El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-02-12
RECENT issue Of Golfers I

~ article whose title unfolds, for
L n example, this exasperating query:
Is Roger Sullivan a boss? After few
pages of personal history, benignantly
interIarded with the most indulgent,
not to say mushy, notifications, the
article comes to an end, leaving the
readers mind in a most depressing
muddle.
A still more recent issue Of the sat
urday Evening Post presents an drllCle
by Mr.. Blythe on Sullivan in which tn nS2;II
astute politician is, If possible sun
more cautiously handled.
Mr.. Sullivan-he so far exposes MS
flank to say-"has been viciously at
tackled as a boss and a machine poll
tician and he has been as vigorously
defended" And so, there you are
Could Not Help Being Boss.
The present writer however, thanks
perhaps to her fortunate ignorance OF
the timOrous diplomacleS or InesS
princes of the pen, is lar less lhcIlueu
10 sucb indulgent antiquities OF speech
&C mark the average political article
Of our big Weeklies. And L am Tree 10
saw that Roger Sullivan is boss
specifically, typically, preemlnehtIy,
cOnstitutiOnally, irresistbly, IaIally anu
automatically boss. he coulq 40 NJ
helm being q boss than bird cOuIu
helm FLYING, a snake crawling, or a non
roaring. The philosopher tells US thdI
we are the slaves of our orgahl1atlOlls;
We are sure of that. Given group VI
characteristics and the being that en-
bodies Them instinctiVely and uncOn-
scfOusly sets them to funcUonlhS' anu
fine resultant phenomenon is charaC-
ter and q career. Sullivan was DOLn'
made, shaped and speclIlcdIIy COlIi
Dounded for bossdOm. Fate Wrapp5u
her coils about him and squeezed nm
INTO that particular mold and 70 lhdI
fate with every thought and act anu
inDIllse of his life. he has bowed
As we have said our subject WaS
boss let US come to an agreement as "
what q boss is. Duly requlsiloheu' INC
latest enlarged standard dlctlohdIS
saws: a boss is manager OF uLCl0t11L
Of 4 party organization, especldIIE OlI1
y-bo Ises such leadership arbitrarily OF
60 r(riya+a or partisan purposes; the
head of a ring Illustration; he as
Denses places. rewards the loyal pun
isbes the mutinOus, cOncocts scnemes!
negotiates treaties. lie Is pO7s'
L. He Manager or DictatOrs
Now. bv the evidence of the very IAN
rr11ape Of these writer's, Roger sullivan
has for p years been pIyihs sne vel y
functions that constitute DOSSuOHl- -
he a manager or DICTATOR witness MI
RIvtbe. "He has a cohesive fighting
organization" Says Mr.. MGR allane' III
Golfers. He had to have friends IN
the state legislature and he had 10 nave
friends in the city council; he had to
have a city organization and down
state organization, and he had them.
Further on. the same writer continues
with an account of how sullivan SWUNG
"bis cohorts against the bill to give
Chicago the right to regulate the price
of gas"
Surely this is very DANA glng evidence
from such indulgent judges, and shows
Sullivan to have been a boss in the full
est sense of the word. To be one in the
worst sense. he must now be shown
according to the terms Of our detlnl-
ton. to have used this Leadership ar
bitrarily or for private or partisan pur-
noses" On this score the articles IN
question prove equally Illuminating
Among numerous passages Wnlcn may
be selected, one may here sufuce-
that. namely, In which We are told upon
what lines Sullivan built up his ma
chine" For our purpose, the very facI
that he built up machine at all IS con-
elusive as to the nature of the use 10
which he put that leadership, that is
to say, the manipulation of that ma
chine.
Among the most infamous Of the pi-
racies which Sullivan sought to bring
about through the agency of that ma
chine was the notorious ogden gas deal,
about which admittedly resOunded and
still resounds ''croakings of scandal
that deal which his tolerant biograph-