elected, to repeal those laws at once
and put every civil service reformer in jail."

Just imagine the wild enthusiasm of the party, if that plank was
adapted, and the rush of Republicans to join us in restorin' our country
to what it was before this college professor's nightmare, called civil
service reform, got hold of it! Of course, it would be all right to
work in the platform some stuff about the tariff and sound money and the
Philippines, as no platform seems to be complete without them, but they
wouldn't count. The people would read only the first plank and then
hanker for election day to come to put the Democratic party in office.

I see a vision. I see the civil service monster lyin' flat on the
ground. I see the Democratic party standin' over it with foot on its
neck and wearin' the crown of victory. I see Thomas Jefferson lookin'
out from a cloud and sayin': "Give him another sockdologer; finish
him"' And I see millions of men wavin' their hats and singin' "Glory
Hallelujah!"

Chapter 23. Strenuous Life of the Tammany District Leader

Note: This chapter is based on extracts from Plunkitt's Diary and on my
daily observation of the work of the district leader.--W.L.R.

THE life of the Tammany district leader is strenuous. To his work is due
the wonderful recuperative power of the organization.

One year it goes down in defeat and the prediction is made that it will
never again raise its head. The district leader, undaunted by defeat,
collects his scattered forces, organizes them as only Tammany knows
how to organize, and in a little while the organization is as strong as
ever.

No other politician in New York or elsewhere is exactly like the Tammany
district leader or works as he does. As a rule, he has no business or
occupation other than politics. He plays politics every day and night in
the year, and his headquarters bears the inscription, "Never closed."

Everybody in the district knows him. Everybody knows where to find him,
and nearly everybody goes to him for assistance of one sort or another,
especially the poor of the tenements.

He is always obliging. He will go to the police courts to put in a good
word for the "drunks and disorderlies" or pay their fines, if a good
word is not effective. He will attend christenings, weddings, and
funerals. He will feed the hungry and help bury the dead.

A philanthropist? Not at all He is playing politics all the time.

Brought up in Tammany Hall, he