Pot-Pourri 221 



didate promised the people that if he were elected 

 the " spoils system " should cease, that patronage 

 should only be given where it was deserved, that 

 the money-changers should be scourged from the 

 city's temples, that, in fine, executive ability, econ- 

 omy, and integrity should succeed rapacity, im- 

 providence, and depravity. He was elected. But 

 notwithstanding his efforts, evil still prevailed and 

 multiplied ; the machine was fighting the man, 

 and the man had only the moral support of his 

 friends too busy with their own affairs to lend 

 him a helping hand. The man had his raw and 

 undisciplined levies, which the machine mowed 

 down with golden shrapnel. I have not the fig- 

 ures, but I think it was abundantly proved that 

 the City Treasury found vice less costly than 

 virtue. 



Optimists, however, predict a change. And it is 

 certain that public opinion will demand a cleansing 

 of the political stables. It is a question of time 

 and money. Time in the West is money, and 

 those who are destined to handle the brooms must 

 be willing to sweep long and patiently. To-day, 

 everywhere, there is an uneasy feeling that the poli- 

 ticians represent faithfully enough certain classes, 

 and that it must always be so, so long as these 

 classes flourish. Once a prizefighter was sent to 

 Congress by a New England community, where- 

 upon a wit said that the people had a right to 

 be represented. In the West the "tough" ele- 

 ment is slowly and surely disappearing, and with 

 it will pass away the jobbery and corruption which 

 taint practical politics. It is beginning to be under- 



