By the extension of the franchise to the unpropertied and thriftless class there was injected into the veins of the electoral body a new and poisonous element, the virus of cupidity. A certain portion of this class, the so-called floaters, is directly purchasable; another large portion is indirectly purchasable or controllable and capable of being organized on a basis of bargains made or understood. The vote therefore which by degrees as the organizations have developed has come to adhere to these predatory bands is not confined merely to the directly purchasable; it includes the controllables; all such as the organization reaches by the manipulation of low motives; by appeals to cupidity direct or indirect; by favors to themselves or their relatives, by rewards of public employment, whether as laborers, petty officers, policemen, firemen or the like; by protection, as in the case of gamblers, liquor sellers, and others who adhere to the organization for purposes of personal advantage. The organization therefore will always be permanent and effective because its members are materially interested in its existence and power.
The manner in which the controllable vote is marshalled to the polls is described by Eaton (Govt. of Municipalities, chap. V). Its existence is recognized by him as a reason why our great cities are not fit for home rule. He divides this vote into two classes: “the mercenary city vote” and “the vile city vote.” But this material is not confined to the large cities, it is to be found in towns and villages and wherever there are worthless, shiftless men. Writing in 1871 Sterne says: “The nomination for public offices is with us entirely in the hands of professional politicians” and this he states to be the case equally in both the country and cities. (Representative Government, p. 83.) The conditions have not changed since his time. The local political associations or bands organized for the securing, management and operation of the controllable vote have developed in the last century. They are now frequently able, especially in the large cities, to secure a considerable class of recruits of a type somewhat superior to the “floaters,” from among the social failures and misfits. Most of these are sloppy-minded fellows, who, tempted by social proclivities, or misled by weak ambitions and the appearance of political success, join the “Regular Organization” as they call it. Some of them are rather vicious; social degenerates or perverts; men who have not judgment and honesty enough to insure their voting right even in matters small enough to be within their mental grasp; and whose ideals are not honesty, justice, public honor, and intelligence, but smartness, cleverness and guile. Sometimes they are motived by prejudice and class hatred; often they are rabid, loud-mouthed radicals, anti-capitalists, etc. Others are weak and shiftless, people naturally harmless but incapable of correct observation in political and economic matters, or of correct reasoning upon what they observe; men who are recognized as failures in the world, more or less incapable of self-support; burdens on their relatives and friends, or on churches or societies with which they or their families are connected; men who never can get employment, or if they do, cannot keep it; fellows of lazy and careless habits who having failed to do their part in organized society have had to pay the penalty of their remissness. There are those who have got into a mental habit of chronic dissatisfaction with the established ethics of life and have finally grown to disbelieve in them altogether; who doubt whether honesty is the best policy; who are unable to recognize what it is that really constitutes success, or who fail to find the true path to reach it. To some of them the man who gets power or money at any price is the successful man and him they envy and applaud. They themselves hate to work or to deny themselves, merely in order to save or to accumulate; and yet they want money, and long for its possession, and finally grow to actually respect successful rogues political and other who seem to defy and triumph over the old established rules of social life. Bryce describes these organizations as he found them in New York City in 1894:
“In each of the thirty districts there is a party headquarters for the Committee and the local party work, and usually, also, a clubhouse, where party loyalty is cemented over cards and whisky, besides a certain number of local ‘associations,’ called after prominent local politicians, who are expected to give an annual picnic, or other kind of treat, to their retainers. A good deal of social life, including dances and summer outings, goes on in connection with these clubs.” (American Commonwealth, Vol. II. p. 398.)
It is such organizations, and not the independent farmers or business men, which because they have united and practical aims and methods constitute the real political powers in the United States. They select and put forward candidates, regulate and carry primaries, combine with other associations, and constitute themselves a real effective working political force. The great extent of their power will not astonish anyone familiar with the effect of organization and discipline. The strength of the French Jacobin party lay in their clubs. The French Revolution, the American Revolution and the Russian Revolution were all carried to such success as they had by organized and active minorities. A magazine writer says this of these local political associations:
“The members of the organizations, like every one else, want power, money and place. That is the reason they are members. They get leaders who will deliver a part at least of what they want. Leaders who do not deliver are quickly decapitated.” Even should reformers get control of the party (the writer says) and win at the polls, these floaters will break down the new administration unless it yields the offices to them. (American Political Science Review, February, 1917.)
In the words of Bryce:
“The source of power and the cohesive force is the desire for office, and for office as a means of gain. This one cause is sufficient to account for everything, when it acts, as it does in these cities, under the condition of the suffrage of a host of ignorant and pliable voters.” (American Commonwealth, Vol. II, p. 107.)
These predatory bands are encouraged and supported not only in the ways already mentioned, but by the money contributions of the well-to-do. At every important election enormous sums are raised and expended by both parties. In 1896 the Republican National Committee had at its disposal an immense fund, variously stated at $6,000,000 to $16,000,000, much of it obtained from business corporations; it was charged that part of this was used to purchase votes. It is through these local clubs and associations that such money is expended.
The case in a nutshell is that of an enlisted regular army, small in numbers with a poorly paid and unlettered rank and file, but well officered and capable of holding in check a whole population of unarmed, undisciplined and unorganized citizens. This trained and subsidized force cannot be permanently overthrown by any possible counter organization of reformers, and all attempts in that direction have always proved and always will prove futile. The mass of the citizens have no motive for permanent political organization; nor can one be supplied; for all such counter-organizations being merely sentimental, must lack a motive or rallying force such as cupidity affords to the “regulars,” holding them together and inspiring them with persistent energy. A noted illustration of this feature of politics appeared in the defeat in 1884 of the Reform Party in Philadelphia by the Gas Ring, after it had triumphed in 1881 and had effected many reforms. Its supporters got tired out and lost interest. They lacked the sustained motive which animated the spoilsmen. In an account published at the time, by two gentlemen connected with this reform movement, they stated, referring to its work:
“In its nature, however, the remedy was esoteric and revolutionary, and therefore necessarily ephemeral. It could not retain the spoils system and thereby attract the workers. Its candidates, when elected, often betrayed it and went over to the regulars, who, they foresaw, had more staying qualities. Its members became tired of the thankless task of spending time and money in what must be a continuous, unending battle.”