his system, often pernicious, the
latter acquires absolute control of the situation. He names the
candidates for office, or most of them, and is all powerful. I have met
a number of "bosses," and all, it happened, were Irish; indeed, the
Irish dominate American politics. One, a leader of Tammany in New York,
was a most preposterous person, well dressed, but not a gentleman from
any standpoint; ignorant so far as education goes, yet supremely sharp
in politics. Such a man could not have led a fire brigade in China, yet
he was the leader of thousands, and controlled Democratic New York for
years. He never held office, I was told, yet grew very rich.

The Republican "boss" was a tall, thin, United States senator. I was
also introduced to him--a Mephistophelian sort of an individual--to me
utterly without any attraction; but I was informed that he carried the
vote of the Republican party in his pocket. How? that is the mystery. If
you desired office you went to him; without his influence one was
impotent. Thousands of office-holders felt his power, hated him,
perhaps, but did not dare to say it.

The "boss" controls the situation, gives and "takes," and the other
citizens get the satisfaction of thinking they are a free people. In
reality, they are political slaves, and the "boss," "sub-boss," and the
long line of smaller "bosses" are their masters. Very much the same
situation is seen in national politics. The party is controlled by a
"boss," and at the present this personage is a millionaire, named Hanna,
said to be an honest, upright man, with a genius for political
diplomacy, a puller of wires, a maker of Presidents, having virtually
placed President McKinley where he is. This man I met. Many of the
politicians called him "Uncle Mark." He has a familiar way with
reporters. He is a man of good size, with a face of a rather common
type, with very large and protruding ears, but two bright, gleaming
eyes, that tell of genius, force, intelligence, power, and executive
talents of an exalted order. I recall but one other such pair of eyes,
and those were in the head of Senator James G. Blaine, whom I saw during
my first visit to America. Hanna is famous for his _bonhomie_, and is a
fine story-teller. Indeed, unless a man can tell stories he had better
remain out of politics, or rather he will never get into politics.

As an outsider I should say that the power of the "boss" was due to the
fact that the best classes will have