The Washington times., 1911-04-26
PATRONAGE JOBS
NOW DISTRIBUTED
BY CERTIFICATES
Trading Is Active Among
the Members of the
House.
4 say. old man, have you got a $500

Il say. old man, have you got $500
certificate you don't need?"
Sure thing! I'll turn it over to you
on condition that at the next session
YOU give me 5000 certificate"
You're on. This will just tide me
over in fine shape"
Sounds just like high finance, doesn't
1t? Well, it isn't. It's just a new way
OF handling the patronage of the House
OF Representatives. Men who were for
merly in the banking business, real es-
tate, or horse trading and who are now
members of the House, are beginning
to feel at home. Already an effort Is
being made to corner the certificate
market, and, as might be expected, the
financiers engaged in cornering the
market are the New Workers. Here is
the story. Of the patronage certificates:
When the Democratic Committee on
Organization got together to distribute
the patronage Of the House It was dis
covered that It would be impossible to
place a good job at the disposal of each
member. There are patronage jobs at
the Capitol ranging all the way from
$1,000 down to $500 and $500. Each men,
Der on the Democratic side is entitled to
about $3.50 worth of patronage. OBJ
viously 1t was impossible to give each
member job for exactly that amount
Of salary.
Drawback Certificates.
For instance. each member has on his
desk a list of the jobs at the disposal
OF the Committee on Organization. The
caucus Limitation prevents one member
from taking the $4,000 job or anything
above $3.50. There is a limit to the
number of good jobs to be passed out,
and, therefore, many of them pay less
than $500. AS a result of this condi-
ton the Committee on Organization hit
upon the scheme of giving what has
come to be known on the inside as a
drawback certificate"
For instance, If a Western member
decides that he would rather place a
constituent In a $1,000 job than to insult
two of his constituents by offering them
500 jobs, he is given the right TO name
the man for the s, 200 job, in addition
to which he is given certificate show
ing that he is still entitled to $500 worth
of patronage. Obviously, $500 worth of
patronage is worthless, or rather would
be worthless IL the shrewd New York
ers hadn't shown their fellow-members
how to deal in Congressional patronage
certificates.
Pooling Begun.
Word came down from Tammany Hall
not very long ago that some faithful
inhabitants of the wigwam must be
taken care of. The jobs, of course,
must be good ones. Now s., 800 is not an
attractive proposition to men whom
Boss Murphy intends to reward, or to
men who are expected to spend bit of
money now and then In promoting the |
cause. Hence there was a council, at
which some bright mind evolved the
scheme of pooling the certificates hand
ed out by the committee on organiza-
tion.
By the time a dozen of the TAM
manyites had pooled they had enough
to go to the front and demand one of
the best Jobs in the House. The COM
mittee on organization had nothing to
do but promise the job, and in a few
in one of his faithful followers and |
permit him 10 go to Washington as a |
special mark of favor.
This scheme of actually making use of |
the Notwithstanding entirely un-
looked for by the organization-was too |
good to keep. Soon after the Tammany-
ties completed their pool and were in a |
fair way to corner all the good jobs on |
learned to have more respect for their |
certificates. Soon there was a brisk |
trade in certificates.
First Victims.
The Representatives from the Far |
West were the first victims. They had |
a lot OF certificates which were per-
fectly useless to them, inasmuch as II |
would cost their constituents more to
come to Washington than the job would |
pay. The Eastern members approached |
these innocent Representatives, pointed |
out that a little bit of $500 certificate
was useless, and forthwith captured it
The Eastern member then continued
his journey about the House, picking up
a certificate here and there until he had
accumulated enough to entitle him to
fine Job.
1t was quite some time before the
real value of the certificates got abroad |
Now that their value is generally
known, members are driving hard bar
gains, some of them mortgaging their fu-
ture patronage in order to have a slice
Of 1t now. The market in certificates is
still fuctuating badly.