Show r J I i1 r TTIiTii = = = eKing e-King of Political Pests I i Is the FourFlusheru By ERJEST McGAFFEy As a Rule His Good Thing Turns Out to Be a Pair of Deuces t t1 Ii HE term tour Ilushing although IiT al-though of comparatively T recent origin merely meant In Its last analysis a pretense It Is a poker II L term moaning In that game the practice 11 prac-tice of pretending that you have five cards of one suit when you only have four of one suit and one of another m and of trying to win with that kind of a hand In hopes that the other players play-ers will believe that you have a genuine gen-uine flush live cards In one suit It Is a favorite pastime In tho great American game to bet high on a four lluah to Intimidate or tlmlfy 9 r IHU Lt i p s S r i i Ye Des ceNr Is 1 I h IfI I II I I MRDEUPON7HE COURT q l r UTfl4A I I I 9t tibA NI WAS ALWAYS I GOING TOGO G7 I ii ii r r 7NNG3 a J1 tho others at tho card table and thereby there-by rako down tho pot But It does not always work In politics I havo seen enormous quantities of Your fli 1iing Indulged In and In fact about two fltlha of fill politics Is fourflushing In tho various angles of tho political gamo there may bo counter four flushing or practicing the art on I both sides or If there aro foiir or five I f t candidates In time field there may be I only ono candidate who really stands 111 t any show of election and a quartette of fourflushers gaily bringing up tho rear The also rans have entered tho race for various reasons Some of them get n little notoriety some of r thorn to try their political strength and others for tho purpose of leading a forlorn hope against tho probable winner I recollect particularly ono of this kind Ho was always going to do great things And ho would demon i strate by verbal mathematics just how d It was a cinch that ho had tho ward tied up as tight as a snare drum All suggestions that ho might possibly bo mistaken were either pooh poohod away or you wero given to understand under-stand that you wore dead nutty This gentleman would keep on swelling t swell-ing until tho morning after election and then ho would disappear for a few days When he reappeared with his ward knocked galloywest In tho 1 election and about 99 per cent of his predictions gone wrong ho would still havo that old bluffy walk on him t and would be gabbing triumphantly about Borne precinct that had gone his way and explaining how they would have all went the same way It Rill Dotsford or Joe Sammons or Pete Highball had stuck The only of I fonslvo thing about this lobsters attitude atti-tude was that ho assumed that someone some-one was going to believe hIm He was r per so a stiff as such cattle aro termed in politics and a laughingstock laughing-stock among seasoned politicians but he went about Imagining that he was n real factor In politics when he could scarcely control his own vote I You know how that Is Mac he would go on Tho people out there feel that way and thats the way they feel all over tho city Its strange tome to-me that some one hasnt pointed It out to the mayor If something Isnt done well lose out election day Such a comparatively small thing too It dont make any difference to me personally per-sonally for I dont care But I dont want to see our boys lose Somebody ought to see his honor about it Im just tolling you because you can see for yourself how it Is Wo need every vote wo can rake and scrape Theres I lots of ugly talk about this thing In my neighborhood and Its the same everywhere Well so long No one but a rank four fiuher makes these senseless breaks but tho largo cities simply swarm with rank four 1luhers A favorite scheme of tho standard four fiushers in elections was to put up an Independent dummy candidate candi-date Bomethimea two dummy candidates can-didates were put forward In tho race Suppose for Instance that A and n I are tho regular candidates of the I main parties H we will say Is the stronger of tho two A finances tho nomination of an Independent candidate can-didate or a Prohibition LaborSocial 1st or any old candidate whom ho may think will weaken Hs chances If B thinks the move will weaken him he may up with an independent candidate can-didate of As party stripe and pay his expenses to cut into As vote All this Is tour fushing to make the voters believe there are four or five Itlchmonds In the field when In fact A and H are the only real figures In tho contest and the extra candidates are fakes And the beauty about it Is that these Independent Inde-pendent or other campaigns are often waged valiantly and a tremendous amount of dust and excitement kicked I up about them Reform Is a prolific source of political politi-cal four fiushing Take some business busi-ness which offends certain of the more puritanically inclined citizens This business may be regularly licensed and declared legal and there may be constitutional grounds which until a change In tho constitution would absolutely ab-solutely prevent Interference In tho business on tho part of the authori 1 ties Does this daunt the fourflush er who wishes a little advertising Not a bit of It Ho gets together his cohorts and besieges tho political authorities au-thorities demanding that they do those things which tire under the law absolutely abso-lutely forbidden Tho authorities consult the law de pnrtntent and tho department gives an opinion based on the soundest authority au-thority that the proposition Is untenable unten-able Then the reforming four flusher holds a few public meetings timid adds some more fourflushers to the list Speeches are made and the authorities are denounced also the ri J FrN wRS rNE I FCLLOIV Wh I WOULD 6ET YOUlNA t0121V e f7N t r kElLroN Wlr DU etj I 1 l Eyt l 1a d l 1 1 1 I 75 HorELr ZrR WAf z eYpacH a4rHED lawyers who have given the dissenting dissent-ing opinion to the views of tho reform fourflushers Then some scintillating genius among tho brethren suggests that an Injunction be obtained from some perfectly per-fectly unbiased judge A descent Is mado upon the courts a perfectly unbiased and complaisant Jurist Is I picked out who Issues an Injunction and the four fiushers gather to offer up thanks An appeal being taken a from his ruling the state court or the supreme court of tho United States hands down an opinion that tho unbiased un-biased judge is an ass or words to that effect and the Injunction Is dissolved dis-solved Thereupon the fourflushers hold additional meetings In which they denounce de-nounce the supreme courts and as soon as a new set of authorities come Into power resume tho old bluff of asking that tho business which they do not like bo suppressed Ono of the most unique of political four fiushore is tho man who is i bucking the game solely on his nerve I recollect one such Individual Individ-ual and he was certainly a classic j I I His Ways His Manners His I i Methods His Dress and I FlybyNight Election I SchemesDead Politically I Today He Resurrects Himself Tomorrow in aNew a-New Ward with a New Plan and Perhaps Affiliates with the Other PartyHow He Takes Up Reform as an Asset and Meets Defeat with Attendant Notoriety Gracefully L JmJ specimen and a nervy proposition A certain hotelkeeper had been selected se-lected as a candidate for nldermitnlc honors At party headquarters after his name had been offered and determined deter-mined upon a committee of prominent promi-nent citizens was picked out to notify noti-fy the gentleman of the honor which had been accorded him Among others this hot sport was chosen as bo was a very neat talker and the chairmanship of the notifying commit tee was reserve to him ns the man who was best qualified to break the news to the hotelkeeper of his selec ion as the aldermanlc standard bearer At that time of the year early spring a number of these prominent citizens were wearing light overcoats over-coats and our hero was nattily attired in ono which buttoned high to his throat with an immaculate silk muf tier folded neatly above It As the committee entered the rotun da of the hotel it met the then city clerk who on invitation accompanied them on their trip Tho Uonlfnce was sent for a private pri-vate room opened and the gentleman with tiro dove rolored spring overcoat and silk muffler stepped from the group of prominent citizens and urged the acceptance by the tentative candidate of tho honor vouchsafed him It was a neat speech and told of the representative citizens who were present anxious to lend their prestige and solid business standing to his camJlalgn all prominent bust ness men and all desirous of having the ward taken care of In the council by n man of their own stamp The hotelkeepor was very much gratified accepted tho honor In a few words and Invited tho committee to take dinner with him it being just about six in i the evening All but the city clerk and the orator of the even I ing accepted the Invitation with alac rlty Tho orator however pleaded an Imperative engagement and the city clerk tad to o catch a train But as these two came out of the hotel the city clerk who knew his companion as a sort of flybY nlgint ward polltl I clan said Why didnt you stay and take dinner with the committee Dick The old man will give the boys a flno feed In thereTo there-To which tho politician with a per fectly nonchalant air replied have liked to first rate but I havent Id got any shirt on at the same time opening his spring overcoat and dls closing underneath his stylish Her the unmistakable taut neat but not gaudy presence of a undershirt next to his manly chest The city clerk reached into his pocket and vest dislodged a twodollar This he handed to his friend bill Youre a dandy representative citizen right Dick he remarked all and n first class business man Go and get you a shirt with that and then buy thing to eat some EItNEST MOAFFEV Copyright 150S by Joarplj U Uowl i |