The Washington herald., 1913-10-19

shane aroused, as 1t has since become
reused. The people accepted and prac-
ticed in a matter-of-course way as quite
proper things which they would not now
tolerate. They had no definite and clear
" outlined conception of what they
wished in the way Of reform. They on
the whole tolerated, and indeed approved
of, the machine; and there had been no
development on any considerable scale Of
reformers with the vision to see what the
needs Of the people were, and the high
purpose sanely to achieve what was ne
cessary in order to meet these needs. /
knew both the machine and the silk
stocking reformers fairly well, from
many years close association with them.
The machine as such had no ideals at
all, although many of the men compos-
ing it did have On the other hand, the
ideals of very many of the silk-stocking
reformers did not relate to the questions
of real and vital interest to our people;
and, singularly enough. in international
matters, these same silk-stockings Were
TO more to be trusted than the average
ignorant demagogue or shortsighted
spoils politician. felt that these men
would be broken reeds to which to trust
in any vital contest for betterment OF
social and Industrial conditions.
Appealing to the People.
pacity that would have enabled me to
match Mr.. Platt and his machine people
on their own ground. Nor did believe
that the effort to build up machine OF
my own under the then existing condi-
tions would meet the needs of the situa-
ton so far as the people were concerned.
/ therefore made no effort to create
machine of my own, and consistently
adopted the plan OF going over the
heads of the men holding public office
and of the men in control of the organ
ization and appealing directly to the
people behind them. The machine, Tor
instance, had a more or less strong con-
troll over the great bulk of the members
of the State Legislature; but in the last
resort the people behind these legisla-
tors had a still greater control over
them. / made up my mind that the only
way I could beat the bosses whenever
the need to do so arose (and unless there
was such need did not wish to try) was,
not by attempting to manipulate the ma
chinery, and not by trusting merely to
the professional reformers, but by max
ing my appeal as directly and as en-
phaticalIy as 1 knew how to the mass of
voters themselves, to the people. to the
men who if walked up would be able to
impose their will on their representa-
tives Ny success depended upon getting
the people in the different districts to
look at matters in my way, and getting
them to take such an active interest in
affairs as to enable them to exercise
control over their representatives.
There were few of the Senators and
Assemblymen whom could reach by see
ing them personally and putting before
them nv arguments; but most of them
were too much under the control OF the
machine for me to shake them loose un-
less they knew that the people were ac-
lively behind me. In making my appeal
to the people as a whole, was dealing
with an entirely different constituency
from that which, especially in the big
cities, liked to think of itself as the bet
ter element" the particular exponent OF
reform and good citizenship i was deal
ing with shrewd, hard-headed, kindly
men and women, chiefly concerned with
the absorbing work of earning their own
living and impatient of fads, who mad
grown to feel that the associations with
the word "reformer'' were not much bet
ter than the associations with the word
politician" / had to convince these
meH and women of my good faith, and,
moreover, of my common seTsse and eff
cheney. They were most of them strong
partisans, and an outrage had to be very
real and very great to shake them even
partially loose from their party affilta-
tions. Moreover, they took little interest
in any fight of mere personalities. They
were not Influenced in the least By the
silk-stocking reform view of Mr.. Platt.
/ knew that if they were persuaded that
! was engaged in a mere faction fight
against him, that it was a mere issue
between his ambition and mine, they
would at once become Indifferent and my
fight would be lost.
The People Respond.
But I felt that I could count on their
support wherever 1 could show them that
the fight was not made just for the sake
of the row, that it was not made merely
as factional contest against Senator
Plat and the organization, but was
waged from a sense of duty, for real and
tangible causes such as the promotion
of governmental efficiency and honesty,
and forcing powerful moneyed men to
take the proper attitude toward the COM
munity at large. They stood by me when
1 insisted upon having the Canal De-
partment, the Insurance Department, and
the various departments of the State gov
ernment run with efficiency and honesty;
they stood by me when ! insisted upon
making wealthy men who owned fran
chises pay the State what they properly
ought to pay; they stood by me when, in
connection with the strikes on the Croton
AQueduct and in Buffalo, l promptly used
the military power of the State to put a
stop to rioting and violence.
In the later case my chief opponents
and critics were local politicians who
were trucking to the labor vote: but
in all cases coming under the first two
categories 1 had serious trouble with
the State leaders of the machine. 1 az
ways did my best, in good faith, to get
Mr.. Plat and the other heads of the
machine to accept my views, and to con-
vince them. by repeated private conver-
sations, that / was right / never
wantonly antagonized or Inundated them.
1 did not wish to humiliate them or to
seem victorious over them; what wished
was to secure the things that 1 thought
it essential 10 the men and women Of the
State to secure. II 1 could finally per-
suade them to support me, well and good;
In such case I continued to work with
them in the friendliest manner.
Fair Fight I'm the Open.
If after repeated and persistent effort
i failed to get them to support me, then
i made fair fight in the open, and in a
majority of cases carried my point and
succeeded in getting through the legis-
lation which I wished. In theory the
executive has nothing to do with legis-
lation. In practice, as things now are,
the executive is or ought to be pecu-
liarly represented Of the people as a
whole. AS often as not the action Of
the executive offers the only means by
which the people can get the legisla-
ton they demanded and ought to have
Therefore a good executive under the