134 Machine Politics 



rely; but unfortunately he finds, in most cases, that 

 their exertions have to be seconded by others which 

 are prompted by motives far more mixed. 



All of these men, whether paid or not, make a 

 business of political life and are thoroughly at home 

 among the obscure intrigues that go to make up so 

 much of it; and consequently they have quite as 

 much the advantage when pitted against amateurs 

 as regular soldiers have when matched against mili- 

 tiamen. But their numbers, though absolutely large, 

 are, relatively to the entire community, so small that 

 some other cause must be taken into consideration 

 in order to account for the commanding position oc- 

 cupied by the machine and the machine politicians in 

 public life. This other determining cause is to be 

 found in the fact that all these machine associations 

 have a social as well as a political side, and that a 

 large part of the political life of every leader or boss 

 is also identical with his social life. 



THE SOCIAL SIDE OF MACHINE POLITICS 



THE political associations of the various districts 

 are not organized merely at the approach of election 

 day ; on the contrary, they exist throughout the year, 

 and for the greater part of the time are to a great 

 extent merely social clubs. To a large number of 

 the men who belong to them they are the chief so- 

 cial rallying-point. These men congregate in the 

 association building in the evening to smoke, drink 

 beer, and play cards, precisely as the wealthier men 

 gather in the clubs whose purpose is avowedly so- 



