in turn.
Whether they would succeed in their object before another general
election supervened would depend on the security of his hold on the
local Liberal organisation; and that would depend on his personal
ability as a politician and--very largely--on his unscrupulousness. For
it may, I think, be stated as an axiom that no man can long retain his
hold as "boss" of the machine in a large city except by questionable
methods,--methods which sometimes involve dishonesty. He must--no matter
whether he likes it or not--use his patronage and his power to advance
unworthy men; and he must in some measure show leniency to certain forms
of lawlessness. Otherwise the influence of the saloons, gamblers,
keepers of disorderly houses, and all the other non-law-abiding elements
will be thrown against him with sufficient weight to work his downfall.

Unscrupulousness and friendship with wickedness in the slums of a city
may thus be the direct road to influence in the councils of the national
party. When it is remembered that not a few large cities, and therefore
some States, are practically controlled, through the balance of power,
by voters of an alien nationality, it is further plain how such an alien
vote may become a serious factor in the politics of the nation. Thus is
the German element very strong in Milwaukee, and the Scandinavian
element in the towns and State of Minnesota. Thus the Irish influence
has been almost paramount in New York, though now outnumbered by
Germans, Italians, and others; and it is there, in New York, that the
conditions which we have imagined in connection with Glasgow and Lord
Inverclyde are actually being almost exactly repeated in American
Democratic politics as often as a general election comes round.

You may frequently hear it said in America that "as goes New York, so
goes the country"; which is to say that in a presidential election the
party which carries New York will carry the nation. In theory this is
not necessarily so, although it is evident that New York's thirty-six
votes in the electoral college must be an important contribution to the
support of a candidate. In practice it has proven itself a good rule,
partly by reason of the importance of those thirty-six votes, but more,
perhaps, because the popular impetus which sways one part of the country
is likely to be felt in others--that, in fact, New York goes as the
country goes.

But let us assume that the New York vote is really esse