PLU N K I T T
OF
T AMMAN Y
A
SER I ES
H A LL
ERY PLA I N TALK S ON V ERY PRA C T ICAL
D E LI V ERED BY E! SENATOR GE ORGE
POL I T IC S
W A S H I NG TON PLU N K I TT T H E TAMMA NY PH I L
T HE
OSOPH E R F R OM H I S R O S TR UM
N EW YO R K C O U N TY C O U R T H O U SE
AN D
B O O T B LA C K S TA N D
RE C O R D E D
OF
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BY
WI LL IAM
L
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N EW Y
MC CLURE
,
BI ORD ON
O
RK
HILLI PS
P
M CM V
CO
Cop
y
ri gh t,
y
19 05, b
M CCLURE PHI LLIPS
,
Publi shed Sep tem ber
,
CO.
1 9 05
P R EFA C E
THI S vo l ume discloses the mental oper
of perhaps the most thoroughly p r a c
ti c a l politician of the day
George Wash
i ngt on Pl u nkitt T a m m an yleader of the
F ifteenth A ssembly District Sachem of the
Tammany Society and Chairman of the
E lections Committee of Tammany Hall
who has held the o ffices of State Senator
A ssemblyman Police M agistrate County
Supervisor and Al de r m an a n d who boasts
of his record in filling four public o ffices in
one year a n d drawing sal aries from three of
them at the same time
The discourses that follow were delivered
by him from his rostrum the bootblack
a t i on s
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i AM MAN Y HALL
s tand in the County Court ho u se at v a r io u s
times in the last half dozen years Their ab
solute frankness and vigoro us u n conve nti on
ality of thought and expression charmed me
Pl u nki tt said right out what all pra c t i ca l poli
t i ci a ns think b u t are afraid to say Some of
the discourses I published as inte rv iews in
the New York Ev en m g Pos t the New Y o rk
Sun the New York World and the Boston
Tr a ns cri p t They were reproduced in news
papers througho u t the country and severa l
of them notably the talks on The Curse of
”
“
Civil Service Reform and Honest Graft
”
and Dishonest Graft became subjects of
discussion in the United States Senate and in
college lectures There seemed to be a gen
eral recognition of Plu nkit t as a striking type
of the practical politician a politician more
over who dared to say publicly what others
in his class whisper among themselves in the
City Hall corridors and the hotel lobbies
PLU N K I TT OF
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PR E FA C E
I thought it a pity to let Plu nki tt s revela
tions of himself
as frank in their way as
“
”
Rousseau s Confessions
perish in the
files of the newspapers ; so I collected the
talks I had published added several ne w
ones and n ow gi v e t o the world in this
v ol u me a system of political phi l osophy
which is as u nique as it is refreshing
N o New Yorker needs to be i nformed who
George Washington Pl un kitt is For the i n
formation of others the following sketch of
his c areer is given He was born as he pro u d
te l ls in Central P a rk ; that is in the terri
ly
tory now incl u ded in the park He began l ife
as a driver of a cart then be c ame a b u t c h er s
boy and l ater went into the butcher b u s
i ne s s for himself How he entered politi c s h e
ex pl ains in one of his dis c ourses His a d
v an c ement was rapid He was in the A ssem
bly s o on after he c ast his first v ote and has
held o ffi c e mo s t of the time for forty years
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[V]
OF TA MM ANY H ALL
In 18 7 0 through a strange combination of
circum s tances he held the places of A ssem
m a n A lderman Police M agistrate and
b ly
County Supervisor and drew three salaries
at once
a record unexampled in New
York politics
Pl un ki tt is now a millionaire He owes his
fortune mainly to his political pull as he con
“
fesses in Honest Graft and Dishonest
”
Graft The character of his business he also
describes fully He is in the contracting
transportation real estate and every other
business out of which he can make money
He has no o ffice His headquarters is the
County Court house bootbl a ck stand
The re he receives his con stituents transa c ts
his general business and pours forth hi s
p hi losophy
Pl u nki t t has been one of the great powers
in Tammany Hall for a quarter of a cen
tury While he was in the A ssembly and
PLUN K I TT
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[ vi ]
PRE FA C E
the State Senate he was one of the most
influential members and introdu c ed the bills
that provided f o r the outlying parks of Ne w
York City the Harlem Ri ver Speed w ay the
Washington B ridge the 155th Street Vi a d
u ct
the grading of E ighth Avenue north of
F ifty seventh St reet additio n s to the Museum
of Natural History the West Side Court and
man y other important pub l ic improvements
He is one of the closest friends and most
valued ad v isers of Charles F Murphy l ead
er of Tammany Hall
W I LLIAM L RI OR D ON
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[ vii ]
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C ON T EN TS
GRAFT
D I S H ONES T GRAFI
TO B E C OM E A STAT ES MAN
C UR SE O F C I I L S ER IC E R E FORM
H ONE
ST
HOW
T HE
PAG E
AN D
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19
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3O
R E FORM ERS O N LY M OR
G LO R I ES
PI E FO TH E HAYSEED S
38
N EW Y OR C I TY
STUD Y H UMAN NATU RE
T O H O L D Y O U R D I S TR IC
NIN
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ACT AC C OR DI N
46
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S HAM E OF T HE C ITI ES
INGRATI TU D E IN P OLITI C S
R ECIPROC I TY I N PATR ONAG E
B ROOKLYN I TES NATU RAL BOR HAYS EEDS
TAMMANY LEAD ERS N OT B OOK W ORMS
DAN GERS OF H E D RES S S U IT m P O LI TI C
ON M UNI C IPAL O WN ERS H IP
O
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T HE
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ONL
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LASTm
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TAMMANY
54
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S
ACY
CR
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100
106
C O NTE NTS
PAG E
C O N C ERN ING
G AS
I N P OLI TIC S
PLU N K I T T S F O N D ES T
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1 13
D REAM
121
127
TAMMANY S PATRI OTI SM
135
ON TH E U S E O F M ONEY I N P OLI TIC S
3
14
T H E S UCC ESS FUL P OLI T ICIA N D O ES N OT D R I N
Bos Es PRESERV E TH E NATI O N
150
C ON C ERN I NG E! CI SE
156
A PARTIN G WO RD ON TH E F UTUR E O F T H E D EMO
C RATIC PA RTY
16 3
STREN U O US LI FE O F TH E TAMMA NY D I S TR IC T
LEA D ER
16 7
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I N TR ODU C TI ON
A T R I B UT E
T O PLU N K I TT
OF
SEN AT OR
T AMM ANY
BY
H
T
HE
LEA D ER
A LL
FLU N K ITT
is a straight
organization man He believes in party
government ; he does not indulge in cant
and hypocrisy and he is never afraid to say
exactly what he th i nks He is a believer in
thorough po l itical org anization and all the
year around work and he holds to the doc
trine that in making appointments to o ffice
party workers shou l d be preferred if they
are fitted to perform the duties of the o ffice
Pl u nk i tt is one of the veteran leaders of the
organization he has always been faithful
and rel iable and he has performed valuable
services for Tammany Hall
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C H A R L ES E
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M UR P H Y
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OF T AMMANY HALL
PLUN KI TT
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hole thi ng by sayin : I seen my opp ort un
ities and I took em
“
Ju st l et me exp l ain by examples My
party s in power in the city and it s goin to
u ndertake a lot of p u b l i c improvements
Well I m tipped off say that they re going
to lay out a new park at a certain pla c e
“
I see my opport u nity and I take it I go
to that place and I buy up all the land I can
in the neighborhood Then the board of this
or that makes i ts plan public and there is a
ru sh to get my land which nobody care d
particul ar for before
“
Ain t it perfectly honest t o c harge a good
price and make a profit on my investment
and foresight ? O f c ourse it is Well that s
honest graft
“
O r s up p os in it s a new bridge they re
goin to build I get tipped off and I buy as
much property as I can that has to be taken
for approa c hes I sell at my own pri c e l ate r
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H O NE ST AN D DISH O NE ST GR A FT
drop some more money in the
on and
bank
“
Would n t you ? It s just like lookin
ahead in Wall Street or in the coffee or c ot
t on market I t s honest graft and I m look
in f or it every day in the year I will tell you
frankly that I V e got a good lot of it too
I ll tell you of one case They were goin
to fix up a big park no matter where I got
on t o it and went lookin about for land in
that neighborhood
I could get nothin at a bargain but a big
piece of swamp but I took it f ast e nough and
held on to it What turned out was just what
I c o u nted o n They could n t make the pa rk
c omplete witho u t Plu nki tt s swamp and
they had t o pay a good price for it A nything
dishonest in that ?
“
Up in the watershed I made some
money t oo I bought up several bits of land
there s ome years ago and made a pretty good
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TAMMANY HALL
guess that they would be bought up for
water purposes later by the city
Somehow I always guessed about right
and should n t I enj oy the profit Of my fore
sight ? I t was rather a m us i n when the con
de m n at i on commissioners came along and
found piece after piece of the land in the
name of George Pl unkitt of the F ifteenth A s
s e m bl
Distri
c
t
New
York
City
They
won
y
dered how I knew j ust what to buy The a n
swer is
I seen my opportunity and I took
it I have n t confined myself to land ; any
thing that pays is i n my line
“
F or instance the city is repavi n a street
and has several hundred thousand old gran
ite blo c ks to sell I am on hand to buy and I
know just what they are worth
“
How ? Never mind that I had a so rt of
monopoly of this business for a while but
on c e a newspaper tried to do me It got
some o u tside men to come over from
PLUN K I TT O‘F
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H O NE ST AN D DISH O NE ST G RA FT
Brookly n a nd Ne w Jersey t o bid against
me
“
Was I done ? Not m uc h I went to each
of the men and said : Ho w many of these
stones do you want ? O ne s aid 20
and a n
000 and another wanted
o ther wanted
I said : All right let
m e bid for the lot and I 11 gi v e each of you
all yo u w ant for nothin
“
They agreed of co u rse Then the auc
t i onee r yelled : Ho w mu c h am I bid f o r these
fine p avin stones ?
“
Tw o do ll ars and fifty ce n ts says I
“
Two dollars and fifty cents ! s c reamed
the auctioneer O h that s a j oke ! Gi v e me a
real bid
“
He fo u nd the bid was real enough My
ri v als st o od silent I got the l ot for
and
gave them their share That s how the at
tempt to do Pl unkit t ended and that s how
all su c h attempts end
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T AMM A NY H AL L
PLUN KI TT OF
told you how I got ri c h by honest
graft Now let me tell you that most
politicians who are accused of robbin the
city get rich the same w ay
“
They did n t steal a dollar from the city
treasury They j ust seen their opportunities
and took them That is why when a reform
administration comes in and spends a half
i n to find the public
million dollars in t ry
robberies they talked abo u t in the cam
ai n they don t find them
p g
“
The books are always all right The
money in the city treasury is all right E very
thing is all right A ll they can show is that the
Tamm any heads of depa rtments looked after
their friends within the law and gave them
what opportunities they could to make hon
est graft Now let me tell you that 5 never
goin to hurt Tammany with the people
E very good man looks after his friends and
any man who does n t is n t likely to be p op
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H O N E ST A ND DISH O N E ST GRA FT
ular If I have a good thing to hand ou t in
private life I give it to a friend Why
s hould n t I do the same in public life ?
“
A nother kind of honest graft T a m m an V
has raised a good many salaries There was
an awf ul howl by the reformers but don t
ou know that Tammany gains ten votes f or
y
e v ery one it lost by salary raisin ?
The Wall Street banker thinks it shame
ful to raise a department clerk s salary from
$ 1500 to $ 18 00 a year but every man wh o
draws a salary himself says : That s all
right I wish it was me A nd he feels V ery
much like votin the Tammany ticket on
ele c tion day j ust out of sympathy
“
Tammany w a s be at in 1901 be c a u se the
people we r e de c eived into b eli evi n that it
worked dish o nest graft They did n t draw a
d i stin cti o n between dishonest and honest
graft b u t they saw that some Tammany men
grew ri c h and supposed they h ad been rob
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OF T A MMAN Y H A LL
i n blackmail on
bin the city treasury or l evy
disorderly houses or workin in with the
gamblers and lawbreakers
“
A s a matter of policy if nothing else
why should the Tammany leaders go into
such dirty business when there is so much
honest graft lyin around when they are in
power ? Did you ever consider that ?
“
Now in conclusion I want to say that I
don t own a dishonest dollar If my worst
enemy was given the j ob of w ri tin my
epitaph when I m gone he could n t do
more than write :
“
George W Plu n kitt He Seen His OP
or t u n i t i es and He Took E m
p
PLU N K I T T
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10 ]
OF T AMIVIAN Y H A LL
an i z at i on on earth and if you hear people
g
say that I V e laid away a m i lli on or so sin c e I
was a butcher s boy in Was hi ngton M arket
don t come to me for an indignant denial
I m pretty co m f ortable thank you
Now b avin qualified as an expert as
the lawyers say I am goin to give advice
free to the young men who are goin to cast
their first votes and who are lookin forward
to political glo ry and lots of cash Some
young men thi nk they can learn how to be
successful in politics from books and they
cram their heads with all sorts of college rot
They could n t make a bigger mistake Now
understand me I ain t sayin nothin against
colleges I guess they 11 have to exist as long
as there s bookworms and I suppose they
do some good in a certain way but they don t
count in politics In fact a young man who
has gone through the college c ourse is handi
capped at the outset He may s u c c eed in pol
PLUN K I TT
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TO
B E C O ME A STATE SM AN
ities but the c hances are 100 t o 1 against
him
Another mistake ; some young men think
that the best way t o prepare for the political
game is t o practise s p e akin and b ecom i n
orators That s all wrong We v e got some
orators in Tammany Hall but they re
c hiefly ornamental You never heard of
Charlie M urphy delivering a speech did
you ? O r Ri c hard Croker or John K elly or
any other man who has been a rea l power in
the organization ? L ook at the thirty six
district leaders of Tammany Hall t o day
How many of them trave l on their tongues
M aybe o ne o r two and they don t count
when b u siness is doin at Tammany Hall
The men who r u le hav e pra ctised keepin
their tong u es still not ex erci s in them So
ou want to drop the orator idea unless
ou
y
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mean to go int o po l itics j u st to pe rform the
sky ro cket a c t
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OF TA MM ANY H ALL
“
Now I v e told you what not t o do ; I
g u ess I can explain best what to do to suc
yo u what I did
cee d in politics by tellin
Af ter goin through the apprenticeship of the
business while I was a boy by workin
around the district headquarters and h u st
lin abo u t the po l ls on ele ction day I set ou t
when I cast my first vote to win fame and
money in New York city po liti c s Did I O ffer
my services to the di st ri ct leader as a st u mp
speaker ? Not mu c h The woods are a l ways
full of speakers Did I get up a book on m u
n i c i al government and show it to the leader
p
I w as n t such a fool What I did was to get
some marketab l e goods before goin t o the
leaders What do I mean by marketable
goods ? L et me tel l you : I had a co u sin a
young man who did n t take any parti cu lar
interest in politics I went to him and said :
Tommy I m goin to be a politician and I
want to get a f ol lowi n ; c an I co u nt on you ?
PLU N K I TT
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T O B E C O ME A STAT E S MAN
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He said : Sure George That s h ow I start
ed in business I got a marketable com m od
one vote Then I went to the district
leader and told him I could command t w o
votes on election day Tommy s and my own
He smiled on me and told me to go ahead If
I had offered him a speech or a bookf ul of
l earn in he wo u ld have said O h forget it !
“
That was b egi nni n business in a small
way was n t it ? But that is the only way t o
be c ome a real l as tin statesman I soon
branched out Tw o young m en in the flat
next to mine were school friends I went to
them just as I went to Tommy and they
agreed t o stand by me Then I had a follow
in of three voters and I began to get a bit
chesty Whenever I dropped into district
headquarters everybody shook hands with
me and the leader on e day honored me by
l i gh t i n a match for my cigar And so it went
on like a snowball rollin down a hill I
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OF TAMMAN Y HAL L
worked the fl at ho u se that I lived in from the
bas ement to the top floor and I got abo u t a
dozen young men to follow me Then I
tackled the next house and so on d o wn the
blo c k and around the corner Before l ong I
had si xty men back of me and formed the
George Was hi ngton Plun kitt As s o ciation
“
What did the district leader say then
when I c alled at headqu arters ? I did n t
have to call at headq u arters He c ame after
me and said : George what do you want ? If
you don t see W hat y ou want ask for it
Wo u ld n t you like t o have a job or two in
the departments for your friends ? I said :
I 11 think it over ; I have n t yet decided
what the George Washington Plunkitt As so
You
c i at i on will do in the next campaign
o u ght to have seen how I was co u rted and
petted then by the leaders of the rival organi
z at i on s
I had marketable goods and there
was bids for them from all sides and I was a
PLU N K I TT
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TO
B E C O ME A STAT E S MAN
r i s i n man in politics A s time went on and
m y association grew I thought I would like
t o go to the A ssembly I just had to hint at
what I wanted and three different organiza
tions offered me the nomination Afterwards
I went t o the Board of Aldermen then to the
State Senate then became leader of the dis
t ri ct and s o on up and up till I bec a me a
s tatesman
“
That is the way and the only way to
make a l ast in su c cess in politics If y
ou are
goin t o cast your first vote next November
and want t o go into politics do as I did Get a
f oll owi n if it s only one man and then go
to the district leader and say : I want t o join
the organization I v e got one man who 1]
follow me through thick and thin The
leader won t laugh at your one man f oll ow in
He 11 shake your hand warmly o ffer t o p ro
pose yo u for membership in his club take
y ou down to the c orner f or a drink and ask
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TA M MANY H ALL
you to call again But go to him and say : I
took first prize at college in A ristotle ; I can
recite all Shakspere forwards and back
wards ; there ain t nothin in science that
ain t as familiar to me as blockades on the
elevated roads and I m the real thing in the
way of si lver tong u ed orators What will he
answer ? He 11 probably say : I gu ess you
are not t o blame for your misfort u nes but
ou here
we have n o use for y
OF
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[
18
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OF TAMMANY H A LL
oti s m is goin to last ? Not much They say :
What s the use of workin for your country
an y how ? There s nothin in the game And
what can they do I don t know but I ll tell
you what I do know I know more than on e
young man in past years who worked for the
ticket and was just ov e r flowin with pat riot
ism but when he was knocked o u t by the
civi l service humbug he got t o hate his c o u n
try and became an Anarchist
“
This ain t no exaggeration I have good
reason for sayin that most of the Anar chi sts
in t hi s city to day are men who ran up
against civi l service examinations Is n t it
eno u gh to make a man sour on hi s c o u ntry
when he wants to serve it and won t be al
lowed unless he answers a lot of fool ques
tions about the number of cubic inches of
water in the Atlantic and the q u ality of sand
in the Sahara desert ? There was once a
bright young man i n my district who ta ckled
PLUN K I TT
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20 l
CURSE OF CIVI L SERVIC E R E FO RM
one of these examinations The next I heard
of him he had settled down in Herr M ost s
saloon s m okin and dri n ki n beer and talkin
so c ialism all day Before that time he had
never drank anything but whisky I knew
what was comin when a young Irishman
drops whisky and takes to beer and long
p i pes in a German saloon That young man
is to day on e of the wil dest Anarchists in
town And just t o think ! He might be a p a
triot but for that cussed c ivil service
“
Say did you hear about that Civil Ser
vi c e Reform A ssociation ki ckin because the
tax commissioners want t o put their fifty
five deputies on the exempt list and fire the
outfit left to them by L ow That s civil ser
ou Just thi n k ! F ifty fiv e Rep u bli
vi c e for y
cans and mugwumps b oldin $ 3000 and
000 and $ 5000 j obs in the tax department
$4
when 1555 good Tam m any men are ready
and willin to take their p laces ! It s an o u t
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21
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OF TA MM ANY HALL
rage ! What did the people mean when they
voted for Tammany What is representative
government anyhow ? Is it all a fake that
this is a government of the people by the
people and for the p e Op l e ? If it is n t a fake
then why is n t the people s voice obeyed and
Tammany men put in all the o ffices ?
“
When the people elected Tammany
they knew just what they were do i n We
did n t p ut up any false pretences We did n t
go in for humbug civil service and all that
rot We stood as we have always stood for re
wardin the men that won the Victory They
call that the spoils system All right ; Tam
man is for the spoil s system and when we
go in we fire every ant i Tammany man from
o ffi ce that can be fired u nder the law It s an
elastic sort of law and you c an bet it will be
stret c hed to the limit O f co u rse the Repub
lican State Ci vil Servi c e Board wi ll stand in
the way of o u r local Civil Se rvi c e Com m is
PLUN K I TT
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l
CUR SE OF CI VI L SE RVIC E RE FO R M
sion all it can ; but say !
suppose we c arry
the State some time won t we fire the u p
State Board all right ? O r we ll make it w ork
in harmony with th e l ocal board a nd that
means that Tammany will get everythi ng in
s ight I know that the civil se rvice humbug is
stu c k into the constitution too but as Tim
Campbell said : What 3 the constitution
among friends
“
Say the people s voice is smothered by
the cursed c i vil service law ; it is the root of
all ev il in ou r government Yo u hear of this
thing or that thing goin wrong in the nation
the State or the city L ook down beneath the
surfa c e and you c an trace everything wrong
to c ivil service I hav e st u died the subj ect
and I know The civil service h u mbug is
un d
er m i ni n
our instit u tions and if a halt
ain t c alled soon this great republic will
tumble down like a Park avenue house
when they were b u i ldin the subway and
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[
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OF TA MMANY HALL
on its ruins will rise another Russian gov
PLU N KI TT
e rn m e n t .
“
This is an awful serious p roposition
F ree silver and the tari ff and imperialism
and the Panama Canal are t ri flin issues
when c ompared to it We could worryalong
without any of these things but civil service
is s app i n the foundation of the whole shoot
i n match L et me argue it out for you I ain t
u p on s i lly
i
s m s but I can give you some ar
g
m
u
en t s that nobody can answer
g
“
F irst this great and glorious c ountry was
built up by political parties ; second pa rties
can t hold together if their workers don t get
the O ffices when they win ; third if the par
ties go to pieces the government they built
up must go to pieces too ; fourth then
there 11be h
to pay
Could anything be clearer than that ?
Say honest now ; can you answer that argu
ment ? O f c ourse you won t deny that the
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241
CURS E OF CIV I L S E RVIC E R E FO R M
government was built up by the great par
ties That s history and you can t go back
of the returns A s to my second proposition
you can t deny that either When parties
can t get o ffices they 11 bust They ain t far
from the bustin point n ow with al l this civil
service business keepin most of the good
things from them How are yo u goin to keep
up pat riotism if this thing goes on You can t
do it L et me tell y ou that patrioti sm has
been dying ou t fast for the last twenty years
Before then when a party won its workers
ot everything in si ht That was s o m e t h i n
g
g
to make a man patriotic Now when a party
wins and its men c ome forward and ask f or
their reward the reply is Nothin doin u n
less y o u can answer a list of questions about
E gyptian mummies and how many years it
will take f or a bird t o wear ou t a mass of iron
as big as the earth b y s te pp i n on it once in a
centur
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35 l
’
OF T A MMANY H ALL
I have studied po litics and men for forty
five years and I see how things are dri f ti n
S a d indeed is the change that has come over
the young men even in my district where I
try to keep up the fire of patriotism by get
tin a lot of Ob s for my constituents whether
Tammany is in or out The boys and men
don t get excited any more when they see a
U ni ted States flag or hear the Star Spangled
B anner They don t care no more for fir e
crackers on the F o u rth of July A nd why
should they ? What is there in it for them ?
They know that no matter how hard they
work for their c ountry in a campaign the
jobs will go to fe l lows who can te l l abo u t the
mummies and the bird s te pp i n on the iron
A re you surprised then that the yo ung men
of the country are b e i nn i n to l ook c oldly
g
on the flag and don t care to put u p a nickel
f or fire crackers
Say let me tell of one c ase After the bat
PLUN KI TT
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OF TAM MANY H AL L
of department He got a reply that he m u st
take a civil service examination to get the
place He di d n t know what these examina
tions were so he went all li ght hearted to
the Ci vi l Service Board He read the ques
tions about the mummies the bird on the
iron and all the other fool questions
and
he left that o ffi c e an enemy of the country
that he had l oved so we l l The m u mmies
and the bird blasted his patriotism He went
to Cuba enlisted in the Spanish army at the
breakin o u t of the war and died figh ti n his
c ountry
“
That is b u t one V ictim of the infamous
civil service If that young man had not run
up against the civil examination but had
been allowed to serve his country as he
wished he w ould be in a good o ffice to day
dr awi n a good salary A h how many young
men have had their patriotism blasted in the
same way !
PLU N K I TT
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98
,
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CUR SE OF CI VI L SE RV IC E RE FO RM
N o w what is goin to happen when civil
service crushes out patriotism ? O nly one
thing c an happen
the republic wi l l go to
pieces Then a c z ar or a sultan will t u rn up
which brings me to the fo u rthly of my argu
ment ; that is there wi l l be h
to pay A nd
”
that ain t no l ie
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29
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NLY
R EFO R M E R S O
M OR N I N
’
GL O R I E S
CO LLE G E professo rs
and phi l osophe r s
who go up in a balloon to think are a l ways
di scu s s in the question : Why Reform Ad
ministrations Never Su c ceed Themselves !
The reason is plain to anybody wh o has
learned the a b c of politics
I can t tell just how many of these move
ments I V e seen started in New York during
my forty years in politics but I can tell you
how many have lasted more than a few
years none There have been reform com
m itt ee s of fifty of sixty of seventy of one
hundred and all sorts of numbers that
start ed out to do up the regular politica l or
m
rn i n
They
were
glories
an i z ati on s
o
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30 ]
R E FO RM E RS ON LY M ORN I N G L O RI E S
looked l o vely in the m orni n and withered up
in a sh o rt time whi l e the regu l ar ma c hines
w ent on fl ou ri sh in forever like fine Ol d
oaks Say that s the first p o et ry I eve r
worked off A in t it great ?
“
Ju st l ook ba c k a few yea rs Yo u r emem
ber the P e ople s M un ic ipa l L eag u e that
nominated F rank S c ott for mayor in 18 9 0?
Do you remember the r eforme rs that g o t u p
ou ever heard of the m
that l e ag u e ? Have y
since ? I have n t S co tt himse lf s urvived b e
cause he had a l ways been a firs t rate po li ti
e ian b u t
ou dhave t o look in the n e ws a
y
p
per almana c s o f 189 1 t o find out who made
u p the Peop l e s M u nicipal L eague O h yes !
I remember on e name
O llie Teall ; dear
p retty O llie and his big dog They re about
all that 5 left of the L eag u e
“
Now take the reform mo vement of 18 9 4
A lot of good politicians joined in that
the Rep u bli c ans the State Democrats the
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31
l
PLUN K I T T OF
TAMMANY
HA LL
and the O Brie n i te s and they
gave us a li ckin but the real reform part of
the a ffair the Committee of Seventy that
sta rt ed the thing goin what 3 become of
those reformers What s become of Charles
Stewart Smith ? Where 5 B angs ? Do you
ever hear of Cornell the iron man in politics
now ? Could a search party find R W G
Welling ? Have you seen the name of F ulton
M c M a h on or M c M ah on F ulton
I ain t
sure which
in the papers lately ? O r Pre
ble Tucker ? O r
but it s no use to go
through the list of the reformers who said
they sounded in the death knell of Tammany
in 18 9 4 They re gone for good and Tam
many s pretty wel l thank you They did the
talkin and posin and the politicians in the
movement got all the plums It s always the
case
“
The Citizens Union has lasted a little
bit longer than the reform crowd that went
Ste c kle r it es
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R E FO R ME RS O N LY M ORN I N G L O RI E S
before them but that s because they learned
a thing or t wo from us They learned h ow t o
put up a pretty good blu ff
and b l u ff
co u nts a l ot in po l iti c s With only a few thou
sand members they had the nerve to ru n the
who l e Fu sion movement make the Repu b l i
cans and other organizations c ome to their
headquarters t o sele c t a ti cket and di ctate
what every c andidate m u st do or not do I
love nerve and I ve had a sort of respe c t for
the Citizens Union lately but the Union
can t last Its people have n t been trained to
politi c s and whene v er Tammany ca l ls their
bl u ff they l ay right d o wn Y ou 11 never hea r
of the Union aga i n after a year o r two
“
A nd by the way what s become of the
good government c lu bs the political n u rs
e ries of a few years ago ? D o yo u ever hea r of
Good Government Club D and P and Qand
Z any m ore ? What 5 be c ome of the infants
w h o w e re t o gro w up and show u s h ow to
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[ 33]
OF T AMMANY HALL
govern the city ? I know what 5 become of
the n u rsery that was started in my distri c t
Y ou c an find pretty m u ch the whole outfit
over in my headquarters Washington Ha l l
“
The fact is that a reformer can t last in
politi c s He can make a Show for a while but
he always comes down like a rocket Po l itics
i s as much a regular business as the gro c ery
or the dry goods or the drug b u siness
You V e got to be trained u p to it or you re
s u re to fal l Suppose a man who knew noth
ing ab o ut the grocery trade s u ddenly went
into the business and tried to c onduct it a o
c ording to his own ideas Wou l d n t he make
a mess of it ? He might make a splurge for a
while as long as his money lasted b u t his
store would soon be empty It 5 just the
same with a reformer He has n t been
brought up in the di ffi cult business of po l i
tics and he makes a mess of it every time
“
i n the politi c al game for
I v e been s tu dy
PLUN K I TT
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34
OF TAM MANY H ALL
1
1
show
and
I
n
i
z at i on on e l ection day
a
g
ou a comin statesman
y
That s the a b c of politics It ain t easy
work to get u p to y and z You have t o give
n e arly al l yo u r time and attention to it O f
c ourse y
ou may have some business or o cc u
a ti on on the side but the great business of
p
your life must be po l iti c s if you want to s uc
c ee din it A few years ago Tammany tried to
mix politics and b u siness in eq u a l quantities
by b avin two leaders for ea c h district a
politician and a business man
They
would n t mix They were like O i l and water
The politician looked after the po l itics of his
district ; the b u siness man looked after his
gro c ery store or his milk route and when
ever he appeared a t an executive meeting it
w as only to make troub l e The whole scheme
tu rned out to be a farce and was abandoned
m ighty quick
Do yo u understand now why it is that a
PLU N K I TT
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36
1
REFO R M ER S O N LY M ORN I N
’
G LO RI E S
reformer goes down and out in the first or
second rou n d while a politician answers to
the gong e v ery time ? It is be c ause the one
has gone into the fight without t r ai n i n
while the other trains all the time and knows
”
every fine point of the game
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37
]
N EW
Y O R K C ITY I S PI E
T HE H AY S EE D S
FOR
T HIS city is ruled entirely by the hayseed
‘
’
legislators at A lbany I v e never known an
up State Republi c an who did n t want to
r u n things here
and I V e met many thou
sands of them in my long servi ce in the L egis
l at u re The hayseeds think we are like the
Indians to the National Government
that
is sort of wards of the State who don t know
how to l ook after ourselves and have to be
taken c are of by the Republi c ans of St L aw
rence O ntario and other backwoods coun
ties Wh yshould anybody be surprised b e
c ause ex Governor O dell comes down here
to dire c t the Republican machine ? New
burg ain t big enough for him He like all
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38
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,
PI E
FO R TH E H AYSEE D S
the other up State Republicans wants t o get
ho l d of New Y o rk City New York is
their pie
Say you hear a lot about the downtrod
den people of Ireland and the Russian peas
ants and the s u ff e ri n Boers N ow let me tel l
ou that they have more real freedom and
y
home rule than the people of this grand and
imperial city In E ngland for example they
make a pretense of givin the Irish some self
go v ernment In this State the Republi
can government makes no pretense at all
It says right out in the open : New York
City is a nice big fat Goose Come along
with your carvin knives and have a slice
They don t pretend to ask the Goose s
c onsent
We don t own our streets or ou r docks or
o u r water front or anything else The Repub
li c an L egislature and Governor run the
who l e sh o otin mat c h We V e got t o eat and
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39
]
TA MM ANY H AL L
drink what they tell us to eat and drink and
have got to choose our time for e atin and
dri nki n to suit them If they don t feel like
takin a glass of beer on Sunday we must ah
stain I f they have not got any amusements
up in their backwoods we must n t have
none We V e got to regulate our whole lives
to s u it them A nd then we ha v e to pay their
taxes to boot
“
Did you ever go up to A lbany from this
city with a delegation that wanted anything
from the L egislature ? No ? Well don t The
hay seeds who run all the committees will
look at you as if you were a child that did n t
know what it wanted and will tell you in so
many words to go home and be good and the
L egislature will give you whatever it thinks
is good for you They put on a sort of p a
troni z i ng air as much as to say These chil
dren are an awful lot of trouble They re
w a n t i n candy all the time and they know
PLU N K I TT OF
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0
[
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H AYSEE DS
that it will make them sick They oug h t to
than k goodness that they have us to take
care of them A nd if you try t o argue with
i n sort of way as
them they 11 smile in a p i ty
if they were h u m orin a spoiled child
“
But j u st let a Republican farmer from
Chemung or Wayne or T ioga turn up at the
Capital The Republican L egislature will
make a rush f or him and ask him what he
wants and tell him if he does n t see what he
wants to ask for it If he says his taxes are too
high they reply t o him : All right ol d man
don t let that worry you How much do y ou
want us to take off ?
I guess about fifty per cent will about do
fo r the present say s the man Can you fix
me u p ?
the L egis lat u re agrees Give us
s om et h i n
ha r der don t be bashful We 11
take off si xty per cent if yo u wish That s
what w e re here for
PI E FOR T HE
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4
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[
TAMMANY H ALL
“
Then the L egislature goes and passes a
law in cre as in the liquor tax or some other
tax in New York City takes a half of the pro
c ee d
s for the State Treasury and cuts down
the f arm ers t ax es to suit It s as easy as rollin
off a log
when you V e got a good workin
majority and no cons c ience to speak of
“
L et me give you another example It
makes me hot under the collar to tell abo u t
this L as t year some hayseeds along the
H u dson River mostly in O dell s neighbor
hood got dissatisfied with the docks where
they landed their vegetables bri ckbats and
other things they produce in the river c o u n
ties They got together and said : L et s take
a t ri p down to New York and pick out the
fin est do ck we can find O dell and the L egis
l at u re wi l l do the rest They did come down
here and what do y
ou think they hit on ?
The finest dock in my district Invaded
Ge orge W Pl unki tt s district with ou t sayin
PLU N K I T T OF
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42l
OF TAM M ANY H ALL
milked the city dry He not only ran up the
liquor tax but put all sorts of taxes on c or
or at i on s banks ins u rance c ompanies and
p
every
t hing in sight that co u ld be made to
give up O f co u rse nearly the whole tax fell
on the city Then O dell went through the
country districts and said : See what I have
done for you You ain t got any more taxes to
pay the State Ain t I a fine feller
O nce a farmer in O range Co u nty asked
him : How did you do it Ben
”
Dead eas y he answered Whenever I
w ant any money for the State Treasury I
know where to get it and he pointed toward
New York City
“
And then all the Republican t i n ke ri n
with New York City s charter Nobody can
keep up with it When a Republican mayor
is in they give him all so rts of power If a
Tammany mayor is elected next fall I
would n t be surprised if they changed the
PLU N K I T T
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[
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P I E FOR
TH E H AYSEE DS
whole b u siness and arranged it s o that every
city department should have fo u r heads t w o
If we made a kick
of them Republicans
they wo u ld s ay : Y ou don t know what s
good for y
ou L eave it to u s It s o u r bus
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5
4
[
]
Y O U R D I STR ICT
T O H O LD
NA TU R E
TH E R E
’
STUD
—
Y
AN D A C T A C C OR D I N
H UM
AN
’
S
only one way to hold a dis
t ri c t ; you must study human nature and act
You can t study human nature in
a c c or d
in
books Books is a hindrance more than any
thin g else I f you have been to college so
much the worse for you You 11 have to u n
learn all you learned before you can get right
down to human nature and u n l e arn i n takes
a lot of time Some men can never forget
what they learned at college Such men may
get to be district leaders by a fluke but they
never last
“
To learn real human nature you have to
go among the people see them and be seen
I know every man woman and child in the
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O U R DISTRICT
F ifteenth District ex c ept them that s been
born this s u mmer
and I kn ow some of
them t oo I know what they like and what
they don t like what they are strong at and
what they are weak in and I reach them by
r oac h i n at the right s ide
a
pp
“
Fo r instance here 8 how I gathe r in the
yo u ng men I hear of a yo u ng fell er that s
pro u d of his voice thinks that he c an sing
fine I ask him to c ome aro u nd to Washing
ton Hall and join ou r Glee Cl u b He comes
and sings and he s a follower of Plunkitt
for l ife Another young feller gains a reputa
tion as a base ball player in a va c ant l o t I
bring him into our base ball club That fixes
him You 11 find him workin for my ticket
at the po l ls next ele c tion day Then there 3
the feller that likes rowin on the ri v er the
yo u ng feller that makes a n ame as a waltzer
on his blo c k the yo u ng feller that s handy
with hi s d u kes
I rope them all in by givin
T O H O LD
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7
[
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OF TAMMANY H ALL
them opportunities to show themselves off I
don t trouble them with political arguments
I ust study human nature and act a cc ordin
“
But you may s ay
t h i s game won t work
with the high toned fellers the fel l ers that go
through college and then join the Citizens
Union O f course it would n t work I have a
special treatment for them I ain t like the
patent medicine man that gives the same
medicine for all diseases The Citizens
Union kind of a young man ! I love him !
He s the daintiest morsel of the l ot and he
don t often escape me
“
Before telling you how I catch him let
me mention that before the election last year
the Citizens Union said they had four hun
dred or five hundred enroll ed voters in my
district They had a lovely headquarters
too beautifu l roll t o p desks and the cutest
rugs in the w orld If I was accused of h avi n
contrib u t e d to fix up the nest for them I
PLU N K I T T
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T O H O L D Y O U R DI STRICT
would n t deny it under oath What do I
mean by that ? Never mind Y ou can guess
ou r e sharp
from the sequel if y
“
Well election day came The Citizens
Un i on 3 candidate for Senator w h o ran
against me j u st polled five v otes in the dis
t ri ct while I polled something more than
votes What became of the 400 or
500 Citizens Union enrolled v oters in my
distri ct ? Som e peop l e g u essed that many of
them were good Plunkitt men all along and
worked with the Cits j u st t o bring them into
the Plu nkitt camp by election day You can
ou want to I never
guess that way t oo if y
c ontradi c t stories about me especially in h ot
weather I just call your attention to the fact
that on last ele ction day 39 5 Citizens Union
enro lled voters in my dist ri c t we r e m is s in
and u na c co u nted for
“
I tel l you frankly tho u gh how I have
c apt u red
of the Citizens Union s
s ome
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’
OF T AMMANY H ALL
young men I have a plan that never fails I
watch the City Record to see when there 5
ci vil service examinations for good things
Then I take my young Cit in hand tell him
all about the good thing and get him worked
up till he goes and takes an examination I
don t bother about him any more It s a
cinch that he comes back to me in a few days
and asks to j oin Tammany Hall Come over
to W ashi ngton Hall some night and I 11
show you a list of names on our rolls marked
C S whi ch means bucked up against
civil service
“
A s to the older voters I reach them t oo
No I don t send them c ampaign literature
That s rot People can get all the political
stu ff they want to read
and a good deal
more too
in the papers Who reads
speeches nowadays anyhow ? It s bad
enough to listen to them You ain t goin to
gain any votes by s t u ffin the letter boxes
PLU N KI TT
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50 ]
’
OF TAMMANY H ALL
Charity O rganization Society which would
investigate their case in a month or two and
decide they were worthy of help about the
time they are dead from starvation I just get
quarters for them b uy clothes for them if
their clothes were burned up and fix them
up till they get things r unn in again It s
mighty
philanthropy but it 5 politics too
good politics Who can tell how many votes
on e of these fires bring me ? The poor are
the most grateful people in the world and let
me tell you they have more friends in their
neighborhoods than the ri ch have in theirs
If there s a family in my district in want
I kn ow it before the charitable societies do
and me and my men are first on the ground
I have a special corps t o look up s u ch cases
The consequence is that the poor look up to
George W Pl u nkitt as a father come to him
in trouble
and don t forget him on elec
tion day
PLU N K I TT
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O U R DISTRICT
“
Another thing I can always get a j ob f or
a d
e s e rv i n man I make it a point to keep o n
the track of j obs and it seldom happens that
I don t have a few up my sleeve ready f or
use I know e very big employer in the dis
t ri ct and in the whole city f or that matter
and they ain t in the habit of sayin no to me
when I ask them for a j ob
And the children
the little roses of the
district ! D o I forget them ? O h no ! They
know me every on e of them and they know
that a sight of Uncle George and candy
means the s ame thing Some of them are the
ou a case
best kind of vote getters I ll tell y
L ast year a little E leventh Av enue rosebud
whose father is a Republican caught hold of
his whiskers on election day and said she
would n t let go till he dpromise to v o te for
me And she did n t
T O H O LD
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[
53]
ON
I
“
THE
SH
AM E
OF
VE
C ITI E S
T HE
”
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been readin a book by L incoln
Steff ens on The Shame of the Cities Steff
ens means well but like all reformers he don t
know how to make distinctions He can t see
n o di fference between honest graft and dis
honest graft and consequent he gets things
all mixed up There s t h e biggest kind of a
di fference between political looters and poli
t i ci an s who make a fortune out of politi c s by
keepin their eyes wide open The looter goes
in for himself alone without c ons i de ri n hi s
organization or his city The politician l ooks
after his own interests the organization s i n
t e r e s t s and the city s interests all at the same
time See the distinction ? F or instan c e I
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f 54
SHAME OF T H E CITI E S
ain t no looter The looter hogs it I never
hogged I made my pile in politi c s but at
the same time I served the organization and
got more big improvements for New York
City than any other livin man And I ne v er
monkeyed with the penal code
“
The di fferen c e between a looter and a
practical politician is the di fi e ren c e between
the Philadelphia Republican gang and Tam
many Hall Ste ffens seems to think they r e
both about the same ; but he s all wrong
The Philadelphia crowd runs up against the
penal c ode Tammany don t The Ph il adel
h
i
an s ain t satisfied with robbin the bank
p
of all its gold and paper money They stay to
pick u p the nickels and pennies and the cop
comes and nabs them Tammany ai n t no
s uc h fool Why I remember about fifteen or
twenty years ago a Republican s u p erin
tendent of the Philadelphia almshouse stole
the zinc roof off the b u i ldin and sold it for
“
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OF T A MMA NY H AL L
j unk That was c arry
i n things to excess
There s a limit to everything and the Phila
delphi a Republi c ans go beyond the limit It
seems like they can t be cool and moderate
like real politicians It ain t fair therefore
to cl ass Tammany men with the Ph i l adel
phia gang Any man who undertakes to
write political books should never for a mo
ment lose sight of the distinction between
honest graft and dishonest graft which I ex
plained in full in another talk If he puts all
ki nds of graft on the same level he 11 make
the fatal mistake that Steffens made and
spoil hi s book
A big city like New York or Philadelphia
or Chicago might be compared to a sort of
Garden of E den from a political point Of
View It s an orchard full of beautiful ap
ple trees O ne of them h as got a big sign on
it marked : Penal Code Tree
Poison
The other trees have lots of apples on them
PLUN KI T T
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56
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TH E SH AME OF T H E CITI E S
for all Yet the fools go to the Penal Code
Tree Why ? For the reason I guess that a
cranky child refuses to eat good food and
chews up a box of matches with relish I
never had any temptation t o touch the Penal
Code Tree The other apples are good
eno u gh for me and O L ord ! h ow many of
them there are in a big city !
“
Ste ffens made on e good point in his
book He said he found that Philadelphia
r u led almost entirely by A mericans was
more c orru pt than New York w here the
Irish do almost all the gov e rnin I c ould
hav e t o ld him that before he did any investi
at in if he had c ome to me The Irish w as
g
born to rule and they r e the honestest peo
ple in the world Show me the Irishman who
wo u ld steal a roof off an almshouse ! He don t
e xist O f c o u rse if an Irishman had the polit
ical p u ll and the roof wa s m uc h w orn he
m ight get the c it y a uth o ritie s t o p u t o n a ne w
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[
57
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OF T A MMANY H A LL
on e and get the contract for it himself and
buy the old roof at a bargain
but that s
honest graft It s goin about the thing like a
gentleman
and there s more money in it
than in t e ar i n down an ol d roof and cartin
it to the junkman s
more money and no
penal code
“
O ne reas on why the Iri shman is more
honest in politics than many Sons of the
Rev ol u tion is that he is grateful to the c oun
try and the city that gave him protection and
prosperity when he was driven by op p re s
sion from the E merald Isle Say that sen
tence is fine ain t it ? I m goin to get some
literary feller to work it over into poetry for
next St Patrick s Day dinner
“
Yes the I ri shman is grateful His one
thought is to serve the city which gave him a
home He has this thought even before he
lands in New York for his friends here often
have a good pla c e in one of the city depart
PLUN K I TT
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58
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TAMMANY HA LL
c odgers back in the thirties or forties boast
i n that they retired from politi c s without a
dollar ex c ept what they earned in their pro
f es s i on or business If they lived to day with
all the existiu opport u nities they would be
just the same as twentieth century politi
c i an s There ain t any more honest people in
the world j u st now than the convicts in Sing
Sing Not one of them steals anything Why ?
Beca u se they can t See the application ?
“
Understand I ain t def en din politicians
of to day who steal
The politician w h o
steals is worse than a thief He is a fool
With the grand opportunities all around for
the man with a political pull there s no ex
cu se f or stealin a cent The point I want to
make is that if there is some stealin in poli
tics it don t mean that the politicians of 19 05
are as a c lass worse than them of 18 35 It
just means that the ol dtimers had nothin t o
s teal w hi le the politicians now are surro u nd
PLUN K I TT OF
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TH E SH AME OF TH E CITI E S
ed by all kinds of temptations and som e o f
them naturally
the fool o nes
b uck up
”
against the penal code
”
“
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I NG R A TITUD E I N
TH E RE
’
P O LITIC S
no c ri me so me an as ingrati
tude in politics b u t every great statesman
from the b eginnin of the world has been up
against it C aesa r had his B ru t u s ; that ki ng
L eary I think y
ou call
of Shakspere s
hi m
had hi s own da ughters go back on
him ; Platt had his O dell and I V e got my
The M c M anu s It s a real proof that a
man is great when he meets with politi c al in
gratit u de Great men have a tender t rus tin
nature SO have I
o u tside of the contra c t
i n and real estate b u siness In po l it ic s I
have trusted men wh o have to l d me they
were my friends and if tra i tors ha v e tu rned
u p in my c amp
well I only had the s a me
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[
62]
INGRATITUD E IN PO LITIC S
experience as C aesar L eary and the others
About my Bru tus M cM an u s y
ou kn ow
h as seven brothers and they cal l him The
becau s e he is the boss of the l ot and to dis
ti ng ui s h him from al l other M c M an u s e s
For severa l years he was a political bush
wha c ker In campaigns he was sometimes on
th e fence sometimes on both sides of the
fence and sometimes u nder the fence N 0
b ody knew where t o find him at any par
that
ti c ul ar time and nobody tr u sted him
i s nobody b u t me I tho u ght there was some
go od in him after all and that if I took him
in hand I could make a man of him yet
“
I did take him in hand a few years ago
My friends told me it would be the Brutus
L eary business all over again but I did n t
believe them I put my trust iri The I n om
i n at e d him f or the A ssembly and he was
elected A year afterwards when I was run
nin for r e election as Senator I nominated
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63]
OF TA M MANY H A LL
him for the A ssembly again on the ticket
with me What do you think happened We
both carried the F ifteenth A ssembly Dis
tri ot but he ran away ahead of me
Ju st think ! Ahead of me in my own
distri ct ! I was just dazed When I began
t o re c over
my election district c aptai ns
c ame to me and said that M cM anus had
sold me o u t with the idea of knockin me
out of the Senato r ship
and then t ry
i n to
capt u re the l eadership of the dist rict I
could n t believe it My t ru stin nat u re
co u ld n t imagine s u ch trea c hery
“
I sent for M c M anus and said with my
voice tre m b lin with emotions : They say
you have done me dirt The It c an t be
true Tell me it ain t tru e
“
The almost wept as he s aid he was
innocent
Never have I done y
ou dirt George
he
de cl ared Wicked traito rs have tried to do
PLU N K I TT
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,
INGRATITUD E IN PO LITICS
yo u I don t know just who they are yet but
I m on their trail and I 11 find them or ab
j u re the n ame of The M c M anu s I m
goin o u t right now to find them
Well The kept his word as far as goin
o u t and findi n the traitors was concerned
He found them all right
and put himself
at their head O h n o ! He did n t have to go
far to l ook for them He s got them gathered
in his club rooms now and he s doin his
best to take the leadership from the man that
made him So y
ou see that C aesar and L eary
and me 3 in the same boat only I 11 c ome
o u t on top whi l e C aesar and L eary went
under
“
ou that the ingrate in
No w l et me tell y
po l itic s nev er flourishes long I c an give you
lo ts of ex amples L ook at the men who done
u p Roscoe Conkling w hen he resigned from
the United States Senate and went to A lb any
to ask for a re ele ction ! What 5 be co me o f
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65 ]
OF T AMMANY H ALL
them ? Pas sed from View like a movin pi c
ture Who took C onkl ing s pla c e in the Sen
ate ? Twenty dollars even that you can t r e
member his name without looking in the al
m an a c A nd poor old Platt ! He 5 down and
o ut now and O dell is in the saddle but that
don t mean that he 11 alway s be in the sad
d l e His enemies are workin hard all the
time to do him and I would n t be a bit sur
prised if he went out before the next State
campaign
“
The politicians who make a l as tin s u c
cess in politics are the men w h o are always
loyal to their friends
even u p to the gate
of State prison if necessary ; men w h o keep
their promises and neve r lie Richard Croker
used to say that tel lin the tru th and s ti cki n
t o his friends w as the politi c al leader s stock
in trade Nobody ever said anything truer
and nobody lived up t o it better than Croker
That is why he remained leader of Tam
PLU N K I TT
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1
OF T AMMA NY H ALL
and r em e m b e ri n old Ireland they take par
ti c ul ar delight in doin up a political traitor
M ost of the voters in my district are Irish or
of Irish descent ; they v e spotted The M c
M anus and when they get a chance at hi m
at the polls next time they won t do a thing
to him
“
The q u estion has been asked : is a p o li
t i ci an ever j u stified in goin back on his dis
triet leader ? I answer : No ; as long as the
leader hustles aro und and gets all the j obs
possible for hi s constit u ents When the v ot
ers elect a man leader they make a sort of a
contract with hi m They say although it
ain t written out We V e put you here to
look ou t for our interests You want to see
that t hi s distri c t gets all the jobs that 3 com
i n to it B e faithful to us and we 11 be faith
ful to yo u
“
The dist ri c t l eader promises and that
makes a solemn contract If he lives up to it ;
PLU N K I TT
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68
l
INGRATITUD E IN P O LITICS
s pends most of his time chasin after p l a c es
in the departments picks up j obs from rail
roads and contractors f or his followers and
shows himself in all ways a true statesman
then his followers are bound in honor t o u p
hold him just as they r e bound to uphold
the Constitution of the United States But if
he only looks after his own interests or shows
no talent for scenting out j obs or ain t got the
nerve to demand and get his share of the
good things that are goin his followers may
be absolved from their allegiance and they
may up and swat him without bein p u t
”
down as political ingrates
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69
1
R E CI
P R O CITY I N PA T R ONA G E
wHEN EVER Tammany
4c
wh i pped at
the polls the people set to p re di cti n that the
organization is goin to smash They say we
can t get a l ong without the o ffices and that
the distri c t leaders are goin to desert whole
sale That was what was said after the throw
downs in 18 9 4 and 19 01 But it did n t
happen did it ? Not one big Tammany man
deserted and to day the organization is
stronger than ever
How was that ? It w as because Tam
many has more than one string to its
bow
“
I a cknowledge that yo u c an t keep an
organization together wi tho u t patronage
IS
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70 ]
R E CIPR O CITY IN PA TR O NA G E
M en ain t in politics f or nothin The y want
to get s om e th i n o u t of it
“
B u t there is more than one kind of
patronage We lost the public kind or a
greater part of it in 19 01 but Tamman y
has an immense private patronage that
keeps things goin when it gets a set back at
the polls
“
Take me for instance When Low came
in some of my men lost public j obs but I
fixed them all right I don t know how many
jobs I got for them on the s u rface and ele
v at e drailroads
several hundred
I placed a lot more on public w orks done
by con tractors and no Tammany man goes
h u ngry in my district Plu n kitt s O K on
an applic ation for a job is never turned
down for they all know that Pl u n ki tt and
Tammany don t stay out l ong See !
L et me tell you too that I got j obs from
Rep u blicans in o ffi c e
F ederal and other
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71
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.
OF T AMMANY H ALL
wise When Tammany s on top I do good
turns for the Republicans When they re on
top they don t forget me
“
M e and the Republicans are enemies
j ust one day in the year
ele ction day
Then we fight tooth and nail The rest of the
time it s live and let live with us
O n election day I try to pile up as big a
majority as I can against George Wan
maker the Republican leader of the Fif
t e e n th Any other day George and I are the
best of friends I can go to him and say :
G eorge I want you to place this friend of
mine He says : A ll right Senator O r V i c e
versa
“
You see we di ffer on t a rifl s and curren
cies and all them things but we agree on the
main proposition that when a man works in
politics he should get something o u t of it
“
The politicians have got to stand to
gether this way or th ere would n t be any p o
PLU N KI TT
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72l
RE CI PR O CITY IN PATR O N A GE
l i t i c al parties in a short time Civil servi c e
would gobble up everything politicians
would be on the bum the republic would fall
and soon there w o ul d be th e c ry of : Vevey
l e roi
“
The very thought of this civi l servi c e
mon ster makes m yblood boi l I have said a
l ot about it already but another instance of
its a wful work j ust occurs to me
L et me tell you a sad but true story L ast
Wednesday a l ine of c arriages wound into
Calvary Cemetery I was in one of them It
was the funeral of a y o ung man from my dis
triet
a bright boy that I had great hopes
of
Whe n he went to schoo l he was the most
patriotic boy in the district Nobody co u ld
sing the Star Spangled B anner like h i m
nobody w as as fond of waving a flag and no
body s hot off as many fire crackers on the
F ourth Of July A nd when he grew u p he
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[
7 3]
OF TAMMAN Y H ALL
made up his mind to serve his c ountry in one
of the city departments There was no way
of gettin there without passin
a civil ser
vice examination Well he went down to the
civil service o ffice and tackled the fool ques
tions I saw him next day
it was M e m or
ial Day and soldiers were marc hin and flags
fly
i n and people c h ee ri n
“
Where was my yo u ng man ? Standin on
the corner s cowlin at the whole show
When I asked him why he was so quiet he
laughed in a wild sort of way and said :
“
What rot all this is !
“
Just then a band came along playing
L iberty
“
He laughed wild ag a in and said : L ib
?
Rats
!
e rt
y
I don t guess I need to make a long story
of it
“
F rom the time that young man left the
civi l serv ice o ffice he lost all patriotism He
PLU N K I TT
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7 4]
OF TA MMANY HALL
ers of the two parties should get together and
make an open non partizan fight against
civil servi c e thei r c ommon enemy They
c o u ld keep up their quarrels about imperial
ism and free silver and high tari ff They
don t c ount for much a l ongside Of civil ser
vice whi c h strikes right at the root of the
government
“
The time is fast c oming when ci vi l ser
v i c e or the politi c ians will have to go A nd it
will be here sooner than they expe c t if the
politicians don t unite drop all them minor
iss u es for a while and make a stand ag ainst
the c ivil se rvice flood that s s w eep in ove r
the co u ntry like them floods ou t West
PLU N K I TT
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[
76
]
B R O OK L
YN IT E S NA TU R A L
H AY S E E D S
SOM E people are
-
B ORN
w on de ri n
’
why it is
that the Brookl yn Democrats have been
Sidin with D avid B Hill and the u p State
crowd There s n o cause for wonder I have
made a careful study of the Brooklynite and
I c an tell you why It s because a Brook
n i t e is a nat u ral born hayseed
ly
and can
never become a real New Yorker He c an t
be trained into it Consolidation did n t
make him a New Yorker and nothin on
earth can A man born in Ge rm any can
settle down and become a good New Yorker
So c an an Irishman ; in fact the firs t word an
Irish boy le arns in the O ld co u ntry is New
York and when he grows u p and comes
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T A MM ANY H ALL
here he is at home right away E ven a J a p
or a C hi naman can be c ome a New Yorker
but a Brookl ynite never can
“
And why ? Be c au se Brooklyn don t
seem t o be l ike any other p l ace on earth
O nce let a man grow u p amidst Brookl yn s
c obblestones with the odor of Newton
Creek and G ow anu s Canal ever in hi s nos
t rils and there s no p l ace in the wo rl d f or
him except Brookl yn A nd even if he don t
grow up there ; if he is born the re and l ives
there only in his boyhood and then moves
away he is still beyond redemption In one
of my speeches in the L egis l ature I gave an
example of this and it 5 worth re p e ati n
now Soon after I be c a m e a leader on the
West Side a q u arter of a cent u ry ago I
came across a bright boy about seven years
ol d w h o had j u st been brought over f r om
Broo kl yn by his parents I took an interest
in the boy and when he grew u p I bro ught
PLU N K I TT OF
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[
78
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B O RN H AY SEE D S
him int o politics F inally I sent him to the
A ssembly from my district N ow remember
that the boy was on l y seven years old when
he left Bro o kl yn and was twenty three
when he went to the A s s emb l y You dthink
he had fo rg o tten all abo u t Brookl yn would
b u t I was dead wrong
ou ? I did
n t y
When that yo u ng fe ll ow got into the A ssem
b ly he paid no attention to bi ll s or debate s
abo u t New York City He did n t even show
any interest in his own distri ct B u t j u st let
Brookl yn be mentioned or a bi l l be intro
du ce d about G ow anu s Canal or the L ong
Is l and Rai l road and he was all attention
Nothin else on earth interested him
“
The end came when I caught him
what do y
ou think I c a u ght him at ? O ne
m orn i n I went o ver from the Senate t o the
A ssemb ly c hamber and there I found my
y o u ng man readin
actually readin a
Broo kl yn newspaper ! When he saw me
NAT U RAL.
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[
79
]
OF T AMMANY HA LL
c omin he tried to hide the paper but i t was
too late I c aught him dead to rights and I
said to him : Jimmy I m afraid New York
ain t f as cin ati n enough for you Y ou had
better move back to B rooklyn after y o ur
present term An d he did I met him the
other day c rossin the B rooklyn B ridge
c a r r i n a h o bby horse under one arm and a
y
doll s c arriage under the othe r and lo okin
perfe c tly happ y
“
M c C arre n and his men are the same
way They can t get it into their heads that
they are New Yorkers and j u st tend nat u
rally towards s up p ort i n Hill and his hay
seeds against M urphy I had some hopes of
M c C a r re n til l lately He spends so mu c h
of his time o v e r here and has seen so m u ch of
the world that I thought he might be an ex
ce t i on
and
grow
out
of
his
Brooklyn
sur
p
roundings b u t his course at Al bany shows
that there is no exception to th e ru l e Say
PLU N K I TT
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8 0]
,
B O RN H AYSEE DS
I d rather take a Hottentot in hand t o bring
u p as a good New Yo rker than undertake
the j ob with a B rooklynite Honest I would
“
A nd by the way c ome t o think of it is
there really any up State Demo c rats left ? It
has never been pro v ed to my satisfaction
that there is any I kno w that some u p State
members of the State c ommittee call them
se l ves Demo c rats Besides these I know at
l east si x m o re men above the Bronx wh o
make a livin out of p rofe s s in to be Demo
and I have j ust heard of some few
c r at s
more B u t if there is any real Democrats up
the State what be c omes of them on election
day ? They certainly don t go near the polls
or they vote the Republi c an ticket L ook at
t he last three State elections ! Roosevelt piled
up mo r e than
majority above the
Bron x ; O dell pi l ed up abo u t
ma
the
first
time
he
ran
and
the
ri t
o
j
y
second time A bo u t all the Democratic votes
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81
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OF TA M MANY HA LL
cast were po l led in New York Cit The Re
pub l icans can get a ll the votes they want u p
the State E ven when we piled up
maj ority f or Co l er in the city in 19 02 the Re
p u b l icans went it 8 000 better abo v e the
B ro nx
“
That 5 why it makes me mad to hear
abo u t u p State Democrats c ontr ollin ou r
State convention and sayin who we shall
c hoose for President It s j u st like Staten
Is l and u n dert aki n to dictate to a New York
City convention I remember once a Sy r ac u se
man came to Richard Croker at the Demo
c ratic C l ub handed him a letter of i nt rodu c
tion and said : I m l ookin f or a j o b in the
Street C le an in Department ; I m backed by
a hundred u p State Democrats Croker look
ed hard at the man a min u te and then said :
U p State Democrats ! U p State Dem oc rats !
I did n t know there was any u p State Dem
Ju st walk u p an d down a while
o c r a ts
PLUN K I TT
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[
89
]
TA MMA NY L E A D E R S
N O T B O O K W O RM S
Y OU hear a lot of talk about the Tam
’
many district leaders bein illiterate men If
illiterate means b avi n common sense we
plead guilty But if they mean that the Tam
many leaders ain t got no ed u cation and ain t
gents they don t know what they r e talkin
abo u t O f co u rse we ain t all bookworms
and coll ege professors If we were Tammany
might win an ele ction once in four thousand
years M ost of the leaders are plain Ameri
can c itizens of the peop l e and near t o the
people and they have all the education they
need t o whip the dudes who part their name
in the middle and to r u n the City Govern
ment We V e got bookworms too in the
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8 4]
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LEA D E RS N O T B OO KW O R M S
organization But we don t make them dis
triet leaders We keep them f or ornaments
on parade days
“
Tammany Hall is a great big machine
with ever part adjusted delicate t o do its own
particular work It runs s o smooth that you
w ould n t think it was a compli c ated aff air
but it is E very district leader is fitted to the
district he runs and he would n t exa c tly fit
any other distri c t That s the reason Tam
many never makes the mistake the F usion
o u tfit alway s makes of sendin men into th e
districts wh o don t know the people and
have no sympathy with their peculiari
ties We don t p u t a silk st ocki n on the
Bowery nor do we make a man who is
handy with his fists leader of the Twenty
ninth The Fu sionists make about the same
sort of a mistake that a repeater made at an
ele c tion in Albany several years ag o He was
hired to go t o the polls early in a half
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[
85]
OF TAM M AN Y HALL
dozen election distri cts and v ote on other
men s names before these men reached the
polls At one place when he was asked his
name by the poll clerk he had the nerve to
answer William Croswell Doane
“
Come off Y ou ain t Bishop Doane
said the poll clerk
“
The hell I ain t y o u
yelled the
repeater
“
Now that is the s ort of bad j u dgment
the F usionists are g u i l ty of They don t pick
men t o s u it the work they hav e to do
“
Take me f or instance M y distri c t the
F ifteenth is made u p of all sorts of people
and a c osmopolitan is needed to run it suc
c es s fu l I m a c osmopolitan When I get into
the silk st ocki n part of the distri c t I can
talk grammar and all that with the best of
them I went to s c hool three winters w hen I
w as a boy and I learned a lot of fan cy st u ff
that I keep for o c cas ions There ain t a silk
PLUN K I TT
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[
86
]
OF T AMMANY HALL
or how many volts there is in electricity o r
make it appear in any way that I am better
educated than they are They would n t
stand for that sort of th ing No ; I drop all
monkey s hi nes So you see I V e got to be
several sorts of a man in a single day a light
ni n change artist so to speak But I am one
sort of man always in one respect ; I stick t o
my friends hi gh and low do them a good
turn whenever I get a chance and h u nt up
all the jobs going for my constituents
There ain t a man in New York who s got
such a scent for political jobs as I have
When I get up in the m orn i n I c an al
most tel l every time whether a job has
become va c ant over night and what depart
ment it s in and I m the first man on the
groun d to get it O nly last week I turned
up at the o ffice of Water Register Savage
at 9 A M and told him I wanted a vacant
pla c e in his o ffice for one of my c on
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[
88
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LE A D E RS N O T B OO K WO R MS
How did you know that O Bri en
s tit u ents
had g ot o u t ? he asked me
I smelled
it in the air when I got u p this
I answered Now that was the fact I
did n t kno w there was a man in the de
much
less
that
art m en t named O Br i en
p
he had got out but my scent led me to the
Water Register s o ffi c e and it don t often
lead me wrong
“
A cosmopolitan ain t needed in all the
other districts but o u r men are just the kind
to rule There 3 Dan F i r m in the Battery
district b luff jolly Dan who is now on the
ou dthink that a cou rt j u s
bench M aybe y
tice is not the man t o hold a dist rict like that
b u t yo u re mistaken M ost of the voters of
ice
the district a re the j anito rs of the big OflE
buildings on l ower Broadway and their
h elpers These j anitors are the most digu i
fie d and ha u ghtiest of men Ev en I would
hav e tro u b l e in ho l ding them Nothin less
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[
89
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OF T AMM ANY HALL
than a judge on the bench is good enough for
them Dan does the dignity act with the
j anitors and when he is with the boys he
hangs u p the ermine in the closet and b e
c omes a jolly good fellow
“
Big Tom F oley leader of the Se co nd
district fits in exactly too Tom sel ls wh i s
kyand good whisky and he is able to take
care of himself against a half dozen thugs if
he runs up against them on Cherry Hill or in
Chatham Square Pat Ryder and Johnnie
Ahearn of the Third and F o u rth districts
are j u st the men f or the places A hearn s con
s t i t u en t s are about half Irishmen and half
Jews He is as popular with on e race as with
the other He eats corned beef and kosher
meat with equal non c halance and it s all
the same t o him whether he takes off his hat
in the c h u rch or pulls it down o v er hi s e ars in
the synagogue
“
The other downto w n l eade rs B arney
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[
90 ]
OF TAMM ANY H ALL
the Twenty seventh is also something of
a h igh t on e r and p u blishes a law paper
W hile Thomas E
Rush of the Twenty
ninth is a lawyer and Isaac Hopper of the
Thi rty firs t is a big contractor The down
town leaders wo u ld n t do uptown and V ice
versa So y
ou see
these fool critics don t
kn ow what they r e talkin about when they
criticise Tammany Hall the most perfect
”
political machine on earth
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D ANG E R S
OF
IN
PUT TIN
‘
T
HE D R E SS -S UIT
P O L ITI C S
’
’
on styl e don t pay in po li tics
The peop l e won t stand for it If you V e got
an a c hin f or style sit down on it ti ll y
ou
have made yo u r pile and l anded a S u preme
Co u rt Justiceship with a fo u rteen year term
at
a year or some j ob of that ki n d
u can get o u t of
Then y
ou v e g ot abo u t a ll
o
y
politics and y
ou can a ff ord to wear a d r ess
suit a ll day and s l eep in it a ll night if you
have a mind to But before you have c a u ght
onto y o ur life m ea l ticket be simp l e L ive
like yo ur ne i ghbors even i f yo u have the
means to l ive bette r M ake the poorest man
in your distri c t feel that he is yo ur eq u al or
even a bit supe ri or to y
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9 3]
OF TAM MANY H ALL
“
Above all things avoid a dress suit You
have no idea of the harm that dress suits
have done in politics They are not so fatal
to young politicians as civil service reform
and drink but they have s c ores of victims I
wi l l mention one sad case Af ter the big
Tammany V i c tory in 18 9 7 Richard Croker
went down to L akewood to make up the
slate of o ffices f or M ayor V an Wy c k t o dis
trib u te All the di strict leaders and many
more Tammany men went down there too
to pick up anything good that was goin
There was nothin but dress suits at dinner
at L akewood and Croker would n t let any
Tammany men go to dinner w ithout them
We ll a bright young West Side politi c i an
who held a three tho u sand do ll ar job in one
of the departments went to L akewood t o
ask Croker for something bette r He wore a
dress suit for the first time in his life It was
his u n doi n He got stuck on himse l f He
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PLU N K I T T
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OF T A MM ANY HA LL
I ll tell y
ou another case right in my own
A ssembly Dist ri ct A few years ago I had as
one of my l ie u tenants a man named Zeke
Thompson He did fine wo rk f or me and I
thought he had a bright fut ure O ne day he
c ame to me said he intended to b uy an opt i on
on a house and asked me to help him out I
l ike to see a yo u ng man a c q ui ri n p r operty
and I had so m u ch confiden c e in Zeke that I
p u t up for him on the ho u se
“
A month or so afterwards I heard strange
r u mors Peop l e to l d me that Zeke w as b e
i
i
nn
n
to
p
u
t
on
style
They
said
he
had
a
g
billiard table in his house and had hi red J a p
se rvants I c ou l d n t believe it The idea of
a Demo cr at a fol l ower of George Washing
ton Pl u n ki tt in the F ifteenth A ssemb l y Dis
triet h avi n a billiard table and Jap serv
an ts ! O ne m orni n I c alled at the ho u se t o
give Zeke a chance to clear himself A Jap
o p ened the door f or me I saw the billia rd
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96
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TH E DR E SS SUIT IN P O LITICS
tab l e Zeke was guilty ! When I got over the
shock I said to Zeke : Y ou are caught with
the goods on No e x cuses will go The Demo
cr at s of this district ain t u sed t o dukes and
prin c es and we wou l d n t fee l co mfortab l e in
your c ompany Yo u d o v erpower u s Yo u
had better m o ve up to the Nineteenth or
Twenty seventh District and hang a silk
sto cking on your door He went up to the
Nineteenth t u rned Rep u blican and was
l ookin fo r a n Al bany job the l ast I hea r d of
him
N ow nobody e v e r saw me p utti n on any
sty l e I m the same Plunkitt I was when I
entered po l itics fo rty years ago That is why
the people of the district have c onfidence in
me If I went i nto the stylish business even
I Plu nkitt might be thrown down in the
district That was shown pretty cl early in
the senatoria l fight l ast year A day before
the ele cti o n my enemies circu l ated a repo rt
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97
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OF T A MM A NY HA LL
that I had ordered a
automobi l e
and a $ 125 dress suit I sent out cont ra di c
tions as fast as I co u ld b u t I was n t able to
stamp ou t the i nf amo u s s l ander before the
v oti n was over and I suffered s o me at the
po ll s The peop l e wo ul d n t have minded
m uc h if I had been a c c u sed of robbin the
city treasury for they re used t o slanders of
that ki nd in campaigns b u t the aut o mobi l e
and the dress suit were t oo m u ch for them
“
Another thing that people won t stand f or
i s s h owi n ofl your le arnin That s j u st put
tin on styl e in another way If you r e maki n
spee c hes in a campaign talk the language
the people tal k Don t try to show how the
situation is by q u oti n Shakspere Shaks
pere was all right in his way but he did n t
know anything about F ifteenth District po l i
tics If you kn ow L atin and Greek and ha v e
a b ankerin to work them off on somebody
hire a stranger to come to your house and
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98
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ON
“
M U N I CI
PA L
O WN E R S H I
P
I A M f or m u ni c ipal owne rship on
one
c ondition that the c ivi l se rvice l aw be re
pea l ed It s a g r and idea the city owni n
the rai l roads the gas works and a ll that
Ju st see how many tho u sands of new p l a c es
there would be for the worke rs in Tammany !
Why there wou l d be a l most eno u gh to go
around
if no civil servi c e law sto o d in
the way My plan is this : first get rid of
that i nf amo u s l aw and then go ahead and
by degrees get muni c ipal ownership
“
Some of the refo r me r s are sayin that
muni c ipal ownership won t do beca u se it
wo ul d gi v e a l ot of patronage t o the politic
ians How those fe ll ows mi x things up when
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[
100 ]
M U N ICIPA L OWNE RS H IP
they argue ! They re givin the strongest
argument in favor of municipal ownership
when they say that Who is better fitted to
run the railroads and the gas plants and the
ferries than t h e men who make a business of
lookin after the interests of the city ? Who is
more an x io u s to serve the city ? Who needs
the j obs more ?
L ook at the Dock Department ! The city
owns the do c ks and h ow beautif ul Tam
many manages them ! I c an t tell y
ou h ow
many p l a c es they pro v ide for o u r workers
I kno w there is a lot of talk abo u t dock
gr aft but that ta l k comes fro m the o u ts
When the Republicans had the docks
under L o w and Strong you did n t hear
them sayin an y thing abo u t graft di d
yo u ? No ; they j u st w ent in and made
hay w hi l e the s u n shone That s al w ays
the case When the reformers are out they
raise the yel l that Tammany men should
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[
101
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OF TA MM ANY H A LL
be sent to j ail When they get in they re
so busy keepin ou t of j ail themselves
that they don t have no time to attack
Tammany
“
All I want is that m u nicipal ownership be
postponed til l I get my bill rep e ali n the civil
service law before the next l egislature It
wou l d be al l a mess if every man who wanted
a j ob wou l d have to run up against a c ivi l
servi c e ex amination For instan c e if a man
w anted a j ob as motorman on a su rfa c e c ar
it s ten to one that they wou l d ask hi m :
Wh o wrote the L atin grammar and if s o
w hy did he write it ? How many years w ere
you at col l ege ? Is there any part of the Greek
ou
lang u age you don t know ? State all y
don t know and why you don t know it
Give a l ist of all the sciences with fu l l par
ti c ul ars abo u t each one and how it c ame t o
be dis c overed Write o u t word for word th e
l ast ten d ec isions of the Un i ted States Su
PLU N K I TT
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[
102 ]
TA M MA NY H A LL
Don t yo u think that w hen I V e had
my inning the c ivil service law will go down
and the peop l e will see that the politicians
are a ll right and that they ought to have the
j ob o f ru nni n things when muni c ipal owne r
ship comes ?
O ne thing more about municipal owner
ship I f the city owned the railroads et c
salaries wo ul d be sure to go up Higher sal
aries is the c ry
i n need of the day M un i cipal
ownership would in c rease them all along the
line and would stir up such patriotism as
New York City never kn ew before You
can t be patrioti c on a salary that j u st keeps
the wolf from the door Any man wh o p re
tend s he can wi ll bear w at ch i n K eep your
han d on your watch and pocket book when
he s about But when a man has a good fat
salary he finds himself h u m m i n Hai l
Columbia al l un c onscio u s and he fan c ies
when he s ridin in a trolley car that the
PLUN K I TT OF
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104]
MUN ICIPA L OWN ERSHI P
w hee l s a re always say in : Yankee Dood le
C ame to T o wn I know how it is myself
When I got my first good j ob from the city I
bought u p all the fire c rackers in my distri c t
to sal u te this gl orio u s country I c o u ld n t
wait for the F ou rt h of Ju ly I got the boys on
the block to fire them off for me and I felt
pro u d of bein an A me rican F o r a long time
after that I use to w ake up nights Singin the
”
Sta r Spangled Banner
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[
105 ]
T A MM ANY
N LY
D EM OC R A C Y
I
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THE
LA ST I N
O
’
VE
seen more than one hundred De
m oc r a ci es rise and fall in New York City in
the last quarter of a century A t least a half
dozen new s o called Demo c ratic organiza
ti o ns are formed every year All of them go in
to down Tammany and take its pla c e but
they sel dom l ast more than a year or t wo
while Tammany s like the ev erl a s ti n ro cks
the eternal hills and the blo ckades on the
L road
it goes on forever
I re c al l off hand the C ou nty Dem oc r ac y
wh ic h was the only real opponent Tammany
has had in my time the Ir ving Hal l D em oc
ra c y the New York State Demo c ra cy the
German A meri c an Demo c racy the Protec
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[
106
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OF T AM MAN Y H A L L
b u t L ord bless you ! it costs next to nothin
Jimmy O Bri en brought the manufacture of
Democracies down to an exact science
and reduced the cost of production so as to
bring it within the reach of all Any man with
$ 50 can now have a Democracy Of his own
“
I v e looked into the industry and can
give ro c k bottom figures Here s the items
of cost of a new
Demo c racy :
PLUN K I T T
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A dinner t o tw elv e b o ne h u n ters
A sp ee ch on ! effers oni an Dem oc rac y
i
A p roc lam ation of p rin ci ples ! ty
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ri
t
n
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g)
p
Ren t of a sm all room one m on th for h eadq uarters
S ta tionery
Twelv e se c on dh andch ai rs
O ne s ec ondh andt ab le
-nine c u s
T w en ty
i
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d
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Sign p ain ting
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T o tal
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Is there any reason for wonder then
that Democra c ies spring up all over when
a municipal campaign is comin on ? If you
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108
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O N LY LAST I N D EM O CRA CY
land even on e small ob y
ou get a big ret u rn
on your investment You don t have to pay
for a dv e rt i s in in the papers The New York
papers t u mble over one another t o give col
u m n s t o any new organization that comes
ou t
against Tammany In d
the
es c ri b i n
formation of a Democracy on the $ 50 b as is
i n to the items I give the papers
acc or d
would say s om et h in like this : The organi
z ati on of the De l icatesse n Demo c racy last
night threatens the existence of Tammany
Hall It is a grand move for a new and
p u re Demo c racy in this city Wel l may the
Tammany leaders be alarmed Panic has
already broke loose in F o u rteenth Street The
vast crowd that gathered at the lau nching of
the new organization the s t i rri n speeches
and the proclamation of principles mean that
at last there is an uprI SI n that will end Tam
many s c areer of c or ru ption The Del icates
sen Demo cr a cy wi ll open i n a few days spa
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[
109
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OF TAMMANY HALL
c i ou s headquarters where all true Democrats
may gather and prepare for the fight
Say ain t some of the papers awful gul
li b l e about politi c s Talk about c ome ons
from Iowa or Texas
they ain t in it with
the c hi ldlike simpli c ity of these papers
It s a wonder to me that more men don t
go into this kind of m an uf actu ri n industry It
has bigger profits generally than the green
goods business and none of the risks An dy
ou
don t have to invest as mu c h as the green
goods men Just see what good things some of
these Democracies got in the last few years !
The New York State Democracy in 189 7
landed a Supreme Court Justiceship for the
man who manufa c tured the concern a four
4
5
a
teen year term at
e ar that i s $ 2
y
000 You see Tammany was rather scared
that year and was bl u ffed into givin this ob t o
get the support of the State Democracy which
by the way went out of b u siness q u ick and
PLUN KI TT
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[
110 ]
OF TAMMANY H A LL
to $ 5000 I happen to kn ow exactly what it
cost to manufacture that organization It
w as
They l eft o u t the stationery and
had on ly twenty three c uspido rs The extra
fo u r cents w as for two postage stamps
The only re ason I can imagine why mo r e
men don t go into thi s indust ry is be c a u se
they don t kn ow about it And just here it
strikes me that it m i ght n ot be wise t o p u b
l ish what I Ve said Perhaps if it gets to be
known what a snap this manufa c t u re of
Demo c racies i s all the green goods men
the bunco steerers and the young Napo
leons of finance wil l go into it and the p u b l i c
will be humbugged more than it has been
But after all what di fl eren c e wou l d it
make ? There 5 always a certain n u mber of
suckers and a c ertain n u mber of men l o o ki n
for a chan c e to take them in and the suckers
are s u re to be took on e way or another It s
”
th e ev e rl as tin law of demand and s u pply
PLUN K I T T
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112
C ON C ERN IN G
G AS
IN
P O L ITIC S
SINC E the eighty c ent gas bi l l was de
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feated in A lbany everyb ody s talkin about
senators bein bribed Now I was n t in
the Senate l ast session and I do n t know the
ins and o u ts of everyth i ng that was done but
I c an te l l you that the legis l ators are often
ha ul ed ove r the c oa l s when they are a ll on
the leve l I ve been there and I know F or
instance when I v oted in the Senate in 19 04
for the Remsen Bil l that the newspapers
cal l ed the A storia Ga s Grab Bi ll they
d i d n t do a thing to me The papers kept up
a how l abo u t al l the sup p o rte rs of the bi ll
bein bought u p by the Consolidated Gas
Company and the Citizens Union did me
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1 13 ]
OF TAMMANY H A LL
the honor to call me the commander i n
chief of the Black Horse Cavalry
“
The fact is that I was workin for my
district all this time and I was n t bribed b y
nobody There 5 severa l of these gas houses
in the distri c t and I w anted to get them over
to A stori a for three reasons : F irst because
they re nuisan c es ; se co nd be c a u se there 5
no votes in them for me any longer ; third b e
cause
well I had a little private reason
which I ll explain furthe r on I need n t
explain how they re nuisances They re
worse than open sewers Still I might have
stood that if they had n t degenerated so
m u ch in the l ast few years
A h g as h ou ses ain t what they u sed to be !
N ot very long ag o each gas house was good
f or a cou p l e of hundred votes Al l the men
emplo yed i n them were Irishmen and Ger
mans who lived i n the district N ow it is all
different The men are dagoes wh o live
1 14
PLUN K I T T
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OF TA MMA NY HALL
mayor s position I got it st r aight that he
would approve the bi ll too
ou g u ess what I did then ? L ike
Can t y
any sane man wh o had my info r mation I
went in and got option s on a lot of the
p roperty aro u nd the gas ho u ses Well the
bi ll went th ro u gh the Senate and the A ssem
bly al l ri ght and the mayo r s i gned it but
O de ll backs lided at the l as t m i n u te and the
whole game fe ll thro u gh If it had s u cceeded
I guess I wo ul d have been accused of
What
I
want
to
k
n
ow
is
what
do
raf t i n
g
you cal l it when I got left and l ost a pot of
mon ey
I not on l y lost money b u t I was abused f or
v ot i n for the bill Was n t that o u trageo u s ?
They said I was i n with the Consolidated
Gas Company and all other kinds of rot
when I was real ly only workin for my dis
i n to t u rn an honest penny on
tri ct and t ry
the side A nyhow I got a l ittl e fun out of the
PLUN K I T T
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1 16
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IN PO LITIC S
business When the Remsen Bil l was up I
i n to p u t thro u gh a bill of my own
was t ry
the Sp uyten D uyvil Bi ll which provided f or
filli n in some l and under water that the New
York Central Rai l road w anted Wel l the
Remsen managers we re afraid of bein
beaten and they went aro u nd offe ri n to
make tr a des with senators and assembly
men w ho had bi l ls they w ere anx ious to pass
They c ame to me and o ffered six votes for
my Sp u yten D u yv i l Bil l in exchange for my
v ote on the Remsen Bi ll I took them up in
a hurry and they fe l t pretty sore afterw ards
when they heard I was go in to vote for the
Remsen Bil l anyhow
“
A w o rd abo u t that Spuyten D u yv il Bill
I w as c riti c ized al ot for i nt roducin it They
said I w as w o rkin in the interest of the
Ne w Yo rk Central and w as goin to get
the c ontra ct fo r filli n in The fa c t is that
the fillin in w as a good thing for the
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OF T AM MANY H A LL
city and if it helped the New York Cen
tral too what of it ? That railroad is a
great public institution and I was never an
enemy of public institutions As to the con
tract i t has n t come along yet I f it does
come it will find me at home at al l proper
and reasonable hours if there is a good
profit in sight
The papers and some people are always
ready to find wrong motives in wh a t us
statesmen do If we bring about some big
imp r ovement that benefits the city and it
j ust happens as a sort of c oin c iden c e that
we make a few do l lars out of the improve
ment they say we are grafters But we are
used to this ki nd of ingratit u de It falls to
the l ot of all statesmen especially Tammany
statesmen All we can do is to bow ou r heads
in silen c e and wait till time has cleared o ur
memories
“
Ju st think of m e nti onin dishonest graft in
PLUN K I TT
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118
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HA LL
know these senators may have been as
honest and high minded about the gas bill
as I was about the Remsen and Spuyten
”
Du yvil bi lls
PLUN K I TT OF T ALI M AN Y
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[
120]
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PLU N K I TT S FON D E S T
D R EA M
TH E time i s co min and tho u gh I
’
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no
y o u ngster I may see it when Ne w York
City will break away from the State and b e
c ome a state itself It s got to c ome The
f ee li n bet w een this city and the hay seeds
that make a li v in by plun de ri n it is every
bit a s bitter as the fe el in between the North
a nd South be fore the war A nd l et me tel l
y o u if there ain t a pea c efu l separation b e
fo re long we may have the horrors of civi l
war right here in Ne w York State Why I
kno w a l ot of men in my district who w o ul d
l ike nothin better to day than to go ou t
g u nnin for hayseeds !
Ne w Yo rk City has got a bigger popul a
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121 ]
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OF TAMMANY H ALL
tion than most of the States in the Union
It s got more wealth than any dozen of
them Yet the people here as I explained
before are nothin but slaves of the A lbany
gang We have stood the slavery a long long
time but the u p ri s i n is near at hand It wil l
be a fight for liberty just like the A merican
Revolution We ll get liberty peaceful ly if
we can ; by cruel war if we must
“
Just think how lovely things would be
here if we had a Tammany Governor and leg
i s l at u re m ee ti n say in the neighborhood of
F ifty ninth Street and a Tammany M ayor
and Board of A ldermen doin b u siness in the
City Hall ! How sweet and peaceful every
thi ng would go ou ! The people would n t
have to bother about nothin Tammany
would take care of everything for them in its
nice quiet way You would n t hear of any
conflicts between the state and city a u th ori
ties They would settle everything pleasant
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122]
OF TA MMANY HALL
Dep a rtment pro v ides immense re ven u es
It s the same with some other departments
This h u mb u g w o ul d be dropped if Tam
many r ul ed at the Capitol and the City Hall
and the city wo ul d have m o n eyt o b urn
“
Another thing
the constit u ti o n o f the
new st ate w oul d n t have a word abo u t c i v i l
se rvic e and if any man dared to introd u ce
any ki nd of a c ivil servi c e bil l in the L egis l a
t u re he wo ul d be fired o u t the window Then
w e w o ul d have government of the peop l e b y
the peop l e wh o were elected to govern them
That s the kind of go v ernment L in col n
mea n t 0 what a gl orio u s f u t u re f or the c ity !
Whene v er I think of it I fee l l ike goin o u t
and celeb r at in and I m real ly al mo s t s or ry
that I don t drink
You may a sk what wo u ld become of the
u p State people if New York City le f t them
in the lu r c h and went into the State b u siness
on its own account Wel l we w o ul d n t be
PLUN K I TT
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PLU N K I TT S F O N D E S T D R EA M
’
u nde r no obligation to p r ovide for th e m ;
sti ll I wo ul d be in fa v or of h elp i n them al ong
for a whi l e u nti l they cou l d l earn to work and
earn an hone s t l iv i n just l ike the United
State s G o ve rnment l ooks after the Ind i ans
These hay seeds have been so u sed to l i v in
off of New Yo r k City that they wo ul d be
he l p l ess afte r we left them It wo ul d n t do t o
l et them sta rv e We might make some s or t of
an appropriation for them fo r a few yea rs
b u t it w o u l d be w i th the distin c t u nd er
s tand i n that they m u st get b u sy right a way
and l earn to s u pport them s e l ves If afte r
say five yea rs they were n t se l f s u pporti n
we co ul d w i thdraw the app r op r iation and l et
them shift fo r the m se l ves The p l an m i ght
s u c c eed an d it m ight n ot We dbe do i n o ur
d u ty anyho w
Some person s m i ght say : B u t h ow
abo u t it i f the hay s eed po l iti ci an s m oved
d own he r e and w ent in to get co nt rol o f the
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125 ]
OF TAMMA NY HA LL
government of the new state ? We c o u ld
provide against that easy by passin a l aw
that these po l iticians could n t come be l ow
the Bronx witho u t a sort of passpo rt li m iti n
the time of thei r stay here and forb i ddi n
them to monkey with po l iti cs here I don t
know j u st what kind of a bil l wo u ld be re
quired to fix this but with a Tammany con
s ti t u ti o n
governo r legis l at ure and mayor
there wo ul d be no tro u b l e in se ttl in a l itt l e
matter of that sort
Say I don t wish I was a poet for i f I w as
I guess I dbe livin in a garret on no do l lars
a week instead of ru n nin a great c ont racti n
and transportation b u siness which is doin
pretty we ll thank y
ou ; b u t
honest now
the notion takes me sometimes to ye ll poetry
of the red h ot hail g l orio u s l and kind when I
”
think of Ne w Yo rk City as a state b y itse lf
PLU N K I TT
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126
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OF T AMMA NY H ALL
the weather and listen to the readin o f the
De c laration of Independence and pat rioti c
speeches
“
You o ught to attend one of these meet
i n s They r e a l iberal ed u cation in p a
The great hal l up stairs is fil l ed
t ri ot is m
with five thousand people s uff oc atin from
heat and smoke E ve ry man Jack o f these
five tho u sand kn ows that down i n the base
ment there 5 a h u ndred c as es of champagne
and two h u ndred kegs of beer ready to fl ow
when the sign al is gi ven Yet that c rowd
stick to their seats witho u t t urn in a hair
while for four solid ho u rs the De c laration
of Independence is read l ong winded or ators
speak and the glee club sings itse lf hoarse
“
Talk abo u t heroism in the battlefield !
That comes and p as ses away in a m om ent
You ain t got time to be anyt hing b u t heroi c
B u t j u st think of five thousand men sittin
in the h o ttest place on earth for f o ur long
PLU N K I TT
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128
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TAMMANY S P ATRI O TISM
h ou rs with parched lips and gu aw in
stoma c hs and kn owin all the time that the
delights of the oasis in the desert were only
two flights down stairs ! A h that i s the high
est kind Of pat riotism the pat ri otism of
l ong s uffe rin and end u rance What man
wo ul dn t rather face a c annon for a minute
o r tw o than thirst for four hours with c ham
pagne and beer al most u nder his nose ?
“
An d then see how they app l aud and yel l
when patriotic things are said ! As soon as the
m an o n the p l atform starts off with when
in the c o u rse of h u man events word goes
a r o u nd that i t s the Dec l aration of Inde
and
a
mighty
roar
goes
u
p
The
ence
en d
p
Dec l a r ation ain t a very s h o rt do cu ment
and the c rowd has heard it on every F o u rth
b u t they give it j u st as fine a send off as i f it
wa s brand new and awful ex cit in Then the
l ong tal kers get i n the i r work that is two o r
th r ee o rat ors w h o a r e go o d fo r an ho ur ea c h
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OF TAMMANY H ALL
Heat never has any e ffect on these men
They use every minute of their time Some
times h u man nature gets the better Of a man
in the audience and he begins to nod b u t he
always wakes u p with a h u rrah for the Dec
l a r at i on of Independence
“
The greatest hero of the o c casion is the
Grand Sa c hem of the Tammany Society
who presides He and the rest of u s
Sachems come on the stage w e a ri n stove
pipe hats a cc or di n to the constitution b u t
we can shed ours right off while the Grand
Sachem is req u ired to wear his hat al l
through the c e l ebration Have you any idea
what that means ? F our hours under a big
silk hat in a hall where the heat regi sters 1 10
and the smoke 250! An dthe Grand Sachem
is expected to look pleas ant all the time and
say nice things when i n t r oduc i n the speak
ers ! O ften his hand goes to his hat u n con
scio u s like then he catches himsel f u p in
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OF TA M MAN Y H A LL
F o urth he t u rned u p at home as reg ul a r as
cl o c kw o rk He m u st have known what a
dog i s u p against on the F o u rth Anyhow he
kept o u t of the way The name pa rted in the
midd l e a ristocrats act in j ust the same way
They don t want t o be annoyed with fire
cr a cke r s and the De cl a r ati o n of I ndep en
den c e and when they see the F o u rth c omin
they h u stl e off to the woods l ike my dog
Tamman y don t only show its patri otism
at F o u rth of J u ly c elebrations It s alway s
on de c k when the country needs its se rvi c es
Afte r the Spanish A me ri c an War broke o u t
John J S c annel l the Tammany l eade r of the
Twenty fifth dist rict e te to Gove rn or
B lack offeri n to raise a Tammany regim ent
ou want proof go to
t o g o to the front If y
Tammany Hal l and see the beautiful set of
engrossed resolutions about this r egiment
It 5 tru e that the Governo r did n t accept
the o ffe r b u t it sh o wed Tammany s p at riot
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TAM MA NY S PAT RI O T ISM
’
ism Some enemies of the organization h av e
said that the o ffer to raise the regiment was
made after the G ov erno r let it be known that
no mo r e vo l u nteers we r e wanted b u t that s
the tal k o f en vio u s s l anderers
“
No w a word abo u t Tammany s lo v e fo r
the A meri c an flag Did you e v er see Tam
many Hall de c orated f or a celebration ? It s
j u st a mass of flags They even take down
the win dow shades and p u t flags in p l a c e of
them There 8 flags everywhere ex cept on
the fl oo rs We don t c a r e for expense w he r e
the Am eri c an flag i s c on c erned espe c ially
after w e have won an election In 19 04we
o riginated the c ustom of givin a sm al l flag
to ea c h man as he entered Tamman y Hall
for the F ourth of J u ly celebration It took
l ike wild fire The men wav ed their fl ags
w henever they cheered and the sight m ade
me feel so patriotic that I forgot all abo u t
c ivil se rvi c e for a while And the good w o rk
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OF T A MM A NY HA LL
of the flags did n t stop there The men car
ried them home and gave them to the chil
dren and the kids got patriotic too O f
course it all cost a pretty penny b u t what of
that ? We had won at the polls the p rec e di n
November had the o ffi c es and could afford
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to make an ext ra investment in patriotism
PLUN K I TT
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134]
OF T A MMAN Y HA LL
take it like other missionary s o cieties ? O f
co u rse the day may come when w e 11 rej e c t
the money of the rich a s tainted b u t it had n t
c ome when I left Tammany Hal l at
A M
to day
“Not l ong ago some newspapers had fits
be c a u se the A ssemblyman from my distri c t
s aid he had p u t u p $ 500 w hen he was nomi
nated f or the A ssembly l ast year E very poli
t i ci an in town laughed at these papers I
do n t think there was even a Citiz ens Union
man who did n t know that c andid ates of
both parties have to c hi p in for ca mp aign e x
penses The s u ms they p ayare accordin t o
their sal aries and the length of their terms
of o ffice if elected E ven candidates fo r the
Supreme Court have to fall in line A Su
preme Co u rt Ju dge in New York County
gets
a year and he 3 expe c ted
w hen nominated to help along the good
c a u se with a yea r s salary Why not ? He has
PLU N K I TT
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M O N E Y IN PO LIT ICS
fo urteen years on the bench ahead of him
and ten tho u sand other lawyers wo ul d be
wil l in to p u t u p twi c e as m u ch to be in his
shoes No w I ain t sayin th at we sel l nomi
nations That s a di fferent thing altogether
There s no a uc ti o n and no regular biddin
Th e m an is pi c ked o ut and s om ehow he gets
to u nde r stand what 3 expe c ted of him in the
way of a co ntrib u tion and he ponie s up
all from g r atitude t o the o rganization that
hon ored him see ?
L et me tell you an instan c e that sh ow s
the di fferen c e between s elli n nomination s
and arrangi n them in the way I de scribed
A few yea r s ag o a Rep u bli ca n dist ri c t l eader
control led the nomination for Congress in
his Con gr essional distri c t Four men wanted
it At first the l e a der a sked for bids pri v ately
b u t de c ided at l ast that the best thing to do
w as to get the fo ur men togethe r in the back
ro o m o f a c erta i n sa l o o n a n d have an open
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137
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T AMMANY H A L L
auction When he had his men lined up he
got On a chair told about the value of the
goods for sale and asked for bids in regular
auctioneer style The highest bidder got the
nomination for $ 5000 N ow that was n t
right at all These things ought to be always
fixed up nice and q uiet
“
A s to office holders they would be i n
grates if they did n t c ontribute to the or
They
a n i z a t i on that put them in o ffice
g
need n t be assessed That would be against
the law B u t they know what s expected of
them and if they happen to forget they can
be reminded polite and co u rteous Dan
Donegan who used to be the Wiskinkie of
the Tammany Society and received contri
b u tions from grateful office ho l ders had a
pleasant w ay of re m i n di n If a man forgot
his duty to the organization that made him
Dan would call on the man smile as sweet
as you please and say : Yo u hav e n t been
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’
OF T A MMANY HA LL
employees only laughed at him O ne day I
remember he tackled a cl erk in the Publi c
Works Department who used to give up
pretty regular and after the usual question
began to shiver The c lerk smiled D an shook
till his hat fell off The c lerk took ten cents
out of his pocket handed it to Dan and
said : Poor man ! G o and get a drink to warm
yourself u p Was n t that s h ameful ? And
yet if it had n t been for the civil servi c e law
that clerk would be cont ri b utin right along
t o this day
“
The civil servi c e law don t cover every
thi ng however There s lots of good jobs
o u tside its clutch and the men that get them
are grateful every time I m not s p e aki n of
Tamma ny Hall alone remember ! It s the
same with the Republican F ederal and State
and every organization that
office holders
has or has had j obs to give out
ex c ept
of course the Citizens Union The Cits held
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14
0
M O NEY IN
O LITI C S
o ffice only a couple of years and kn ow i n
that they would never be in again each Cit
offic e holder held on for dear life to every
dolla r that came his way
“
Some people say they c an t understand
what be c omes of all the money that s
collected f or campaigns They would un
de rst an d fast enough if they were district
leaders There 5 never been half enough
money to go around Besides the expenses
for m eeti n s bands and all that there s the
bigger bill for the district work ers who get
men to the polls These workers are mostly
men who want t o serve their count ry but can t
get obs in the city departments on a cc ount of
the civil service law They do the next best
thing by keepin track of the v o ters and
that they come to the polls and vote
s e ei n
the right way Some of these des erv in citi
zens have t o make enough on registration
and el e ction days to keep them the re s t o f the
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OF TAM M ANY HALL
year Is n t it right that they should get a
share O f the campaign money ?
“
Just remember that there 5 thirty fiv e
Assembly dist ricts in New York County and
thirty six dist rict leaders re a c h i n out f or the
Tammany do u gh bag for s om eth in t o keep
up the patriotism of ten tho u sand workers
and you woul d n t wonder that the c ry f or
more more is goin u p from every dist ri ct
organization n ow and forevermo re Amen
PLU N K I TT
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OF TAM MANY HA LL
a yo ung man w h o was on e of the best h u st
lers in town He kn ew every man in the dis
t ri ct w as popular everywhere and cou ld
ind uc e a h alf dead man to come to the polls
on ele ction day B u t regularly two weeks
befo re ele c tion he started on a dru nk
and I had t o hire two men t o guard
him day and night and keep him sober
eno ugh to do hi s work That c ost a lo t of
m o ney and I d ro pped the y ou ng man
after a whi l e
“
M aybe y
ou th i nk I m u np o p ular with
the saloon keepers be c ause I don t d rink
You r e wrong The most s uc cessf ul saloon
keeper s don t d rink themselves and they un
de rst an d that my temperance is a b u siness
proposition just like their O wn I hav e a s a
If a saloon
I der my headq u arters
l oo
keeper gets into tro uble he al ways kn ows
that Senator Plunki tt is the man to help hi m
ou t If there is a bill in the L egislat u re mak
1
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PLUN K I TT
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SU CC E SSFU L P O L ITICIA N
in it easier for the liquor dealers I am for it
every time I m a one of the best friends the
saloon men have
but I don t drink their
whisky I won t go through the tempe rance
lect u re dodge and tell you how many bright
yo u ng men I V e seen fall V ictims to i n t em
e r an c e ; b u t I ll tell yo u that I c ould name
p
dozens
yo u ng men w h o had started on
the road t o statesmanship who c o u ld carry
their dist ricts every time and who cou l d
ou wanted at the pri
t u rn o u t any vote y
maries I honestly believe that drink is the
greatest cu rse of the day ex c ept of course
c ivil servi c e and that it has driven more
yo u ng men t o ru in than anything except
c ivil serv ice examinations
“
L ook at the great leaders of Tam m any
m
Hall ! No regu la r drinkers among
by
Ric h ard C roker s strongest drink was
Charlie M u rphy takes a glass of wi
at
dinner sometimes b u t he don t go be) ond
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OF TAMMANY H AL L
that A dri nkin man wo u ld n t last two
weeks as leader of Tammany Hall N or
can a man manage an assembly district long
if he drinks He 5 got to have a cl ear head all
the time I c ou l d name ten men wh o in the
las t few years l ost their grip in their dis
t ri cts be c a u se they began dri n ki n There 5
n ow thi rty six district leaders in Tammany
Hall and I don t be l ieve a half dozen of
them ever drink anything except at meals
Peop l e have got an idea that be c a u se the
liquor men are with u s in campaigns ou r
district leaders spend most of their time lean
i n against bars There could n t be a wronger
idea The district l eader makes a b u siness
of politics gets hi s livin ou t of it and in or
der t o su cc eed he s got t o keep sober just
like in any other b u siness
“
Just take as examples Big Tim and
L ittle Tim Sullivan They I e kn own all
over the country as the Bowery leaders and
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OF T A M MANY HA LL
many Hall and direct t hi ngs are men wh o
celebrate on apollinaris or V ichy L et me tell
you what I saw on election night in 18 97
when the Tamman y ticket swept the city :
Up to 10 P M Croker John F Carroll Tim
Sullivan Charlie M u rphy and myself sat in
the c ommittee room r ec ei vi n returns When
nearly all the city was heard from and we
saw that V an Wyck was ele c ted by a big ma
ori t
o
I
invited
the
crowd
to
a
c
ross
the
j
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g
street for a little celebration A lot of small
politi c ians followed us ex p ecti n to see mag
n u m s of champagne opened The waiters in
the restaurant expected it too and you
never saw a more disgusted lot of waiters
when they got our orders Here 5 the orders :
Croker Vichy and bicarbonate of soda ; Car
roll seltzer lemonade ; Sullivan apollinaris ;
M urphy Vichy ; Pl un ki tt ditto Before mid
night we were all i n bed and next m orn in
we were u p bright and early att en di n to busi
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TH E SUCC E SSFU L PO LITICI AN
ness while other men were nursin swe l led
heads Is there anything the matter with
”
temperance as a pure b u siness proposition ?
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B O SS E S
“
P R E S E RV E
T
HE
N
A TI ON
W H EN
I retired from the Senate I
tho u ght I woul d take a good l ong rest s uc h
a rest as a man needs w ho has he l d O ffi c e for
abo u t fo rty years and has he l d four di fferent
O ffices in one y ea r and drawn sal aries from
three of them at the same time D r awin
s o man y sa la ries is rathe r f at i u i n
y
ou
g
know and as I said I started o u t for a rest ;
b u t when I seen h ow things w ere goin in Ne w
York State and how a great big b l a c k
shadow h u ng o v e r u s I said to myse lf : N 0
rest fo r y o u Ge o rge Yo u r w o rk ain t d o ne
Yo u r cou nt ry sti ll needs yo u and you
m u st n t l ay do w n yet
What w as the great big b l a c k shado w It
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150 ]
OF TA MM ANY H ALL
T o them New York City o wes pretty much
all it is to day John K elly Ri c hard Croker
a nd Charl es F M urphy
what names in
A meri c an history compares with them
e xc ept Washington and L in c oln ? They
built up the grand Tammany organization
and the org an l z at i on built up New York
Suppose the city had to depend for the l ast
twenty years on irresponsib l e con c erns like
the Citizens Union where wo u ld it be now ?
You can make a pretty good guess if yo u re
call the Strong and Low administr ations
when there was no boss and the heads of de
ar t m e n t s were at odds all the time with
p
ea c h other and the M ayor was at odds with
the l ot of them They spent so m u ch time in
arguin and makin grand stand play that
the intere s ts of the c ity were forg o tten An
other administration of that kind would put
New York back a quarter of a century
Then see how beautiful a Tammany city
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152
B O SSE S PRE S E RVE T HE N ATI O N
government runs with a s o called boss
dire cti n the whole shootin match ! The ma
chinery moves so noiseless that you would n t
think there was any If there s any di ffer
the Tamm a ny leader set
e n ce s of opinion
tles them quietly and his orders go e v ery
time How nice it is f or the people to fee l that
they can get up in the m orni n witho u t bein
afraid of seei n in the papers that the Com
missioner of Water S u pply has sandbagged
the Dock Commissioner and that the M ay o r
and heads of the departments have been
taken to the police court as witnesses ! That s
no j oke I remember that under Strong
some commissioners came very near sand
b aggi n one another
O f course the newspapers l ike the re
form administration Why ? Becau se these
m i n i s t r at i on s w i t h their daily rows furnish
ad
as racy news as prize figh ts or divorc e cases
T a m many don t care t o get in the papers It
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OF TA M MA NY HA LL
goes right along a tte ndi n t o business q u ietly
and on l y wants to be let a lo ne That s one
reason why the papers are against u s
Some papers c omplain that the b osses g e t
ric h wh il e dev oti n their l ives t o the inte re s t s
of the city What of it ? If opp ortunit i e s f or
tu r ni n an honest do ll ar c omes their way
w hy shoul d n t they take advantage o f them
j u st as I have done ? A s I said in another
t alk there is honest graft and dishonest
g r aft The bosses go in for the former There
i s so m uc h of it in this big town that they
w o ul d be f oo ls t o go in f or dishonest graft
No w the prima ry e l ection l aw threatens
to do a w ay with the b o ss and make the c ity
government a men agerie That s why I
c an t take the rest I c ounted on I m g o in
to propose a bill for the next session of the
legis l ature rep e ali n this dangero u s law and
le avi n the primaries entirely t o the organiza
ti o n s themselves as they used t o be Then
PLUN K I TT
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154]
C ON C E R N I NG
“
ALTH O UGH
CI S E
E!
I m not a dri nki n man
myself I mourn with the poor liquor dealers
of New York City w h o are taxed and o
p
pressed for the benefit of the farmers up
the state The Raines liquor law is infamous
It takes away nearly all the profits of the
saloon keepers and then turns in a large part
of the money to the State treasury to relieve
the hayseeds from taxes A h who knows
how m any honest hard workin saloon
keepers have been driven to untimely
grave s by this law ! I know personally of a
half dozen who committed suicide because
they could n t pay the enormous license fee
and I have heard of many others E very
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150 ]
O N C E RNIN G E! CI SE
time there is an increase of the fee there is
an increase in the suicide record of the city
N ow some of these Republican hayseeds are
talkin about makin the liquor tax $ 1500 or
even $ 2000 a year That would mean the
suicide of half of the l iquor dealers in the
city
“
Ju st see h ow these poor fellows are op
pressed all aro u nd ! F irst liq u or is tax ed in
the hands of the manufacturer by the United
States Government ; second the who l esale
deal er pays a special tax to the government ;
third the retail deal er is special ly taxed by
the United States Government ; fourth the
retail deale r has to pay a big tax to the State
government
N ow liquor deal ing is crim i na l or it ain t
If it s criminal the men engaged in it ought
to be sent to prison If it ain t criminal they
o u ght to be protected and enco u raged to
make al l the profit they honestly can If it s
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157
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OF TAMMANY HA LL
right to tax a saloon keeper $ 1000 it s
right to put a heavy tax on dealers in o the r
beverages
in milk for instance
and
make the dairymen pay up But what a
howl wo u ld be raised if a bil l was intro
du ce d in Al bany to compel the farmers t o
help support the State government ! What
would be said of a law that put a tax of say
$ 60 on a grocer $ 150 on a dry goods man
and $ 500 more if he in clu des the other goods
that are kept in a co u ntry store ?
“
I f the Raines l aw gave the money ex
t ort e d from the saloon keepers to the city
there might be some excuse f or the tax We
would get some benefit from it but it gives a
big pa rt of the tax to local option l ocalities
where the people are always s h ou ti n that
liquor de alin is immoral O ught these good
people be subjected to the immoral i n fl u
ence of money taken from the saloons
tainted money ? O ut of respe ct for the tender
PLUN K I TT
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OF TAM M ANY H ALL
costly and I g u ess some deal ers will have to
get down t o kerosene oi l and add t o the
Ro ckefel l er millions
The way the Raines l aw divides the dif
f e r ent c l as ses of l icenses is a l so an o u tr age
The s u mptuous hotel saloons with
ai n t i n s and bricky bra c and O riental sp l en
p
dors gets off easier than a shanty on the
rocks by the water s edge in my district
where boatmen drink their grog and the only
ornaments is a three cornered mirror nailed
t o the wall and a chromo of the fight between
T om Hyer and Yankee S u llivan Besides a
premium is put on places that sell liq u or n ot
to be drunk on the premises b u t to be taken
home N ow I want t o declare that from my
experience in New York City I wo u ld rather
see ru m sold in the dram shops unlicensed
provided the r u m is swallowed on the spot
than to encourage by a low tax b ucket
sho p s from which the stu ff is carried into
PLUN KI TT
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16 0 ]
C O NC E RNING E! CI SE
the tenements at all hours of the day and
night and make drunkenness and debauch
ery among the women and children A
b u cket shop in the tenement district means
cheap s o called distillery where raw
a
spirits poisonous co l orin matter and w ater
are sold f or brandy and whisky at ten cents
a quart and carried away in b u ckets and
pitchers ; I have always noticed that there are
many undertakers wherever the bucket
shop flo u rishes and they have no d ul l
seasons
I want it u nderstood that I m n ot an ad
vocate of the liquor dealers or of drinkin I
think every man would be better off if he
did n t take any int oxi c at in drink at all b u t
a s men will drink they ought to have good
st u ff without i m p ov eri s h in themselves by
goin to fancy places and without riskin
death by goin to poor places The State
sho u ld look aft e r their interest s a s well as
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16 1
OF T AMMANY HALL
the interests of those who drink n o thin
stronger than milk
N ow as t o the l iq u or deal e r s themselves
They ain t the criminals that cantin hypo
c rites say they are I know lots of them and I
know that as a rule they r e good h o nest
citizens wh o cond u ct their business in a
straight honorable way A t a convention of
the liquor dealers a few years ago a big c ity
city o fficial welcomed them on beha lf of the
city and said : G O on el ev at in your standard
hi gher and higher G O on with your good
work Heaven will bless you ! That was put
tin it j ust a little strong but the sentiment
was all right and I guess the speaker went a
bit f u rther than he intended in his enth us i
asm over m eet i n such a fine set of men and
”
perhaps dinin w ith them
PLUN KI TT
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[
1 62 ]
OF TA M MANY HALL
at the Hoffman Ho u se on e day in 19 00
What 5 the u se of di s c us s i n what s the
best kind of money ? said Croker I m in
favor of al l kinds of money
the more the
better See how a real Tammany statesman
can settle in twenty fiv e words a problem
that monopolized tw o campaigns !
“
Then imperi alism The Demo cr atic
party spent all its breath on that in the last
national c ampaign Its position was al l right
s u re but you can t get p e ople excited abo u t
the Philippines They v e got t oo m uc h at
home t o interest them ; they r e too b u sy
makin a livi n to bother about the niggers in
the Pacific The party 5 got to drop all them
put yo u to sleep issues and come out in
19 08 for s om et h i n that will wake the people
up ; s om et h in that will make it worth while
to work for the party
There 8 j ust one iss u e that wo u ld set this
c ountry on fire The Democratic party
PLU N K I TT
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16 4
A PA RT ING WO R D
sho u ld say in the first plank of its platform :
We hereby declare in national convention
assembled that the paramo u nt issue now
always and forev er is the abolition of the
iniq u itous and villaino u s civil service laws
whi c h are de s t roy
i n all patriotism r u in i n
the co u ntry and takin away good j obs from
them that earn them We pledge ourselves if
o u r ticket is ele c ted t o repeal those laws at
on c e and p u t every c i vi l servi c e reformer in
j ail
“
Just imagine the w ild enthusiasm of the
party if that plank was adopted and the
rush of Rep u blicans t o j oin u s in re st ori n
o u r co u ntry t o what it was before this col
l ege professor s nightmare called civil ser
vi c e reform g ot hold of it ! O f course it
wo ul d be all right to work in the platform
some st u ff abo ut the tariff and sound money
and the Philippines as no platform seems
to be complete without them but they
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[
1 65 ]
OF T AM MAN Y H A L L
w ould n t count The people would read only
the first plank and then hanker for election
day to c ome to p u t the Democratic party in
o ffice
I see a V i sion I see the civil service mon
ster ly
i n flat on the ground I see the Demo
crati c party standin over it with foot on its
neck and w eari n the c rown of V ictory I see
Thomas Jefferson lookin out from a clo u d
and sayin : Give him another so ckdologer ;
finish him A nd I see millions of men w av
Glory Hal le
i n their hats and si ng in
”
l uj ah
PLU N KI TT
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[
166
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OF T A M MA NY H A LL
leader or works as he does A s a rule he has
no business or occupation other than poli
tics He plays politics every day and night
in the year and his headquarters bears the
“
inscription Never closed
E verybody in the district knows him
E verybody knows where to find him and
nearly everybody goes to him for assistance
of one sort or another espe c ially the poor of
the tenements
He is always obliging He will go to the
police courts to put in a good word for the
dru nks 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 Ta m many Hall he has
learned how to reach the hearts of the great
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16 8
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TH E TA MM A NY DISTRIC T LEADE R
mass of voters He does not bother abo u t
r eaching their heads It is his belief that ar
u
m
e n t s and campaign literat u re ha v e never
g
gained votes
He seeks direct contact with the peop l e
does them good turns when he can and re
lies on their n ot forgetting him on election
day His heart is always in his work too
for his subsistence depends on its results
If he holds his district and Tammany is in
power he is amply rewarded by a good
o ffice and the opportunities that go with it
What these opportunities are has been
shown by the qu ick rise t o wealth O f so
many Tammany district leaders With the
examples before him of Richard Croker
once l eader of the Twentieth District ; John
F Carroll formerl y leader of the Twenty
”
“
ninth ; Timothy ! Dry Dollar )Sullivan late
leader of the Sixth and many others he can
always l ook forward to riches and ease
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[
169
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OF T A MMANY H ALL
while he is going th rough the drudgery of his
daily ro u tine
Th i s is a record of a day s w ork by
PLUN KI TT
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Pl unki tt :
A roused from sleep by the ringing
of his door bell ; went to the door and found
a bartender who asked him to go to the
police station and bail out a sa l oon keeper
wh o had been arrested for violating the ex
cise l aw F urnished bai l and ret u rned t o bed
at three O c lock
6 A M : A wakened by fire engines passing
his house Hastened to the scene of the fire
ac c ording to the c ustom of the Tammany
district l eaders to give assistan c e to the fire
’
M et severa l of his elec
s u fl e r e rs if needed
tion dist rict captains who are alw ays u nder
orders t o l o o k ou t for fi res which are con
si d
e r e d g r eat
v ote getters F ound se v era l
tenants wh o had been burned ou t took
the m t o a hotel supplied them with cl othes
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17 0 ]
OF TAMMA NY H A LL
the road The third sought a place on the
Subway and the fo u rth a pl u mber was look
ing for w ork with the Consolidated Gas
Company The district leader spent nearly
three hours fixing things for the four men
and suc c eeded in each case
3 P M : A ttended the funeral of an Italian
a s far as the ferry Hurried back to make his
appearance at the funeral of a Hebrew con
s ti t u e n t Went conspicuously to the front both
in the Catholic church and the synagogue
and later attended the Hebrew confirmation
ceremonies in the synagog u e
7 P M : Went to district headquarters and
resided
over
a
meeting
of
election
district
p
captains E ach captain submitted a list of all
the V oters in his district reported on their
attitude toward Tammany suggested who
might be won over and how they could be
won told who were in need and who were in
tro u ble of any kind and the best way to reach
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17 2 ]
TH E TAM M ANY DISTRICT LEA D E R
them District leader took notes and gave
orders
8 P M Went t o a church fair Took chances
on everything bought ice cream for the yo u ng
girls and the children K issed the little ones
flattered their mothers and took their fathers
out for something down at the corner
9 P M A t the club ho u se again Spent $ 10
on tickets for a church excursion and prom
ised a subscription f or a new church bell
Bought tickets for a base ba ll game to be
played by t wo nines from his district L is
tened to the complaints of a dozen push
cart peddlers who said they were persecuted
by the police and assured them he would g o
to Police Headquarters in the morning and
see about it
P M : A ttended a Hebrew wedding
reception and dance Had previously sent
a handsome wedding present to the bride
12 P M : In bed
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17 3 ]
OF TA MMA NY H ALL
That is the a c t u al record of one day in the
l i fe of Pl u nkitt He does some of the same
things every day but his life is n ot so m o
n ot onou s as to be wea risome
Sometimes the work of a distri c t leader is
ex c iting especially if he happens to have a
rival who intends t o make a contest for the
leadership at the primaries In that case
he is even more ale rt tries t o reach the fires
before his rival sends o u t ru nners t o look
”
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for dru nks and disorderlies at the po l ice
stat i ons and keeps a very close watch on the
obituary colu m ns of the newspapers
A few years ago there was a bitter contest
f or the Tammany leadership of the Ninth
district betw een John C Sheehan and
F rank J Goodwin Both had had l ong ex
e ri e n ce in Tammany politics and both u n
p
de rs t oodevery move of the game
E very morn ing their agents went t o their
respective headq u arters before seven O cl ock
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OF TAMMANY H ALL
Goodwin man a ged to catch the enemy
napping He went t o all the livery stables in
the district hired all the carriages for the
day and gave orders to two hundred of his
men to be on hand as mourners
Sheehan had never had any trouble about
getting all the carriages that he wanted s o he
let the matter go until the night before the
funeral Then he found that he co ul d not
hire a carri age in the district
He called his district committee together
in a hurry and explained the sit u ation to
them He could get all the vehic l es he needed
in the adj oining district he said but if he did
that Goodwin would rouse the voters of the
Ninth by declaring that he ! Sheehan ) had
patronized foreign industries
F inally it was decided that there was
nothing to do but to go over to Sixth Avenue
and Broadway for carriages Sheehan made a
fine turnout at the funeral but the deceased
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TH E TAMMA N Y DI STRICT LE ADE R
was hardly I n his grave before Goodwin
raised the cry of Protection to home indus
tries and deno u nced his rival f o r p a t ron iz
ing livery stable keepers outside of his dis
t ri ct The cry had its effect in the primary
campaign A t all e v ents Goodwin was elect
ed l eader
A recent contest for the l eadership of the
the Second district illustrated further the
stren u ous work of the Tammany district
l eaders The contestants were Patrick Div
V er wh o had managed the district for years
and Thomas F F oley
Both were particularly anxious to secure
the large Ital ian vote They n ot only attend
ed all the Italian christenings and funerals
but also kept a c l ose l ookout for the mar
r i a e s in order to be on hand with wedding
g
presents
A t first each had his own reporter in the
Ital ian quarte r to keep track of the mar
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17 7
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OF TAMM ANY H ALL
r i a e s L ater F oley conceived a better plan
g
He h ired a man to stay all day at the City
Hall marriage bureau where most Italian
couples go through the civil ceremony and
telephone to him at his saloon when any
thing was doing at the bureau
F oley had a number of presents ready fo r
use and whenever he re c eived a telephone
message from his man he hastened to the
City Hall with a ring or a watch or a piece of
silver and handed it t o the bride with his con
gratulations A s a consequence when Div
v e r got the news and went to the home of the
coup l e with his present ,he always found that
F o l ey had been ahead of him Toward the
end of the c ampaign D ivv e r also stationed a
man at the marriage bureau and then there
were daily foot ra c es and fights bet ween the
two heelers
Sometimes the rivals came into conflict at
the death bed O ne night a poor Ital ian ped
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17 8
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OF TAM MA NY HALL
They stayed up nights thinking what they
would give the bride Neithe r knew how
m u ch the other was prepared to spend on a
wedding present or what form it wo ul d
take ; so spies were employed by both sides
to keep watch on the j ewelry stores and the
j ewe l ers of the district were bribed by each
side to impart the desired information
A t last F oley heard that D ivv e r had pur
chased a set of silver knives forks and
spoons He at once bo u ght a duplicate set
and added a si l ver tea service When the
presents were displayed at the home of the
bride D ivv e r was not in a pleasant mood and
he charged his j ewe l er with treachery It may
be added that F oley won at the primaries
O ne of the fixed duties of a Tammany dis
t ri ct l eader is to give two outings every s u m
mer one for the men of his district and the
other for the women and chi l dren and a
beefsteak dinner and a bal l every winte r
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18 0 ]
TH
E TAMMANY DISTRIC T LE ADE R
The scene of the outings is us u ally one of
the g roves along the Sound
The ambition of the distri ct leader on
these occasions is to demonstrate that his
men have broken all records in the matter of
eating and drinking He gives out the exact
number of pounds of beef poultry butter
etc that they have consumed and professes
t o know how many potatoes and ears of corn
have been served
A ccording to his figu res the average eat
ing record of each man at the outing is abo u t
ten pounds of beef two or three chickens a
pound of b u tter 3 half peck of potatoes and
two dozen ears Of corn The drinking records
as given out are still more phenomenal F or
some reason not yet explained the district
leader thinks th at his pop ul arity will be
greatl y in creased if he can show that his
followers can eat and drink more than the
fo l lo w e rs of an y other district leader
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18 1
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OF TAMM A NY H AL L
The same idea governs the beefsteak din
ners in the winter It matters not what sort
of steak is served or how it is cooked ; the dis
t r i ct lea d
er considers only the q u estion of
q u antity and when he excels a ll others in
this particular he fee l s somehow that he is
a bigger man and deserves m or e p atronage
than his associates in the Tammany Ex e cu
tive Committee
A s to the bal ls they are the events of the
winter in the extreme E ast Side and West
Side so c iety M amie and M aggie and Jennie
prepa r e for them months in advan c e and
their young men save u p f o r the oc c asion
just as they save f or the su mme r t rips to
Coney Island
The district leader is in his glory at the
opening of the ball He leads the coti ll ion
w ith the prettiest woman present
his
wife if he has one permitting
and spends
a l m o st the whole night shaking h and s w ith
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18 2 ]