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—IA'A/YTED £>OG<s C/WCrtTW/TH A SOFT CL/ATA/tf ROPE "REFORMED"
REFORMER in politics is
A sometimes a dyspeptic, but
not always. He is also
£ lives entirely impersonal
$ $ and unselfish. But not al
ways. And reform politics may be
•classed as of two kinds the counter
foil variety and the genuine.
Independent, or reform movements
5n political campaigns, are intended to
tie the breaking away of members of
"the old parties and a consolidation of
these "bolters' for the purpose of
-electing a ticket which is supposed to
be better than either of the old-line
party tickets. Sometimes an inde
pendent movement means this Some
limes it means that a Democrat or a
Republican who has failed of the regu
lar party nomination has v becn per
suaded to make* the race on the
ground that he has been deprived of
the nomination by unfair means. But
'the basic element of independent
movements is always a claim toward
u bettering of conditions, and there
fore arguing a reform, politically.
Then there i 3 usually the Prohibi
tion movement to be reckoned with,
-and this is strictly founded on reform
principles. Or ihere may be an edu
cational feature in the campaign
which will prove to carry the balance
of power as to votes, and which may
toe adopted in the platform of either
•of the parties, with a view to secure
votes for (he whole ticket. Politics
is largely a game of expedients, and
ns the only things that count, in the
last, analysis, a>-.j the votes, it follows,
therefore, as the night the day, that
votes are the prime necessities, and
any expedient to catch votes is consid
ered justifiable.
Other phases of reform politics may
•enter particularly into national cam
;iaigns, and may influence local condi
tions enough to swing victory to a
side which may be weaker on paper
•than Its antagonist.
in every large city and noticeably
In my own city. 1 found two well de
fined types of the political reformers,
Willi a smattering also of what were
known as "cr.inks," "dreamers" and
"visionaries." One of the two types
referred to was the hard-headed citi
zen who, regardless of ridicule and dis
co,, ragement, i-ifadily set himself to
work to better the class of official
selection. Without caring anything
for party affiliations, liti associated
with organizations which "went
after" weak or unfit candidates, and
supported and encouraged good candi
iates for all offices, whether state,
•county or municipal.
This class of men accomplished,
with the aid of decent politicians, a
great deal of good. In the beginning,
iikc all ifien actuated by really high
motives, they were derided and lam
pooned, and their lot, like the police
man's, was not a happy one. But as
time went on 'hey became a force
which had to »e reckoned with, oven
by Hie most ha uened of the "bosses,"
•xcepting in what may be classed as
strictly "saloon wards."
In the saloon wards, where the al
dermen for instance, were saloonkeep
ers, or where the saloon influence pre
dominated overwhelmingly, the "boss
es" did not mind reform politics any
more than a rhinoceros would mind
»be bite of a mosquito. I never could
understand, knowing the absolute
hopelessness of it, why the reformers
would sometimes try to "break into"
such a ward in an aldermanic cam
paign. I remember very well the oc
casion of a gentleman calling on me
and endeavoring to enlist my services
as a speaker in a campaign of this
*ort.
■yon know the disgraceful condi
tions obtaining in that ward?" he
asked, inquiringly.
'Oh. yes," was my answer.
"Weil, we want to put up a candi
date for alderman there and see if we
can't arouse the better element there.
We want togo in and fight the saloons
to a finish," was his next remark.
"Whose finish?" said I.
"Oh, we will probably be beaten,"
he admitted, "but we want to give
them a campaign c>f education and en
lightenment. What that ward needs,
what every ward needs, is a chance to
have its higher nature aroused. What
they want, I'm convinced, is more op
portunity to sea the light."
"My friend," was my reply, "I've
traveled some in that ward. What
they want there is not more light, but
more beer."
Yet, despite sometimes misdirected
energy, these men and their associa
tions did much In making political
conditions better. For that they de
serve substantia] credit. So long as
they were absolutely non-partisan they
wielded considerable influence, and
properly, but on occasion they allowed
prejudice to bias them and did injus
tice to good men.
The other type of well-known re
former was the one who continually
headed "reform" movements. Ho
might he a candidate for alderman, or
the legislature, or congress. But wher
ever there was a "kick" coming, and
a meeting advertised to protest, or or
ganize, this class would he on hand
early and get the chairmanship of the
meeting, usually coming out in a
"ringing" spec-ch of denunciation
against the infamy which the citizens
had met to combat. This put the re
former "next" if it was a proposition
to nominate an opposition candidate,
and he oftec <rc K away with the nomi
nation. Or, if he was a professional
man, a lawyer, a doctor, or a real es
tate man, even, it was a pretty fair ad
vertisement, wasn't it? Not so "poor"
to have your picture in the paper next
day, with a lons account of you, your
business and your speech, etc. Some
thing that would have cost you coin
to have in the papers, and you got it
for nothing. And then the reporters
out to interview you and quite a rack
et started about you.
And in every large city I suppose
there are only a few bright promoters
like that standing around waiting to
sell a gold brick or two.
Some of these "reformers" were
pretty fierce when they happened to
land in an office. A few of them were
swept into the city council astride the
top of a wave of "popular indignation"
and they were the huugry boys, some
of them. They were simply on the
qui vive to bo "approached." And
when they were tempted they fell
swiftly and without a sound. Their
motto was that of the Hon. Webster
Flanagan, with a different interpreta
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS. THURSDAY OCTOBER 8, 1908.
tion. "What are we here for?" was
their slogan, and they went after fran
chise "divvies" or any other "divvies"
like a terrier after a rat.
Real reforms were not so elaborate
ly advertised as the sham ones; the
louder the "holler" about the reform,
the less genuine reform was in sight.
And then there were the "fad" reform
ers, going about seeking what they
might devour In the shape of having
unmuzzled dogs caught with a soft
curtain rope instead of a wire noose,
cab-horses provided with seats while
waiting for a fare, the distribution of
copies of Browning's poems to cross
ing policemen, or some such similar
projects. .
There are sometimes uneasy people
in every community who want to run
the rest of their neighbors; the bigger
the community the greater they are
liable to be in number. And in a city
of two millions of inhabitants they are
sure to be found. They haunt the gal
lery in the council chamber of the
city, they inf.?st the mayor's office,
t,hey surge in with the crowds having
hearings in the public offices in the
city halls, and whenever they have no
connection whatever.
Substantial reforms are of slow
growth. It took over 20 years' steady
work to drive the infamous justice of
the peace system out of Cook county.
Some notable reforn' rs went along
very well for H tlnir until they got so
prominent that they were offered a
high-salaried political position. And
then they dropped practically from
sight as reformers and reappeared as
pay roll artists. This caused at times
a revulsion of feeling among the re
formers at heart, but they did not let
a little thing like that entirely discour
age them.
I got so that 1 could usually "spot"
a reformer as far as I could see him.
The majority of reformers are very
busy walkers and talkers. They are
not confined to one nationality, al
though I should judge that the bulk
of them are Americans. They all have
"missions." If you agree with them,
and do everything they ask, you are
"a patriot." If you disagree with some
of them in any way, shape or manner,
you are either a scoundrel or without
mental balance. Hut to be "a patriot"
in the eyes of those who were fanati
cal you must accede to their demands.
"Patriots," said Sir Robert Peel,
"they spring up like mushrooms in
the night; I can make 50 patriots in a
single hour; 1 have only to refuse
some unreasonable or absurd request,
when tip starts a patriot."
There were a number of women re
formers, too, during my political years
and they were invariably enlisted on
some moral question, as they looked
at it, tobacco, whisky, child labor, the
bettering of conditions for women, the
saving of girls, etc. They were very
much in earnest, faithful and enthusi
astic to their ideals. Occasionally they
succeeded, and at least, they never
seemed discouraged, it. is to the credit
of politicians in general, that they were
listened to with perfect respect, even
when it was apparent that conditions
made it an absolute waste of time to
discuss the questions. Sometimes an
ordinance barred their way; at other
times a stale law, or possibly the con
stitution of the United States itself
was a stumbling-block, but they were
heard with patience.
Reform politics during my day con
cerned itself most particularly in re
habilitating the personnel of the citj
council. In this it met with substan
ial success, and it waa the one excep
tion to perennial reform which was
genuine. Not that the reformers did
not occasionally have "an ax to grind,"
but that, in the main, they aided the
best candidates. liut at times they
saddled themselves with some bogus
reformer and jammed him through
at the polls, felicitating themselves
that they had "put another over the
political plate" when they had in
reality only added a "cheap grafter"
to the city's pay roll.
When this happened it made the
regulation, gilt-edged grafters in the
council indignant. Not that the "re
former" should turn out to be "look
ing for something," but that he so
often took anything he could get. This
made trade bad, for it scaled prices
and such a re''niit to the ranks of cor
rupt'on causeu a "bear" market in
votes.
A cheap scoundrel earned just as
much contempt in the council as an
overcoat thief earns from a railroad
manipulator of stocks. I recollect the
arraignment that one of the "regu
lars" gave one of these easily pur
chased "reformers."
Said the "regular," puffing slowly at
a big black cigar, the little finger of
his left, hand adorned with a four hun
dred dollar "shiner," and his shirt
front sporting its mate, presented by
his admiring "constits:"
"I reckon I size that guy up right,
at the start. I tell 'em I seen what
kind of a lobster he is, the first flop
of the box. I tell 'em, you watch him;
he's no reformer, and he's no thor
oughbred. He blows up in the stretch
the first, time they're off at the gut.
An', say! Did he? Well, he's elected
all right, and he goes over an' hooks
lip with the geezeer in the next ward
that went in the same time he goes in.
Them two frames up and goes out for
the stuff. I)o they get it? Yes. they
get it.and how much? Say, on the
level now, on the square, they split
three hundred between 'em for a little
thing they pull off. A hundred and
fifty apiece, see?"
lie paused and took a fresh puff at
his cigar, and resumed: "Why, if any
cheap stiff 'd come to me and try to
insult me with less than SSOO I'd throw
the skate out of my office." And th«
end of his cigar glowed with righteous
indignation.
(Copyright, by .Joseph B. Bowles.)
Not Altogether Painless.
Patience—ls that dentist's methods
painless?
Patrice—Not all of them. He has a
phonograph in his offlc-s! —'Yonken
Statesman.
S The Place to Buj Cheap S
) J. F. PARSONS' ?
Itejn,
fIGIILI
| CURES?
Irheumatismi
BLUMBAGO, SCUTICfiI
INEUR&LGI& and!
■KIDNEY TROUBLEH
H olMSf™ JSS3S?I&d Mlto£u* W
P pJHI exwrV^ylt
$ stance and removing it from ibe system, jfe
DR. S. D. 3LAFID ||
I Of Brevrton, G»., writes:
I d3gSK3fSSS3KS|;
jFREEi
jwf aieohoC'laudanum, °anu' cltior similar 1 {
■ Ingredients.
■ LarmNli*Bottle, "S.DROPS"(800Do«M) »
• 1.00. i'w Bllt b7 Uru(|l>t«. H
■ BWANiON IKEOMATIB CURE COMPABY, g |
H Ucpt. 80. 140 Lake Strut, Chloago. By
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3