits from
Sweeney's heutenants who tried to find
out jus. what we were about. My an
Swer invariably was NO partisanship
but clean politics.
When it came time TO register l was
| fnFRaI IN iSfn Al
parties in order to take any part in the
! primaries. l registered as a Democrat
for the first time in my life. I also at
| tended a primary for the first time in
my life.
l also felt a new power back of me
for the first time in my life. Little by
! little Dan had come to be an issue.
! Sweeney did not openly declare him
self but it was soon evident that he had
come to the primaries prepared to knife
| Rafferty, If IL were possible.
Back of Dan stood his large per-
| sonal following; back of me stood the
balance of power. Sweeney saw it,
| gave the nod, and Dan was nominated
Six weeks later he was elected, too
| You'd have thought he had been elect
| ed mayor by the noise the small boys
made. Rafferty, came to me with his
| big paw outstretched.
| Carleton" he said, the only thing
I've got agtn is that ye amt an Irish
mon. Faith. ye'd make a domd foine
! IriEhmon."
It's UP to you now" said. ito make
| a damned fine American"
1t wasn't more than two months later
| that Dan came to me to ask my opinion
on request of Sweeney's. 1t looked
| bit off color, and l said so.
You can't do it, Dan,'' 1 said.
ut names throuble,' he said.
Let it come. We're back of you with
both feet"
Dan followed my advice, and the trou-
! IL
as foreman under Sweeney.
But you can't keep down as good
foreman as Dan was, and he had an
other job within a week.
| A few months later I had another Job
myself. l was made foreman with my
own firm, AT wage of two dollars and
! a half a day. When I went back and
announced this to Ruth she cried
| little.
Truly our cup seemed full and rum
ming over.
Continuation of This Story VIII Bs