130 Machine Politics 



to his ability as a politician or according to his power 

 of serving the boss or machine. Nominally this 

 money goes in paying the subordinates and in what 

 are vaguely termed "campaign expenses," but, as a 

 matter of fact, it is in many instances simply pock- 

 eted by the recipient ; indeed, very little of the large 

 sums of money annually spent by candidates to bribe 

 voters actually reaches the voters supposed to be 

 bribed. The money thus furnished is procured 

 either by subscriptions from rich outsiders, or by 

 assessments upon the candidates themselves; for- 

 merly much was also obtained from office-holders, 

 but this is now prohibited by law. A great deal of 

 money is also spent in advertising, placarding post- 

 ers, paying for public meetings, and organizing and 

 uniforming members to take part in some huge 

 torchlight procession this last particular form of 

 spectacular enjoyment being one peculiarly dear to 

 the average American political mind. Candidates 

 for very lucrative positions are often assessed really 

 huge sums, in order to pay for the extravagant meth- 

 ods by which our canvasses are conducted. Before 

 a legislative committee of which I was a member, 

 the Register of New York County blandly testified 

 under oath that he had forgotten whether his ex- 

 penses during his canvass had been over or under 

 fifty thousand dollars. It must be remembered that 

 even now and until recently the evil was very 

 much greater the rewards paid to certain public 

 officials are out of all proportion to the services 

 rendered; and in such cases the active managing 



