a Political Factor 73 



apparent. Every mining-camp, every successful vol 

 unteer regiment, proves it. In such cases there is 

 always some object which must be attained, and the 

 men interested in its attainment have to develop 

 their own leaders and their own ties of association, 

 while the would-be leader can succeed only by se 

 lecting for assistants the men whose peculiar capac 

 ities fit them to do the best work in the various 

 emergencies that arise. Under such circumstances 

 the men who work together for the achievement of 

 a common result in which they are intensely inter 

 ested are very soon certain to disregard, and, indeed, 

 to forget, the creed or race origin or antecedent 

 social standing or class occupation of the man who 

 is either their friend or their foe. They get down to 

 the naked bed-rock of character and capacity. 



This is to a large extent true of the party organ 

 izations in a great city, and, indeed, of all serious 

 political organizations. If they are to be success 

 ful they must necessarily be democratic, in the sense 

 that each man is treated strictly on his merits as a 

 man. No one can succeed who attempts to go in 

 on any other basis ; above all, no one can succeed 

 if he goes in feeling that, instead of merely doing 

 his duty, he is conferring a favor upon the com 

 munity, and is therefore warranted in adopting an 

 attitude of condescension toward his fellows. It is 

 often quite as irritating to be patronized as to be 



VOL. XII. D 



