The Washington herald., 1913-10-12
Declares He Was Supported by Nine Of All the Sin
cere Reformers- Bosses and the Power They
Weld Is Discussed

else who had been nominated frankly for
reasons Of expediency by bosses whose
attitude toward good citizenship was at
best one of Gallio-like indifference. At
the time when / was nominated for Gov
ernor, as later when Mr. Hughes was
nominated and renominated for Governor
there was no possibility Of securing the
nomination unless the bosses permitted
it. In each case the bosses. the machine
leaders. took a man for whom they did
not care. because he was the only man
with whom they could win. In the cas-.
OF Mr.. Hughes there was, Of course, also
the fact OF pressure from the national
administration But the bosses were
never overcome in a fair fight, when they
had made up their minds 10 fight. until
the Saratoga convention In 1910, when
Mr.. Stinlson was nominated for Governor.
The Business Of Politics.
Senator Plstt had the sane inborn ca
pacity for the kind q politics which ha
liked that many big Wall Street men
have shown for HDt Wf.olly 'disslnilar
types OF finance Il Uzs his chief in
terest, and hs applied hlnlsslf 70 IL IN
remittingIy. He hsnSlsS re private busi-
ness successfully: bgt = was politics in
which he vas abEgy5s>. so1 ne con-
cerned himself thsTswifh sIsTv day in ths
year. He had built - a. excellent Eys-
tenn OF organization, soc the necessary
funds came from corporations and men
of wealth who contributed as have
described above. The majority Of ths
men with a natural capacity for organlza-
ton leadership Of the type which has
generally been prevalent in New Yor1
politics turned to Senator Platt as their
natural chief and helped build up the or
ganization, until under his leadership ID
became more powerful and in a position
of greater control than any other Repub-
lican machine in the country. excepting
in Pennsylvania. The Democratic ma
chimes in some of the big cities. as in
New York and Boston, and the country
Democratic machine. OF New York, under
David 3. Hill, were probably even mora
efficient, representing an even more COM
plete mastery by the bosses, and an even
greater degree of drilled obedience among
the henchmen. 1t would be an entire
mistake to suppose that Mr. Platt's lieu
tenants were either all bad men or all
Influenced by unworthy motives. He was
constantly doing favors for men. Hs
had won the gratitude Of many good men.
In the country districts especially there
were many places where his machine in
cluded the majority OF the best citizens.
the leading and substantial citizens.
among the inhabitants. Some of his
were disinterested men Of high character.
"SiIk Stocking Opposition.
There had always been a good deal Of
opposition to Mr.. Plat and the machine,
but the leadership of this opposition was
apt to be found only among those whom
Abraham Lincoln called the silk stock
ings," and much of it excited almost as
much derisiOn among the plain people
as the machine itself excited anger or
dislike. Very many of Mr.. Platt's op-
ponents really disliked him and his
methods for aesthetic rather than for
moral reasons, and the bulk of the people
half-consciously felt this and refused to
submit to their leadership. The men who
opposed him in this manner were good
citizens according to their lights, promi-
nent in the social clubs and in philan-
thrOpic circles, men Of means and often
men Of business standing. They disliked
&C arse and vulgar politicians. and they
sincerely reprobated all the shortcomings
thai were recognized by. and were Of
fensive TO. people OF their own caste.
They had not the slightest understand
ing of the needs. interests. ways of
thought and convictions of the aver
age small man: and the small man felt
this, although he could not express IL.
and sensed that they were really not con-
Cerned with his welfare. and that they,
0ld not OHer MIN anything materially
better from his point OF view than the
machine.
When reformers of this type attempted
to oppose Mr.. Platt they usually put Up
either some rather inefficient weII-mean-
ing person. who bathed every day, and
didn't steal. but whose only good point
was ''respectability." and who knew
nothing OF the great fundamental Ques-
tons looming before us; or else they put
UP some big business man or corpora
uon lawyer who was welded to the gross
wrong and injustice OF our economy sys-
tem, and who neither by personality nor
by program gave the ordinary plain peo-
PIE any belief that there was promise Of
vital good to them in the change. The
of their view was proved by
the fact that as soon as fundamental
and social reforms were at
stake the aesthetic, as distinguished from
the genuinely moral. reformers for the
most part sided with the bosses against
the people.
T@~~