of every voter and every voter's wife on public
men. They understand whether the people think this man honest and that
man a mere pretender. The consensus of judgment of these precinct
committeemen indicates with fair accuracy who is the "strongest man"
for his party to nominate, and what policies will get the most votes
among the people.

This is their preliminary work. When platforms have been formulated
and candidates have been chosen, these men develop from the partizan
passive to the partizan militant. They know those who, in their own
party, are "weakening," and by the same token those who are
"weakening" in the other party.

They know just what argument will reach each man, just what speaker
the people of their respective sections want to hear upon public
questions. They keep everybody supplied with the right kind of
literature from their party's view-point.

They either take the poll of their precinct or see that it is taken;
and that means the putting down in a book the name of each voter, his
past political allegiance, his present political inclinations, the
probable ballot he will cast, etc.

Not many of these men do this work for money or office. There are too
many of them to hope for reward. Primarily they do it because they are
naturally Americans, because they have the gift of government, because
they like to help "run the show." They are useful elements of our
political life, and they are modest. They seldom ask anything for
themselves.

They do require, however, that their opinions shall be taken into
account as to appointments to office made from their county, and of
course they make their opinions felt in all nominating conventions.
Without these men our "American institutions" would look beautiful on
paper but they would work haltingly. They would move sluggishly. They
might even rust, and fall to pieces from decay.

This much space has been given to the political precinct committeeman
because, as I have said, he is a type. He is the man who sees that the
"citizen" does not forget his citizenship. This great body of men,
fresh from the people, of the people, living among the people, are
perpetually renewed from the ranks of the people.

All this occurs, as has been said, by a process of natural selection.
The same process selects from this great company of "workers" county,
district, and state committeemen--county, district, and state
chairmen. And the process continues until it culminates