THE civil service gang is always howlin' about candidates and
officeholders puttin' up money for campaigns and about corporations
chippin' in. They might as well howl about givin' contributions to
churches. A political organization has to have money for its business as
well as a church, and who has more right to put up than the men who get
the good things that are goin'? Take, for instance, a great political
concern like Tammany Hall It does missionary work like a church, it's
got big expenses and it's got to be supported by the faithful. If
a corporation sends in a check to help the good work of the Tammany
Society, why shouldn't we take it like other missionary societies? Of
course, the day may come when we'll reject the money of the rich as
tainted, but it hadn't come when I left Tammany Hall at 11:25 A.M.
today.
Not long ago some newspapers had fits became the Assemblyman from my
district said he had put up $500 when he was nominated for the Assembly
last year. Every politician in town laughed at these papers. I don't
think there was even a Citizens' Union man who didn't know that
candidates of both parties have to chip in for campaign expenses. The
sums they pay are accordin' to their salaries and the length of their
terms of office, if elected. Even candidates for the Supreme Court have
to fall in line. A Supreme Court Judge in New York County gets $17,500
a year, and he's expected, when nominated, to help along the good cause
with a year's salary. Why not? He has fourteen years on the bench ahead
of him, and ten thousand other lawyers would be willin' to put up
twice as much to be in his shoes. Now, I ain't sayin' that we sell
nominations. That's a different thing altogether. There's no auction
and no regular biddin'. The man is picked out and somehow he gets to
understand what's expected of him in the way of a contribution, and he
ponies up--all from gratitude to the organization that honored him, see?
Let me tell you an instance that shows the difference between sellin'
nominations and arrangin' them in the way I described. A few years ago a
Republican district leader controlled the nomination for Congress in his
Congressional district. Four men wanted it. At first the leader asked
for bids privately, but decided at last that the best thing to do was to
get the four men together in the back room of a certain saloon and have
an open auction. When he had his men lined up, he got on a chair, told
about the value of the goods for sale, and asked for bids in regular
auctioneer style. The highest bidder got the nomination for $5000. Now,
that wasn't right at all. These things ought to be always fixed up nice
and quiet.
As to officeholders, they would be ingrates if they didn't contribute to
the organization that put them in office. They needn't be assessed. That
would be against the law. But they know what's expected of them, and
if they happen to forget they can be reminded polite and courteous.
Dan Donegan, who used to be the Wiskinkie of the Tammany Society, and
received contributions from grateful officeholders, had a pleasant way
of remindin'. If a man forgot his duty to the organization that made
him, Dan would call on the man, smile as sweet as you please and say:
"You haven't been round at the Hall lately, have you?" If the man tried
to slide around the question, Dan would say: "It's gettin' awful cold."
Then he would have a fit of shiverin' and walk away. What could be
more polite and, at the same time, more to the point? No force, no
threats--only a little shiverin' which any man is liable to even in
summer.
Just here, I want to charge one more crime to the infamous civil service
law. It has made men turn ungrateful. A dozen years ago, when there
wasn't much civil service business in the city government, and when
the administration could turn out almost any man holdin' office, Dan's
shiver took effect every time and there was no ingratitude in the city
departments. But when the civil service law came in and all the clerks
got lead-pipe cinches on their jobs, ingratitude spread right away.
Dan shivered and shook till his bones rattled, but many of the city
employees only laughed at him. One day, I remember, he tackled a clerk
in the Public Works Department, who used to give up pretty regular, and,
after the usual question, began to shiver. The clerk smiled. Dan shook
till his hat fell off. The clerk took ten cents out of his pocket,
handed it to Dan and said: "Poor man! Go and get a drink to warm
yourself up." Wasn't that shameful? And yet, if it hadn't been for the
civil service law, that clerk would be contributin' right along to this
day.
The civil service law don't cover everything, however. There's lots of
good jobs outside its clutch, and the men that get them are grateful
every time. I'm not speakin' of Tammany Hall alone, remember! It's the
same with the Republican Federal and State officeholders, and every
organization that has or has had jobs to give out--except, of course,
the Citizens' Union. The Cits held office only a couple of years and,
knowin' that they would never be in again, each Cit officeholder held on
for dear life to every dollar that came his way.
Some people say they can't understand what becomes of all the money
that's collected for campaigns. They would understand fast enough if
they were district lead-em. There's never been half enough money to go
around. Besides the expenses for meetin's, bands and all that, there's
the bigger bill for the district workers who get men to the polls. These
workers are mostly men who want to serve their country but can't get
jobs in the city departments on account of the civil service law. They
do the next best thing by keepin' track of the voters and seem' that
they come to the polls and vote the right way. Some of these deservin'
citizens have to make enough on registration and election days to keep
them the rest of the year. Isn't it right that they should get a share
of the campaign money?
Just remember that there's thirty-five Assembly districts in New York
County, and thirty-six district leaders reachin' out for the Tammany
dough-bag for somethin' to keep up the patriotism of ten thousand
workers, and you wouldn't wonder that the cry for more, more, is goin'
up from every district organization now and forevermore. Amen.