Show I = i = = = = s = i = = BEHIND THE SCENES IN POLITICS THE POLITICAL SOCIAL WHIRL iinn mwmu i By ERNEST MGAFFEY I e yA 3 NML4 l asnats h I Iscenrs n tir 4 v 7 6 D h l I 1 Or f1 ttrilh I I y2si j v ft 1 1li j r s ab Q c Vt i I V 2 Yi a Yiiikkti Copyright by Joseph D Bowles The politician who Is following tho calling for a livelihood eats drinks and sleeps politics You cannot get him off the track He finds little Interest I In-terest in anything else All his reading read-ing outside of the papers Is on political po-litical topics Ho keeps track of past elections and past ward votes knows how his ward has gone will go and ought to go in tho future He Is the life of all political assemblages for ho has tho air of tho expert and tho glibness of an Illustrated lecturer He attends the wakes funerals dances parties baseball and football games christenings church fairs picnics pic-nics and all other social happenings and gets himself voted the most popular pop-ular man whenever he has a chance w I remember that at one political Jamboree there was a beauty show and I was appointed ono of tho judges The other two Judges wero pulling together and I saw I was double crossed before the beauties went on the platform In front of the platform plat-form there was a big crowd on the chairs and they wero filled by the respective re-spective adherents of the contesting fair I had Innocently supposed that things were on tho square until I was approached by ono of tho Judges with the Idea that tho first prize ought to go to a certain girl who to my notion no-tion was not within a thousand miles of being first In tho race I put up such a fierce kick that the other judges got a little bit uncertain and at last as first und second prizes were both gold watches they agreed to let me select No 2 If I would vote for their choice for first prize When No ls name was announced a groan went up from tho crowd accompanied ac-companied by a cheer from one corner cor-ner of the seats where the winners partisans wero bunched When No 2s name was given she was cheered by a big majority of tho crowd and I was satisfied my eyesight was still good Now for both of theso girls tho vote had been solid three votes for each When It came to No 3and there wore only three prizes worth anything did a little doublecross ing myself Ono of tho Judges proposed pro-posed a girl who had a face like a custard pie at twilight Tho other Judgo said Sure thats the one I had selected a girl for this prize and had got her name so I said to Judge No2 Wheres your lady He pointed to her and I said Out of sight but wed better split the votes this tlmo you vote for Miss giving giv-ing him tho name of my cholceso that tho crowd wont have any holler coming on tho split two votes to ono will win out anyway I also He did as suggested but as voted for my choice the look of disgust dis-gust that overspread his features when he saw how ho had boon horn swogglad was something classic But all ho said was Holy gee After a man has been mixed up in to so ho begins politics for a year or perceive that politics has as many angles of as the game gles in a social way variety caroms The hreo cushion of gradations Is so widely dIversified and the Intervals so abrupt that It take a truly cosmopolitan spirit to successfully take tho degrees At four ococ l in tho afternoon you maybe may-be touching glosses with a young mechanic rathskeller In a friendly chanic at a beer as to how things chat over your look In his end of tho ward At 6 p bo dining I with a bunch of may you m S magnates In some judges and party fashionable club making wild guesses with tho rest of them as to how national na-tional politics looms up At twelve that night you may be addressing forty for-ty or fifty people in a little hall back of some saloon You must bo prepared pre-pared to meet all kinds of people at a minutes notice and you must bo able to understand them and adapt yourself your-self to them Instantly and easily or you will be lost In political society Suppose you happen to drop In at downtown headquarters where they are waiting for a meeting to bo called There may be twenty to thirty men about some sitting In chairs reading or talking some at a cardtable playing play-ing a friendly game of cinch others nt a pooltable or a billlard table Can you play cards Now of course It Is not absolutely essential that you can but if you can make a hand at one card table or pocket eight balls from the break or play a fair game of billiards bil-liards you aro a more welcome member mem-ber of society In that strata of political politi-cal exlstqnce And if it should happen that you joined a group at some hightoned political club where some topics such as literature art science Invention or similar matters were being discussed and could hold your own In conversation conversa-tion you were making a hand there the same as at tho more plebeian game of cinch Nothing that a man has learned with his head or his hands but what will come in handy in politics poli-tics Political club meetings In the case of the downtown organizations took place every Sunday In my tlmo They wero enlivened by the admission of new members the reading of reports and making of motions speeches and always something In the way of a vaudeville stunt by either a member of the club or some outside talent These downtown meetings were valuable valu-able In bringing the leaders of the different wards together and affording them an opportunity to exchange political po-litical news and to discuss tho coming spring or fall campaign They were always largely attended and It was n disgrace for any ward to be called upon for Information of any sort and not have a representative on hand A disgrace that I never know to happen but onco No matter what tho weather was the faithful were on hand Tho president opened the meeting and the utmost freedom of discussion was allowed In any debate which might arise Sometimes a recess was declared and tho men talked and smoked until the meeting was called to order again It was amusing to see how those of tho gathering who wore ofllceholdeis were regarded If their position gave them no distributive power they wero looked on as merely happy accidents and not ranking at nil with those officeholders who had jobs to sort out In neither of my own portions did I have the appointment appoint-ment of even so much as a daylaborer at my disposal so I was merely a lucky guy In fact I was lucky In more ways than one for not having anything to give out I was not bothered both-ered by applicants These meetings always arranged for the parades the marching trips and the grand balls which were given Dont imagine It did not cost anything to mingle In political society polite and otherwise You wero ablo to buy tickets to the balls chances on everything that could be raffled for tho benefit of some needy politician badges and gloves plug bats to march In together with other raiment club dues tickets to various dances and entertainments and In fact from morning until night day In and day out to sift your salary steadily Into tho hopper The grand balls wero of course the most Important functions given by the party They wore attended by everybody Including the mayor and ho led the grand march It was a lively time and diamonds wero as plentiful as blackberries Fulldress suits wero largely In evidence anti the dancing kept up until morning At such a ball tho extreme opposites qt political life met once a year and the occasion was one to be remembered remem-bered Judges with an eyo to possible or probable renomlnatlon wore not at all too proud to attend and occasionally occasion-ally some of tho citys elite attended Just for the novelty of tho thing A woman might bo led out by an ex governor of tho state for one sot and tho next set take a turn down the middle With the man that shot Sandy McGee It was a truly cosmopolitan gatherIng gather-Ing unique and picturesque and rarely rare-ly was there any disturbance that amounted to anything Another and more common phase of political social life was at tho saloons Hero the ward politicians gathered not only to talk politics but to roll tenpins play pool and at the card tables pay for the drinks Tho amount of social Intercourse thus had In a large city Is enormous After the ordinary ward politician had eaten his supper ho would bo ready to engage In his political cruising and he could usually find a bunch of men at the bowling alleys or In tho cardroom of his neighboring saloon I went through a great many political fights and skirmishes big and little and except ex-cept Just at election times I saw very little drunkenness But there was no doubt that the workingmen and mechanics me-chanics gathered at tho saloons tosco to-sco each other And there was no doubt that they spent money there maybe more than they should have done But that was where they went to find companionship to meet their society I have often gone to tho swell political clubs and there met tho professional men lawyers doctors and professors business men of largo Interests In various channels and they sat at the tables and drank their wine where the ward fellows drank beer and they played bridge or poker whore tho ward men place cinch and when you come to tho question of which Is moral and which Is not I leave it cheerfully to everyman every-man for himself to judge Every year and always In tho good old summertime tho swell picnic was held generally away out In the country coun-try In some grovo And here political society disported Itself In Its gayeat und gladdest rags and gave Itself up to unalloyed festivities of all sorts and kinds There was tho fat mans race tho sack race chasing the greased pig so politically suggestive the tugofwar between the firemen and policemens teams the dances the speeches the bowling alleys the nig ger baby and baseball stand tho umbrella um-brella and cane game the lemonade stands tho wandering minstrels and tho shell game You could spend your money a little at a time at tho diversified amusements or you could have one swift thrill and lose it all at tho shells When the band struck up a favorite I waltz tune nt tho platform you could go up and pivot with your partner just to show that you woro not proud or that you know how to reverse Dancing went on nlltho time couples coming and going nnd round dancing being succeeded by quadrilles Sometimes Some-times a lithe and sinuous jigdancor got a spnco cleared for himself to disport dis-port In and great was tho enthusiasm when somo girl would accept n challenge chal-lenge and come out on tho boards to do a turn with tho jigdancer Such advancing ad-vancing and swaying and retreating such apparent Indifference and then unexampled vigor such a hammering of the boards and turning and twisting twist-ing until at tile end tho crowd roared Us approval and tho dancers disappeared disap-peared among the spectators Political society at the picnics democratic dem-ocratic as It seemed at first blush had Its lines of demarcation which wero quite noticeably drawn Tho wife and daughters of tho big boss were on hand together with tho womenfolks of tho various officeholders but they did not mingle with the average lady picnickers They sat by themselves In something of exclusive grandeur and were pointed out by tho more ordinary of tho merryrankers to their companions Sometimes a possible presidential candidate graced tho occasion by his presence and consented to hand out a sample of silvertongued oratory But I never heard ono yet who could draw away any of tho attendance at tho baseball game or tho fat womens race Theres a limit even to oratory Great was the consternation when as sometimes happened the floodgates flood-gates of heaven opened and drowned the picnic grounds The last political picnic I attended commenced on avery a-very threatening day and at last tho clouds seemed to make up their minds to sweep tho grounds Our party had taken alarm with a number of others and had gone down the track to where the first train to town was stationed The crowd got thoro and Jammed tho train instantly Just opposite the picnic pic-nic ground and a halt mllo from us was a wide platform uncovered on which stood hundreds who wero waiting wait-ing for this train Let her go Sam said the conductor no stop till wo get to Chicago Away wo went nnd as wo passed tho picnic grounds hundreds hun-dreds more came down through the drenching showers In whlto dresses that stuck to their limbs and straw hats that woro being soaked to ruin But tho train went past regardless of their yells and as it went by tho car windows wero raised and the chorus of tho latest song was wafted Into their ears Ohl alnt dat awful Aint dat a shame To keep my baby Out In the rain |