Machine Politics 141 



bosses; and one may take up and the other oppose 

 the cause of a candidate with an earnestness and 

 hearty good-will arising by no means from any feel- 

 ing for the man himself, but from the desire to score 

 a triumph over the opposition. It not infrequently 

 happens that a perfectly good man, who would not 

 knowingly suffer the least impropriety in the conduct 

 of his canvass, is supported in some one district by a 

 little knot of politicians of shady character, who have 

 nothing in common with him at all, but who wish 

 to beat a rival body that is opposing him, and who 

 do not for a moment hesitate to use every device, 

 from bribery down, to accomplish their ends. A 

 curious incident of this sort came to my knowledge 

 while happening to inquire how a certain man be- 

 came a Republican. It occurred a good many years 

 ago, and thanks to our election laws it could not 

 now be repeated in all its details ; but affairs similar 

 in kind occur at every election. I may preface it by 

 stating that the man referred to, whom we will call 

 X, ended by pushing himself up in the world, thanks 

 to his own industry and integrity, and is now a 

 well-to-do private citizen and as good a fellow as 

 any one would wish to see. But at the time spoken 

 of he was a young laborer, of Irish birth, working 

 for his livelihood on the docks and associating with 

 his Irish and American fellows. The district where 

 he lived was overwhelmingly Democratic, and the 

 contests were generally merely factional. One small 

 politician, a saloon-keeper named Larry, who had a 

 great deal of influence, used to enlist on election day, 



