Show the conscientious candidate by JAMES J MONTAGUE sitting by himself in a hotel room I 1 found an old friend of earlier days chewing a toothy cl A and gloomily regarding a cheering crowd outside the open window where a man was standing in an ie and ad dressing an obviously approving crowd I 1 if Is that your candidate I 1 in quiren not any more was the surly al reply 1 I thought you were one of his W managers listen that lad got any T managers I 1 was one but I 1 ain aint t any moie and more moreover oNer I 1 won t the be I 1 im in waiting for the next train that will tale me back home f ahat hat was the trouble it would take more than between now and train time to tell you that fellow chasn t got any political brains I 1 was up all night lait lat week writing I 1 him a speech the regular speech that used to go big in all the cam 1 ve been in when I 1 showed it to him he read it believe it or not read ei aery ery line of it and then he sa a cut but you youe N e made a lot of prom aises here that 1 I 1 can t carry out no body could carry them out dont don t you realize that I 1 id d be expected to carry them out if I 1 was elected listen I 1 said you re new in this game but you re smart or any way I 1 think you are and you can learn nobody pays any attention to campaign promises except a few cranks and they wont bother you after election day you 11 have a secretary to keep them from bother ing you what you youve ve got to do Is to let ns us old hands tell you what kind of prom ses will get votes and then go and make them and take the bows you just attend to the talking youre you re good at that and well get somebody up from headquarters to hand you the speeches the ones you ve been writing ain sin t sound you keep talking about not being able to perform impossibilities that wont make you any votes now don dont t worry it will be all right you just leave that speech with roe me and leave in it anything that ought to be there and let one of the bright lads 1 ive ve brought along fix ohp rest of it for you I 1 but I 1 he says I 1 wouldn t mahe make a speech that somebody else wrote for me you t hey I 1 I 1 bays says well smarter guys than you has made cm em and grabbed off big jobs by makin mahin em sul after they was elected they managed to squirm out of em ein like they all do but that wouldn t be honest I 1 he it wouldn t be ste alln or bur alarin would it pretty much the same thing yes now what could you do with a bird like that well ivell what did you do with him nothing to do of course but just let him take the bit in his mouth and a terrible mess he hes s made of it why do you know the very next daly diy he told a crowd out in front of the hotel that when he was elected he wanted lem em to come down to the capitol and tell him if there was anything wrong with the way things was going and if they had any corn com plaints and id so forth what do you thinh think of that after he was elected mind you he ile d listen to cm em alter after he had the job and dian didn t need to listen to em 1 I sat down then and tried to have a serious talk tall with him and explain that nobody ever took campaigns seriously piously and that be he was to leave what happened after he was elected to older and wiser heads that had grown gray in politics he was a little huffy at that but I 1 thought he could tabe take his medicine even tt if it dlan didn t taste good and set to work tellin him as I 1 would tell a little child what it was all about and what does he do but turn on his heel and walk off I 1 I 1 the next morn ng I 1 went up to his room where he was makin a lot of party leaders poor old boys past fifty chuck one of them medicine balls at each other just because he okd to get exercise that way he was all smiles when be he see me and chucked the ball at me deanin to be playful and it bit hit me on the ear and hurt hurl but I 1 was so pleased to think he bed d come around to my way of thinking that I 1 didn t say anything till the other boys had gone I 1 then I 1 said well I 1 see you ain aint t mad any more so I 1 suppose it its s all a right you suppose all right says be I 1 why the quarrel between you and me I 1 knew you t take that that serious I 1 no I 1 he says I 1 dlan didn t take it se rious here heres s another speech I 1 wrote this morning he ile handed it to me and I 1 put on my spectacles to read it and found he bed d said again that when he was elected he was going to be the people s min and that the ii first rt r professional politician who came to him to give advice or offer instructions would be chucked out of the window I 1 IN well ell I 1 just turned on my heel and walked away here am I 1 an but there Is he givin a talk to the people about the danger of trick pol Itt Iti clans comin into the offices an bryin to influence elected officials and how if he was elected the first thing he d do would be to try to get to ak ask for a law makin attempts to influence an official a felony A felony 1 think of thail what are you going to do about it I 1 inquired as he paused to catch his breath well the trouble Is we cant do nothing about it NN e am ain t got noth ing on him like we have with a good many of the men we nom nate he aint made us no promises which debbe was our fault for we tho unlit bed he d be so glad to have us tell hin hii i what to do that he d come in askin for advice every day its it s too late to head him off now and the worst thing about it Is he s makin headway and maybe will get elected in spite of all we can do to stop him an that 11 be a lot believe me look at him out there tellin cm em he won wont t make no promises unless he knows he can carry them out he wont have no boss direct in him in the discharge of his duty to the people an he thinks the mandate of the people Is more important than the orders of all the political bosses that ever put their heads together in a back room I 1 I 1 we got it comin to ns us we nominated him because we took it tor for granted that he bed d be a good boy and do what was right but we have learned our lesson hell ue 11 probably be elected for he goes good with the crowd an he may get such fellers do sometimes but when he quits an we put in another man that man Is goin to be our man an he a coln to admit it in waltin before he gets his name so much as mentioned in the convention hall A sound of loud cheers came through the open window tb tt la 13 W politician grinned nes bad fasli ness for us I 1 be he said but I 1 cant can help his nerve at that qa bell syndicate service Ber ric |